Should You Trust Your Doctor?
Medicine, like other professions, has some outstanding practitioners, some incompetents, and a large number of mediocre performers. It’s especially hard [...]
Overcoming Religious Triumphalism
Religious triumphalism is the conviction that one’s religious beliefs are superior to other people’s. Ironically, triumphalism violates the virtue of [...]
The Exalting of Opinion
One of the most deeply held beliefs in American culture is that everyone has the right to his or her [...]
What Constitutes Teaching Thinking?
After publishing my recent essay titled “Whatever Became of Critical Thinking?” I received a very appropriate question from a reader: [...]
Whatever Happened to Critical Thinking?
When Arthur was in the first grade, the teacher directed the class to “think.” “Now, class,” she said, “I know [...]
Hillary’s 600 Unanswered Requests
What is most troubling about Secretary Clinton’s testimony on the Benghazi affair is the fact that 600 requests from Ambassador [...]
The Real Problem In American Education
For decades whenever American students have tested poorly in comparison with their peers in other developed countries, public outrage has [...]
Pope Francis Inspires but Oversimplifies
Pope Francis’ recent messages to the U.S. Congress and to the Catholic bishops revealed his personal goodness and his deep [...]
Capitalizing on Republican Resources
Though it’s much too early to predict the outcome of the Republican presidential sweepstakes, it’s not too early to speculate [...]
The Coming Attacks on Trump
Donald Trump has already been the subject of one attack ad by Senator Rand Paul, and other candidates are reportedly [...]
Remembering Chesterton
An American tourist remembers seeing him standing in the doorway of a pie shop, writing a poem. At 6’2” with [...]
The Elephant in the Classroom
For well over a century, the phrase “elephant in the room” has been used to denote a situation that is [...]
Donald Trump’s Favor
Donald Trump exploded onto the Republican presidential scene in July, bringing a level of excitement far beyond what the other [...]
The Decline of Common Sense
The news is filled with evidence that common sense is increasingly uncommon. Here are a few examples: “Sanctuary Cities” like [...]
Pope Francis on the Care of the Earth
Pope Francis’ latest encyclical is titled Laudato Si: On the Care of Our Common Home. In it he follows the [...]
Revisiting Truth and Reality
I can somewhat identify with Rachel Dolezal, the Spokane NCAA director who was forced to resign when her claim to [...]
The Power of Disinformation
For over sixty years, communists have poisoned world opinion about America so successfully that even many Americans, including elected officials, [...]
O’Reilly’s “Potential Human Being”
When Bill O’Reilly used the term “potential human being” to describe a human fetus in 2011, Catholic Online (among other [...]
The Most Frightening Words in Scripture
The most frightening words in all of Scripture are the ones most of us repeat every day: “Forgive us our [...]
Why Catholic Numbers Are Declining
According to the latest Pew research, the American Catholic population has declined by 3 million in the last seven years. [...]
Politicians Abusing Logic
When a spokesman was asked whether the State Department would investigate allegations that Hillary had misused her office, he replied, [...]
Overcoming Inner-City Poverty and Unrest
Politicians and community activists often claim that the solution to inner-city poverty and unrest is to increase educational and employment [...]
The Root Cause of the Baltimore Riots
The root cause of the Baltimore riots of April, 2015 wasn’t the Mayor’s poor judgment. It was the erroneous beliefs that shaped [...]
A Powerful Lesson About Achievement
The story offered insight into one of the most serious social problems of our time—the plight of the black underclass. [...]
Making ALL Legislation “Clean”
Leading the March 3, 2015 news was the announcement that the House of Representatives had passed a “clean” bill to [...]
Author Vincent Ryan Ruggiero
Since retiring from teaching, I have continued my work in promoting sound thinking in education and in the general culture. More specifically, I have kept refining my textbooks, four of which have been continuously in print for an average of 33 years. I have also continued to write books for the general public, the latest of which is Corrupted Culture: Rediscovering America’s Enduring Principles, Values, and Common Sense, and I write a weekly column for an online journal.