Issues

By Mark Doggett

I recently listened to a podcast interview with Arthur C. Brooks, a social scientist and happiness researcher, who identified what he believes is America’s deepest mental health crisis. It isn’t just anxiety or depression. It’s a crisis of meaning.

Despite rising living standards and instant access to information, more Americans report feelings of emptiness, confusion, and despair. Suicide and depression rates continue to climb, especially among young adults. Loneliness has become so pervasive that the U.S. Surgeon General has called it a national epidemic.

Brooks argues that many no longer feel their lives matter—that they have a purpose beyond achievement, comfort, or online affirmation. The problem isn’t that we have too little, but that we have too little to live for.

Philosophers have long warned of this emptiness. Blaise Pascal, the 17th-century French thinker, wrote that “all of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” When stripped of distraction, we’re forced to confront the void—the aching absence of meaning. We chase entertainment, not because it fulfills us, but because it helps us forget how lost we feel.

Søren Kierkegaard called this the sickness unto death—not physical illness, but despair born from not knowing who we are or why we exist. His answer was not intellectual, but spiritual: a leap of faith toward something greater than the self.

C.S. Lewis echoed this idea in the 20th century: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Our longing for ultimate meaning may not be a flaw, but a clue.

Yet today’s culture leaves little room for that kind of reflection. We prize achievement over contemplation, opinion over wisdom, and consumption over contribution. Social media offers identity and applause—but it’s fleeting. When the likes fade, we’re left with the same old questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is worth suffering for?

Brooks argues that real fulfillment comes from four pillars: faith, family, friendship, and work that serves others. Meaning isn’t something you find—it’s something you build. It demands commitment and sometimes sacrifice.

Importantly, Brooks doesn’t limit meaning to religion, but he affirms that spiritual life—however defined—is essential to human flourishing. You can’t fill a spiritual void with productivity or pleasure.

We are creatures of purpose. When disconnected from community, tradition, or a moral vision larger than ourselves, something essential erodes. That erosion is now visible in both personal and public life.

This doesn’t mean rejecting science or progress. It means recognizing that progress without purpose is just movement without direction. Therapy and medicine are valuable, but they can’t answer life’s biggest questions.

In a world flooded with noise, the most radical act may be to sit still—and ask what our longing is trying to tell us.

Not everything can be proven. Some truths are self-evident. The real crisis isn’t in the mind. It’s in the soul.

About Mark

Mark Doggett retired last year as a professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Western Kentucky University.

By Semir Nailovic

People ask why we’re stepping into this fight. This. Right here. This is why.

Because somewhere along the way, this country stopped drawing the line. Somewhere, we forgot that protecting children is not controversial, it’s fundamental.

Western Kentucky University recently hosted its 10th Annual Drag Show. But this wasn’t just a performance for adults. Children were present. One child, just four years old, was photographed handing a dollar to a drag performer. That image, with the child’s full name, was published by WKU’s own student newspaper, The Herald.

Let that sink in. A preschooler. On a college campus. In front of a stage. Handing money to an adult performer. And the institution that allowed it didn’t just condone it, they hosted it.

Where were the age restrictions? Where was the adult judgment? Where was the basic decency?

This isn’t about drag as an art form. It’s not about hate or division. It’s about harm. Let’s be clear: adults have the right to express themselves. Drag, like other performance art, is protected speech. And for many, it serves as a place of community and identity. That’s not in question.

What is in question is why children are being brought into these spaces. This isn’t a gray area, it’s a failure to protect. That boundary should be absolute. And that line should never be blurred.

Public colleges, funded by your tax dollars, are not meant to be cultural battlegrounds. They are not meant to expose young children to adult themes under the excuse of “inclusivity.”

They are meant to educate. To stay neutral. To protect.

As for the WKU student newspaper, The Herald, publishing that photo wasn’t journalism. It was recklessness. It was exploitation. And it was a betrayal of public trust. Not only for the photo and publishing a minor’s name, but for turning a blind eye to the safety of a child.

