Edwin Benson 
For many, American greatness is measured by its industrial might. However, a much more critical factor must be considered. America can only be great if there are enough Americans to keep the country running. In this regard, current trends are ominous. In 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau projected the likely direction of … Read more
Every salesman worth his commission check knows that his greatest ally is urgency. If the customers need something now, they are often willing to pay more for it or purchase it on impulse. Absent a pressing need, there are many strategies to build that sense of urgency, like saying that supplies are … Read more
On September 13, 1597, a Guale warrior named Juanillo attacked and killed Father Pedro de Corpa in what is now the state of Georgia. On January 27, 2025, Pope Francis authorized a decree designating Father de Corpa and four companions as martyrs. The four-and-a-quarter-century trip between those two points illustrates the power … Read more
For many, environmentalists chief among them, Alaska has a peculiar “hands-off” quality. For them, it is more a natural history museum than one of the Union’s fifty co-equal states. Most of it is governed, as it were, by remote control. Two-thirds of its 365.4 million acres are managed in Washington, D.C. Those … Read more
If there is a single symbol of how retailing has changed over the years, it is the self-service checkout terminal. Fortunately, this innovation may be fading from the scene. Great Expectations… A Kroger grocery store in Deerfield Beach, Florida, is credited with the first use of such a device in July 1986. … Read more
Imagination is one of God’s great gifts to humanity. It is essential to any good work. We would never begin any task without imagining that its completion will, somehow, either make life better for us or serve God and others. As children, we all imagined what our future would be. As we … Read more
Just before the end of the year, the State of California notified all those concerned with the welfare of children of a newly revised policy necessitated by the passage of Senate Bill 407 in 2023. To implement the new law, an “all county letter” from the California Health and Human Services Agency … Read more
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, many successful young people feel old. The pressures of life weigh heavily upon them as their chaotic lifestyles take their toll. Middle Age in their Thirties? “‘Young people are feeling older and feeling pressure a lot sooner in their lives,’ says Tirrell De Gannes, … Read more
The environmentalists used to pretend that theirs was a vital grass-roots movement. However, today, the pseudo-popular movement is an arm of a massive bureaucracy full of contradictions. One such contradiction is the promotion of “degrowth” as a means of sustainability. Real growth is a natural development of all living beings—including humans. It … Read more
On December 12, 2024, The New York Times published a piece titled “It’s Time to Talk About Pornography, Scholars Say.” It cited a sobering 2023 survey showing that almost three-quarters of American adolescents under seventeen have viewed pornographic materials. Much of the piece talked about the harmful, misleading and unrealistic nature of … Read more