The president spoke at the annual prayer breakfast this week and had some "interesting" things to say about tax policy, New Testament theology, and the role a Christian should play (and pay) in society.

I wrote about the whole thing over at AEI's "Values and Capitalism" blog.  Here's an excerpt:

Most of the verses that sound like the president’s reference have nothing to do with charity and speak to the need a true believer has to be utterly dependent and subservient to the Spirit and Word of God. Matthew 25:29, which reads, “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance,” is a call to Christians to use their God-given abilities and advantages wisely and productively. This is seen as a non-negotiable aspect of being a disciple of Christ. The reward for such behavior is additional opportunities to serve God “faithfully and fruitfully,” as one commentator puts it.

And here is where “faith and politics” smash right up against one another. As I said before, nearly every American is on-board with the notion that people should pay their taxes. We all (correctly) praise those who give their time and money to those in need. We’re all for helping and fairness and puppy dogs.

The problem, simply put, is this: If another self-proclaimed Christian is using scripture and doctrine to promote things that I know to be detrimental to an economy and society, I can’t support that Christian merely because he brings up “Christian stuff” in convoluted ways. I can pray for that Christian. I can be cordial and kind. If that Christian is willing, I can use the Matthew 18 model of coming to that “brother” in hopes of admonishing and correcting him. But if he persists, if entire swaths of our society persist, then I am duty-bound to oppose the ill-fated plans. Regardless of intentions—something only God can assess anyway—I must apply the advantages I’ve been gifted. In this instance, President Obama unfortunately learned at the feet of people who believe in economic policies that can’t work.

Please read the entire thing right here.

Over at AEI's Values&Capitalism.com blog today is a post that I co-wrote with my friend Jacque Otto about the anger many in our generation misdirect at successful companies like Wal-Mart.

One often hears that shopping at a "mom-and-pop" store is the better option when considering how to spend your time and money.  We don't disagree that local shops and restaurants are important pieces of a healthy community, but we do disagree that retailers like Wal-Mart and Target must be diminished (or even demonized).

Here's an excerpt:

To the untrained eye, there seems to be a contradiction in a free market conservative who preaches the superiority of limited government, de-centralization of powers and charity localization (i.e. churches, neighborhoods, families) while at the same time defending multi-national corporations like Walmart that dominate their respective markets. Things seem even more convoluted if the free-market conservative and his or her liberal chums are all Christians (or even simply “religious”).

Where is compassion to be found in the face of a faceless corporate juggernaut?

Are not more localized markets and businesses better suited to meet the needs of the people and areas they know best? Isn’t it unfair for a neighborhood sporting goods store to have to compete with Dick’s or Sports Authority? Or a local grocer or retailer to compete with the Walmart Supercenter?

To find out our answers to these questions, click right here.

By: R.J. Moeller

-------------------

I love movies. I would say "Who doesn't?" but I actually know people who don't love seeing movies and their apathy makes me want to tie their shoelaces together when they're not looking so that they trip when attempting to walk away from the conversation about seeing movies I'm having with other, more interesting people.

The year 2012 is a big one, and not simply because the Mayans say so.  We have a presidential race that will heat up with each passing day.  I have to get my driver's license renewed, which is always a big event.  And a slew of interesting (and hopefully really good) movies are slated to be released.

I don't know about you, but I love to find out what flicks are on the docket in coming months and so for your convenience I've assembled what I consider to be the 10 most intriguing movies that will be released in the next year.  (They are in no particular order.)

1. Dark Knight Rises (July)  This is easily the most anticipated flick of the calendar year.  It's the third installment of The Dark Knight trilogy from director Christopher Nolan.  Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, the terrorist leader Bane arrives in Gotham City, pushing it and its police force to their limits, forcing its former hero Batman to resurface after taking the fall for Harvey Dent's crimes.

The trailer is outstanding, the cast stellar, and the chances that this one is bad are the same that the Chicago Cubs won't be wretched this season.  So rest assured, Batman fans!

---------------------------

2. Prometheus (June 8)  From legendary director Ridley Scott (the man who provided me with three of my favorite films of all time: Blade Runner, Alien, Gladiator) comes his first sci-fi movie in over 30 years.  A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.  The trailer for this bad boy has got me excited.

Oh, and the creator of LOST (Damon Lindelof) co-wrote this as well.  Too many talented people involved for this one to stink.  I hope.

----------------------------

3. Moonrise Kingdom (May 25)  Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore) is back at it again with this new film set to come out in May and co-stars the likes of Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, and Tilda Swinton.

The only description I could find is as follows: "A pair of lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out and find them."  I suppose I'm hoping more than guessing that this one is good.  I loved Anderson's earlier work, but is in danger of becoming utterly irrelevant (at least to me) with another flop.

-------------------------------

4. Neighborhood Watch (July 27)  This comedy starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill is a complete toss-up in my mind.  "Suburban dads form a neighborhood watch group to get time away from their families, only to discover a plot to destroy Earth."

It could be the next classic comedy in the line of Old School, Wedding Crashers, Superbad, etc.  Or it could be pure rubbish.  Real hot garbage.  Either way, it's a summer comedy with three of the funnier dudes on the planet in it.

---------------------------

5. Argo (September 14)  Ben Affleck's acting and directing talents could not be further apart.  He is terrible in front of the camera, but (so far) magic behind it.  I loved The Town and Gone, Baby, Gone and Argo sounds very promising.  The plot?  "As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador."

Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) co-stars and the buzz around this film is all positive.

--------------------------

6. Gangster Squad (October 19)  I am obsessed with gangster movies.  Especially old ones starring guys like Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney that you can only find on Turner Classic Movies Channel.  Gangster Squad is a chronicle of the LAPD's fight to keep East Coast Mafia types out of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s and I have a great feeling about this one.

It stars Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin and Emma Stone.