This is why action must be taken.

Other States Are Leading, So Can Kentucky

In 2023, Tennessee passed the Tennessee Adult Entertainment Act, which bans adult cabaret performances, including drag shows, in public spaces and in places where children could be present. This law drew a firm line in the sand: protecting minors must come first.

Kentucky attempted to do the same with Senate Bill 115 in 2013 and Senate Bill 147 in 2024. SB 147 would have restricted adult-themed performances from taking place near schools, parks, and places of worship, and prohibited minors from attending such events. Unfortunately, despite passing the Senate, the bill stalled in the House and never became law.

But this fight isn’t over.

Fight Back by Signing This Petition

If we are successful with this petition, if we demonstrate that Kentuckians want to protect our children from exposure to adult content, we can revisit Senate Bill 147 in 2026 and push for its passage.

This is our opportunity to lead with common sense. To stand with parents. To stand for childhood. And to hold our public institutions accountable.

We are calling for immediate and decisive action.

We call for a complete ban on drag shows and similar adult-themed performances on all college and university property. Public institutions are not the place for this kind of content, especially not where children are involved.

We call for the enforcement of strict, non-negotiable age requirements for any adult-oriented events held in public venues. No child should ever be present at or exposed to sexually expressive performances.

We call for an end to the use of taxpayer dollars, directly or indirectly, to fund, promote, or support any event involving drag performances on campus grounds.

We call for institutional neutrality. State-funded colleges must not take sides in polarizing cultural battles. They exist to educate, not to indoctrinate.

Children are not political props. They are not social experiments. And they are not entertainment.

To every parent who is fed up… to every taxpayer who feels ignored… to every citizen who believes that children deserve a childhood, this is your moment.

Sign the petition. Share the message. Stand with us.

Because if we don’t protect them now, who will? Enough is enough.

Semir Nailovic is a father, small business owner and a concerned citizen using his voice to advocate for the protection of children and the preservation of family values.

American Refugees is the story of how a culture clash precipitated a great blue state exodus, and what it means for the rest of America. Focusing particularly on Tennessee, Simon contends that only the red states can preserve the constitutional republic envisioned by the Founders. Only they can save America for our children and grandchildren. The struggle will be great, but the story will ultimately have a happy ending.

A net exodus of Americans from blue to red states has been in progress for several years now. This is largely a southbound movement, and perhaps some migrants are “running from the cold up in New England,” as the song goes. But mostly they are leaving states that are too far gone into woke socialism to recover anytime soon—in favor of states with more conservative governance.

The conventional wisdom, or fear, among red state locals is that these newcomers, despite having “voted with their feet,” will continue to vote for the same policies that ruined the states from which they are fleeing. Roger Simon argues that the reverse may be more accurate: blue-to-red migrants tend to be serious constitutional conservatives, and they might be the cavalry that rescues the red states from their own problems.

About Roger

Roger L. Simon is an award-winning novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, co-founder of PJMedia, and now, editor-at-large and columnist for The Epoch Times. He is the author of ten novels, including the Moses Wine detective series, seven produced screenplays and two non-fiction books. He has served as president of the West Coast branch of PEN, a member of the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America, and was on the faculty of the American Film Institute and the Sundance Institute. His many journalistic articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Commentary, Real Clear Politics and City Journal, among others. Mr. Simon has also been a Hoover Institute Media Fellow.

Book Signing and Speaking Engagement: Roger L. Simon, author, American Refugees: The Untold Story of the Mass Migration from Blue to Red States

Warren County Conservatives Meeting, April 23, 2024 6:30 p.m. Hilton Garden Inn & Suites. 1020 Wilkinson Trace. Limited seating available. Reserve your seat today.

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Less than 30 legislative days remain in the 2024 General Session. With over 685 bills filed to date, we’ve highlighted important legislation in the House and Senate that is currently being tracked by the Kentucky Liberty Caucus. Read through the issues and contact your elected representatives to support legislation important to you.