The Official Website of

"The Magazine of the American Scene"
 
(c) 2015 The Society for
the Advancement of Education.
All Rights Reserved.
Search keyword(s): ' American Thought'
 
A Dying Breed Chris Sajnog
Category: American Thought Published: May 2016
"With half of society confused about which bathroom to use, our culture needs more people like us. So, stand up with me and, while we are gathered around the fire eating red meat, let us talk about the traits you will need to join the warrior class."
 
A Great Romance Gone Wrong Dolores T. Puterbaugh
Category: American Thought Published: March 2009
"America is a country loaded with romantics, and, so, despite having our hearts broken and our waists expanded by failed food affairs, we wander through the wasteland seaking our true soul mate."
 
A Losing Cause Ray Kenneth Clark
Category: American Thought Published: July 2013
"War in the manner the U.S. now fights is lost before it begins."
 
A Memo to American Muslims M.A. Muqtedar Khan
Category: American Thought Published: January 2002
An Islamic scholar appeals to his fellow American Muslims in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
 
A Nation Worth Defending William J. Bennett
Category: American Thought Published: November 2002
"American patriotism has always been rooted in love of the principles upon which the nation was founded: liberty, equality, justice, and democracy."
 
America Is Suffering from Cultural Amnesia Stephen Bertman
Category: American Thought Published: November 2001
"Whatever the cause, we may be witnessing an epidemic of amnesia, global in scale, with potentially profound social and political consequences. In losing our history, we may be simultaneously losing our future, not only as a nation, but as a race."
 
America's Left Has Taken a Wrong Turn Gerald E. Marsh
Category: American Thought Published: May 2007
"The centralized pyramidal command structure of the socialist form of govt, and the idea that the party can lead and represent the best interests of the people, have, over the last century, repeatedly shown themselves to be moral and economic disasaters."
 
Asking Responsible Questions Is a Patriotic Duty John F. Kerry
Category: American Thought Published: January 2003
". . . Duirng times of war when our country requires as many options and choices as possible, remaining silent is not an option."
 
Battling Childhood Obesity Doug Werner
Category: American Thought Published: July 2017
"…Helicopter parents do not allow their kids to walk to school or ride bicycles without adult supervision, and the only pick-up football…games being played are from the comfort of a recliner in front of a video-game console…"
 
Battling for Our Embattled Constitution Harry V. Jaffa
Category: American Thought Published: November 2015
"The struggle for truth will be hard. The end of this deadly ignorance is not at hand. This is not the beginning of the end. It is not even the end of the beginning--but the battle is joined."
 
Being His Grandfather's Son
Category: American Thought Published: March 2008
"You can't choose right and wrong, you've got to choose between right and wrong," says Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. ". . . Too many people think that life and liberty are about their frivolous pleasures."
 
Beyond Slavery Jonathan W. Emord
Category: American Thought Published: January 2021
"The U.S. must get beyond slavery. We should not make every new generation a captive of the sins of the prior generation. We must embrace as a fundamental tenet the full promise of the Declaration of Independence."
 
Can Republicans Ride the Wave? Larry P. Arnn
Category: American Thought Published: March 2015
There was a wave in favor of the Republicans in 1980 and in 1994. There was a wave in favor of the Democrats in 2006 and in 2008…Now there is a Republican wave launched by the 2014 midterm elections.
 
Canary in a Constitutional Coal Mine Marilyn M. Singleton
Category: American Thought Published: November 2020
"Some in Congress and assorted social justice warriors are treating the Constitution like the COVID-susceptible residents of New york nursing homes: expendable. . . ."
 
Capra's Quest John Marini
Category: American Thought Published: July 2015
"The past has come to seem no longer meaningful to the present and the celebration of past heroes, like Lincoln, has come to appear naïve. The moral regeneration of America will require more than another [filmaker Frank] Capra. It will require a Lincoln."
 
Charitable Giving Provides the Fabric of America Karl Zinmeister
Category: American Thought Published: March 2016
"Early on, citizens discovered that voluntary action to lift others up not only is possible, it is superior to the kind of state paternalism that diminishes freedom."
 
Childhood Is for Children Johann Christoph Arnold
Category: American Thought Published: July 2001
"More and more, it seems that we have lost sight of the 'child' in childhood and turned it into a joyless training camp for the adult world."
 
