The terms ?liberal? and ?conservative? are a part of our cultural and political language. Each has taken on an ideology that is often rigid and uncompromising. Each has champions in the media and there are even two cable networks devoted to the opposing positions: Fox News represents the conservative viewpoint and MSNBC the liberal viewpoint. Neither is objective, for each presents its position on the cultural and political issues of the day as the only reasonable and possible position to hold.

Without question, when it comes to President Obama?s foreign policy legacy, his decision to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program will define his presidency. He assumes that the new president Hasan Rohani can be trusted and that he will break decades of duplicity, lying and manipulation on the part of Iran. It is risky at best, utterly foolish and stupid at worst. We will know in 2014. Several important thoughts on Iran, its nuclear program and President Obama:

The debacle surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, is a case study in the fallacious argument that government can do things better than the private sector. But the way it has been presented and the public promises made by the president about the law also indicate an intentional and willful decision to deceive the American people. Several thoughts:

In 2005 David Barton was named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals. Presumably, this recognition resulted from the organization he leads, WallBuilders, a ministry committed to championing the proposition that America was founded as a Christian nation and that the separation of church and state as defined today is wrong. He also advocates conservative political views that reflect conservative Republicanism or those posited by the Libertarian movement in the United States.

As a result of the 18th century Enlightenment, Western Civilization began an intellectual journey to develop, in the words of philosopher David Hume, a ?science of man.? The Enlightenment leaders sought for the social sciences a level of certainty achieved by Sir Isaac Newton during the previous century for the hard sciences. Hence, the modern social sciences of psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc. were born. Have we achieved a ?science of man?? Have we achieved as a civilization an ability to attain a level of certainty about human behavior? The US government often operates on the basis of social science in its public policy programs. This applies to how the government funds prison reform policies, criminal behavior policies, economic policies, federal housing policies, etc. Has this connection between social science and public policy in western civilization been successful?

Over the years, one of the major themes of Issues in Perspective has been that God created the human race in two grand streams?male and female?and that each stream is totally different. Any attempt at a unisex movement or any attempts to make boys behave like girls or girls like boys are doomed to failure. God?s design for the human race is clear; we ignore this design to our peril as a civilization.

President Obama?s actions on Syria have been puzzling and difficult to assess. He declared that he would hold Syria accountable for crossing the now famous ?red line? he drew a year ago. Under his orders, the military moved all the necessary equipment?planes and ships?into place, ready to strike Syria. Major Arab nations, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, especially, supported his efforts. Secretary of State John Kerry issued several qualifiers about the nature of the US strike, even stating it would be ?unbelievably small.? The US then continued to issue a series of forewarnings that enabled Syria to move its WMD stockpiles to more secure areas.

The atrocities occurring in Syria defy all comprehension: Over 100,000 killed, over 2 million refugees, and a quarter of the population displaced. On 21 August, in the suburbs of Damascus, the brutal Assad regime killed over 1,000 of its people via rocket-launched chemical weapons. In addition, hundreds were burned by the chemical weapons, while others inhaled the gas with horrific consequences. Many of the victims were children. It is all unimaginable! Bashir al-Assad now joins the ranks of Mussolini, Hitler and Saddam Hussein, barbarians who used poison gas against their own people.

Recent polls now show that a majority of major Christian denominations, including Catholics, support legalized same-sex marriage. This is a tectonic shift: In 2004, 36% of Catholics and 34% of mainline Protestants supported legalizing gay marriage; today 57% and 55% of mainline Protestants do so. Among evangelical Protestants, the shift has been less dramatic?11% in 2004 to 24% today. Molly Bull in The Atlantic writes that ?[This shift] is the fruit of an aggressive campaign by a determined gay-rights movement that realized, particularly in the wake of the 2004 elections, that you cannot win politically in America if you are arguing against religious faith.? Until recently, religion was on one side, while gay rights was on the other. Central to this strategy was the effort to redefine the issue.

Detroit is the largest American city ever to file for bankruptcy. The Economist summarizes the details: Its long-term debt is estimated to be $18.2 billion ($27,000 per resident). Of this amount, about $9.2 billion is in unfunded retirement benefits. Since 2008 the city has spent about $100 million more each year than it has brought in. Attempts to solve these monumental challenges have been hampered by a feeble-economy, a shrinking population and rapidly increasing ?legacy costs.? Property-tax revenues have declined by 20% since 2008; income tax revenues by 30% since 2002. Fifty years ago the city was rich: GM, Ford and Chrysler made nearly all the cars sold in America. Detroit?s population was 1.8 million people. Today, it is 700,000?many of those are poor and poorly educated (e.g., 82% have no more than a high school diploma).