Have Children Gone the Way of the Horse?
This op-ed by Cornerstone’s Shannon McGinley was originally published in the Union Leader January 19, 2026.
Why are so many couples choosing not to have children? With birth rates falling and populations aging, leaders are scrambling for fixes. If finances are the main barrier, then incentives—tax credits, subsidies, even “baby bond” accounts—sound like the answer. Helpful as they may be, I doubt money alone reaches the root of elective childlessness.
I recently watched a lecture by Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, economist and author of Hannah’s Children, titled “Why Children Became Useless: Faith and the Future of the Family.” She described asking her students, “What would I have to give you to make you buy a horse?”
Horses were once essential. After automobiles, they stopped “making sense” for some. Today, they are a luxury—owned by those who want them enough to accept the time, care, and cost.
What about children? Like horses, children once served an obvious economic function. They provided labor for farming families, built-in companionship, and support for parents in old age. And, as Pakaluk notes, they were often the predictable result of sex. Today, machines replace manual labor, government programs replace much family reliance, and birth control separates sex from babies. Functionally, we no longer “need” children—so having them is a choice.
Continue reading here.
Church Raid Response Guide
If someone ever raids your church to shut down your service and terrorize your congregation, here’s a quick guide to how you can lawfully respond.
1. Initial Response: Loudly order intruders to leave; call police (optional, no wait required). Trespassing doesn’t override your rights.
2. Escalation if Refusing to Leave: Your security team may use any non-deadly force they reasonably believe is necessary to remove the trespassers from the church. (RSA 627:7) Start with guiding/grabbing them by the shoulders; if they resist (e.g., group raid), using mace, striking, or similar is justifiable.
3. Deadly Force Threshold: You may use deadly force only if you reasonably believe that an assailant poses an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death to you or a third person, or crimes like arson, burglary, kidnapping, or forcible sex offenses (RSA 627:7; 627:4).
4. Best Practices: Train a volunteer security team (preferably with military/law enforcement experience); equip your team with firearms & non-lethals like pepper spray. A prepared team can quickly end disruptions.
5. Educate Yourself and Your Church: Though Cornerstone doesn’t hold a stance on firearms, churches should know that there are church-specific firearms training courses available through USCCA. This training video for churches is a great resource!
You can find more detailed instruction here.
Watch Now: Talk to Your NH Legislators
As the New Hampshire legislative session gets underway, now is the time for all of us to make our voices heard. Elected legislators are making decisions that will shape our schools, communities, and rights—but they can’t fully understand how proposed policies affect everyday Granite Staters unless we tell them.
Contacting your state representatives and senators isn’t just our civic duty, it’s one of the most effective ways to influence outcomes on issues that matter to you. This video, just over 2 minutes long, explains why speaking with your legislators matters and how it strengthens democracy at the local level.
Constitutional Amendment Proposed to Raise Judicial Retirement Age
The New Hampshire legislature has proposed CACR 9: relating to the retirement age for judges. Providing that the mandatory judicial retirement age shall be increased from 70 to 75.
Raising the judicial retirement age would ossify our state’s judiciary, further cement a set of liberal Republicans in power, block needed changes to our state’s constitutional precedent, and foreclose opportunities for hardworking younger judges and attorneys.
While retired judges have much to offer our state, preserving the current retirement age does not mean exiling them to the wilderness. Former Chief Justice Bob Lynn, a Cornerstone-endorsed representative, has become one of New Hampshire’s most influential state legislators since his retirement from the bench. Keeping a moderately-restrictive retirement age does not prevent retired judges from playing vigorous and important roles in our state’s public life. If anything, it brings their wisdom into other sectors of political, economic, and cultural life while promoting healthy turnover and renewal in our legal system.
Congratulations Dale Fincher! Wolfeboro, Tuftonboro, Ossipee Primary Winner!
Congratulations to Dale Fincher on winning the New Hampshire House District Carroll 7 Republican primary! Dale earned a decisive victory with 62% of the vote — an especially notable accomplishment as a write-in candidate.
Dale is a dedicated husband, father, and faith leader, who has been active in his community since his move to NH in 2018. He received a near-perfect score on the Cornerstone candidate survey, indicating close alignment with the issues our followers prioritize.
We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to the other candidates who gave their time and talent to run in this important race.
The general election will be held Tuesday, March 10, 2026.