Circus of the Absurd Jonathan W. Emord
Newsletter Article Category: American Thought Published: May 2021
"Pres. [Joe] Biden, by Executive Order, is . . . quite literally returning America to its own version of the Stone Age."
 
Confusion at the Top Michael Mukasey
Category: American Thought Published: January 2012
Does the Obama Administration even understand the Constitution--or the Bill of Rights--when it comes to executive power and the War on Terror?
 
Coping with a Crisis Century Ian I. Mitroff , Murat C. Alpasian
Category: American Thought Published: March 2003
While it is impossible to prevent all crises, organizations that are prepared in advance recover substantially faster and at much less cost to themselves and others than those that aren't.
 
COVID-19 Won the Presidential Election Marilyn M. Singleton
Category: American Thought Published: January 2021
"The COVID pandemic was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's stated reason for inserting blanket mail-in voting into a COVID financial relief package several months before the election."
 
Creeping Doubts About Government Larry P. Arnn
Category: American Thought Published: May 2020
". . . It is quite disturbing to witness the eagerness among some governors to outdo one another by announcing shutdowns that extend beyond where anyone claims to know that shutdowns will be necessary."
 
Defining America's Role on the Global Stage Chuck Hagel
Category: American Thought Published: May 2003
"The U.S.'s purpose in the world requires a commitment to a kind of principles realism that promotes America's values, strengthens international institutions, builds coalitions, and recognizes what is possible."
 
Dissent Is as American as Apple Pie Ralph Young
Category: American Thought Published: July 2004
"American citizens are torn by an ill-advised war and occupation led by leaders who, in seeking to stifle the sort of healthy debate democracy requires, do not seem to understand, indeed, who seem to shun, our nation's history."
 
Diversity Police Gone Wild Heather Mac Donald
Category: American Thought Published: July 2018
"#MeToo is going to unleash a new torrent of gender and race quotas throughout the economy and culture, on the theory that all disparities in employment and institutional representation are due to harassment and bias."
 
Do Blacks Deserve a National Apology? Carol M. Swain
Category: American Thought Published: January 2004
Should today's citizenry be held morally and financially accountable for the misdeeds of America's forefathers?
 
Enlightened Self-Interest Propels a Free Society Foster S. Friess
Category: American Thought Published: May 2005
"Americans are becoming increasingly dependent when it comes to making the decisions that most affect their well-being. . . . We must find a way to return to our citizens more control over their lives."
 
Fermenting Frustration Matthew M. Schousen
Category: American Thought Published: March 2020
Americans are unhappy with the government's inability to act. With gridlock and hostility, the process is too slow, and lawmakers continually disappoint their constituents by campaigning on specific issues but compromising on those issues once elected.
 
First They Juiced the Ball--Now It's the Players Victor A. Baltov Jr
Category: American Thought Published: July 2010
"Baseball no longer is a sport that provides entertainment, but entertainment that happens to be a sport--much to the detriment of the country."
 
Get Over It Already Dolores T. Puterbaugh
Category: American Thought Published: November 2018
"Like Ebenezer Scrooge facing his desolate gravesite and begging for a chance to make things right, the bereaved political left scrambles for something to do, or say, that will make it all go away, will make it better, will resurrect the dream."
 
Giving It the Old College Try Richard E. Vatz
Category: American Thought Published: September 2020
Progressive privilege and the cancel culture in higher education have conservatives--and the markeplace of ideas--on the run . . . and the race is just about over.
 
Giving Thanks Through the Centuries Melanie Kirkpatrick
Category: American Thought Published: November 2017
"Shades of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians sit at every American's Thanksgiving table, along with those of [George] Washington, [Abraham] Lincoln, [Sarah Josepha] Hale, and others who have enriched our Thanksgiving tradition. . . "
 
Government's Legitimate Role in a Free Society Walter E. Williams
Category: American Thought Published: March 2001
"Our government has become destructive of the ends it was created to serve."
 
Herbert Hoover (not FDR) Is the Real Father of the New Deal Steven Horwitz
Category: American Thought Published: March 2012
". . . The persistence of the Hoover myth [of a laissez faire presidency] continues to justify the counterproductive policies of the Obama Administration and thereby prevents markets from generating the economic recovery of which they are fully capable."
 
