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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The following article is the opinion of the author and not the Gem State Patriot Sometimes you eat the bear, and other times the bear eats you” That was a saying that was often times repeated by my father to his three sons as we were growing up. Another ritual in our family was that […]
Precise and accurate words are required in order to have precise and accurate debates that are grounded in logic. If one side of a discussion is grounded in logic and reason, and the other side only offers emotion and feelings, there is little opportunity for agreement. After 150 years of failed ideas, socialists, communists, and […]