-------------------------

7. Skyfall (November 9)  Okay, so I'm giving the Bond franchise one last try before I turn my back forever on it.  Daniel Craig is a fine actor and action star, but they haven't nailed down a decent script in years.  There's a new director for this latest Bond effort (Sam Mendes) and hopefully a fresh pair of eyes will lead to a quality product.  There aren't any photos or clips from this film yet, but here's a (very generic) description from IMDB: "Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost."

And, if you happen to be interested, here is the press conference where the new cast and director were announced at this past November:

------------------------

8. World War Z (December 21)  Brad Pitt stars in a new zombie film next Christmas season.  It's what the holidays are all about!  The only description of this flick I could find, however brief, actually got me excited about the possibility of this movie being good.

"A UN representative, writing a report on the great zombie war, interviews survivors in the wake of World War Z."

I also learned that the script for World War Z is based on a graphic novel of the same name.  If turns out anything like The Walking Dead on AMC, I'll be happy.

-----------------------

9. Lincoln (December)   Our nation's greatest president.  Director Steven Spielberg.  Lincoln portrayed by the best actor of this generation, Daniel Day-Lewis.  Need I say more?

The only fear I have is that uber-liberal Spielberg does to the Civil War what he did to the Arab-Israeli conflict in Munich: namely, play the moral equivalency game.

------------------------

10. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (December 14)  I've been waiting for this movie since I first read the Tolkien classic as a 6th grader.  The entire production team from the Lord of the Rings trilogy returns and there is absolutely no way this movie is anything short of a masterpiece.  Even if it's bad, I'll tell people I love it.  If you couldn't get in to the Lord of the Rings movies or books, The Hobbit is the key to unlocking a world of imagination and story-telling you never dreamed of.  Get yourself a copy of the book, and prepare for December 14th.

So that's it, folks. The 10 movies I'm most excited for in 2012. What do you think? What did I miss? What did I foolishly include?

By: R.J. Moeller

---------------

There continues to be a lot of public pining on the part of conservatives and Republicans as it pertains to potential presidential candidates like Chris Christie and Marco Rubio.  I hope you’re sitting down for this shocker, but I have a few thoughts on the matter.

If you’ve seen the new Brad Pitt-Jonah Hill drama Moneyball, you know two things about baseball.  First, there are no “sure things.”  Second, taking a risk on something you believe in is a necessary part of growth – as a person, baseball franchise, small business, or Words With Friends player.  (Speaking of which, I’m under “RJ Moeller” if you’re up for a WWF game.)

While there are no “sure things” in life – apart from death, taxes, and liberals calling any group of 2 or more conservatives gathered together to protest run-away spending in Washington “racists” – sometimes you just know that something, if given a chance, is going to work out.

Few things are more daunting than telling a cute girl how you feel about her, especially when you have no idea what she’s thinking.  But sometimes you just know, should she be up for it, things would work out between the two of you.  You know that this person is someone worth putting yourself out on a lonely line for.  The risk of being rejected is more than worth the potential reward.

Or, if you’ll indulge me one more analogy, consider one from the realm of the best sport ever invented by humans: baseball.  Currently my favorite team (the Chicago Cubs) is rudder-less without a manager.  I know that former Boston Red Sox skipper Terry Francona could turn things around on the North Side of Chicago.  I just know it.  I’m no baseball soothsayer, and Francona did just help to bring two World Series championships to Boston in the past 7 years, so such a statement on my part is nothing revelatory by any means.  But I am entirely confident things will get better for my Cubbies if their ownership team ponies up the cash for Terry Francona.

I just know.

Conservatives and Republicans want people like Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, and Paul Ryan to grace the GOP’s presidential ticket because, if I may speak on their behalf, we just know they are better than any of the current wanna-be’s.  And not just “better” in a “barely scraping by” sense of the word.  I mean “better” in the “you can pack your things up and go home Barack Obama” sense of the term.

Gov. Christie is definitely imperfect (and looks like he ate New Jersey), but that’s like saying the Cubs have had “a few rough years” as a franchise.  Duh?  No politician is perfect because Jesus hasn’t run for public office yet.

As far as Christie goes, the man says what he’s going to do, and then does it.  He articulates himself well, and in the face of fierce critics and an antagonistic media in New Jersey.  He’s currently absorbing executive experience by running a state.  (For our liberal friends who may be reading this, that is a tougher, more important job than organizing communities among White Sox fans on the South Side of Chicago.)  He’s taken public sector unions on, a point that may be all I would need to know to get me to endorse a candidate for any level of elected office.

He’s funny, well spoken (just YouTube him), aggressive, interesting, compelling, and, for lack of a better term, “real.”  (Don’t make me say that the governor is “keepin’ it real.”)  If “we the people” can also provide him with major majorities in both houses of congress, and promise to keep our boots on the throats of elected officials from both parties when it comes to spending and taxation, Christie could do some real damage to the progressive-Left infrastructure in every level of government from Berkeley to Boston.

Then there are the legitimate up-and-comer’s like Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio who are, without a doubt, the future of the conservative movement.  If, say in 2016 or 2020, those two teamed up on a presidential ticket, the Democrats would have a Walter Mondale situation on their hands.

But although the future may be bright, that does little for voters and taxpayers who correctly view the 2012 election a pivotal one in the history of the country.  What do we do in 2012 if Mitt Romney or Rick Perry is the last man standing in the GOP primaries?  In that case, I’m hitting the snooze alarm and asking someone to wake me up when it’s all over.

Certainly you can’t force someone to do what they don’t feel ready (or willing) to do, but sometimes the talent – in this case Chris Christie – can’t always see the forest for the trees and needs some convincing.  Sometimes the manager you want for your baseball team needs to hear more of the general manager’s vision for the team going forward before he’s ready to take the position.  Sometimes a little wooing can go a long way with a young lady your keen on.