History in the Making David McCullough
Category: American Thought Published: July 2011
This nation of ours has been through darker times and, if you do not know that--as so many who broadcast the news and subject us to their opinions in the press do not seem to know--that is because we are failing in our understanding of history.
 
History Is Our Responsibility Craig Eisendrath
Category: American Thought Published: May 2004
"If mankind is to avoid destructive wars, or achieve modes of life enhancing the human experience, we must work to realize these goals."
 
Hold Your Tongue . . . Not Amy L. Wax
Category: American Thought Published: May 2018
"The American way is to conduct free and open debate in a civil manner. We should return to doing that on our college campuses and in our society at large."
 
How Political Ignorance Threatens Democracy Ilya Somin
Category: American Thought Published: November 2004
"Voters are [uninformed] not just about specific policy issues, but about the basic structure of government and how it operates."
 
Initiating a New Social Contract Gerald E. Marsh
Category: American Thought Published: January 2017
"…We live in a 'post-truth world,' where only personal opinion matters and objective truths have been replaced with narratives."
 
Is There Any Way Out? Harold E. Rogers Jr.
Category: American Thought Published: July 2007
". . . A hastier withdrawal and a less-than-perfect political solution than originally planned for may turn out to be the only way to extricate the nation from this quagmire [in Iraq]."
 
Just What Do You Mean by That? Dolores T. Puterbaugh
Category: American Thought Published: July 2012
In the alphabet soup of misrepresentation, three "a" words easily come to mind: absolution, access, and automatic
 
Learning, Character, Faith, and Freedom Larry P. Arnn
Category: American Thought Published: January 2020
"We obscure the fact these days that the Americans who founded our country were mostly Christians, and they were devoted to both civil and religious liberty with the same intensity that they held their faith."
 
Lessons from the Coronavirus "Emergency" Jane M. Orient
Category: American Thought Published: November 2020
"Let us hope that the shock of COVID-19 and the freedom-crushing response will awaken Americans to the danger of trusting our lives and liberty to the government-anointed experts of the medical-industrial-regulatory complex."
 
Let the Holy War Begin in Earnest Jonathan W. Emord
Category: American Thought Published: January 2016
"Although our First Amendment protects all in their choice of what to believe and what to profess, it does not protect those who wish to translate their beliefs into acts of terror and conspiracies to commit terror."
 
Listening to the Luddites Arnold Brown
Category: American Thought Published: September 2002
"The overwhelming impact of technology on our lives--and the certainty of its increase--require that we have a systemic approach to technology assessment."
 
Long Live the Nation-State Larry P. Arnn
Category: American Thought Published: January 2019
"…Nationalism is both stubborn and, rightly conceived, necessary to many things, including the prevention of war…On this point, Trump and Churchill are agreed, and Macron is wrong."
 
Making Democracy Work Craig Eisendrath , Miles Orvell
Category: American Thought Published: September 2005
In this age of apathy, archaic voting laws, and widespread disenfranchisement, can our Republic ever function as envisioned 225 years ago by the Founding Fathers?
 
Making Mothers Count: The Fiscal Value of Nurturing Kristin Maschka
Category: American Thought Published: November 2003
"Mothers will achieve social and economic equality when productive 'work' is redefined to include unpaid domestic labor, public policies and workplaces are reorganized to reflect that, and cultural attitudes about the value of caregiving work change."
 
Modern America and the Diminishing Individual Peter J. Cooper
Category: American Thought Published: July 2005
"It is fitting that the Bush Administration should preside over such a grim, uncaring era. 'Compassionate conservatism' is as cynical an oxymoron as has ever been presented to the American people."
 
Monitoring Biometric Technologies in a Free Society Clyde Wayne Crews Jr.
Category: American Thought Published: July 2003
"The challenge of the biometric future is to prevent mandatory national ID cards, ensure Fourth Amendment protections with respect to public surveillance, and avoid the blurring of public and private databases."
 
Motherhood, Activism, and Social Reform Christine Woyshner
Category: American Thought Published: March 2002
"The assumption that the care of children is the purview of women or that men are not caretakers hinders reform efforts in such areas as violence and poverty, as well as family issues like maternity/paternity leaves and adequate and affordable day care."
 
