The following is a summary of the October/November issue of The St. Croix Review:

Barry MacDonald, in “American Ingenuity,” asserts that our freedoms have propelled our prosperity, our religious faith has made us a good-hearted people, and the exercise of our liberties and faiths have prompted the fortitude and the energy necessary to achieve great accomplishments.

Allan Brownfeld, in “The New York Times 1619 Project: Revisionist History That Doesn’t Belong in Our Schools,” points out that the latest assault launched upon the character of the United States unjustly reduces the complex issue of slavery into a “blinding moral certainty”; in “The Dangerous Assault on Free and Open Discussion and Debate,” he reproves leftist intolerance occurring on campus, in newsrooms, and in society; in “We Need Police Reform — Not Defunding or Abolition of the Police,” he points to polling evidence that shows a majority of black Americans would like to see more, not fewer, police on the street; and he asserts that fewer police officers results in increased levels of crime.

Paul Kengor, in “Why Not Cancel Karl Marx?” reveals that the leftist icon was a seething racist and anti-Semite; in “Marx on Christianity, Judaism, and Evolution/Race,” he debunks the association of socialism and Marxism with Christianity, and he describes Marxism as atheistic, materialist, and Darwinian at its core; in “Remembering and Teaching 9/11/01,” he expresses his surprise and sadness that the students he encounters in class appear uninformed about Osama Bin Laden and the terrorist attack on 9/11; in “Tear All the Statues Down?” he has a simple visceral proposition for those who want to destroy monuments.

Mark Hendrickson, in “The Paradox of Prosperity,” laments and explains why capitalism has often been misunderstood and villainized compared with socialism since capitalism’s inception in the late 18th century; in “Jimmy Lai, Billionaire Freedom Fighter,” he tells the story of a rags-to-riches young man who fled Communist China for Hong Kong, where he rose from factory worker to be the owner of a factory, and to be the founder of a pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong, the Apple Daily; in “The Problem with Inheritance Taxes,” he exposes the inherent we-know-best arrogance behind any scheme to leverage government confiscation to enact socially engineered goals; in “Self-Exposure: The Left in Their Own Words (and Deeds) he exposes public figures by republishing their ugly and vicious words.

Earl H. Tilford, in “Antifa: A History Lesson from the German Street,” compares some similarities between Antifa and the Nazi SS; in “September 11: Nineteen Years On, A Remembrance,” he recalls the events of 9/11/2001 and on the day that followed on the campus of Grove City College; in “Confessions of a Draft Dodger,” he explains how he avoided the draft during the Vietnam war by volunteering to serve in an Air Force intelligence unit in Thailand that oversaw the top-secret air war in Laos.

Philip Vander Elst, in “C. S. Lewis: Political and Cultural Conservative,” illuminates the Christian thinking of a 20th century British literary gaint.

Jerry Hopkins, in “Corrupting Others,” uses Socrates and Plato to bring the genuine relationship between our society and government into focus.

Tim Goeglein and Craig Osten, in “Restoring Virtue in America,” name four virtues that promote the healthy cohesion of society.

David L. Cawthon, in “Rousseau on Leadership: Guiding the Wills of Men,” delineates the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

William Adair Bonner, in “Constitution and Citizenship Day,” takes the occasion of a national holiday to present how the charter of our liberties, the Constitution, is under assault today.

Francis DeStefano, in “Pinocchio,” reviews Roberto Benigni’s 2002 film — dismissed out of hand by American critics — and finds magical qualities within it; in “The Leopard,” he reviews Luchino Visconti’s 1963 masterpiece, starring Burt Lancaster, involving the civil 19th century turmoil for unification in Italy, called the “Risorgimento.”

Jigs Gardner, in “Letters from a Conservative Farmer — COVID-19 Comes to the Countryside: A Hoax?” he shares the experience of the virus at the local county nursing home, and he addresses whether he thinks the virus is a hoax.

Jigs Gardner, in “Writers for Conservatives, 83: Science Under Siege,” reviews Michael Fumento’s book, Science Under Siege, that debunks climate alarmism perpetrated by the Left.