Listen, I’m not trying to convince you that Chris Christie and Marco Rubio would be the best duo to tackle the Obama-Biden (or, more likely, Obama-Clinton) incumbent administration.  I already know that Christie-Rubio would be the best.  What I’m trying to do is talk through my thinking on the matter – thinking that many on the Right share.  If you’re a conservative, Republican, or anything but a Ron Paul devotee, and you can’t see that Chris and Marco, should they be convinced to run, are the best option we have to not only defeat President Obama but turn this sinking ship of state around, you’re not paying attention.

Of course to acknowledge your dream-team is something very different than seeing that dream-team realize their potential.  But if you don’t know what you’re aiming at, how can you even be sure you’re headed in the right direction?  Christie-Rubio (or Ryan) should be our ideal pairing in 2012.  Political realities will have their say no matter what we do, so why not set out to meet the gold-standard and then adapt to silver or bronze if a roll-with-the-punches attitude is called for?

Christie may say no.  Terry Fancona may tell the Cubs to take their 103 years of losing and stick it where the Billy Goat don’t bleat.  The girl you’re smitten with may do what far too many quality women end up doing – settling for some loser who doesn’t realize what he’s fallen tookus-backward into.

And in each instance, the rational, mature thing to do is accept that this person wasn’t part of God’s plan for your life (or the life of your franchise/nation) and go find the next best (and possibly even better) option.

You still need a presidential candidate.  You still need a Skipper for your ballclub.  You still want to share your life with someone and have a family some day.

The end result is largely out of your hands anyway, so why not shoot for the stars?

It’s by the North Star all other stars are properly identified and turned into useful instruments that make the journey navigable.

By: R.J. Moeller

---------------

One of the most popular podcasts on the inter-web today is hosted by a far-Left comedian (and former Air America host) named Marc Maron.  The “WTF Podcast” is a wildly entertaining, stream-of-consciousness interview show where Mr. Maron sits in the garage of his L.A.-area home and chats with various entertainers, comedians, and actors.  The most downloaded episode of Maron’s show thus far has been a two-part interview he conducted with his long-time friend, and comedy juggernaut Louis CK.

In the midst of reminiscing about old times, and while searching for a metaphor to describe the way that some friends hold on to memories for you that you might have forgotten, the celebrated funny-man (Louis C.K.) landed on this analogy:

“There was a library that Alexander the Great built in Egypt, and it had all the great Greek works of literature and philosophy and art and everything.  And then when we became a Christian…West…world, they burned, you know, the Christians burned everything.  They burned that library down.  I don’t know…I may be wrong about that.  I could be wrong.

But we still have a little bit of Plato and Socrates…because the Muslims kept it.  Because when the Muslims took…took their run of conquering the world, they kept stuff.  They didn’t burn other peoples’ work.  They would integrate and save it.  So we have all the, uh, Greek literature and wisdom and all of that stuff because the Muslims held on to it.  While we were going through the Dark Ages, and forgetting everything and letting this Jesus-ey sh$% ruin everything, when we came out of that haze the Muslims were still there saving it for us.”

There, in one winding diatribe, Louis C.K. re-capped nearly all of the most disappointing talking points in modern, progressive, liberal thought.  This is Noam Chomsky meets Charlie Sheen meets the angst-ridden loner kid in your high school Civics class who has some “interesting YouTube’s” he wants to show you about what temperature the steel in Tower 2 should have melted at.

Christianity – apart from the brand Jeremiah Wright teaches to future presidents – is loathed and blamed for the “backwardness” of anything the progressive Left doesn’t like.  Our Western, Judeo-Christian culture is always the thing the world had to overcome to become enlightened, never the thing that propelled us toward such concepts as individual liberty, free markets, and a sustainable version of representative democracy.

In Louis C.K.’s universe, and like the renegade teenagers from the town in Foot Loose, the Muslims of the 7^th century apparently knew better than to conform to the book-burning ways of the “old townspeople” living back on the Jesus-ey Shore in Christian Europe.

The reason for this all-to0-typical desperate grasp to praise anything but anything relating to Judeo-Christian values and ideals in the past is easy to explain: If their narrative is correct, than anything dark, close-minded, or repressive in the history of the world can conveniently be blamed on Jerry Falwell, Michelle Bachmann, etc. etc.  If the roots of what they dislike can be sullied, then their current attacks and stereotypes won't need any modern intellectual backing or evidence.  Look (to the) past, young man!

If traditional, religious Americans today can be lured into having to deal with the largely fabricated Redwood timber in their eyes, then the (by comparison) measly plank in the eye of a morally relativistic liberal won’t seem as protruding as it actually is.

But in this specific case of the Muslims courageously saving books (that millions of them apparently still have yet to read), let’s put aside inconvenient truths like that Muslims burned, plundered, and pillaged everything in the Mediterranean they could get their right hands on during their “run of conquering the world.”  Let’s even forget that the first and most devastating attack on the library at Alexandria was by the pagan Romans 50 years before the “Christ” in “Christian” had even been born.

The question here is this: Are Louis C.K.’s general and sweeping claims regarding the backwardness of Christianity accurate?  What, if any, positive impact did Christianity have on the development of Western ideas, ideals, and values?

Author Rodney Stark, in his book The Victory of Reason, has a very different story to tell.

Soon after the fall of Rome, Christianity encouraged an era of extraordinary invention and innovation.  To appreciate this remarkable achievement it is necessary to confront an incredible lie that long disfigured our knowledge of history.  For the past two or three centuries, every educated person has known that from the fall of Rome until about the fifteenth century Europe was submerged in the "Dark Ages" – centuries of ignorance, superstition, and misery – from which it was suddenly, almost miraculously rescued, first by the Renaissance and then by the Enlightenment.

Bur it didn't happen that way.  Instead, during the so called Dark Ages, European technology and science overtook and surpassed the rest of the world!

The idea that Europe fell into the Dark Ages is a hoax originated by antireligious, and bitterly anti-Catholic, eighteenth-century intellectuals who were determined to assert the cultural superiority of their own time and who boosted their claim by denigrating previous centuries as – in the words of Voltaire – a time when "barbarism, superstition, [and] ignorance covered the face of the world."

