Free Republic

Employment rates for college graduates are dismal. Aggregate student debt is staggering. But university administrative salaries are soaring. The campus climate of tolerance has utterly disappeared. Only the hard sciences and graduate schools have salvaged American universities' international reputations. For over two centuries, our superb system of American public and private higher education kept pace with radically changing times and so ensured our prosperity and reinforced democratic pluralism. But a funny thing has happened on the way to the 21st century. Colleges that were once our most enlightened and tolerant institutions became America's dinosaurs. Start with ossified institutions. Tenure...

A new, sweeping demographic snapshot of the United States, “The Next America,” has been produced by the Pew Research Center. The data and graphs present a stunning picture of how dramatically the United States has changed and how dramatically it will continue to change. The big themes that one walks away with is that America is getting older, less white, less religious, less traditional, and less patriotic. These trends suggest big questions regarding the future of the country and what the implications are regarding our politics and public policy. In 1960, 9.2 percent of our population was over 65. By...

The other day, I was thinking about leaders, in everything from the White House to my own house to countries such as Syria to companies such as Apple. I was reflecting upon revolutionaries, from Nelson Mandela to Rosa Parks to the single parent of three who inspires her or his children with hard work and tough love. I was contemplating the power of influence and influencers who make a difference by their command and control to others who demand respect with their silence and servitude. From Jesus to James Dean and prosperity to prowess, leaders and what attracts others to...

Howard ("Howie") Phillips was unique. The year was 1987 and the Reagan administration had announced the INF Treaty to limit short-range nukes. Many conservatives were opposed. I elected to host a press conference to make that point publicly. The night before, we met privately. As ringleader, I issued a directive: No attacks on Ronald Reagan. Our beef was with the treaty, not with the Gipper. My co-conspirators agreed unanimously. But while we were meeting President Reagan was sitting down for an interview with Tom Brokaw and said about conservative opposition, "Some conservatives just believe in the inevitability of nuclear war."...

Last week, freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) held an old-fashioned filibuster against the nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA. Paul's stated reason for taking to the floor and talking for 13 hours was that the Obama administration wouldn't give him a straight answer on the question of whether the president can unilaterally order the killing of American citizens on American soil with "lethal force, such as a drone strike ... and without trial." In other words, if an American member of al-Qaeda is sitting at a Starbucks, can the president sic one of his death-dealing robots on him?...

Ask Siri: “What is CPAC 2013? There is an app in the iTunes store called CPAC 2013. You must know something about this event!” Siri is a smart woman. She responds: “CPAC 2013 is the largest annual gathering of conservative activists in the country and is celebrating its 40th anniversary in Washington, D.C., March 14-16, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. CPAC’s organizers expect to meet or exceed last year’s attendance record—meaning over 10,000 activists. This is a big feat considering that this is a year after an election where conservatives suffered some major losses. This indicates that...