Michael McKenna

United States remains mankind’s last, best hope

For most of our history, Americans have been relentlessly positive and optimistic. Unfortunately, that may be changing.

November 9, 2025

People are voting with their feet

I began a recent column by noting that over the last decade, the state of New York had lost approximately 2 million people while New Jersey and Illinois had each lost around 500,000.

November 5, 2025

Gerrymandering, migration and political violence set the stage for America’s great unraveling

We live in uncertain times, and three key features of the current landscape increase the likelihood of political violence.

November 2, 2025

Republicans should attack on health care

Why haven't voters been more concerned about the shutdown, lapse, or whatever? Part of the answer is that 80% of government functions keep sailing right along, more or less on autopilot.

October 29, 2025

The Nigerian holocaust

When you hit church on Sunday, in between prayers for your family and neighbors and the state of your own wretched soul, take a moment to pray for the Christians in Nigeria.

October 26, 2025

Voters backed Trump to fix the economy and the border, not obsess over wars abroad

It is not uncommon for presidents, especially as their tenure progresses, to spend more time on foreign policy than on domestic policy.

October 22, 2025

Trump, the presidency and an American system that holds back absolute power

On Thursday, I found myself at the baptism of one of my great-nephews.

October 19, 2025

Time for Trump and Congress to reset immigration policy

If our politics were not irreparably broken, President Trump's efforts to secure the border would be the opening act of a bipartisan agreement on how best to deal with immigration.

October 15, 2025

Kabuki theater shutdown proves politicians’ addiction to drama over duty

Right before the most recent government shutdown/lapse/whatever, both sides were supremely confident that they finally had the other guys by the short hairs and would achieve ultimate victory.

October 12, 2025

For the left, Jay Jones talking about killing his rivals is just everyday chitchat

In August 2022, Jay Jones, a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, the oldest legislative body in the United States, was listening to delegates pay tribute to Democrat Joe Johnson.

October 8, 2025

Greenpeace wants to destroy the U.S. Constitution

For almost 240 years, the Constitution has been the law of the land and American courts have been the final arbiters of legal disputes in the United States.

October 5, 2025

IEA’s peak oil narrative exposes peak idiocy in global energy policy

Back in 2020, the International Energy Agency, created in 1974 to address OPEC and the risk it then posed, openly joined the environmental crazies to embrace and amplify the narrative of scarcity.

October 1, 2025

Israel seems intent on undoing the Abraham Accords

Without a doubt, the most impressive foreign policy achievement of President Trump's first term were the Abraham Accords.

September 28, 2025

America’s future depends on rejecting politics of recrimination

Right before he left the White House after having resigned, President Nixon encouraged his soon-to-be former staff not to give in to hate.

September 24, 2025

Conroe’s natural gas pipeline lawsuit delivers national consequences

Montgomery County, Texas, is way on the northern border of the Houston/Woodlands metroplex.

September 21, 2025

What does the Constitution’s oath of office mean?

Now that the Trump administration has let us know it has attacked and sunk a third boat in the Caribbean, perhaps it is time to think about the value of due process.

September 17, 2025

America stands at crossroads between civil discourse and political violence

In the immediate wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a friend of mine posted on social media that she looked forward to similar levels of outrage for the recent shootings of schoolchildren.

September 14, 2025

Due process protections matter even for terrorists and drug dealers

One morning at the end of September 2011, a young American who had been born in New Mexico and was residing in and traveling through Yemen was killed by a drone strike while having breakfast.

September 10, 2025

Fans fund failure as teams like Cowboys and Yankees chase only franchise value

The end of summer means more important things are afoot -- namely, pennant races in baseball and the start of football.

September 7, 2025

America’s postwar dominance built the modern world

There has been little official fanfare about this, but 80 years ago Tuesday -- Sept. 2, 1945 -- the Japanese government formally surrendered to the Allied forces (which consisted primarily of Americans).

September 3, 2025