Although few Americans hear much from various international climate change conferences, many more are likely to see documentaries warning about climate change. The latest is the Leonardo DiCaprio documentary, “Before the Flood.” He is, after all, perhaps the most visible face these days pushing for action on man-made global warming. Nicholas Loris appears briefly in the film, and decided to provide some perspective after seeing how the current science and political debate were portrayed in the film.

One problem he has with the film and its message can be summed up as “lifestyle change for thee, but not for me.” During a moment of self-reflection in the film, Leonardo DiCaprio admits that his carbon footprint “is probably bigger than most people’s.” Actually, there is no probably in that statement. He (and other actors and many environmental activists) fly around on private jets and live in houses many times larger than the houses the rest of us have. But that doesn’t stop activists interviewed in the film from emphasizing how all of us must change our lifestyle to reduce global warming.

Another concern can be summarized by the oft-repeated phrases: “the science is settled” or “97 percent of climate scientists agree.” Nicholas Loris explains why the phrase is a false talking point and reminds us that our climate data show no trend for extreme weather events.

Perhaps unintentionally, the documentary actually shows how energy impoverished the developing world is. “DiCaprio says when speaking to a women in New Delhi that the number of people without electricity in India is equivalent to the entire population of the United States.” The documentary seems to be telling these poor people that they must stay at this level and not develop energy resources.

The film, like much of the climate change debate, is full of hype but sometimes lacking in substance.

President Obama and his administration just set a new record. They have put more regulations into the Federal Register this year and shattered their old record for regulations they set in 2010. It is also worth mentioning that there are still nearly two months left in the president’s term. He will no doubt be trying to build on this legacy before he leaves office in January.

To put some of this in perspective, the Competitive Enterprise Institute found one day in which the administration put out 527 pages. Think of that. That is equal to the number of pages in the novel, The Bourne Identity. And the 527 pages put out in one day are hardly as interesting. Yet corporations and businesses have to read all of these regulations in case some of them apply to them.

So far the Obama administration has published 81,640 pages for 2016. Given that there are still more than 20 workings day left in the year, it is likely that the Federal Register will have more than 90,000 pages of regulations put out by this administration.

There is a cost, of course, to all of these regulations. Basic items that you buy (food, household items, electronics, etc.) all cost significantly more because of government decrees about product labeling, performance standards, and energy use. A few years ago, the Heritage Foundation attempted to estimate the total cost and came up with an annual cost of $1.75 trillion.

No one disputes the need for some government regulation of goods and services. But these latest figures illustrate why we cannot grow our economy. These regulations are weighing down the American economy and place a heavier and heavier regulatory burden on business. Those especially hurt are small businesses because they cannot hire additional personnel to read, evaluate, and implement all of the regulations the government spits out on a daily basis.

The next president and Congress must address the regulatory burden strangling our economy.

Protests in America have a noble history. They serve to identify a social problem and awaken politicians and the general public to important issues and causes. Think of the civil rights protests led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Unfortunately, many of the protests today are counterproductive. They result in angry protesters crowding into the streets and end with lots of property damage. Think of the protests by leftists and anarchists against the WTO that ended in violent clashes with law enforcement and sometimes millions of dollars in property damage.

The post-election protests against Donald Trump look much more like the second example. There is lots of emotion, but very little concrete action that even sympathetic citizens could be encouraged to pursue. The last few weeks may just be a prelude to what might be unleashed on Washington, D.C. during the inauguration.

Carrie Lukas reminds us that many of these protests are merely “A March to Nowhere.” Student protests on campus and leftist protesters in the streets may bring some visibility to an issue, but otherwise they are counterproductive.

She cites the 2015 protests on the campus of the University of Missouri over the issue of race and various racial incidents. The protesters may have been successful in raising the issue and getting a few administrators to leave. But they didn’t win over the general population. A poll taken in Missouri after the protests found that “by a fairly wide margin, the state’s public does not view the University of Missouri’s recent protests and associated events very favorably.” Nearly two-thirds (62%) disagreed with the actions by the protesters. Put another way, the protesters might have won a battle but they lost the PR war because they were angry and unreasonable in their demands.

I suspect many Americans will look at these recent protests as merely childish temper tantrums. They may get some news coverage, but they won’t win over many hearts.

Is America suffering from Affluenza? Actually that is the title of a book published a number of years ago to define the problems of materialism in general and consumerism in particular.

The authors say that the virus of Affluenza “is not confined to the upper classes but has found it way throughout our society. Its symptoms affect the poor as well as the rich . . . Affluenza infects all of us, though in different ways.” The authors go on to say that “the Affluenza epidemic is rooted in the obsessive, almost religious quest for economic expansion that has become the core principle of what is called the American dream.”

Anyone looking at some of the social statistics for the U.S. might conclude that our priorities are out of whack. We spend more on shoes, jewelry, and watches than on higher education. We spend much more on auto maintenance than on religious and welfare activities. And three times as many Americans buy Christmas presents for their pets than buy a present for their neighbors.

Debt and waste also show skewed priorities. More Americans have declared personal bankruptcy than graduated from college. Our annual production of solid waste would fill a convoy of garbage trucks stretching halfway to the moon. We have twice as many shopping centers as high schools.

The cure for the virus Affluenza is a proper biblical perspective toward life. The only problem is that this virus has infected many Christians. So we need to return to biblical priorities ourselves.

Jesus tells the parable of a rich man who decides to tear down his barns and build bigger ones (Luke 12:18). He is not satisfied with his current situation, but is striving to make it better. Today most of us have adjusted to a life of affluence as normal and need to actively resist the virus of Affluenza.

