The Local Option: How Local Governments Are Our Best Hope
For many American politics seems out of control. As we enter the voting booth, all options make our skin crawl. We bemoan choosing between terrible and beyond terrible candidates, yet do little to remedy the situation. Rather than merely complaining every four years, we should proactively pursue a political framework that offers better representation. Federal politicians are too geographically and ideologically removed from their...
Transformational Leadership, Books, and Politics: An Interview with Allison Ball
by Frank Thornsbury You’ve probably heard the proverb, “Good leaders are also good readers.” Well, look no further for evidence of this truth than the life and career of Allison Ball, Kentucky’s state treasurer and the youngest female constitutional officer in the United States. She’s no stranger to the pages of an inspiring biography or a tangled spy yarn or the Book that matters the most. Indeed, Treasurer Ball herself seems to...
Recommended Books (Autumn 2016)
Francis Bacon wrote in his 1625 essay, “Of Studies,” that reading is a private delight which strengthens the mind and sharpens the personality. However, he remarked, there are various ways of reading and not all books deserve the same attention. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and...
The Ethics of Voting: A Christian Proposal
American citizenship is not a chance designation.[1] It’s the intentional calling of a sovereign God to those who have it. When and where we find ourselves living life is no surprise to God. Part of the Christian’s task in discipleship is discerning how best to fulfill this responsibility. While everyone can’t do everything, we can all do something: we can vote. Considering the Contest One of the first questions we have to consider is...
What the 2016 Election Can (and Should) Teach Us
By this point in 2016, most Americans are thoroughly exhausted by politics. This is typical of our civic experience every two years but especially every four as presidential elections try our patience and chisel away at our sanity. We’re not sure if another ad, sound-bite, or slogan will aid our decision-making or cause us to consider Canadian citizenship. Most American Christians have been formed and shaped by traditions that...
Losing Our Souls: The Neglect of the Liberal Arts
In the past century, the liberal arts have come upon hard times. For some, they’re just not that useful for vocational success. For others, they’re associated with a harmful cultural elitism of the West. However, these critiques, and others like them, are neither quite right nor fair. Whatever our cultural or ethnic or socioeconomic background, and whatever our vocational realities or aspirations, the liberal arts are important. Far...
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