True North Radio This Week

Monday: JENNIFER ROBACK MORSE, author of the new book, SMART SEX: Finding Life-Long Love in a Hook-Up World. A Ph.D. in economics, Dr. Morse’s analyses contemporary problems in love, marriage, sexuality, and the family in a lively and logical way, and offers insight and hope about finding lasting love in the modern world. The inspiring Chuck Colson wrote the Foreword to this fine book.

Before she became a mother, Jenny was a committed, successful career woman. She taught economics for fifteen years at two of the nation’s most prestigious universities, Yale and George Mason University. But in 1991, her worldview was radically transformed, when she adopted a two-year-old Romanian boy and gave birth to a baby girl. Jenny realized that being a mother merited and demanded becoming her highest priority; she also found that this investment of her talents offered her the greatest return on her investment of time & energy. She left full-time teaching in 1996, moving with her family to California and is now a full-time mother as well as a Research Fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Jenny’s previous book, Love & Economics: Why the Laissez-Faire Family Doesn’t Work, was a hit with TN listeners when it appeared in 2001.

Much as I admired Jenny’s first book, I think my listeners will enjoy and appreciate SMART SEX even more. If you know a young person who’s going off to college or going back to college, this is a great gift for them. With the 50% discount available at Spence’s website, the book will cost only $13.98 (+ S&H)—slightly more than that popcorn-popper or hotdog-electrocuter you’re thinking of giving them for their dorm room. While eating popcorn & running current through pork products are activities that delight the average undergraduate, this book could make a real, and serious, difference in the recipient’s life. (The average university of the 70s was a nunnery, compared to what’s going on today.) Jenny explains why “reproductive freedom” is an illusion; why recreational sense isn’t actually fun; and why sex is neither morally neutral nor essentially private. Jenny talks about finding and preserving love, about why to marry and how to stay that way. And all this is in a lively, readable style.

I couldn't recommend this book more highly. Go to Spence’s site, where you can get this book for half-price:

Tuesday: BILL SAYRE, formerly with the U.S. Federal Reserve, now a Member of the Board of Directors of Associated Industries of Vermont; of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce; and of the Vermont Forest Products Association. A student of Milton Friedman's (among other Nobel Laureates), Bill received his MBA in economics/finance from the University of Chicago. We’ll be discussing what’s top-of-the-fold in the headlines this week.

Wednesday: PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY is President of the Eagle Forum. Her latest book is THE SUPREMACISTS: The Tyranny of Judges, and How to Stop It. Mrs. Schlafly, who celebrated her 80th birthday last fall, has been a national leader of the conservative movement since the publication of her best-selling 1964 book, A Choice, Not An Echo. She founded her pro-family organization, the Eagle Forum, in 1972, and is one of the nation’s most articulate and successful opponents of radical feminism. Her syndicated column appears in over a hundred newspapers, and she also is the host of her own talk radio show. The Ladies’ Home Journal named her one of the 100 most important women of the 20th century. We’ll be talking about the Supreme Court, about opportunities and concerns raised by the retirement of Justice O’Connor.

Thursday: JOHN McCLAUGHRY, President of the Ethan Allen Institute, whose mission is “to influence public policy in Vermont by helping its people to better understand and put into practice the fundamentals of a free society: individual liberty, private property, competitive free enterprise, limited and frugal government, strong local communities, personal responsibility, and expanded opportunity for human endeavor.” John is one of the finest political commentators you’ll read in Vermont, or anywhere—informed, clear, trenchant, and often extremely funny.

If you’re interested in Vermont politics, John’s monthly Newsletter is a must-read. Membership starts at only $30 per year, and gets you twelve newsletters, periodic email bulletins, and invitations to all events. You can sample some of John’s commentaries here.

Here are a few lines from John’s commentary on the infamous Kelo decision. You can read the commentary in its entirety on the website. Note John’s excellent recommendation at the very end:

Eight states expressly prohibit the use of eminent domain for economic development unless the area is clearly blighted. Vermont is not one of them. Vermont’s constitution makes private property “subservient to public uses, when necessity requires it.” To date, Vermont cities have rarely if ever sought to use eminent domain to confiscate property from A and turn it over to B, as in the New London case.

Now a U.S. Supreme Court majority has defined away the prohibition against takings for revenue enhancing purposes. The Vermont Supreme Court has shown itself willing to uphold almost any regulatory taking of land values. Given these unpleasant facts, property owning Vermonters should start thinking about adopting a constitutional amendment to protect their rights. Their 18th century constitutions are on their side, but their supreme courts, in thrall to the “diverse and always evolving needs of society”, are clearly not.

….By the way, if the cadence of John’s eloquent and persuasive prose sounds familiar—a little Reaganesque, perhaps?—it’s not without reason: for four years, John was, indeed, Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter. After the election, President Reagan’s made John head of his Cabinet council on food and agriculture—another mark of the late President’s wisdom.

Friday: JIM BARNETT, Vermont Republican State GOP Chairman.

How to contact the show:

Waterbury/Montpelier, Vermont, area: 244-1777

Long distance from anywhere: 1-877-291-TALK or 1-877-291-8255

How to hear the show:

Tune in to WDEV 550 AM/96.1 FM or to WSYB 1380 AM to hear TRUE NORTH live, from 11:05 a.m. till noon, Monday through Friday.

Should you miss a show, don't forget--each week we post the previous week's shows on our website, so you can listen to those you missed online. Just go to truenorthradio.com, and click on ARCHIVES.