Views such as these were repeated so often and so unanimously that, until very recently, even dictionaries and encyclopedias accepted the Dark Ages as an historical fact.  Some writers even seemed to suggest that people living in, say, the ninth century described their own time as one of backwardness and superstition.  Fortunately, in the past few years these views have been so completely discredited that even some dictionaries and encyclopedias have begun to refer to the notion of Dark Ages as mythical.

Unfortunately, the myth has so deeply penetrated our culture that even most scholars continue to take it for granted that-in the words of Edward Gibbon- after Rome fell came the "triumph of barbarism and religion."

In part this is because no one has provided an adequate summary of what really took place.

Okay, stick with me here.  We’re almost done, and how this all ties together is fairly simple.

Either Louis C.K. is right, or Rodney Stark is.  They can’t both be.  And if you’ll be so kind as to remember Mr C.K.’s own words: “I may be wrong about this”.

Think about what is at stake here, and what the implications of the answer to “Who is right about this?” are?  Think of the countless lives that have been steered away from religion because they have accepted this interpretation of history and culture?

If Louis C.K. (and the weight of modern Academia that his views represent) is right, then we should all just keep cruising along in terms of how young people are educated about such matters.

Par for the course.

But if Rodney Stark is even just “more right” than Louis C.K., then millions – and I mean millions – of students have been taught intellectually dishonest rubbish for the past 40 years (or more).  If Stark is right, there are, in my humble estimation, only two explanations for how higher (and by default, public school) education could get something so important and pertinent, so wrong.

1)Contemporary educators are simply regurgitating what they learned from the “smart” people who taught them in college and graduate school.

2)A certain demographic of contemporary educators hold religion –Christianity in particular – in utter contempt and relish the chance to embellish its flaws.

Dennis Prager often says, “First tell the truth; then give your opinion.”  I couldn’t agree more.  But “truth” is a relative term these days.  We’ve never had more access to more information in human history, and yet more of us seem to know less than ever before.

I’m speaking here directly to you God-fearing, Center-Right people out there.  We’ve let the other side – whether we’re talking politics or faith – set the terms of the debate for far too long.  And it feels like this is the case simply because we think the other side knows more.  And why do we think such a thing?  Well, typically because we know that we don’t know what we should.  We don’t know the things that would enable us to enter the public square and market of ideas boldly.

We don’t know our history.  We don’t know much about economics and the free market.  Everything from theology to an appropriate analysis of pop-culture is jumbled together in bits-and-pieces in our earnest, well-intentioned, cable news-addled minds.

But it doesn’t have to be like this.  Spiritual and moral revival can feed, but can also be fed by, intellectual revival.  A revival of our minds.  A revival in our minds.

Louis CK is a very funny man.  Truly, he is.  But he’s also a very confused, very sad individual.  The best way to ensure that your kids, and your kids’ kids, never grow up to be/think like him is to start equipping yourself today with the knowledge, insight, and wisdom that built the West, advanced liberty, and invented iPhones.

Read more.  Read a lot more.  Discuss what you’ve read.  Seek truth.  Love thy neighbor.

By: R.J. Moeller

------------

It has been nearly three years since I sent my first electronic mail (some say "e-mail") to my second favorite Jew of all time.  As an evangelical Christian, my respect and admiration (some say "obsession") with syndicated columnist and radio talk show host Dennis Prager may have appeared to most observers as strange and out-of-place.  Since my introduction to Mr. Prager in 2005 - I was sitting on a roof in Marion, IN painting shutters to help pay my college bills and happened to have a small radio tuned to a talk radio station hanging from a nearby ladder - I have never thought twice about the theological, geographical, and generational differences between us.

For me, Dennis Prager has always represented two things: truth and clarity.  He is, and remains, a man of ideas.

Ideas and their study, cultivation, and dissemination are what get me out of the bed most mornings.   They mean everything to me, and it takes only a few minutes of listening to The Dennis Prager Show to know Dennis feels the same way.

That first email I sent in the fall of 2008 was probably four or five paragraphs long, and contained what I felt was the clearest articulation of why it was I so appreciate this man and his show.  I've always been an auditory learner.  I've always connected intellectually with what I hear over the radio (and now podcast) in a way that television and movies and teachers standing in front of chalkboards never could match.

I told Dennis in that email that he was my favorite voice of reason on my favorite medium of communication.  I told him that when he spoke, I heard the wisdom of the ages cascading forth from my ear-phones or car stereo.  I told him that his unapologetic defense of Judeo-Christian values and free market economics on the air and in his weekly columns had inspired me to start writing during and since college.  I told him that I had begun turning dozens of friends, family members, and total strangers on to his work.  I told him I believed in what he was doing and hoped one day to meet and work alongside him in the cultural battle that is unmistakably being waged in family rooms, schoolrooms, and board rooms across the country.

Okay, so the e-mail was a little over-the-top.  I figured the guy would probably never read it, and truth be told, I wrote my thoughts out more for myself than anything else.  These were my true feelings, ones I truly wanted to express, but it's a little awkward to recite such a laudatory soliloquy of sorts (intended for a 60 year-old Jewish man from Los Angeles) out-loud to your buddies over some buffalo wings at a sports bar watching the Cubs get spanked by the only team with a worse record than their own.

Writing it out made the most sense.  Once I had written my thoughts out, it made even more sense to actually send them along to the man who inspired them.

To my surprise, not more than a few days later, I had a response in my inbox from both Dennis Prager and one of his employees.  I still have both correspondences saved.  The first, from Dennis himself, simply said:

"Dear R.J.-  Thank you for your kind words.  They meant a lot to me.  Keep writing and always feel free to use anything I've said or written in your own work.

Best regards,

Dennis"

The second e-mail, from his assistant, was e-ven better.

