David R. Stokes is a minister, author, columnist, and broadcaster. His newest book, and first novel, is called Camelot's Cousin. It's an espionage thriller about a spy near the heart of the Kennedy administration. His personal website is: www.davidrstokes.com. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2013 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:01:00 GMT Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:01:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ The obviously sarcastic title of this column comes from the days of World War II. Noel Coward, then a famous playwright and popular British entertainer, wrote a song in 1943 titled, "Don't Let's Be Beastly to the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2013/04/23/dont-lets-be-beastly-to-the-islamists-n1575353 0c1ae948-a718-4731-9785-15aecd943c15 Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:01:00 GMT Wherever the investigation into what happened yesterday in Boston leads, my first reactions were likely in sync with those of most Americans hearing the news. My niece was in running in the Boston Marathon this year and... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2013/04/16/a-terrible-teachable-moment-n1569299 6f383df4-1a75-4a61-86e9-ece23972e9cd Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:51:00 GMT With the announcement out of United Kingdom today that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has died at the age of 87, her life, career, and words are being appropriately reviewed. This is an opportunity for... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2013/04/08/margaret-thatcher-was-also-right-about-islamism-n1561190 8e3b168f-3790-48af-bad1-09250002058a Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:41:00 GMT In January of 2009, there was a furor over President-Elect Barack Obama's selection of California mega-church pastor Rick Warren to pray at his first inauguration. Four years later, another mega-church pastor, Louie... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2013/03/30/have-some-evangelicals-simply-left-their-bibles-behind-n1552865 df84d542-9a33-4f6d-a572-b66cb4e99b94 Sat, 30 Mar 2013 04:01:00 GMT Why do I still find Richard Nixon so fascinating? After all, my political views on many matters are arguably more conservative than his were and would likely be if he were alive and politically engaged today. I think... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2013/02/15/nixon-at-100still-fascinating-n1512471 7cf37d17-81ba-4bf7-9133-c0c706b350a4 Fri, 15 Feb 2013 05:01:00 GMT I grew up in the downriver suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. Most of that time in a community (first a township, then a city) called Taylor-a place in the news recently for having closed its public schools in the wake of a... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2012/12/12/when-school-teachers-act-like-bullies-n1465228 46e11c03-fde6-4e81-8d77-437fa15fe5e6 Wed, 12 Dec 2012 16:03:00 GMT Though he doesn't talk about it much these days, when Barack Obama was ramping up his campaign for the White House five years ago, there was a deliberate attempt to conjure up images of John F. Kennedy and Camelot... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2012/10/25/the_real_lesson_of_october_1962 3fd1845a-8879-4e6a-a480-b28f7b83b64c Thu, 25 Oct 2012 04:01:00 GMT Forty years ago, an incumbent president was cruising comfortably toward a massive November mandate and a second term. He did this while what was later referred to as a "cancer" was already eating away at his... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2012/10/18/no_one_died_in_watergate b21efd3d-acff-4773-a4e8-bb60522d2ea4 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:25:00 GMT I will come to what I mean by the title of this column in a second-the connection between this year's first presidential debate and the first ever such televised event more than five decades ago. But first, by all... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2012/10/05/romney_was_kennedyobama_was_nixon c4f5840c-3438-45f4-916d-5b5068615add Fri, 05 Oct 2012 04:01:00 GMT The world will be watching this week as Mitt Romney receives the Republican nomination for the presidency and has his moment to speak to history. Hurricane Isaac notwithstanding, this convention, like most in recent... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2012/08/28/mitts_moment e446f045-da04-46b2-95d7-2d6f9c4421fa Tue, 28 Aug 2012 04:01:00 GMT It's a predictable mantra as speculation mounts about the identity of the person who will occupy the number two spot on the 2012 GOP ticket: The most important thing for a VP selection is that it be someone who is... