The Key To Cutting Government Spending
If a rowboat springs a leak and is fast filling with water, the first step is to stop the leak. [...]
Protecting Ourselves From Commercials
One of my favorite quotes from Gilbert Keith Chesterton (truth to tell, I have about 987 of them) is this [...]
Is Obama A Socialist? Does It Matter?
The question of whether Barack Obama is a socialist has never really been answered. Obama supporters and a fawning media [...]
The Excuse Awards
As everyone knows, the results of the first presidential debate are in and over 60% of those polled consider Mitt [...]
Bill Clinton’s Missed Opportunity
In August 2011 Bill and Hillary Clinton were with several guests at their home in Chappaqua NY. Bill was trying [...]
Christians And The Mother Of Jesus
Over the centuries Catholics’ regard for Mary has sometimes verged on worship. Although mainly true of the uneducated, excessive veneration [...]
Some Thoughts On “Explaining Stuff”
President Obama was so delighted with Bill Clinton’s speech at the September Democratic convention that he remarked to the press, [...]
The Missing Ingredient in Management
“Workers must leave their minds at the factory gate.” That requirement originated in the Industrial Revolution and became firmly established [...]
A Sensible Approach To Voting
It’s not hard to imagine the following conversation. Bill: I’m voting the same way I did in 2008, for Obama [...]
Common Sense About Abortion
It’s election season again and abortion defenders are casting the usual aspersions, which may be summarized as, conservatives are anti-choice extremists [...]
Where Credit Is Due
You didn't get there on your own . . . If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you [...]
Some Thoughts On Globalization
The article, which appeared in a respected American Catholic magazine, focused on “global consciousness,” and linked that concept to the [...]
How Reliable Are Your News Sources?
Like millions of other Americans, you will be soon making your election choices based on what you read and hear [...]
The Decline Of Leadership
Every day brings new examples of the intellectual deficiencies of people in leadership positions. Consider these examples. The U.S. Senate [...]
Cardinal Dolan’s Unfortunate Lapse
Cardinal Dolan’s book, True Freedom, is available from Amazon. Actually, it’s not a book but an essay, followed by an excerpt from [...]
A Crucial Distinction
If you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. . . somebody along the line gave you some [...]
Unintended Consequences
Murphy’s law states that if anything can possibly go wrong, it probably will. A cynical view, to be sure, but [...]
Catholic Teaching On Homosexuality
In the space of four or five decades, homosexuality has changed from perversion to disorder to respectable lifestyle. In the [...]
Why Government Plays Nanny
Every day brings another story of a government agency banning something. New York’s Mayor Bloomberg banned large soft drinks and [...]
The Bishops’ Dilemma
A couple of months ago my essay American Catholics and Social Justice was published here. It traced the dramatic changes in the [...]
Supporting The Sisters
Supporting the Sisters? The email was from a friend who had just signed the petition to “Support the Sisters” and [...]
The Pinnacle Of Self-Esteem
A 36-year-old North Dakota woman, Nadine Schweigert, recently married herself! According to news reports, there was a ceremony attended by her friends, [...]
The Usefulness Of Political Blather
It’s election year and we are once again inundated with political blather. But all is not lost. Even the most [...]
An Elderly Man’s Wisdom
In the mid-1950s, during my first year out of college, I was a social caseworker. Like most of my colleagues, [...]
Can Poverty Be Created?
The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (EOA) launched the “war on poverty.” This legislation, promoted by Lyndon Johnson and supported [...]
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.