"Dear R.J.-

I saw your note to Dennis and told him about it.  He had me read it out-loud to him and was very moved by it.  You made his day."

I made his day?  By this point I had a pretty good case to make that if anyone's day had been made, it was mine.  What a thrill!  This man who I had entrusted so much of my intellectual training to for the previous three years, this man who had turned me on to some of the best thinkers and authors of our time, had been moved by my humble attempt to thank him for his efforts and applaud him for his courage to do what he does with grace, patience and dignity.  Those two emails gave me the emotional coal I needed to burn the fire inside my creative engines for at least a year.

You see, I'm the kind of person who thrives on being reminded every so often that I am on the right path.  A nice note, a kind word or a knowing nod from someone I love and/or respect goes such a long way with me.  Perhaps it is because deep down I have a sensitive ego, and I desperately crave hearing positive affirmation.  I know at least part of it has to do with the fact that I am terrified of wasting the time God has given me on this earth.  I need to know I'm heading in the right direction.

When you put as much time into your own intellectual development and writing skills  as I have since graduating Taylor University in 2005 - sometimes neglecting my Greek homework from graduate school to read Paul Johnson's Modern Times because Dennis had recommended it on his radio program that day as one of the books that most shaped his thinking as an adult - you can't help but worry that all those hours spent reading alone in a dimly-lit basement in Arlington Heights, IL, long after everyone else is asleep, might not be worth it.  That you may in fact have wasted your money, your time, your family's time, and your friends' patience.  You begin to worry that God's will for your life may not involve Mark Steyn columns and G.K. Chesterton essays and Michael Medved tapes chronicling of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

I may have worried about such things, perhaps even lost some sleep over them, but if I'm being totally honest, deep down, even back in 2008, I knew it wasn't true.  I knew God had plans for my life that would require me to be a student of everything from popular culture to history to economics and, of course, theology.  And I somehow knew that Dennis Prager would one day play a role in taking my passions for these things and turning them into legitimate work that could pay my bills.

And when you think about it, isn't that the "American dream"?  Not all the "Keepin' up with the Jones'" and "Greed is good" garbage Hollywood condescendingly masquerades as being what hard-working Americans "really want", but I mean being able to have the chance to get paid to do what you love?  People in probably 90% of the world never get that opportunity, but that is the dream.

Well, that whole "one day" Dennis will help me find my calling thing has now turned into "this day".

During the past few years, and since that initial email, I had stayed in touch with Dennis and had even been invited to visit him at his studios in California a handful of times.  But honestly, I had no idea what would come of the friendly, but casual, relationship I had developed with Prager over that time period.

This past Monday, August 15th, while on my trip to Los Angeles to meet and interview the likes of Andrew Breitbart, Rob Long, Adam Carolla, and Walter E. Williams, I was privileged enough to once more sit in on the live broadcast of The Dennis Prager Show from Glendale, CA. After the show had wrapped, I chatted with Dennis about ways to get his message out more effectively to people under the age of 30.  At one point, he smiled, looked me right in the eyes, and said, "R.J., you are a man of ideas and I want you on my team."

It had come full circle.  Dennis Prager, the man who, apart from my father (Dr. Robert L. Moeller), has had the most influence on my worldview and passion for cultural engagement, identified in me the very thing I go on a daily basis to Dennis for.

Without wanting to sound melodramatic, when Dennis said those words to me it was as if Clarence the Angel himself had appeared to tell me that, although I hadn't always been able to see it, God had had a plan for my life.

A few minutes later, still reeling from the overwhelmingly kind affirmation I had just received, I was offered a job by Dennis' producer (fellow New Trier High School alum, Allen Estrin) to immediately begin working for the show, helping run Prager's blog, social networking sites, and YouTube Channel (Prager University).

I start Monday.

For now, I'll be working from Chicago because most of my duties involve the on-line universe.  But eventually, and sooner rather than later, I am moving to Los Angeles.

I don't know where things go from here, but I know things will never be the same.  My life has changed forever.  It is the start of something big.

You hope and you pray and throw your heart and soul into something and you never really know if it is going to work out.  I'm not genius.  I'm not an expert.  I'm not even that good of a student.  School has always been a struggle for me.  In the classroom, I have been a perpetual under-achiever since 8th grade when I found out that girls didn't have cooties and some even liked funny athletes who treated them kindly.  I've worked in church ministry, human resources, small business offices, country clubs, pizza places, and even helped run a dog-walking business last summer.  Nothing has ever satisfied me like writing this blog and doing my podcast has.

With this new job, I am, for the first time, going to be doing what I love more than anything in this world.  Apart from my faith in God and my love for my family, nothing matters more to me than the defense and articulation of Truth.  My goal isn't Republican victories at the ballot boxes, but the utter and profound re-awakening of the hearts and minds of young people in this country. As Dr. Albert Mohler puts it, a "culture shift."  I want to affect real change that leads to a re-shuffling of the nation's priorities.

God, Family, Country (and in that order).

Working for Dennis allows me the dual luxury of pursuing this goal and doing so under the banner of someone I believe in.

As for A Voice in the Wilderness and The RJ Moeller Show podcast (as well as my work for American Enterprise Institute and Americans For Prosperity), nothing changes there.  We're still fully armed and operational.  That stuff has always been what I do on my own time anyway.  The only thing that changes is that my day job will now be Prager-centric (a fact some would argue has been already the case for years).

I have more stories to share about my trip to Los Angeles and the other adventures I had in the Golden Bear state, but today I simply wanted to share this good news with you, my readers.  I thank all of you who have supported and encouraged me over the years.  I hope to live up to the trust many have placed in me.  You're all invited along for the ride, and I hope to see many of you along the way the rest of journey.

Here we go.

-----------------

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
— G.K. Chesterton

My latest effort over at AEI's "Two Cents Blog" is a doozy. It's another piece in my "biblical worldview of economics" puzzle.  This time out I tackle the Tower of Babel account found in Genesis 11. Check 'er out and let me know what you think.