No No Not Nyet on Russian Collusion Mollie Hemingway
Category: American Thought Published: January 2018
Trump's nascent presidency has coincided w/ perhaps the greatest violation of political norms this country ever has seen--having nothing to do with his behavior. Since the election, there has been a sustained, coordinated attack on his legitimacy as pres.
 
No Progress from the Progressives Roger Kimball
Category: American Thought Published: March 2019
"The Marxist-tinged ideology of the 1960s has had a few decades to marinate the beneficiaries of our free-market society, steeping them in the toxic nostrums that masquerade as moral imperatives in our colleges and universities."
 
Note to Obama: The King Is Dead Mike Pence
Category: American Thought Published: January 2011
"What the nation says--informed by its long history, impelled by the laws of nature and nature's God--is that we as a people are not to be ruled or commanded."
 
Nurturing the Relationship Between Responsibilities and Benefits Clarence Thomas
Category: American Thought Published: September 2016
"Today, when it seems that grievance rather than responsibility is the main means of elevation…there is much more focus on our rights and on what we are owed, adnmuch less on our obligations and duties…"
 
Of What Value Are Public Opinion Polls? Richard E. Vatz
Category: American Thought Published: May 2006
"To the extent that public opinion should not be ignored completely, citizens also should realize that public opinion polls are not synonymous with public opinion."
 
Oh "Boy" Have We Got a "Man"-Sized Problem Robert J. Bresler
Category: American Thought Published: March 2020
Men for centuries have found purpose in work and in being providers. Expanding welfare or guaranteeing some income, as promised by some Democratic candidates, regardless of work only will contribute to dependency and waywardness.
 
One Starfish at a Time Dolores T. Puterbaugh
Category: American Thought Published: September 2009
"You are needy, insecure, controlling, impulsive, attention-seeking, and otherwise immature and disagreeable to know. . . ." In other words, you fit in perfectly with our narcissistic society."
 
Orwell's Warning Larry P. Arnn
Category: American Thought Published: January 2021
"We can see today the totalitarian impulse among powerful forces in our politics and culture; in the rise and imposition of doublethink; and in the emboldened attempts to rewrite our history."
 
Poisonous Bureaucracy Jonathan W. Emord
Category: American Thought Published: September 2011
". . . Politics has triumphed over science, and bureaucratic control has replaced freedom of choice."
 
Power Play Philip Hamburger
Category: American Thought Published: January 2015
"Those who forget history . . . are doomed to repeat it, and this is what has happened in the U.S. with the rise of administrative law--or, more accurately, administrative power."
 
Proposed: A More-Effective and Just Response to Terrorism David Cortright
Category: American Thought Published: January 2002
"By enlarging international cooperation, especially in the Islamic world, and utilizing and upholding the principles of law, we can increase the chance that the horrors of Sept. 11 will never be repeated."
 
Rectifying the Jan. 6 Fiasco Thomas A. Berry
Category: American Thought Published: May 2022
"Enacting a reformed and clarified Electoral Count Act . . . would be both the correct policy choice for avoiding election chaos and the approach most consistent with our constituional design."
 
Rediscovering the Wisdom in American History Wilfred M. McClay
Category: American Thought Published: November 2019
It is harder than usual to get young people interested in the past because they are convinced that we are living in a time so unprecedented. To them, the past has been superseded--just as our present world forever is in the process of being superseded.
 
Reimagining Mice and Men Marilyn M. Singleton
Category: American Thought Published: July 2021
Who would have imagined a pediatrician governor supporting infanticide? Or physicians who offered early treatment of COVID-19 would be treated like drug dealers? Or Ninteen Eighty-Four would cease being fiction?
 
Relating to Iran . . . And the World Chuck Hagel
Category: American Thought Published: January 2008
"Rather than acting like a nation riddled with the insecurities of a schoolyard bully, we ought to carry ourselves with the confidence that should come from the dignity of our heritage, experience of our history, and strength of our humanity. . . ."
 
Roosevelt's or Reagan's America? A Time for Choosing John Marini
Category: American Thought Published: September 2008
[FDR] assumed that a fundamental tension exists between equality and liberty that only can be resolved by a powerful, even unlimited, administrative or welfare state. The American Founders thought that equality and liberty were perfectly compatible. . . .
 
