Free Republic

"The forgotten man and woman" propelled Donald Trump to his shocking electoral victory in 2016. Understanding the perspective of these voters is essential regardless of one's political perspective. My February 17, 2017 lecture at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York:

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR WAS REALLY AMERICA'S WAR By Michael Johns If there exists one visional depiction of the Cold War's end, it is still a Eurocentric one, November 9, 1989, the day East Berliners joined with those of the city's West in celebration of the Berlin Wall's demise. Three weeks earlier, on October 19, 1989, Stalinist East German dictator Erich Honecker, facing mass internal opposition, was forced from power when the Kremlin, overwhelmed with comparable resistance on many fronts, for the first time refused to provide the East German dictatorship with the political or military cover it had come to...

WALKING THE ROAD THAT BUCKLEY BUILT By Michael Johns It can be said that modern conservatism knows only two times. There was the time before him and there was the time after him, and those two times could not be more contrasting. In this stark contrast lies his larger-than-life legacy, and let there be no mistake: It is a legacy that will endure the ages. As word of William F. Buckley, Jr.'s passing reached his many students, admirers and colleagues late last week, it seemed each had an account (some grand, some small) of how this intellectual giant memorably impacted...