By: R.J. Moeller

When my grandpa was born in October of 1922, the world was utterly a different place.  Babe Ruth was playing baseball.  Lawrence of Arabia was a British military hero of WWI and a household name, even in America.  C.S. Lewis wasn’t even a Christian yet.  There was no cure for polio.  Mankind was 47 years away from walking on the moon.  Movies had no audibly spoken words.  Jim Crow laws ruled the south and Henry Ford was just really starting to mobilize Americans with his Model-T’s in the north.

Homer Lynn Moeller was born into an America, into a world, that – for better or worse – I would not recognize.

I’ve thought about this fact many times before, only more so in recent days because of his passing earlier this month.  As my family has gone through the emotional and logistical rigors of all that a death of a beloved relative entails, I have been reminded time and again how much of my grandpa’s life I have no connection to.  Biology and the laws of space and time being what they are, I wasn’t around for nearly two-thirds of my grandpa’s time on this earth.  That is surreal to someone like me who subconsciously (and often consciously) assumes that everything important has happened since I was born in the first half of the 1980’s.

Grandpa was always old, because I only knew him as being old.  Grandpa couldn’t have been an athletic chap at some point in the past because he always walked with a slow, determined gait.  Grandpa had to have always been a Republican because my earliest political memories are of him smiling and nodding in affirmation throughout Ronald Reagan’s speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention.

But, of course, there is much more to this remarkable man’s story than the two-and-a-half decades I was privileged to have him in my life.

He was a hard-working teenager who lost him mom by the age of 17.  He was an athletic young German who fell in love with a pretty Swedish gal named Inez from a neighboring town in North Dakota.  He was a brave and trustworthy B-24 bomber pilot in World War II.  He was a respected and accomplished coach, teacher, and principal in the public school system for four decades.

He had friends.  He had a life.  He was a son and a brother.

None of those things sound like the grandpa I knew, but that is only because I never fully knew my grandpa.  I only knew the end result of 60 years of incredible life experiences.  I only knew the convictions and values that had already been forged long before my dad was a twinkle in my grandpa’s eye.

All I knew was the loving, caring, reliable, wise product.

Like an undeserving, ignorant customer at an AT&T (and I guess now Verizon Wireless) store, I had absolutely no idea what it took to produce the unspeakably amazing product I had access to, or how blessed I was to have access to it at all.

And while there is certainly so much about Grandpa Moeller and his extraordinary life that I will never know, what little I did is worth a few minutes of your time.

In many regards, my grandpa is the type of man who both built this country into the superpower it became in the 20^th century, and nowadays, sadly, seems to have little connection to mainstream American society and its “progressive” values.  His generation made the sacrifices that enabled the freedom and prosperity we enjoy.  And, to a large degree, we have “honored” that generation by forgetting everything they had to overcome and disregarding the values that gave them the moral clarity and fortitude to overcome them.

Three specific things stand out about my grandpa and the life he chose to live.

First: his faith.  Homer Moeller was a Christian, and unrepentant about it.  The most important thing about him was his understanding of his Maker and his Maker’s holy book.  He went to church, he prayed, and he taught his children (and grandchildren) to do the same.  Religion was never a dirty word that had to be apologized for.  Church wasn’t a country club or “Christmas and Easter” destination.  The Bible had the wisdom of life on its pages, and mankind’s fallen state was just as much a reality as deep snow and cold winters in his adopted hometown of Minneapolis.

But he wasn’t some uneducated country bumpkin who only believed in God because he hadn’t “wised up” at some prestigious, secular university on the east coast.  My grandpa was brilliant, especially in math.  He did go to college.  He was selected for his mind (and steady hand) to be a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corp.  He could fix literally anything.  He did complex equations in his head.  He had an uncanny memory and ability to remember the minutest details of events decades in the past.

There was no separation between reason, logic, and faith in a Higher Power for Homer Moeller.  As far as he was concerned, it all came from the same Source.

I remember one summer when I was in grade school and my sister and I went to stay with my grandparents at their house in Richfield, MN for a week.  Every evening ended the same way: sharing a bowl of ice cream with my grandpa in front of the late newscast before he tucked us in and said our nightly prayers with us.  I’ve never forgotten that.  I bet he never did either.

Second: his devotion to his family.  My grandpa loved life and loved sharing it with other people.  He was definitely a quiet, reserved man – much of this owing to his difficult childhood in the Great Depression – but no one ever doubted his love for his family.  Marriage meant something to my grandpa.  He married my grandma on military base in Tucson, AZ in 1944 and they stayed together for 56 years before she passed away in 2001.  He then re-married a couple of years later to a widow from his home church and spent the last years of his life in the only human relationship the Bible says mirrors that of the one between Jesus and His Church.

My grandpa did not hate gay people and he did not look down on those who have been divorced, but he firmly believed that the institution of marriage was defined as “one man, one woman…for life.”  He wasn’t interested in focusing only on the exceptions; he wanted to know God’s standard and pursue that with every fiber of his being.

His heart was big, and he displayed that countless times.  When my dad was 7 years old, and after my grandparents had already had four children of their own, the family adopted another 7 year old boy who needed escape from a broken, troubled home.  My grandpa wanted to know how he could help this young lad, not if another mouth to feed would cut into his time on the golf course or hamper the family’s ability to take nice vacations going forward.  Instead of assuming the government would take care of the boy, my grandpa took care of him first.

Much more could be said about my grandpa’s love for (and devotion to) his family, but I’ll just say that every single one of his 14 grandchildren knew that their grandpa would do anything for them.  My grandpa didn’t always verbalize his love for his family the way television dramas and modern psychologists insist men must do, but he always showed us that he cared by his actions.

From the perspective of someone who does far too much talking (and blogging) and not enough walking when it comes to his self-proclaimed values and convictions, my grandpa’s “show, don’t just tell” approach to life has impacted me more than almost anything else he will leave behind.

