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Having just finished Thanksgiving week with my family, it is easy to feel wonderfully blessed. America is an incredible country that has, with God’s help, created a society used to meals that fill us and, for the most part, seasons of plenty. As you probably know, I came to America from India for my senior year of high school, continued onto to Dartmouth College and have been here ever since.
Had I remained in India, I would probably live my entire existence within a five-mile radius of where I was born. I would undoubtedly have married a woman of my identical religious and socioeconomic background. I would face relentless pressure to become an engineer, a doctor, or a computer programmer. My socialization would have been almost entirely within my ethnic community. I would have a whole set of opinions that could be predicted in advance. In sum, my destiny would, to a large degree, have been given to me.
In America, my life has broken free of these traditional confines. At Dartmouth, I became interested in literature and switched my major to the humanities. Soon I developed a fascination with politics, and resolved to become a writer, which is something you can make a living doing in America, and which is not easy to do in India. Eventually I found myself working in the White House, even though I was not an American citizen. I cannot imagine any other country allowing a non-citizen to work in its inner citadel of government.
In most of the world, even today, your identity and your fate are largely handed to you. This is not to say that you have no choice, but it is choice within given parameters. In America, by contrast, you write the script of your own life: what to be, where to live, whom to love, whom to marry, what to believe, what religion to practice.
Some critics, both in America and abroad, have noted that this freedom to shape one's own life is a mixed blessing. Freedom can be used well or badly. Some Americans do indeed make mistakes with freedom as the country's high divorce rate and financial gambles that put thousands of jobs at risk suggest. These are unfortunate social trends, but we should remember that while freedom allows vice its scope, it also gives greater luster to virtue.
America is certainly facing enormous problems—an oversized government, an unfathomable debt, and sluggish job growth. These are real problems that require thoughtful, calculated answers. King’s faculty take on these issues in the media, King’s students wrestle with these problems in the classroom and when visiting the protestors in Zuccotti Park, and the Presidential Scholars are using their expertise to speak to the underlying questions of these issues. I am thankful for the students, staff and faculty that make King’s what it is each and every day.
As the president of The King’s College, I have much to be thankful for—intelligent students, first-rate faculty, dedicated parents, attentive alumni, and generous donors. Please know how thankful we all are—students, staff, and faculty— for your support and for partnering with us.
 Thank You,
Dinesh D'Souza
President, The King's College
2011 Graduated Hired at Luntz Global
 As politicians, non-profit advocacy groups and other interest groups prepare for what promises to be a brutal 2012 campaign season, they are working hard to craft and refine their message. John Hundsheid now helps a variety of firms do just that. A 2011 graduate of King’s, Hundsheid recently joined Luntz Global, a Washington D.C. communications firm.
Luntz Global specializes in message creation and image management. The firm has counseled Presidents and Prime Ministers, Fortune 100 CEOs and Hollywood creative teams in harnessing the power of language and visuals to change hearts, change minds and change behaviors.
“It's a perfect fit for me,” John said. “What appeals to me most about this job is getting to see up close and personal what the Americans people are really thinking about a given topic.” His responsibilities mainly include “analyzing what a message is really about, and not just what it appears to say.”
Originally from Madison, AL., John graduated with a degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. During his time at King’s, John was a member of The House of Churchill. He served as Scholar for two years, and also as Communications Director for The King’s Council. John said that the intensive writing focus of the curriculum he received at King’s has helped him thrive in his new position. “I gained the skill to look at a sentence and think, ‘How could this be better?’"
John looks back on his time at King’s with fondness. When asked about his favorite aspect of his time in New York, he said, “There are experiences you can only have in New York. When you live there, it's easy to take for granted that you can go to the Met anytime you'd like. I'd like to think that living in New York made me a more cultured person and, as Prof. Tubbs would say, more pleasant company at a dinner party.”
John is hoping to use the experience he gains in his current position to build a career in political communications.
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Lady Lions Bring Home Their First Win of the Season
In the story below, Liz Ferguson describes this year for the Lady Lion’s basketball team. She is the captain of the woman’s basketball team and the Sports Information Direct for The King’s College Athletics.
 The women’s basketball program here at TKC is most often described as “young”. Last year was the Lady Lion’s inaugural season, and so there aren’t many other schools in the city with basketball programs as young as ours. This means the girls often face teams from NCAA D3 and WHVAC schools. So, as you might expect, the ladies are having what I like to call a “building” season. And, while this building season raises the bar for the Lady Lions, it doesn’t lead to many victories. However, that all changed last Friday when the Lady Lions beat Vaughn College.