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2012/07/16/must_a_vp_candidate_really_be_ready_to_be_president 57ed94c8-1223-4e53-acbe-7be2b9688c09 Mon, 16 Jul 2012 04:01:00 GMT It was high political drama more than six decades ago-controversial and polarizing. A Harvard trained and highly ranked member of the Federal Government charged by a self-confessed former Soviet spy of being a partner... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2012/05/28/why_the_hiss_case_still_matters b2db5444-8872-4d50-880d-78bc99d74421 Mon, 28 May 2012 04:01:00 GMT The dialogue sounds a bit like something out of a Cold War spy novel, especially the part where outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says: “I understand. I will transmit this information to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2012/03/30/the_president_whisperer c5285ed6-17a0-4669-89a3-b6e4a022c2f8 Fri, 30 Mar 2012 04:01:00 GMT The earth moved the other day. The shaking was felt from Long Island to Michigan and was triggered by two giants turning over in their graves. One man negotiated the funeral flip in Oyster Bay, the other in Detroit. ... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/12/09/mr_obamas_strange_rhetorical_bedfellows ab412ca1-08ea-4869-8a48-f03645dd2b12 Fri, 09 Dec 2011 05:01:00 GMT In the spirit of the recent holiday, among the many things for which Americans should be thankful is a political decision made more than 67 years ago as the Second World War was beginning to wind down and as... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/11/26/be_thankful_it_was_harry,_not_henry 63c0a0e0-6aa7-4d49-ba65-a7e2353b588e Sat, 26 Nov 2011 05:01:00 GMT A major political question in the run-up to the 2012 election is: How effective will the Christian Right be? The recent mass-prayer rally in Houston led by Texas Governor Rick Perry is the latest indication of the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/08/12/how_organized_will_the_christian_right_be_in_2012 f8fafc41-571d-415b-a9c8-cbb1b602e4e0 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 18:43:00 GMT Many years ago, when I was finishing work on my graduate degree in political science in New York, I took a course on international affairs. The professor was a Muslim man from Beirut, Lebanon. One day for some reason... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/07/30/anders_breivik_is_no_christian_fundamentalist 6b8328d6-e722-4127-9252-dab5d9ec12ef Sat, 30 Jul 2011 04:01:00 GMT Can you be elected President of the United States if you are, well-personality challenged? Can you succeed in politics these days without the charm and charisma of a celebrity? I'm not necessarily a Tim Pawlenty... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/06/17/maybe_we_don't_really_need_a_celebrity-in-chief 218764e6-157b-4b27-8182-44ecee9150c4 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:48:00 GMT Mitt Romney has inherited much from his late father, most notably a mind for business and a flare for politics. Now in the race for the GOP Presidential nomination, he is by most accounts the front-runner. But that... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/06/03/romney_like_father-like_son 0573bbc2-ee54-41df-8737-506b447d29c2 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 18:04:00 GMT As the GOP presidential dance card continues to fill up, with former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich's hat now in the ring, many stalwarts have serious concerns about the actual electoral prospects... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/05/15/one_key_to_gop_success_in_2012 f9d5774c-afc4-4269-a2d8-b7c84b9f29ea Sun, 15 May 2011 04:01:00 GMT When U.S. Presidents leave office, the sudden shift to retirement is often difficult. Some find ways to make the most of it, reinventing their persona—as in the case of Jimmy Carter (though he does seem... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/05/07/george_w_bush_-_decidedly_humble 93d799e9-5818-4935-801e-00634029b16c Sat, 07 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT There are moments in time and space when transitory issues fade in significance as things that seem to matter so much are trumped by what really matters most. Today, as people around the globe gather to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/04/24/the_easter_effect 6a354fd9-f7ac-42b0-b3f9-4a0955ac6da3 Sun, 24 Apr 2011 04:01:00 GMT Gene Healy, author of The Cult of the Presidency—America’s Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power, suggests: “In an age when Americans periodically swoon for imperial presidents, a little sacred... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/04/10/the_camelot_cover-up_continues 2679a9ea-4331-4be3-9097-2ce115f8f030 Sun, 10 Apr 2011 04:01:00 GMT On March 25, 1911-exactly 100 years ago-approximately 500 workers were crafting "shirtwaists," blouses with puffy sleeves and tight waists. These garments were the height of feminine fashion in America during the years... