Love him or hate him, Glenn Beck has a point: Progressivism rejects America’s foundational principles. For the past one hundred years, progressive intellectuals and politicians have been desperately trying to sever Americans’ attachment to the principles of the Declaration of Independence—with its emphasis on human equality, natural rights, consent of the governed, and limited government—and instead embrace a more European model of governance. Progressives assert that America has advanced beyond the principles of the Declaration of Independence. All men were not created equal; some peoples are more historically advanced than …
Last night Professor Robbie George of Princeton University appeared on a panel discussing social justice on Glenn Beck’s television show. He offered the following comment about the confusion that’s often present in conversations about social justice: In the Catholic tradition the concept of social justice has a long history, and an honorable history, and what it refers to is the fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of common life. But what has happened very often [is] … the concept has become corrupted and used as a pretext for advancing …
Fox News commentator Glenn Beck recently raised concerns about churches promoting social justice. He noted that the term “social justice” has been linked with Marxist economics and government redistribution of wealth, and he called it “a perversion of the gospel.” Various Christian commentators have responded that social justice is a central theme in many Protestant and Catholic churches. A concern for the poor and justice in society, they argue, aligns with the teachings of Jesus and the Old Testament prophets. All of this buzz reveals the great amount of passion …
It has been an interesting and puzzling couple weeks watching the White House communications office at work. First, on October 11, Anita Dunn publicly rebuked Fox News on Howard Kurtz’ CNN show calling it the “research arm of the Republican Party.” Then, we learned Ms. Dunn counted Mao Zedong as a “favorite philosopher” and it seemed like a score was settled and everyone would move on. But the White House stepped up their attack on Fox News last Sunday by sending Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Senior Advisor David Axelrod …
Yesterday, on his Fox News program, Glenn Beck aired a video of White House Communications Director Anita Dunn referring to Mao Zedong as one of her “favorite political philosophers.” Rather than defend Ms. Dunn or ask further questions of what she meant when she said that, the left wing has decided to Google the words “Lenin” and “Mao” with the name of any prominent conservative. Any loose mention of these historical figures was seen as them also “approvingly” citing the philosophy of these murderous despots. This is a typical scorched …
In the age of Obama, the media formerly known as mainstream can remind one of 19th century British literature. Pride and Prejudice sometimes, of course, but more often a favorite Sherlock Holmes story, Silver Blaze. In it, the famous sleuth has the following exchange with Inspector Gregory: Gregory: “Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?” Holmes: “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.” Gregory: “The dog did nothing in the night-time.” Holmes: “That was the curious incident.” The media, you …
We’ve written about this issue before, here and here, but the Fairness Doctrine is rearing its ugly head again. This time, however, its being pushed by Mark Lloyd, newly appointed Chief Diversity Officer of the Federal Communications Commission. In the name of “diversity,” Lloyd recommends that “Local public broadcasters and regional and national communications operations should be required to encourage and broadcast diverse views and programs.” It’s not hard to read between the lines and understand that successful conservative pundits will be the ones pushed off the airwaves by this. …
In case you weren’t reading the New York Times front page today, we wanted to point you to an especially disturbing story. The Times wrote about The Story of Stuff, “a 20-minute video about the effects of human consumption, [which] has become a sleeper hit in classrooms across the nation.” What classrooms? Very likely the school your child attends, since over 7,000 American schools or churches have ordered the DVD. The Story of Stuff highlights the very extreme left’s Greenpeace view of America. Essentially it tells the story of how America …