Saving the Ownership Society Larry P. Arnn
Category: American Thought Published: July 2006
"Our Founders practices the art of constitutional government, under which government is limited and people have the right to provide for themselves. If we lose that, we will find ourselves in a condition of poverty too deep to measure in monetary terms."
 
Saying No Deal to the New New Deal Charles R. Kesler
Category: American Thought Published: November 2010
"Liberals increasingly are left with an amoral pragmatism that is hard to justify to themselves, much less to the American public."
 
Scolded by George Washington Jonathan W. Emord
Category: American Thought Published: November 2014
The Father of Our Country returns from "beyond the veil of Heaven" to warn about the abuses to the Constitution and the ideals that led to this nation's founding.
 
Searching for a Way Out Larry P. Arnn
Category: American Thought Published: January 2022
"To establish despotism in a country like ours, you might begin by building a bureaucracy of great complexity that commands a large percentage of the resources of the nation."
 
Seeking a New Rulebook Lisa Carlone Steindorf
Category: American Thought Published: September 2018
"Men . . . Are both a product and keeper of this system that women are subjected to. Contrary to popular belief, however, men are not the problem in this dilemma."
 
Seeking an Involved and Informed Citizenry Maris Vinovskis
Category: American Thought Published: September 2005
"The problem with civic education is not just what is occurring in the classroom, it is what is happening outside the school walls."
 
Seeking Common Ground…Civilly Gerald M. Haran Jr.
Category: American Thought Published: July 2016
"For their many warts, both Sanders and Trump are serving as proof that 'We the People' believe the establishment is in need of a good old-fashioned audit…"
 
Socialism's Superhero Jonathan W. Emord
Category: American Thought Published: September 2021
"[Do] Bernie Sanders and AOC have large Soviet-style portraits of Felix Frankfurter hanging on the walls of their Washington offices alongside those of Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Mao Tse-tung, and Che Guevara. . . "?
 
Stirring the Pot with Turmoil Gerald E. Marsh
Category: American Thought Published: January 2021
". . . The challenges to equality of opportunity are far more complex than university admission or outright discrimination. . . ."
 
Stop Compromising on "Civil Unions" Midge Decter
Category: American Thought Published: March 2007
"Let us be decent, civil, and even loving to our homosexual fellow citizens, but draw the line on what they stand for and on everything else that makes light of our existence."
 
Talking the Talk Harold E. Rogers Jr
Category: American Thought Published: July 2008
"The vigor of . . . national debates is a measure of the strength of the country's democracy."
 
Tea Is Served Charles R. Kesler
Category: American Thought Published: March 2014
The fight the Tea Party was willing to put up arose from this fact--that ObamaCare amounted to a colossal battle b/n two ways of govt, and it was the Tea Party and Pres. Obama who shared a clear understanding of the stakes; Republican leaders did not.
 
Terrorism's Fellow Travelers Bash the U.S. Brink Lindsey
Category: American Thought Published: May 2002
The reaction of domestic America-haters in the wake of Sept. 11 "bespeaks a wild, blind hatred of the U.S. and the values it represents--one not dissimilar from that which consumes the terrorists who seek to destroy America."
 
The Ark of Civic Virtue Dolores T. Puterbaugh
Category: American Thought Published: January 2009
"At one time, the virtues of honor, duty, responsibility, and respect were part of civic education and expected behavior. Failure to live up to one or more of these virtues was considered a significant deficit of character."
 
The Beginner's Mind Jennifer Griffin-Wiesner , Chris Maser
Category: American Thought Published: November 2007
"Not listening invalidates the feelings--and very existence--of another person, an all-too-frequent experience shared by young people."
 
The Billion-Dollar Question Steve Riczo
Category: American Thought Published: March 2020
". . . Bernie Sanders, one of the top contenders for the Democratic nomination for president, insists billionares should not exist. Is he right?"
 
The Hoax Is on Us Roger Kimball
Category: American Thought Published: November 2021
" . . . To understand the Jan. 6 insurrection hoax, you also have to understand that other long-running hoax, the Russia collusion narrative."
 
