Star Parker

Homelessness, unfortunately, has become a persistent and growing problem in the United States. The Supreme Court, in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, just dealt with one big issue associated with this problem — the ability of cities to prohibit camping on public property. Per the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, the answer has been that the municipality can prohibit such activity.…

South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott hosted an event in Washington, D.C., marking the Juneteenth holiday, which showcased why he has been included among the candidates Donald Trump is considering as his running mate. Juneteenth, now a national holiday, commemorates June 19, 1865, the date of the final implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation in the State of Texas. It’s considered…

A Gallup poll of several months ago asked, “On the whole, would you say that you are satisfied or dissatisfied with the position of the United States in the world today?” Only one-third, 33%, said they were satisfied. This down from 53% in February 2020 at the conclusion of Donald Trump’s presidency. It’s a wonder that even a third of Americans are comfortable with President Joe Biden’s…

President Joe Biden makes no speech without mentioning the importance of democracy in our nation. We would like to believe this comes from deep ideals about human liberty lodged within our president. But more accurate is that Biden, a politician all his adult life, is defined by just that — politics. No word, no act emanates from our president that does not emerge from some political…

The trustees for Social Security have just issued their annual report. And, as we have learned annually over recent years, the system cannot meet its obligations. According to this latest report, the Social Security system will not be able to meet its obligations to retirees by 2035. In 2035, the system will be adequate to meet just 83% of its obligations. This is supposedly good news because…

The current demonstrations on college campuses against Israel remind some of the unrest on college campuses during the 1960s. But the comparison is not a good one. The unrest of the 1960s was defined by the war in Vietnam and by the Civil Rights Movement. Both had practical, personal impact on young Americans in their own country. American soldiers were fighting and dying in Vietnam. There was…

 Author Herman Wouk captured well how to understand heroism. “Heroes are not supermen; they are good men who embody — by the cast of destiny — the virtue of their whole people in a great hour,” observed Wouk. We have today an American hero in the name of House Speaker Mike Johnson. Anyone with eyes open knows the world today is a very dangerous place.

A Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Sen. Mitt Romney regarding the demise of the No Labels political party initiative tells us as much about Romney, and why he failed to ever become a national leader, as it does about the failure of the No Labels effort. No Labels defined its mission “to support centrism and bipartisanship.” Romney defines this effort as seeking out the “sensible…

Most recent Gallup polling in March shows that 36% of Americans “approve of Israeli military action in Gaza” and 50% disapprove. Last November, a month after the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel that claimed the lives of more than 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians, 55% approved of the military action that Israel initiated. What has happened over the last few months that now barely more than a…

Our nation’s Declaration of Independence begins with the famous statement that “all men ... are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” But according to the latest Gallup World Happiness Report, Americans’ success in the “pursuit of happiness” is diminishing. For the first time since the annual report was first…

As part of Black History Month 2024, my organization, CURE, Center for Urban Renewal and Education, has announced the release of “The State of Black Progress,” published by Encounter Books. This is a follow-up to “The State of Black America,” published by CURE in 2022. The objective of these tomes is to showcase first-class scholarship to paint a comprehensive picture for thinking much…

Universities are not alone among our institutions that have lost their way. How about America’s corporations, which now seem to think social justice is their job, beside efficiently delivering goods and services to the American public? In a recent panel discussion at the Bipartisan Policy Institute, Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan, the nation’s largest bank, rang the alarm about the…

Data shows that winds of political change are blowing among Black voters. In volatile times like now, predictions can be made with only the greatest caution. However, it seems clear that something is going on and Black voters are breaking with past voting patterns.

Some 1,000 Black pastors nationwide are reported to have weighed-in to pressure President Joe Biden to force a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. According to one pastor, the war “has evoked the kind of deep-seated angst among Black people that I have not seen since the civil rights movement.” And per another, regarding the Palestinians, “we see them as a part of us ... They are oppressed people.…