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/03/27/of_sweatshops_and_classrooms a9152685-2db0-45ae-84f0-a0c23dd7562d Sun, 27 Mar 2011 04:01:00 GMT I wish the collectivist left would make up its mind. One the one hand, we have been bombarded for the past few years with the emergent doctrine that the government is the answer to just about everything. On the other... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/03/06/not_your_grandfathers_labor_movement f1c32b92-e59b-4976-83f4-dc2b2d838690 Sun, 06 Mar 2011 05:01:00 GMT On the day that changed everything, Sept. 11, 2001, Brad Taylor's wife was nine months pregnant. Within days, she gave birth to their daughter. Four days after that, Taylor headed to Afghanistan with the image of his... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/02/20/one_rough_man-one_great_read b8efe49f-bb2c-4d9d-a75c-a306584a0428 Sun, 20 Feb 2011 05:01:00 GMT As Egypt continues its lurch toward dystopia and while the rest of the world watches, there are a couple of stories from history that should be remembered. One happened a little over 30 years ago and the other more... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/02/06/you_say_shah,_i_say_sharia 0871fcc7-8eb9-478e-9cd0-25f3b3695fe9 Sun, 06 Feb 2011 05:01:00 GMT Not everything that happened fifty years ago this month made international news or found its way into the history books. While President Eisenhower was sharing his caveat-laden farewell and President Kennedy was... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/01/29/all_church_is_local f55f17f5-b547-42be-a0a7-2405d1f2d1ca Sat, 29 Jan 2011 05:01:00 GMT Anyone having the opportunity to interact with someone who is, say, more than eighty years old-and therefore remembers the Great Depression-knows that people back in those days thought differently about money and... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/01/16/insolvent_democracy-a_warning_from_history 1a58f10b-84c0-4ce6-9559-1a95eaac18cb Sun, 16 Jan 2011 05:01:00 GMT Do all those who seem to be so enamored of a so-called "Living Constitution" really want the document to live-or are they actually trying to kill it off as a relevant part of our national life? It is hard to actually... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2011/01/09/contempt_of_constitution b8dba1e9-ae6c-4abd-9bd0-b49110834386 Sun, 09 Jan 2011 05:01:00 GMT What's your favorite Christmas song? That's a very subjective question. Some like to hear about "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" - others love to think about bells "jingling." Yet, others tear up (with good... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/12/25/the_forgotten_christmas_carol d1ef0995-b753-444b-9c78-1294e17a7cff Sat, 25 Dec 2010 05:01:00 GMT Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, picked the wrong moment to drive down Regent Street in London en route to a Royal Variety performance the other night. Several hundred protestors attacked their... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/12/12/oxbridge_blues 7d621166-4ab6-4e71-8bdc-343fbf670f4e Sun, 12 Dec 2010 05:01:00 GMT Most American conservatives find little in the various political ideas advanced a hundred years ago by Theodore Roosevelt worth salvaging, much less translating into present day policy.  His agenda back then reads like... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/12/05/that_other_thing_teddy_said fc766c31-6ff8-42b7-bec7-6ce7694b1c36 Sun, 05 Dec 2010 05:01:00 GMT The snow had fallen in massive quantities the night before and the temperature had plummeted to single digits. And the man who had provided steady and unruffled guidance to the United States of America during a... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/11/21/going_home_to_glory bde97f85-6eb6-4053-a1f5-f056b9689eaf Sun, 21 Nov 2010 05:01:01 GMT Last Tuesday, the distant thunder so long on America's political horizon erupted in a local and national roar. A part of the nation's body politic often referred to as a silent majority, broke its silence. Beyond mere... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/11/07/the_silence_that_roared d69c0e01-d615-4cb6-842d-31a08cfae183 Sun, 07 Nov 2010 04:01:00 GMT As the nation prepares to mark the second anniversary of Barack Obama's election to the presidency with widespread repudiation of his hope and change agenda, theories abound as to what has caused the wheels to fall off... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/10/31/hubris_and_nemesis_all_in_one d242190a-d996-4441-8a77-6138b6c8e409 Sun, 31 Oct 2010 04:01:00 GMT The firing of Juan Williams by National Public Radio (NPR), alleging that he was guilty of bigotry during a recent appearance on Bill O'Reilly's FoxNews Channel television program, is another case of political... