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John Livingston

The Best of Us

This will be one of my shortest articles. Above is a picture of the Naval Academy Women’s Soccer team. First of all, these young women earn your respect—every day. Someday, they will be F-18 pilots, nuclear engineers, ship drivers, or Marine Recon officers. Today, though, they lead regimented and disciplined lives, learning to be good […]

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John Livingston

Priorities

On a recent panel on Fox Business News, Charles Payne and guests discussed how cultural decisions resulting in declining birth rates worldwide will shape future generations’ political and economic choices. For two generations, China enforced a one-child policy per couple, which led to population growth but recent stabilization at 1.4 billion people. Now that the […]

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John Livingston

Don’t Go Squishy

I self-diagnosed many years ago with Adult Attention Deficit Disorder (AADD). I often watch two or three sporting events simultaneously. Currently, I am reading three books: F. A. Hayek’s The Fatal Conceit, C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, and Western Heritage: A Reader from Hillsdale College. I also try to spend fifteen minutes a day in scripture or at least […]

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John Livingston

Who is Serving Whom?

George Lynn Cross served as President of The University of Oklahoma from 1943 to 1968. During his 25-year tenure, he oversaw tremendous growth in both the university’s athletic and academic programs. He was instrumental in implementing difficult reforms that raised enrollment and academic standards, while also expanding access for Native Americans and other minorities. Cross […]

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John Livingston

Thou Good and Faithful Servant

“Be careful of your thoughts because thoughts turn into words, words turn into actions, actions turn into habits, and finally habits accumulate to define a life.” These words were spoken to me by my Quaker grandmother. Many on the political left have chosen to define their lives by words of hate. You do not call […]

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John Livingston

The Great Debate Continues

G. K. Chesterton was a world-renowned writer, journalist, and Catholic apologist. His outspoken, sometimes curmudgeonly style offended many critics in government and the church, but throughout his life until his passing four years before WWII in 1936, he remained a devoted evangelist for Jesus. Chesterton befriended and debated prominent contemporaries such as C. S. Lewis, […]

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John Livingston

We are a Sovereign Nation

Since the founding of the United States, over 1.3 million Americans have died in wars, and more than 1.1 million people have died from drug overdoses since 1970. The total number of U.S. military deaths from all wars—including both battle deaths and non-combat related causes—exceeds 1.3 million. Of these, approximately 666,000 died in battle, and […]

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John Livingston

If Not Now, When?

I have written many times about spending the first five years of my life with my Quaker grandparents in Pennsylvania. The Swarthmore Meeting, located on the campus of Swarthmore University, remains today one of the most liberal enclaves in all of American academia. I learned about “tolerance and acceptance” by attending many Quaker meetings as […]

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John Livingston

Steady As You Go

Today, Lynn and I sit on our patio, 126 feet above Skagit Bay on Blowers Bluff, Whidbey Island. A thirty-mile-long fog bank rolls across the water from south to north. On dry land, we feel safe and secure. We know exactly where we are, though the fog obscures whatever is directly in front of us […]

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John Livingston

Copybook Headings

Having been raised for the first five years of my life by my Quaker grandmother, going to public school was a significant change for me. For twelve years, I received a very secular and homogenized education, especially regarding issues of faith and our country’s history. When my father returned from the Korean War, my family […]

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John Livingston

Let Us Pray

I have no way of understanding what is in the hearts of other people. We can only judge their actions and words. Only God knows what is in their hearts. The words of many people on the political left after the terrible shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis last week, to me, were curious […]

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John Livingston

Civics Tests for Those Who Get a Government Paycheck

It has recently been reported in both the Wall Street Journal and on CBS/NBC/CNN and Fox News that teachers leaving Blue States like New York and California that apply for teaching jobs in Oklahoma will be required to take a Civics test. Having a basic understanding of civics and American History should be a requirement […]

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