Jack Kerwick's Townhall.com Column

Russell Kirk

2013-04-15T15:34:00-04:00

Jack Kerwick Column
The name of “Russell Kirk” is heard seldom, if ever, in conservative circles today. This is tragic, and maybe even a bit scandalous, for as William F. Buckley—a person whose name is well known—once said, it “is inconceivable even to imagine, let alone hope for, a dominant conservative movement in America without [Kirks’] labor.”

Response to the Schlichter Piece

2013-03-05T16:50:00-05:00

Jack Kerwick Column
Schlicter offers an essentially two prong attack against academia. The first we can call “the tick argument.” Academia, he says, is like “a liberal tick” in that it divests society of its “blood” while producing nothing in return.

The Celebrity Presidency

2013-02-25T14:53:00-05:00

Jack Kerwick Column
Seeing the President and First Lady at nationally and globally-televised sporting events and Hollywood ceremonies makes it all that much easier for the average American to think that there is virtually no area of his life that excludes, or should exclude, government intervention.

Freedom of the Press-Control

2013-02-10T00:01:00-05:00

Jack Kerwick Column
While teaching on Aristotle in my ethics class last week, I noted that he was a “teleologist.” A teleologist is simply one who thinks that everything in the world has an essential purpose that makes it the kind of thing that it is.

Book Review: "Don’t Thank Me, Thank Your Recruiter"

2013-01-16T00:01:00-05:00

Jack Kerwick Column
It has been quite some time since the fictional character, Rocky Balboa, has achieved the stature of a cultural icon. Sylvester Stallone’s hugely successful film franchise has his beloved “Italian Stallion” exchanging blows with one adversary after the other. Yet Stallone has repeatedly insisted over the decades since the debut of the original Rocky that the series is not ultimately about boxing at all.

GOP and Big Government - Friends Not Foes?

2012-12-06T00:01:00-05:00

Jack Kerwick Column
“The Republican Party is no longer the party of limited government, with limited spending and limited taxes. It is now officially exactly right behind the Democrats—on everything. It is time for conservatives to start looking for a new home. There’s precious little left for us here.” Thus spoke Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center and long-time movement conservative.

The Kentucky Debate: Joe Biden and Abortion

2012-10-15T15:15:00-04:00

Jack Kerwick Column
Near the close of the Vice Presidential debate in Kentucky on Wednesday night, moderator Martha Raddatz asked Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan about the relationship between their faith and their politics.

The Denver Debate: A Second Look

2012-10-05T14:00:00-04:00

Jack Kerwick Column
The first presidential debate of 2012 is now behind us. And Republican challenger Mitt Romney won it handily.No one challenges this verdict. Even President Obama’s most ardent supporters concede it by way of the truly laughable excuses to which they’ve resorted in accounting for the decisive drubbing that their candidate received.

Redistribution: What it Means and Where it Leads

2012-09-20T14:26:00-04:00

Jack Kerwick Column
We now have exhibition 4,003 to prove that, at bottom, Barack Obama’s agenda is and has always been socialistic to the core.

The Philosophy Behind the Policies of Obama and the Left

2012-09-06T09:29:00-04:00

Jack Kerwick Column
Addressing the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night, First Lady Michelle Obama told audiences that, ultimately, her husband’s ambitious agenda is not political, but personal.