Up until Friday the Lady Lions were in the routine of show up, play hard, get spanked. And you could feel that self doubting mentality when they stepped on the court. It wasn’t until the girls gained an 8 point lead that they realized they were in control of the game.
Leading the team on the court was Freshman Kylie Kelder. This is Kelder’s first season ever playing point guard, but her no nonsense leadership on the court cemented her position as starting point and earned her the fan given nickname “General.” Kelder sunk 2 3-pt shots and snagged 5 rebounds.
Freshman Kendal Seely proved to be an invaluable asset to the team despite only having joined the team a week ago. Sturdy yet swift, Seely played both the guard and forward positions, earning herself 8 points and 10 rebounds.
Captain Liz Ferguson broke her scoring record with 31 points and 15 rebounds. Besides welcoming their first win, the ladies also welcomed new player Rikki Heath to the team. Her playing experience and court vision are just what the lady lions need to take their game to the next level.
Overall, the girls are growing as a team and making great strides toward shaking the “young program” stigma. The final score of the game was 51-14 Lions. Hopefully the girls bring this winning mentality into their next game v. SUNY Purchase on December 5th.
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 Dawn Fotopulos, Associate Professor of Business, writes on her website about the dangers businesses face when using popular deal sites like Groupon. She writes, “These are the people who only show up when you’re giving stuff away. You can’t build businesses with these folks.” Read the full article here.
 David Innes, Associate Professor of Politics, writes in World Magazine that Herman Cain has failed to prove that he is ready for the responsibility of the presidency. Innes writes that “Herman Cain’s campaign is collapsing. A very awkward job interview appears to be ending.” Read the full article here. He also discussed his new book, “Left, Right, and Christ” at a private event in New York City. The book addresses the divide between Conservative and Liberal Christians on many public policy issues. Click here to watch the video
 Anthony Bradley, Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics, encourages Christian leaders to reconsider the importance of Christian education in World Magazine. He writes that “too many missional Christians equate Christian schools with withdrawing from the culture. But Christian schools also can be a way to serve society by providing education alternatives for people who need them.” Read the full article by clicking here.
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By Dr. David Innes
Understanding the relationship between the Christian faith and any academic discipline must start with understanding the relationship between God and the universe in general. God created all things. He is thus sovereign over all things, and all things exist for his glory. He created man as unique among the creatures: in his image as vice-regent. To fulfill this mediatorial role, man applies God’s sovereign will for his creation as God has revealed it in general and special revelation, by reason and Scripture.
But man’s government of the creation extends not only to agriculture and engineering, but also civil government. Man himself must be governed, and he must govern his affairs righteously, according to God’s righteous will.
The study of politics, i.e., political philosophy or political science, is the attempt to give a rational account of political things, including human passions, relationships, and institutions in their political significance (e.g. self-love, fatherhood, and executive authority) and the political principles according to which they are rightly ordered. This account proceeds at the levels of both the theoretical and the practical, the general and the particular. The theoretical account provides the context in which historical situations or particular truths are able more clearly to be understood. At the same time, a practical account of government and politics as they present themselves, both in our day and in the past, provides the material from which a systematic account of politics can be developed. More immediately, however, it provides a civic education which enables citizens to participate with greater understanding in a healthier public life.
Human beings necessarily and by nature live in community with one another, but are constantly in strife over how that is to be done. Who is to rule and how? To what end or ends is our civic life to be directed? These nettlesome disagreements call for a political science, so that our life together may be ordered rationally, i.e., functionally as well as justly. To a large extent the study of politics can proceed on the basis of natural reason or general revelation as do the studies of anatomy and medicine. But unlike these studies, the study of politics is complicated by the strong passions that attach to the distinction between what is and what ought to be, the just and the unjust. Yet, this spiritedness in the defense of what is right often compromises the rational faculty itself. Because of sinful passion, human beings stray from truth and prudence into futility and destructiveness. Because of this condition, human beings must depend ultimately upon the Bible, God's special revelation, and upon the enabling ministry of the Holy Spirit to guide us in our political reasoning and judgment. Accordingly, politics must be understood in the context of the promises and counsels of God as revealed in Scripture, the highest authority in human affairs. Thus, faith takes the role of true guide and corrective in regard to a humble political science.
Developing a faithfully Christian understanding of political life is necessary not only for the professional political scientist, but for every citizen of the Kingdom of God who, in this world, is also inescapably a citizen of an earthly country. As a Christian political scientist, it is my calling to help the Church of Christ more accurately discern between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man, and equip it to function more effectively as salt and light in this world, wise to its doctrines but innocent of its ways (Matthew 10:16).
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