If the Rev. Billy Graham could go back and do anything differently, he would have “steered clear of politics,” he told Christianity Today. “I’m grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to,” he said. “But looking back, I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn’t do that now.” Graham also wished he had spent more time at home with his family, studied more and preached less.
It’s not surprising that Charles and David Koch, the executives of Wichita-based Koch Industries, might have wanted conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas to speak at Federalist Society dinners scheduled around the Kochs’ private meetings of elite conservative leaders in California. But it’s disconcerting that Scalia and Thomas would have seen no problem in being associated with the annual meetings, which are intended, according to this year’s invitation, “to review strategies for combating the multitude of public policies that threaten to destroy America as we know it.” Those honored with the responsibility to sit on the Supreme Court should be more careful about the company they keep, especially when invitations come in from people, businesses and groups keenly interested in swaying the court to their way of thinking.
In their zeal to repeal the health care reform law, GOP lawmakers are undermining an institution crucial to operation of government: the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO is a nonpartisan scorekeeper that provides estimates on the cost and financial impact of legislation. Though both parties often have complaints about the scoring, they have accepted the office as a neutral source that guides lawmaking. But because the CBO analysis of the health care reform law reached a conclusion that the GOP didn’t want to hear — that the law actually reduces the federal deficit — GOP leaders have tried to dismiss and undermine the CBO. That could cause harm that lasts long beyond the current health care debate. As Ezra Klein of the Washington Post warned, attacking the credibility of the CBO undermines “the incentives of future congressional majorities to work with the CBO to release fiscally responsible legislation.”
What if Mount Rushmore were to expand its array of famous faces? Richard Norton Smith, the presidential historian who formerly ran the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas, would represent the 20th century with carved portraits of Ronald Reagan (in photo), Dwight Eisenhower, FDR and Woodrow Wilson. Over the next month, Smith will give a lecture about each of his nominees at KU’s institute.
If the Rev. Billy Graham could go back and do anything differently, he would have “steered clear of politics,” he told Christianity Today. “I’m grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to,” he said. “But looking back, I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn’t do that now.” Graham also wished he had spent more time at home with his family, studied more and preached less.