Third (and final): his service to his country.  My grandpa loved America in a real and palpable way.  He enlisted in the Army in 1944.  He flew more than a dozen missions among the 465^th Squadron of the 781^st Bombardment Wing in southern Europe.  His military service was, apart from his family, his proudest achievement.  Through the years he religiously attended the Air Corps reunions held in different locales all over the country, including the most recent one this past fall.  When he heard that there was a company that traveled around the nation with restored, fully-functional B-24 bombers that private citizens could fly in, he pounced on that opportunity multiple times the way a nine year old boy would when told he was going to Disneyland for the first time.

While my grandpa was ever-proud of his time in the military, he also believed that the phrase “freedom isn’t free” didn’t only pertain to combat service in time of war.  He knew it meant constant participation and vigilance on the part of the citizenry of any nation that claimed to cherish liberty.  My grandpa served his country in the war, in the classroom, but also from places like the lazy-boy recliner in his den (where he read at least one newspaper every day of his life), and on the couch in front of the nightly news.  He was actively involved in local, state, and national politics.  He went to town hall meetings.  He went to school board meetings.  Heck, he even ran for state office one time when a candidate dropped out of the race a week before the election (due to – wait for it – a sex scandal…shocking, no?).

Self-government wasn’t just a term one was quizzed on in Social Studies.  It was a moral mandate for all Americans to monitor the people they lend power to every 2, 4, and 6 years.  It was a biblical mandate to be the best citizen you could be, and to pray for one’s country and its leaders.

It therefore came as no surprise to me when I learned that Homer Moeller, my beloved grandfather and one of the last real American heroes, was watching the news (Fox News, of course) in his home in Scottsdale, AZ when his heart began to give out a couple of weeks ago.  He left this world still monitoring the system of law and government most of us only ever think about when Dancing With the Stars is obnoxiously preempted by a breaking news bulletin or presidential address.

Many things changed in my grandpa’s life throughout the 88 years God saw fit to bless him with, but one thing that never changed was his commitment to “God, family, country.”

And in that order.

I’ll miss you, grandpa.

Through love and instruction, discipline, guidance and example, we learn from our fathers and mothers the values that will shape our private lives and our public citizenship. –Ronald Reagan

I'm heading up to Minneapolis for the weekend to celebrate my grandpa's life at his funeral with family, relatives, and friends.  Consequently, I won't be posting or Tweeting much.  I'm working on a full tribute to my grandpa (Homer L. Moeller) that I'll have up next week, but until then here are a few initial thoughts I have on his remarkable life.

By: R.J. Moeller

Bill Maher: It’s Sarah Palin’s birthday today – do you have any special wishes for her?

[Sarcastic laughter and snickering from the audience and Real Time with Bill Maher panel]

Hooman Majd: I don’t think we can say it.  Even on HBO.

Matthew Perry: Do you think she even understands that it’s her birthday?

[Raucous laughter from the audience, grins from the panel]

Bill Maher: I don’t.  I think they said, ‘Sarah, it’s your birthday,’ and she thought her water broke.

[More approving laughter]

And thus began the “Ask the Panel” portion of the most recent episode of HBO’s political talk-show Real Time with Bill Maher.  Straddling the same “It’s a comedy show when I want laughter and applause (or when I get in trouble for going too far), but I really want to subversively promote an ideological agenda the rest of the time” line that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert walk every night on Comedy Central, Real Time offers the hard-hitting analysis one can only find anywhere two or more liberals are gathered in President Obama’s name.

To say that the banter I printed above is childish and petty is a slight against all children and petty people everywhere.

But it’s a “comedy” show, dude.  Why take it so seriously?

It is my belief that politically-involved public figures are who they really are when no one is voting – when elections are not imminent, politicians and pundits become increasingly loose-lipped.

I am a student of the culture, as we all should be, and I know (as we all do) that there is more than a hint of truth in any joke.  More people under the age of 40 get their information about current events from fake news and political talk shows like Real Time and The Daily Show than anywhere else.  The opinions offered on these mediums matter.  It wasn’t my decision to make these shows and these comedians the gatekeepers of information in this country, but for (far too) many they are.

And I think it more than fair to say that after watching the clips I’ve included in this column, you will see that the smokescreen-like attempts by people on the Left to dismiss the importance of these shows simply because comedians host them is either misguided or purposely misleading.  The Left want students and young adults to watch these shows and lap up the ideas and values streaming off their television and computer screens.  They want parents to remain where (far too) many of them are: oblivious, out of the picture, and utterly disengaged from the ideological development of their child’s worldview.

Now, if a show like Maher’s Real Time or Stewart’s Daily Show simply had actors, actresses and entertainers on as their guests, they might be able to get away with the “We’re just joking around, bro” excuse.  But the cavalcade of intellectuals, politicians, and influential members of the mainstream media that grace the sets of these shows reveals the deeper intent: they want to promote a specific, progressive, liberal-Democratic understanding of everything from foreign policy to the abortion debate.

Alright, enough with the (valid) generalizations.  Let me show you what I mean when I say that not only are these types of shows actively pursuing the hearts and minds of as many Americans as they can, but that what you hear on such shows is typically how the guests and their host truly feel about the matter being discussed.

After bravely mocking Sarah Palin’s intellect, raising the level of civil discourse in this country by complaining that the Republican Party is merely the party of “insane people,” claiming that Abraham Lincoln would not be a Republican if he were alive today, and insisting that the French and Russian revolutions were each hijacked by “right-wingers,” Bill Maher opened a discussion with his panel of experts on the topic of Barack Obama’s personal and religious convictions:

So much to say about what you just saw, but let me quickly introduce the players involved in this little drama.  First there is Bill Maher himself.  Most of you are familiar with him, but for those who aren’t, all you need to know is that stand-up comedian Maher is an outspoken far-Left atheist who despises religion, Judeo-Christian morality, conservative politics, and not being able to use profanity and coarse sexual humor (which is why he had to leave network television for HBO).

