Obama’s Cult of Personality
Tue 14 Oct 2008 • Responses: 6 • by David Aikman
The U.S. presidential election campaign has certainly become more negative recently, with McCain’s side seeking to paint Obama as a man with past ties to dangerous American radicals and a propensity to increase taxes. Obama has responded with sharp attacks on McCain’s policy, painting him as a man who is “out of touch” with ordinary American concerns and in the pocket of big oil companies. Sarah Palin, McCain’s vice-presidential running mate and other Republican supporters have tried to raise doubts about Obama’s reliability, focusing on his ties to his pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright and connections with unrepentant American terrorist William Ayers. McCain, to be fair, has distanced himself from some of his more scare-mongering supporters. He has recently declared Obama to be “a decent man and a person you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.”
Let us hope McCain is right, and that if Obama wins, he will not be an extremist of any kind and will govern wisely and modestly.
Overwhelmed by Culture
Tue 14 Oct 2008 by Al Sikes
It’s not a money crisis. It’s a character crisis.
Trinity Forum Chairman Al Sikes looks at the economic crisis as a teachable moment. It’s time again to address our higher responsibility.
Saying ‘I Don’t Know’
Fri 10 Oct 2008 • Responses: 0 • by Ted V. McAllister and Pete Peterson
In stressful times, we tend to forget the virtue of humility
Ted McAllister and Pete Peterson look at the problems of contemporary public discourse.
Strategic Cultural Thinking
Fri 10 Oct 2008 • Responses: 1 • by John Seel
On Culture Making, Artifacts, Discernment—and Elites
John Seel takes a critical look at Andy Crouch’s important new book, Culture Making, affirming his call for getting busy making more culture, but suggesting that his view of culture is too narrow—and oddly materialist.
New Approach to Muslim States?
Tue 30 Sep 2008 by Joseph Loconte
Last week a diverse group of political, business, military, academic, and religious leaders released a report, Changing Course: A New Direction for U.S. Relations With the Muslim World. Convened by the Search for Common Ground and the Consensus Building Institute, the group issued several recommendations, including the promotion of economic growth and good governance in Muslim states.
They summarized their work thus:
The Financial Tsunami
Mon 29 Sep 2008 by David Aikman
“We are in the midst of a serious financial crisis,” President Bush told the American people in a televised national address on September 24. The “entire economy” of the U.S. was in danger, he explained; the market was “not functioning properly, and “more banks could fail.” Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, a few days earlier had described the crisis as a “once-a-century” phenomenon and the worst he had ever seen. Others referred to the meltdown on Wall Street as a financial “tsunami” that could overwhelm all regular economic activity in the U.S. and create not just a recession but an economic depression not seen in the U.S. or the world since the Great Depression that followed the Wall Street Crash of October 1929.
A Faith-based Prime Minister
Mon 29 Sep 2008 by Joseph Loconte
Last week former British Prime Minister Tony Blair began his stint as a Yale professor. His course, “Faith and Globalization,” grows out of his effort since leaving political office to assert a constructive role for religious belief in democratic society. Earlier this year, Blair launched a new organization devoted to this purpose, the London-based Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
Here’s what Blair had to say at a Westminster Cathedral event announcing his new venture:
Forgive Us Our Debts
Thu 18 Sep 2008 • Responses: 2 • by Theodore Roosevelt Malloch
Toward a Proper Understanding of Debt
Dr. Ted Malloch looks at debt at levels from the personal to the global. Debt has its place, but we now have a global culture of debt with no consideration for thrift.
Electoral Politics: The Possibility of a ‘Perfect Storm’
Thu 18 Sep 2008 • Responses: 1 • by David Aikman
The predictable journalistic punditry of every American presidential cycle—“the most vicious presidential election ever,” “how come we always end up with such mediocre candidates?”—has been handily refuted in the last 50 days or so of the 2008 presidential election. In Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, there are two candidates for the presidency of exceptional talent, but with contrasting approaches to America’s future. Obama, a gifted orator and charismatic campaigner who has energized a whole new generation of young people to participate in politics, harks back to candidate John F. Kennedy. Nearly half a century ago, JFK tapped into the political idealism of large numbers of young Americans, winning the presidency in the process.
Conservatism and Individualism
Thu 18 Sep 2008 by Joseph Loconte
In a recent New York Times column entitled “The Social Animal,” David Brooks took the Republican Party to task for touting policies that cater single-mindedly to individuals and their solitary choices. He cited the work of cognitive scientists, sociologists, and geneticists, whose research suggests the importance of social networks and institutions to human flourishing:
“What emerges is not a picture of self-creating individuals gloriously free from one another, but of autonomous creatures deeply interconnected with one another. Recent Republican Party doctrine has emphasized the power of the individual, but underestimates the importance of connections, relationships, institutions and social filaments that organize personal choices and make individuals what they are.”