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/10/24/we_are_all_bigots_now 35933b7b-e160-4728-8cfd-ab6f714736a7 Sun, 24 Oct 2010 04:01:00 GMT For years, during campaign after campaign, moderate Republicans-in various shades of pastel-have preached a big-tent gospel, one that insisted on conservatives being good soldiers in support of the GOP. And the record... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/10/10/the_forgotten_lesson_of_1964 e1470630-0939-4af9-8e74-c59d54c37d30 Sun, 10 Oct 2010 04:01:01 GMT Historian Paul Kengor clearly loves the research aspect of writing. His latest book bears witness to how digging for detail can yield not only clues to the past, but insights for the present. His recently released... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/10/03/useful_idiots_and_usual_suspects e1499958-002e-4d33-8d71-3a80146ed67a Sun, 03 Oct 2010 13:18:33 GMT One day in 1974, as spring began to give way to summer, Frank Gannon - wordsmith and White House Fellow - took a walk in Washington, largely to get away from the stress induced by the Nixon White House's ever-increasing... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/09/23/checkers_the_moment_politics_met_television d9eab8ee-cae9-432a-a36e-75fc1ca74a70 Thu, 23 Sep 2010 04:01:15 GMT It was a picture perfect day-but not for long. Sunshine and light breezes quickly gave way to the harsh winds of war. In a moment the world changed. In a moment we all changed. But now, nine years later, have we... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/09/12/resolved_to_be_irresolute 713c29cd-b563-40c9-9149-5479f418c694 Sun, 12 Sep 2010 11:45:00 GMT Thirty-eight years ago a film called The Candidate was playing in theaters around the country. It told the story of a young politician named Bill McKay (played by Robert Redford) and his quixotic campaign to win a seat... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/09/05/what_obama_should_learn_from_lenin d0103c8e-dd9d-4f46-90d1-00e999490d10 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:01:00 GMT The planned building of that mosque at Ground Zero-the story that should not and will not go away-has reopened a national wound. The in-your-face-absurdity of the whole thing is missed only by elitist politicians and... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/08/22/a_de_facto_affirmative_action_program_for_islam 69f8bf76-38dc-4a80-baf6-8f9e84147a01 Sun, 22 Aug 2010 04:00:01 GMT Congressional job approval continues to tank, with now more than 70% of Americans decidedly less than enamored of the men and women who were once at least popular enough to win an election or two, or-if you're Charlie... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/08/15/can_we_yes 2c067ac8-2b18-4203-9891-8b37b953b903 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 04:01:00 GMT Predicting the future with any degree of accuracy is both speculative and risky, but it now seems likely that in about 13 months (September 11, 2011)-while the nation marks the 10th anniversary of the horror of the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/08/08/not_your_fathers_cordoba 5e7a25d2-e609-4810-85ec-4b6b2c6bf1d8 Sun, 08 Aug 2010 04:01:00 GMT Shirley Sherrod's recent frenetic rollercoaster ride is only a "teachable moment" if people are really willing to learn. By all accounts, this wonderful lady was first, thrown under the proverbial bus, then scooped... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/07/25/its_the_context,_stupid 7bf1f69a-a04c-42a4-8b7a-4124d9c5fd0a Sun, 25 Jul 2010 04:01:00 GMT I met a little boy the other day. He shook my hand with a good firm grip, while looking me right in the eye. He seemed to have a confidence born of recent experience. Just seven years old, his name is Aidan. Aidan... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/07/18/mercy_more_than_life a17c2350-a97a-4bb5-a63c-b86e8fc903cd Sun, 18 Jul 2010 04:01:00 GMT With the imminent arrival of Major League Baseball's perennial All-Star game, it just seems appropriate to pull out the old reliable analogy-stretching tool and apply it to a couple of items in the news. Let's find the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/07/11/the_politics_of_lebron,_strasburg,_and_spahn d511b6b3-3e09-4846-a48f-93d68eb5aedf Sun, 11 Jul 2010 16:01:00 GMT In September of 1775, five months after the battles of Lexington and Concord, and while the shot heard 'round the world later immortalized by Ralph Waldo Emerson still echoed, some Continental Army volunteers gathered... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/07/04/the_forgotten_old_south_church_of_the_american_revolution 40bc5217-2fca-487f-8b62-7e098397bd95 Sun, 04 Jul 2010 04:01:00 GMT Though President Barack Obama's speech last Tuesday has by now been examined to death, I venture a few observations-more about the style and setting than the substance. Critiques of the latter have been largely... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/06/20/obamas_oval_office_lecture c8761a88-09bd-441b-8f66-1c37210c4480 Sun, 20 Jun 2010 04:01:00 GMT