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The Powerless Silent Majority

May 13, 2015 Frontpage Comments Off on The Powerless Silent Majority

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK I first heard the term “silent majority” used to describe the coalition of Americans with traditional values that was mobilized to elect Richard Nixon back in the late 1960s. It was a concept that I always thought fit well with Willmoore Kendall’s understanding of the “deliberate sense of the community,” the broad electoral consensus that would prevail over the long run in the American political system. It is what made the United States an exceptional country, in Kendall’s eyes. I am a great admirer of Kendall’s work. But I have a question: Why isn’t the consensus he described able to exert itself any longer on the great issues of the day? The polls tell us that…Continue Reading

Bishop Sirba Of Duluth . . . Outlines “Throwaway Culture” And How To Answer It

May 12, 2015 Frontpage Comments Off on Bishop Sirba Of Duluth . . . Outlines “Throwaway Culture” And How To Answer It

By PEGGY MOEN MINNEAPOLIS — Bishop Paul Sirba of Duluth, Minn., addressed about 250 pro-lifers at St. Helena’s here on “The Gospel of Life in a Throwaway Culture,” borrowing Pope Francis’ theme. The occasion was the parish’s 30th “Evening Affirming Human Life and the Family.” “What can we do?” Bishop Sirba asked his listeners — the bulk of whom were decades-long pro-life veterans — to answer the throwaway culture, which sees the elderly, the unborn, and others as disposable. “Where do we find ourselves today?” in our defense of human life. Along with his call to “explore the joy of the Gospel of Life,” the bishop focused on a new manifestation of the throwaway culture: the “commercial surrogacy industry.” “Surrogacy”…Continue Reading

Is The Bubble Bursting For American Colleges?

May 11, 2015 Frontpage Comments Off on Is The Bubble Bursting For American Colleges?

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK I was underlining sections of Victor Davis Hanson’s column from the April 9 online edition of National Review in preparation for writing about it in First Teachers when Rush Limbaugh stole my thunder. Rush devoted close to an hour of his radio program on April 10 to summarizing and extolling Hanson’s analysis of the state of the modern American university, which Davis entitled, “The Modern University is Failing Students in Every Respect.” Rush was so thorough and insightful that I started looking for another topic to write about: There didn’t seem to be much left to say. But then I had second thoughts. Rush has millions of listeners, but not everyone who reads The Wanderer could…Continue Reading

Secularism Trumping Religious Freedom

May 10, 2015 Frontpage Comments Off on Secularism Trumping Religious Freedom

By LAWRENCE P. GRAYSON The First Amendment to the Constitution was adopted to guarantee that all Americans can practice their faith as they see fit. The government is neither to establish a state religion nor prohibit the free exercise thereof. This restraint on government, however, is being subverted, not only to constrain the free exercise of religion, but to force business owners and religious institutions to promote secularist doctrines. In the guise of diversity, nondiscrimination, and separation of church and state, laws, regulations, and policies are being passed that infringe on religious practice and the exercise of individual conscience throughout society, including business, education, and the military. Aggressive secularism is inhibiting religious freedom. The number of lawsuits brought against small…Continue Reading

Killer Cops Or Malicious Prosecutor?

May 9, 2015 Frontpage Comments Off on Killer Cops Or Malicious Prosecutor?

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Who killed Freddie Gray? According to Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby, Freddie was murdered in a conspiracy of six cops who imprisoned him in a police van and there assaulted and killed him. The killer was African-American officer Caesar Goodson, driver of the van, who, with a “depraved heart,” murdered Freddie. This is a summation of the charges against six Baltimore cops made May 1 by Mosby, as she ranted into the TV cameras: “To the people of Baltimore, and the demonstrators across America: I heard your call for ‘No justice, no peace’. . . . To the youth of this city: I will seek justice on your behalf…. “This is your moment. . . . You’re…Continue Reading

As Arizona Governor Does Shocker . . . McCain And Ducey Fight GOP Grassroots At Home

May 8, 2015 Frontpage Comments Off on As Arizona Governor Does Shocker . . . McCain And Ducey Fight GOP Grassroots At Home

By DEXTER DUGGAN PHOENIX — National commentator Glenn Beck and a conservative activist guest on his radio program didn’t have any problem agreeing that beating U.S. Sen. John McCain in the Arizona Republican primary next year would be a “huge” accomplishment, sending a strong message. Who might take on that assignment? Beck’s guest, Matt Kibbe, president of the pro-small-government FreedomWorks organization, said it liked Arizona GOP Cong. Matt Salmon as the challenger. An appealing conservative Arizona state senator and physician, Kelli Ward, from the Colorado River town of Lake Havasu City, said she was considering making the run. If someone does jump in, it’ll take lots of name recognition and even more money. Not every one of the 100 U.S.…Continue Reading

Redefining Anti-Semitism

May 7, 2015 Frontpage Comments Off on Redefining Anti-Semitism

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK I wish I could say that I had great success in convincing some of the Jewish teachers I worked with for many years that not everyone they thought was anti-Semitic actually was. They usually responded with a wry smile that implied they were not fully convinced. But they heard me out. The point I tried to make to my colleagues was that one can criticize the policies of the Israeli government without wishing ill toward the Jewish people. Also, that it was wrong to assume that those harboring a strong dislike for Jewish radicals were motivated by a hatred of Jews, rather than by an abhorrence of left-wing radicalism. It seems to me self-evident: Contempt for…Continue Reading

“Progressives” Promote Their Own Ideas To Pressure Synod On Family

May 6, 2015 Frontpage Comments Off on “Progressives” Promote Their Own Ideas To Pressure Synod On Family

By DEXTER DUGGAN The sorts of pressures being exerted by U.S. “progressives” for the upcoming Synod on the Family in October were illustrated in an April 21 media release presenting the results of 51 of their “listening sessions” in 18 dioceses, with possibly 781 participants, conducted in February and March. The Our Catholic Family report said a total of 71 percent of its participants were between 50 and 79 years old — 45 percent from ages 50 to 69, and 26 percent from 70 to 79. Seventeen percent were between ages 30 and 49. This age distribution might be seen as verifying the profile of Church “progressives” as people aging through the decades whose long-ago dreams of an illusory “Spirit…Continue Reading

Cuba And Beyond

May 5, 2015 Frontpage Comments Off on Cuba And Beyond

By ALBERTO M. PIEDRA “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matt. 10:16). “Man is neither angel nor beast and unhappily whoever wants to act the angel, acts the beast” — Blaise Pascal, Pensées. Much has been talked about and commented on, both in the media and in intellectual circles, not to mention the public in general, about the recent secret negotiations carried out by the Obama administration and the totalitarian Communist regime of the Castro brothers in Cuba. The negotiations were made public, leading to the consternation of all those who still believe in responsible freedom, the greatest gift granted by God to the human…Continue Reading

The Common Core “Opt-Out”

May 4, 2015 Frontpage Comments Off on The Common Core “Opt-Out”

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK It is easy to see why people often feel overwhelmed by the prospects of changing the way our schools and colleges operate. Powerful vested interests can make the task seem insurmountable, even when the polls indicate that the majority of the country agrees with those seeking the change. Examples abound, everything from school prayer to tenure rules to left-wing biases in school textbooks. But the situation is not hopeless. The so-called Common Core “opt-out” is showing us how a grassroots movement can successfully challenge the powers-that-be in the education establishment and government. An Associated Press story on April 18 reports that “thousands of students are opting out of the new standardized tests aligned to the Common…Continue Reading