Townhall Review | Commentaries

California lawmaker withdraws controversial bill after discussions with religious leaders.

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A California lawmaker withdraws a controversial bill after consulting with religious leaders who found it oppressive.

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The recent revelations of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church are unprecedented. I’m referring first to the Grand Jury report that came from Pennsylvania. That was followed by the report from the former ambassador from the Vatican to the United States of America. Archbishop Vigano, in his 11-page letter, accuses the highest leadership of the Catholic church—including the Pope himself—of covering up this sexual corruption and, specifically, protecting the now-disgraced former Cardinal Archbishop in Washington, D.C.

We have as a result one of the biggest stories in international religious life over the course of our lifetimes.

We are witnessing right now earth-shaking developments within the Roman Catholic Church—developments that should be of interest not only to Roman Catholics, but to all Americans.

In the words of author and blogger Rod Dreher, Vigano has, quote, “Dropped an atomic bomb on Francis’s papacy.”

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The passing of American hero John McCain left a giant hole in our politics.  Some worry about what it means for strong leadership in the Senate. While it will be hard for any single individual to replace Senator McCain, Republicans, in particular, should take heart: There’s a very strong crop of current GOP Senate candidates who have an opportunity to carry on McCain’s important work.

Mitt Romney, who will likely be Utah’s next U.S. Senator, leads the pack.  Then there’s Martha McSally from Arizona; Rick Scott from Florida; John James from Michigan; and Josh Hawley from Missouri, just to name a few.

Elections matter, and this year’s congressional elections are particularly critical. These candidates could serve and—in their own way—carry on Senator McCain’s indelible legacy.

Now: It’s up to voters around the country to send them to Washington to get to work.

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Earlier this year, the nation's highest court handed down a decision in the case of Jack Phillips, the baker from Colorado who had been found guilty by the state’s Civil Rights Commission of having violated the rights of LGBT persons by refusing to create cakes with certain messages.

The result was a seven-two decision in favor of Jack.

But now Jack—after the US Supreme Court victory—has some of the very same folks coming back for him again.

Alliance Defending Freedom—the group that successfully defended Jack Phillips all the way to the Supreme Court—is representing him again.

What you haven’t seen reported much is that this is—to put it succinctly—a scam. His opponents in Colorado have made a crusade out of pestering him with outrageous cake requests and then complaining to state officials when he refuses.

The issues here are much bigger than just Jack Phillips.

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Political analysts give plenty of attention to our partisan divisions according to race or gender, but not enough to the stark differences based on age. The good news for Republicans is that the Democrats are entirely reliant on young voters. Among Americans over 30 in 2016, Trump won the popular vote by a decisive margin, but among the 19 percent of voters below 30 he lost by a crushing landslide of 20 points.

The bad news is nearly all these young people will be voting again. Meanwhile, the over-65 segment—the strongest age group for Trump—gets steadily thinned by the actuarial realities.

Unless we can swing those youthful voters toward conservative ideas, emphasizing better plans for their present and future, the prospects for the Republican party may be grim.

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“Underpromise. Overdeliver.” That has been my advice to every young lawyer and journalist I’ve mentored over a 35-year legal career and a 28-year broadcasting career.

That’s the same approach I would advise to commentators about the Paul Manafort conviction and the Michael Cohen guilty plea: They tell us a lot. They do not, however, tell us whether the president is going to be impeached.

He might be impeached. In fact, a Democrat-controlled Congress in 2019 would almost certainly pass articles of impeachment.

But we aren’t close to President Trump’s removal from office or his resignation.

What we do have, right now, are two admitted/convicted felons in Cohen and Manafort who are both in a position to grievously wound the president politically.

But anyone who says, “This means impeachment!” is either lying or looking for ratings.

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The passing of Senator John McCain reminded me of why I feel proud to be a Republican. Beginning in 1980, the GOP has fielded nine presidential nominees, each of whom displayed exemplary patriotism and fundamental decency.

Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush both ran for president three times, and Bob Dole, George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney campaigned for the White House two times each. Win or lose, these candidates won respect—even affection—from those who opposed as well as from supporters.

Despite many disagreements over policy, the bi-partisan praise for Senator McCain for noble service to his country reflects his noble character.

May the Republican Party continue to exemplify the principled tradition of “character counts.” 

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I recently received an e-mail from a thoughtful listener who challenged my commitment to faith and God. “You’re a smart person,” she wrote, “who emphasizes evidence and logic. How then, can you give such importance in your life to something illogical for which there is no evidence.”

My answer described my experience getting involved in traditional observance of my Jewish faith when I was in my early twenties. When I began praying every day, and then observing the sabbath, my life dramatically improved.

That’s the best evidence available, and it’s been demonstrated also by most of the committed Christians that I know who can also testify to the way faith enriches and improves their lives. As CS Lewis famously observed: “I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.”

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Perhaps you missed the memo from the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. The War on Poverty, declared by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, is largely over, they say, and we won. Amazing, since a lot of people obviously still live in poverty.

As is often the case in government, the difference is in the definition of the problem. Historically we have defined poverty by income and the CEA defined it by a consumption test instead. Neither test is truly accurate.

No, the War on Poverty isn’t over, but presidential wars on domestic problems should be. We have lived for decades with wars on poverty, crime, drugs, terror and energy consumption, all declared by a lot of presidential speeches but with very little policy on dealing with these big problems.

It’s one more failure of big government in Washington, not a huge success.

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