The Hunger Within Us Dolores T. Puterbaugh
Category: American Thought Published: January 2010
"The phenomenon of the New Year's Resolution, in which bad habits will be overcome suddenly and dramatically, treats all of life as a 12-step program with 11 steps in the wash."
 
The New (Old) Way of War William Weir
Category: American Thought Published: March 2006
"We are not fighting a regular army in Iraq. The regular Iraqi armed forces dissolved rather quickly. What our troops now face are guerrillas."
 
The Spirit of Giving Is Alive Among Teenagers Scott Poland
Category: American Thought Published: July 2002
"[Their] goodness is too frequently overshadowed by the tragic events perpetuated by a tiny percentage of kids who have become alienated and disaffected, acting out in hideous ways to vent their anger and estrangement."
 
The Universe Does Not Revolve Around You--or Does It? Dolores T. Puterbaugh
Category: American Thought Published: July 2009
". . . Two generations of 'your opinion is worth as much as anyone else's has come home to roost."
 
To Give is to Get Adam Meyerson
Category: American Thought Published: May 2015
"Each of us should think about how we can make a difference with our own charitable contributions … and our Federal and state governments should respect and defend the freedom that is vital to the great American tradition of generous giving."
 
True Power without the Power Play Leeza Carlone Steindorf
Category: American Thought Published: July 2018
Todays paradigm shift must begin with women. They do not need to fight for equality because they already are equal. They must diligently work for the practical and tangible expressions of that equality with passion and strength, not resentment and anger.
 
Trump's Triumph Should Show the Way Larry P. Arn
Category: American Thought Published: March 2017
"…the government has grown so large that it is a major factor in everything, including elections, and is in the position of taking on a will of its own….Trump has addressed this problem more directly than anyone since Ronald Reagan…"
 
We Must Return to the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" Larry P. Arnn
Category: American Thought Published: March 2010
The economic policies proposed today represent a return to the idea that the Amer Revolution repudiated--that some will manage the lives of others w/o their consent. This Admin wants to control private enterprise through regulations overseen by czars…
 
What About Whataboutism? Richard E. Vatz
Category: American Thought Published: March 2021
"The fallacy du jour, whataboutism, is a particularly appropriate new strategy for today's cancel culture. . . ."
 
What Do We Care? Emma R. Chasen
Category: American Thought Published: November 2007
"Change does not happen by itself. It comes about when one voice is joined by another, one question leads to many answers, minds gather together to spark new ideas, thoughts are drawn on paper, and black and white is filled in with color."
 
Why Democracy Matters Chuck Hagel
Category: American Thought Published: January 2009
"Americans possess a generous spirit and uncommon decency predicated on faith and family, hard work, fair play, and belief in a better tomorrows. That is, and will remain, the unshakable strength of our nation and democracy."
 
Why Reaganomics Reflects America's True Character Phil Gramm
Category: American Thought Published: March 2012
"The real danger today is not merely a loss of prosperity, but a loss of the kind of character on which prosperity is based."
 
Why the Democratic Party Is the Enemy of the Republic Jonathan W. Emord
Category: American Thought Published: November 2011
"Democrats do not simply dissent from the Founding Fathers' conception of good government, they oppose that conception."
 
Why Women Still Feel Persecuted Judity R. Shapiro
Category: American Thought Published: January 2006
". . . It is not acceptable for women to have to make difficult choices between work and family so much more often than men do. . . . To that end, we need to rearrange the ideas in our heads and the institutions of our society."
 
Women in the Workplace--The Unfinished Revolution Myra H. Strober
Category: American Thought Published: November 2003
"Society has not focused on the need to provide alternative types of care, particularly for children and the elderly, during the time that caregivers are employed."
 
Working Toward Recovery Larry P. Arnn
Category: American Thought Published: May 2009
Either we shall have limited govt, in which a few vital things are tended to with a careful eye and strong, but limited, powers, or else we shall attempt to allocate the labor and capital of the nation by force of law. This second will make a disaster.…
 
Yes, You Can! Well, Maybe . . . Dolores T. Puterbaugh
Category: American Thought Published: January 2014
". . . One of the dangerous flaws in the modern American myth [is] that you can be whatever you want to be, if only you want it badly enough."