Author: Cal Thomas

Evidence of big media’s bias against religion that doesn’t advance the secular and liberal agenda of the Democratic Party is beyond dispute. Any faith attached to a conservative agenda is to be ridiculed, stereotyped and misrepresented. Islam is a notable exception. The media appear to bend over backward not to offend Muslims. The Washington Post […]

In the Aesop Fable “The Grasshopper and the Ant,” there are moral, economic and political lessons for our time, or any other. As the story goes, the lazy grasshopper wiles away his summer days singing and hopping and having an all-around good time while industrious ants work and march and struggle to carry kernels of […]

It is one thing to talk about “fairness” when it comes to allowing gays and lesbians to marry; it is quite another to claim biblical authority for such relationships. President Obama cited the “Golden Rule” about treating others as you would like to be treated, but in doing so he ignored the totality of Scripture […]

LYNCHBURG, Va. — It wasn’t exactly the belly of the beast Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited recently on a picture-perfect commencement day at “the world’s largest Christian University,” but his appearance was a test as to whether the conservative school, founded by the late Jerry Falwell, would embrace a devout Mormon. And Romney passed. […]

Former NPR and current Fox News political analyst Juan Williams made an excellent point Monday night on “The O’Reilly Factor.” Williams said the major reason President Obama had not endorsed same-sex marriage is because of the strong opposition to it in the black and Hispanic communities. Who could have doubted, though, that the president favors […]

“Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.” is another of the Harvard professor’s wonderful television series for PBS. This is “must-see TV” and a more than worthy sequel to three previous projects Gates has hosted about how some of us came to be what and who we are. In this latest 10-part series, Gates […]

It is something of a truism that whenever the federal government steps in, costs usually rise and efficiency declines. That is especially true when it comes to a college education, which President Obama promised during the 2008 campaign to make more affordable. “We’ve got to make sure every young person can afford to go to […]

In the 1993 movie “Dave” the faux president (played by Kevin Kline) calls in his best friend (played by Charles Grodin) and they stay up all night balancing the federal budget, not by raising taxes, but by cutting unnecessary and wasteful spending. If only it were that easy. Most presidents have talked about cutting spending, […]

“The war on terror is over,” or so claims an unnamed senior State Department official, as reported by National Journal’s Michael Hirsh in his recent article “The Post al-Qaida Era.” Really? Well, if the war is over, I must have missed the peace treaty signing ceremony. I also haven’t noticed a decline in incendiary rhetoric, […]

After Richard Nixon lost the 1960 presidential election to John F. Kennedy and the California governor’s race two years later (when he uttered the immortal line to the media, “You don’t have Nixon to kick around anymore”) the former vice president knew he must reinvent himself to run for president again in 1968. Thus was […]

Dick Clark, who died Wednesday at 82, was called “America’s oldest teenager.” That’s not only because he looked so good late into life, but also because he carried with him the teen memories of those of us who grew up watching “American Bandstand” on glorious black-and-white, small-screen television sets. Every weekday afternoon, I would arrive […]

In the 1962 Howard Lindsay-Russel Crouse-Irving Berlin Broadway musical, “Mr. President,” one of the songs in the production is titled “The Secret Service,” which begins, “the Secret Service makes me nervous…” If allegations are true that at least 11 Secret Service agents and several members of the U.S. military consorted with prostitutes prior to President […]

Virtually everything said and done in a presidential election year distorts the truth, much like concave and convex mirrors in a carnival attraction alter one’s true reflection. That kind of distortion occurred in the recent dustup over whether women who choose to stay at home can completely understand the economic challenges and personal struggles faced […]

Most campaigns have a musical theme. Rick Santorum, who “suspended” his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday, might have selected the song “The Impossible Dream.” Santorum’s dream seemed improbable, if not impossible, from the start. He lost his last Senate race and had been out of office — and out of mind — […]

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Here, where Titanic, the massive White Star Line luxury liner, was built — the joke for years has been, “It was fine when it left here.” This year marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship “Not even God himself could sink….” and the centenary is being observed in […]

Next week the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans (www.horatioalger.org) will celebrate its 65th anniversary. I confess I did not know of its existence until I read their ad in an airline magazine. I am familiar with Horatio Alger, the man, who inspired generations of boys, and later girls, with stories of people overcoming difficult […]

The debate isn’t new, but as the country awaits the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, suppose the conversation switched from a health care system devoted primarily to caring for the sick to one that gives top priority to finding cures for disease? […]

Politicians and presidents of both parties have occasionally suffered from open-mic syndrome, saying something when they thought the microphone was turned off they wished had not been made public. The latest to fall prey to that amplification of the mouth is President Obama. The president told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during their Monday meeting in […]

If you watch the news in any large city you are probably desensitized to stories about crime involving young black men. Most nights there are reports about several of them getting shot; often, more than one dies. It might be a gang fight, a revenge killing, robbery or a drive-by. Someone is likely killed for […]

Are there no limits on government’s power, no place where it cannot go? New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a former (thankfully) Republican, but in name only, has decided to limit food donations to city charities, including homeless shelters, because the government is unable to measure the nutritional value of the food. Who in city […]

Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear three days of oral arguments in the healthcare lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare.” We now know the law was based on phony predictions about its cost. After promising the price would be under $940 billion […]

You’ve got to hand it to Democrats and the Obama re-election campaign. Like a quarterback who looks left to draw the defense away from his intended target on the right, Democrats have managed to divert our attention. Instead of debating President Obama’s dreadful record on just about everything, Democrats have managed to get Republicans talking […]

The first apology by Rush Limbaugh, posted on his website over the weekend, sounded forced, qualified, almost defensive. The second, broadcast live on his Monday show, sounded sincere and heartfelt. Rush Limbaugh did something not usually associated with either himself or bombastic talk radio. He apologized for calling a woman a “slut” and a “prostitute.” […]

“Seeing is believing” is an ancient idiom. It teaches that a dispute can often be resolved by presenting physical evidence. Opponents of the ultrasound bill passed last week by the Virginia legislature and expected to be signed soon by Governor Bob McDonnell, thought they could stop the measure because they said it would require an […]

Most wars have a turning point that either signals the road to victory or the ditch of defeat. In Vietnam, the 1968 Tet Offensive by communist troops against South Vietnamese and American forces and their allies is regarded as the turning point in that conflict. Though communist forces suffered heavy losses, which would normally define […]

There have been many “gaps” in modern politics. There is the gender gap, the generation gap and now the God gap, which is the gulf between people who take God’s instructions seriously and those who don’t. Which side of the gap you’re on could influence your vote. The God gap is growing wider. I asked […]

Pat Buchanan might have seen the end of the line coming at MSNBC when last month network president Phil Griffin commented on his latest book, “Suicide of a Superpower,” by saying, “I don’t think the ideas that (Buchanan) put forth are appropriate for the national dialogue, much less on MSNBC.” When Buchanan was let go […]

Black History Month honors the achievements of African Americans throughout history and that is a good thing. Unfortunately, a reliance on family and faith, which allowed many African Americans to survive the horrors of Reconstruction, racial injustice and violent acts of discrimination, has become a casualty of the modern welfare state, which has contributed to […]

When one writes about moral convictions, it’s probably a good idea to consistently live up to them. That way people can still disagree with your convictions, but they have a difficult time accusing you of hypocrisy. Last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, I failed to live up to one of […]

“Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?” — Thomas Jefferson “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government — lest it come to dominate […]