Each year, we take time from our busy lives to celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. Though many holidays have become secular celebrations, this holiday still retains much of its historic religious overtones.

A day of Thanksgiving was set aside by the Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony. Life was hard in the New World. Half of the Pilgrims died in the first terrible winter. After the first harvest was completed, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving and prayer. By 1623, a day of fasting and prayer during a period of drought was changed to one of Thanksgiving because the rain came during their prayers. The custom prevailed in New England and eventually became a national holiday.

Religious freedom is one of the lessons of Thanksgiving. In 1606 William Brewster led a group of Separatists to Leiden (in the Netherlands) to escape religious persecution in England. After living in Leiden for more than ten years, some members of the group voted to emigrate to America. Having been blown off course from their intended landing in Virginia by a terrible storm, the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod on November 1620. While still on the ship, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact.

The Mayflower Compact provides the second lesson of Thanksgiving: the importance of political freedom. On November 11, 1620, Governor William Bradford and the leaders on the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact before setting foot on land. They wanted to acknowledge God’s sovereignty in their lives and their need to obey Him.

During this Thanksgiving season, let’s return to the wisdom of the Pilgrims. They valued their freedom and were willing to endure hardship in order to come to this country and freely worship. Let us thank God for these freedoms and be willing to defend them against all who would seek to take them away.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I suspect that you are doing lots of things to get ready for this special day. Let me suggest you add one more item to your to do list. Visit our website and download a copy of my Thanksgiving Quiz.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to gather as a family, but I also believe it can be a great time to teach our children and grandchildren about America’s godly heritage. I created this short quiz to be a conversation-starter around the Thanksgiving table.

We used to go around the table before the meal and ask our children to tell what they were thankful for. After a few years of hearing about how they were thankful for their cat, their doll, their video games, I knew we needed to do something else.

The Thanksgiving Quiz was born out of that frustration. It has nineteen questions and answers on the Pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact as well as some questions and answers about the Christian heritage of America.

Who were the Pilgrims and why did they leave Europe for America? Why did they celebrate Thanksgiving? What is the Mayflower Compact, and why is it significant? What lessons did the Pilgrims learn about work and even free enterprise? How did the Christian faith influence America? These are just a few of the sorts of questions that you can ask around the table and give short answers.

Perhaps it is time to recapture the importance of Thanksgiving. On the bicentennial celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, Daniel Webster on December 22, 1820, declared the following: “Let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary.”

It is my hope this quiz will help your family see the importance of Thanksgiving.

One of the issues in the 2016 presidential campaign was religious liberty. Many of the Americans who voted for Donald Trump believed he would protect religious liberty by appointing conservative judges to the federal court.

Ryan Anderson argues that there are executive actions that the president-elect can do even before he appoints judges to the federal court. First, he can address the threat faced by religious schools (like Wheaton College) and religious groups (like the Little Sisters of the Poor) from the mandates from the Department of Health and Human Services. Houses of worship were exempted from the Obamacare contraception and abortifacients mandate.

Currently these religious groups were merely offered an accommodation that still violated their religious beliefs. The next president and his administration could direct the new secretary of Health and Human Services “to provide robust religious liberty protection to the HHS mandate.”

A second action could be taken with regard to the Justice Department and the Department of Education. Bureaucrats in the Obama administration re-interpreted the 1972 Title IX law to mandate that schools allow students to use bathroom and locker room facilities in accord with their “gender identity.”

The next president could rescind the executive orders by President Obama. He could also instruct the new secretaries of Education and Health and Human Services along with his new Attorney General to interpret the Title IX law the way it was intended.

Finally, Congress can pass and the next president can sign two pieces of legislation. One is the Russell Amendment, which protects freedom in religious staffing. The other is the Civil Rights Uniformity Act that specifies that the word “sex” in our civil rights laws does not mean “gender identity.”

These are three things the next president can do to protect religious liberty, even before appointing judges to the courts.

Is it really possible to repeal and replace Obamacare? That is what Donald Trump and many Republican candidates have been saying for months. Dr. Merrill Matthews says they will face some significant challenges in trying to keep that campaign pledge.

Republicans may still have a slim majority in the Senate, but they do not have the necessary 60 votes to end a filibuster. Unless they can find a number of Democrats willing to join them, they won’t be able to pass a full repeal of Obamacare.

They might be able to repeal part of the Obamacare through the reconciliation process (that only requires 51 votes). Even if they are able to accomplish that, many of the regulations from the Affordable Care Act will remain.

Perhaps the greatest challenge exists within the ranks of the Republican Party. While most would favor repeal, it is the replace part where there is some division. Various factions favor different solutions to replace Obamacare.

There are a few things that the president-elect and the future Congress can and should do. First, establish tax fairness. People who get their health insurance through an employer get a tax benefit the rest of us who buy our health insurance as individuals do not. This would help the self-employed and others without employer-provided coverage.

Second, Congress can and should expand benefits like Health Savings Accounts. This puts more economic power in the hands of the patient and has been demonstrated to lower health care spending. Dr. Ben Carson has been a leading advocate of these Health Savings Accounts and should be given a prominent role to promote them.

Third, Congress could allow people to buy health insurance across state lines. This would introduce competition and provide greater consumer choice.

Repeal and replace may not happen next year, but that cannot be an excuse for Congress sit idle when many Americans are facing problems with their health insurance. There many things they can do.