Townhall Review | Commentaries

The people of Taiwan have just re-elected incumbent President Tsai Ing-Wen to another four years in office. It was a resolute expression of democracy just under one hundred miles from mainland China, in a place where freedom has flourished in the shadow of authoritarianism.

The recent protests in Hong Kong were a catalyst for the incumbent president, who rode warnings about China’s increasing desire to impose regional hegemony to a resounding victory.

Taiwan is a trusted ally of the United States. Our peoples share a love of freedom, a belief in the rule of law, and an understanding that free markets and free people are fundamental to a flourishing society.

Taiwan’s election reaffirmed the desire of its people to draw closer to the west, and to the United States, in particular. And our leaders should do what they can to ensure that the US-Taiwan relationship remains strong and vibrant for years to come.

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What gives meaning to our days?

The new film 1917 stages this question in the wilderness of World War I, an apocalyptic firescape. Two soldiers embark on an impossible quest, debating the value of medals for bravery as they go. A soldier who won a medal for valor but has turned cynical denies the significance of his award: “It’s just a bit of tin,” he says.

As the journey unfolds, he shows tremendous courage under fire. When he completes his mission, he hands over several small items from a friend. All that is left to remember his comrade is a bit of tin.

Sam Mendes’s film is deceptively profound. It shows the value of honor, of fighting when everyone else wants to hide, even if the call of death comes in amidst the call of duty.

There is something worse than dying or suffering.

It’s living without honor; living without courage.

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Roger Scruton—the British conservative who was one of the most important conservative intellects of our day—has died after a battle with cancer, at the age of 75.

Scruton helped to shape the conservative movement, not only in the United States, but even more importantly, in Great Britain.

He became a conservative when he was a student in France. Much like that classic conservative Edmund Burke who was looking the French during the French Revolution, Scruton saw an entire civilization being torn apart.

He didn’t mean to become a conservative.

But he eventually became an intellectual at large, writing 50-plus books, lecturing and teaching in many different universities on both sides of the Atlantic.

He was attacked bitterly, but he was also recognized, having been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2016.

Sir Roger Scruton will be gratefully remembered.

Scruton taught us—in the title of one of his most important books—“How to Be a Conservative.”

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A new Gallup Poll shows the Democrats’ diversity—not only in racial terms but in ideological outlook. The GOP remains overwhelmingly conservative—with 73 percent describing themselves that way and only 4 percent identifying as liberals.

Meanwhile, a full 14 percent of Democrats called themselves “conservatives” and another 36 percent said they’re “moderates.” While Democratic leaders drift to the left of their base, the GOP should target conservatives and moderates in Democratic ranks.

If you get a new voter to show up to vote Republican, that’s good—but it gives you just one extra ballot. If you convert a Democrat to your cause, you not only a bag new a vote for your side, but simultaneously take a ballot from the other side.

That’s the right formula for decisive Republican victory.

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In the run-up to Christmas, you may have seen coverage of an editorial in Christianity Today by the magazine’s outgoing Editor-in-Chief Mark Galli, calling for the impeachment of President Trump.

The editorial set off a whirlwind.

Galli called the president’s actions with regard to Ukraine, “profoundly immoral.”

“None of the president’s positives,” Galli said, “can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.”

Many looking at this have said that what is evident is a split between an evangelical elite against President Trump and populist evangelicals for the president.

I’d argue that there’s a third category—that is American evangelicals who understand fully the moral issues at stake, but who also understand the political context and have made a decision to support President Trump, not out of mere political expediency and certainly not out of naivete, but out of their own analysis of what is at stake.

That analysis, rather than CT’s editorial, is likely to have real impact.

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Late last year the campus newspaper at Yale—the Yale Daily News—published an article highlighting the astounding lack of worldview diversity on America’s college campuses today.

Under the headline, “Faculty Call For Ideological Diversity” the reporters highlighted four professors who made it clear, Yale stifles political discourse. In other respects, Yale has made a push for demographic diversity—race, gender, sexual orientation and the like. But, when it comes to political diversity, there is virtually none.

The numbers for universities in the Northeast are particularly startling: The ratio of liberal professors to conservatives is 28:1, according to the story.

Perhaps the strangest element in all of this is that conservative and Christian parents continue to fight so hard to get their children into schools where the faculty is determined to undermine everything those parents believed and have even taught their children.

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Despite the ever-present media hysteria, it’s become clear that on the issue that really matters, Trump finished 2019 strong. I’m speaking, of course, about the economy. 2019 started with some economic turmoil and uncertainty. The trade war with China created a stock market whiplash and business anxiety.

But the data shows things have finally turned around. Economic confidence has been rising for months. 52 percent of investors approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, compared to just 32 percent who do not approve.

It’s no wonder that stocks have been hitting record highs. After the tax reform bill, the fundamentals of the economy were strong, and market performance reflected that.

That is, until the trade war killed Trump’s would-be boom in the cradle. Now that Trump is again on solid footing, he could be well on his way to victory in 2020 … as long as he steers clear of another trade war.

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The last weeks of 2019 brought two film releases that deserve the attention of the widest possible audience for their affirmation of enduring values. Though both “A Hidden Life” and “Just Mercy” received only very limited distribution at year’s end, they should win new attention in the new year for their historically accurate portrayal of real-life heroes motivated by deep Christian faith.

Franz Jaegerstaeter, the subject of “A Hidden Life,” was an Austrian farmer who, in the midst of World War II, refused to take an oath of loyalty to Hitler because he felt higher loyalty to his God and Savior. “Just Mercy” highlights the tireless work of Bryan Stevenson, an African-American lawyer motivated by his commitment to the church to rescue the wrongly convicted from death row.

With religion under regular assault from so much of popular culture, these two superbly well-crafted films offer a refreshing, much-needed alternative.

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A recent headline that I’ll quote directly illustrates our pervasive sexual confusion today: “Trans man gives birth to non-binary person’s baby with female sperm donor.”

Let’s analyze this headline in light of truth. 

“Trans man gives birth”—Reuben, who gave birth to the child, is a biological woman who self-identifies as transgender.

“To non-binary person’s baby”—Jay, Reuben’s partner, is a biological woman who doesn’t want to be identified as a woman.

“With female sperm donor”—We’re talking about the sexual contribution from a biological man who self-identifies as a trans woman.

Don’t be confused. 

Though our culture embraces chaos and separates biology from identity—procreation is stubbornly logical.  

Only the natural sexual contribution of a man and woman can produce a baby. 

Only a woman can give birth.

Biology constitutes identity.

Here’s a revised headline: “Despite Much Controversy, Nothing About Biology Has Changed.”

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In the aftermath of President Trump’s order to kill Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Quds Force—and a terrorist—a lot of attention is being paid to an interview I conducted with then-candidate Trump in September of 2015.

At the time, Trump was not familiar with Soleimani—and admitted as much. But he added a clue to his thinking then, citing a story written about his unpredictability. Trump told me: “you don’t want to let people know what you’re going to do with respect to certain things that happen. You don’t want the other side to know.”

What Trump has demonstrated—time and again—is the strategic value of this unpredictability combined with a willingness to use force. It has restored U.S. deterrence.

The death of Soleimani is a reminder to Iran and to the watching world that it challenges the United States at its great peril.

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