Going from right to left on the panel you had MSNBC political correspondent Norah O’Donnell, Iranian-born author Hooman Majd, and Professor Cornel West of Princeton University.  Oh, and next to Maher was, of course, actor Matthew Perry (aka Chandler, from Friends).  O’Donnell works for MSNBC, so I’ll let you do the math on where she’s coming from politically.  Mr. Majd writes books and articles for publications like The New York Times and Huffington Post, and loves playing the moral equivalency “they’re bad, but we’re not great either” game between the dictatorial regime in his native Iran and the republican democracy known as the United States of America.

Last, but certainly not least, is Professor Cornel West.  A practicing Christian, and outspoken Socialist, West is an “expert” on racial issues in this country.  He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.  This group’s founder, and someone West holds in high regard, Catholic-turned-atheist Michael Harrington, once explained the organization’s political ideology like this:

“Put it this way. Marx was a democrat with a small d.  The Democratic Socialists envision a humane social order based on popular control of resources and production, economic planning...and racial equality. I share an immediate program with liberals in this country because the best liberalism leads toward socialism.... I want to be on the left wing of the possible.”

Nice.

With the introductions out of the way, let’s tackle the actual words spoken – and valuable insights revealed – in the YouTube clip above.

Commenting on the president’s insistence that he is a “Centrist” politically, Maher said, “I think [Obama] is a Centrist the way he is a Christian…He’s pretending to be a Centrist.”

I applaud Mr. Maher for his candor in recognizing what any casual observer ought to clearly see in our president (and, to be fair, a large number of politicians): an unnatural comfort-level with presenting yourself as one thing, when you really you are nothing of the kind.  To the issue of his politics, it is without a doubt true that the president often tries to cover up his true ideological leanings.  We on the Right see right through this and are disappointed, both by the fact that he is a progressive liberal to begin with, and also by the fact that so many people buy the moderate rhetoric he has peppered throughout a decidedly far-Left political career.

As to his faith in God – no one can know another man’s heart, and it is not my place to speak to the nature of a personal relationship one has (or does not have) with their Maker.  We generally take someone at their word about such matters.

But Bill Maher is insinuating what we all know to be true: actions speak louder than words.  What about the president’s actions since taking office point to a real, energetic faith in God?  We all knew George W. Bush was a Christian, in large part because the media never shut up about it.  They mocked President Bush for being honest and direct about his prayer life and faith in Jesus Christ.  With President Obama, in between the times it is convenient to reassure Americans that he is a Christian, the media goes out of its way to downplay the man’s faith.

The only way someone would know President Obama is a Christ-follower is if he or she has read either of his two memoirs.  But those are the books that also tell us about the radical nature of the president’s political ideology and worldview, as well as his deep affection for (and connection to) people like Jeremiah Wright.  If we’re supposed to look at the president’s own words about his own beliefs, we find an affinity for the Marxist rabble-rouser Saul Alinsky and his radicalizing manifesto Rules for Radicals (which Obama believed so much in that he took action and taught classes on the text to up-and-coming community organizers in Chicago for more than a decade).

Please hear me: I do not stand in judgment of President Obama’s heart.  Only his actions.  In this case, however, even Bill Maher can read through these lines.

The conversation continued:

Bill Maher: His mother was a secular-humanist, and I think he is too…It’s like when he (Obama) says ‘I struggle with the issue of gay marriage.’  You don’t struggle with it.  You’re fine with it.

Professor West: He supports gay marriage, of course.

Maher: No, he says he struggles with it…that he doesn’t like it.

West: Yeah, but that’s the political answer…

[Panel concurs with knowing glances]

Hmm.

When a conservative or Republican, say, Rush Limbaugh, for example, attempts to analyze the president’s track-record and make pronouncements about his actual stance on the issues they are scoffed at and accused of having partisan blinders on.  When one of the most respected liberal professors in the country comes to the same conclusion that Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity have about the president’s disingenuous position on the redefinition of marriage, it is affirmed as a fact that everyone ought to already know.

This, of course, says something less-than-favorable about President Obama’s character, but it also speaks to the minimal importance that modern liberalism puts on the subject of character and integrity in its leaders.  Neither Right nor Left, Republicans nor Democrats, hold the moral high ground in the sense that one side or the other are literally “better” people.  We’re all sinners.  But the comfort-level that the Left has with morally-questionable (or out-right immoral) behavior on the part of their leaders is worth noting.

To the majority of Americans, traditional marriage is held up and recognized as a sacred institution – the building block of society.  It is a massively important issue.  In order to garner votes in 2008, the president and vice president claimed to be on the side of history, biology, 6,000 years of religious teaching, and the will of the American people when it came to keeping marriage one man-one woman.  But again I ask: what actions have these men taken to solidify and strengthen the institution of marriage?  Heck, what words have we heard from either of them in 2 years on the matter (other than their enthusiastic support for the repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy)?  With a heavy heart, I must admit that I think Professor West speaks the truth in this matter.

Admittedly, one episode of Bill Maher’s show is not a comprehensive or exhaustive representation of all Center-Left thought – but it is a fair one.  It is fair because it is common.  You can hear such things any night of the week on everything from The Daily Show to The Rachel Maddow Show to TBS re-runs of The Steve Harvey Show.

If you only get your news and information about politicians and the issues they represent from skimming newspaper headlines or Katie Couric’s nightly reports on CBS, you will assume that Maher and his panel are joking.  With even a minimal effort to investigate the people you lend power to, and the issues that are impacting your jobs, schools, and families, you will learn that the joke has only been on you.  (And that the Left has been laughing us all the way to Western Europe for 40 years.)

It is said that a nation gets the leaders it deserves.  If West and Maher are correct in their appraisals of President Obama, what does that say about us?