Columnist.
There are many recent developments in the godless West. To name a few: The Supreme Court of Italy last week ruled that public masturbation is legal (except in front of minors). The New York City Council voted in May that public urination is not a criminal act. The San Francisco City Council decided, by one vote, to continue the city's ban on public nudity — not, of course, on the grounds of "decency" but on the grounds of public health. Since that can easily be resolved by use of a towel on public benches and chairs, it is only a matter of time, probably a couple of years, before people will be permitted to walk around naked in San Francisco.
"[L]eftism is a terminal cancer in the American bloodstream and soul."
All #NeverTrump conservatives maintain that their decision to never vote for Donald Trump is guided by their principles. I have no doubt that this is true. But some of them seem to imply, or at least might think, that conservatives who vote for Trump have abandoned their principles. Indeed, the charge of compromising on principle is explicitly levied at Republican politicians and members of the Republican "establishment" who support Trump. I cannot speak for all conservatives who are voting for Trump, but I can speak for many in making this assertion: We have the same principles as the #NeverTrumpers, especially those of us who strongly opposed nominating Trump. That's why we opposed him, after all. Almost everything that prevents #NeverTrumpers from voting for Trump also troubled us about the candidate. (I should note that some of us are less troubled today.)
One of the most oft-heard claims made by supporters of Hillary Clinton is what a positive role model she would be for young girls as president. They say: "Then, my daughters will know that nothing is to too great for them to aspire to. A woman can indeed be president of the United States." So goes the argument. According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, women will vote for Clinton by 60 percent to 36 percent, a margin of 24 percent. In the last presidential election, the margin was 10 percent.
There was rare good news this month. On August 4, The New York Times published a front-page article headlined, "College Students Protest, Alumni's Fondness Fades and Checks Shrink." According to The Times, some college alumni are awakening to the fact that their beloved alma maters are nothing like the decent, open, tolerant, committed-to-learning places they remember. Rather, nearly every college and university in America has become the least open, the least tolerant, the most hate-filled and the most anti-American (and, of course, anti-Israel) mainstream institution in America. As stated in the article: "Alumni from a range of generations say they are baffled by today's college culture. Among their laments: Students are too wrapped up in racial and identity politics."
Pope Francis made comments last week that reveal the most important single thing you need to know about the modern world: The most dynamic religion of the last hundred years has been leftism. Not Christianity, and not Islam, but leftism. Leftism has taken over the world's leading educational institutions, the world's news media and the world's popular entertainment, and it has influenced Christianity (and Judaism) far more than Christianity (or Judaism) has influenced anything. On July 26, two Muslims slit the throat of a French Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Jacques Hamel, 85, while he was saying Mass in his church.
My #NeverTrump colleagues and friends make valid points about Donald Trump. I know — I made them myself during the Republican primaries. But it is vital to understand what will happen if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency. This country will be so far from what the Founding Fathers wanted, so different from what the #NeverTrumpers have always fought for, that it is almost impossible to see how America could recover from her — or any Democrat's — victory. Thanks to the universities' leftist indoctrination of two generations of Americans, and thanks to Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Party is now in all but name a socialist party. In fact, it is actually to the left of many European socialist parties.
One of the many remarkable traits of the progressives is their lack of self-awareness. This trait was on display last week in the media and Democratic Party's characterization of Donald Trump's acceptance speech — and the entire Republican National Convention — as "dark." For the left to dismiss other Americans as having a dark view of America is preposterous. Because no one — not Trump, not the Republican Party, not any conservative — has nearly as dark a view of America as does the left.
It appears that no matter how many men, women and children Islamists slaughter or maim, few in the West take Islamic terror seriously. This may sound odd, given how much talk there is about terror, but a compelling case can be made for this assertion.
It was very appropriate that on Friday, the day after the massacre of five Dallas police officers, The New York Times devoted nearly the whole top half of its front page to four enormous photos of the death of Philando Castile, a black motorist killed by a Minnesota police officer. Of course, the paper was printed prior to the Dallas murders; and even The New York Times might not have so prominently featured the Minnesota killing on its front page had the Dallas murders occurred a few hours earlier. Nevertheless, it was completely appropriate. The New York Times has been in the forefront of the left's hysterical, hate-filled attacks on police officers and whites.
One of the common laments of leftist commentators in Europe and America concerning Brexit is that holding referendums is a bad idea. The most frequently expressed example is the contempt in which the left holds British Prime Minister David Cameron for having suggested the referendum in the first place. But why would the left hate referendums? Doesn't it claim to represent "the people"? Isn't "power to the people" one of the most popular sayings of the left? Isn't the American left trying to abolish the Electoral College precisely because it isn't directly representative of "the people's" will?
It is hard to imagine a more immature or morally primitive stance than that of progressive women (and men) who argue how important it is to support Hillary Clinton because, as your local college would put it, she identifies as a woman. One perfect example of such thinking was the recent statement made by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright at an event on behalf of Clinton. Albright announced that "there is a special place in hell" for women who don't support women, meaning in this instance, for women who don't vote for Clinton.
Many people are surely asking, "What if the gunman from the Orlando, Florida shooting were a Christian?"
If you want to understand Sen. Bernie Sanders, this is what you need to know: He is the quintessential modern identity-free man. He is a non-Jewish Jew and a non-American American. In Sanders' speeches and interviews, there is virtually no mention of his being a Jew (unless he's asked about it), and — what's truly amazing for an American presidential candidate — there are few mentions of America, except to lament American inequality, Wall Street corruption and other American evils.
When you differ from people you admire, you have to question yourself. After all, what is the purpose of admiring people if they aren't capable of influencing you? So, I have had to challenge my position — stated since the outset of the Republican presidential debates — that if Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, I will vote for him over Hillary Clinton, or any Democrat for that matter.
In The Wall Street Journal last week, two influential billionaires — former New York city Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a very moderate Republican, and Charles G. Koch, the libertarian chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, Inc. — wrote an op-ed piece decrying the suppression of free speech taking place at universities across America.
There are many reasons why Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. The four most-often cited reasons are the frustrations of white working-class Americans, a widespread revulsion against political correctness, disenchantment with the Republican establishment, and the unprecedented and unrivaled amount of time the media afforded Trump. They are all valid.
As of tonight, we may know if Donald Trump will be the Republican presidential candidate. And, barring unforeseeable events, it is certain that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. Those are two reasons — of many, unfortunately — why, other than the first years of the Civil War, when the survival of the United States as one country was in jeopardy, there has never been a darker time in American history. The various major wars — the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I and II, and the Korean and Vietnam wars — were worse in terms of American lives lost.
This month, Stanford University students voted on a campus resolution that would have their college require a course on Western civilization, as it did until the 1980s. Stanford students rejected the proposal 1,992 to 347. A columnist at the Stanford Daily explained why: Teaching Western civilization means "upholding white supremacy, capitalism and colonialism, and all other oppressive systems that flow from Western civilizations." The vote — and the column — encapsulated the left's view: In Europe, Latin America and America, it loathes Western civilization.
Most Americans say they believe in God. Around the world, religious Jews, Christians and Muslims say they believe in God, as do many people who do not identify with any formal religion. But this statement is actually meaningless. To cite one example, the God in whose name some Muslim extremists cut innocent peoples' throats and violate women cannot be the same God as the God of those who believe God condemns such actions.
