Category: Politics & Government

Opinions on contemporary political happenings and the workings of civil government.

Little Men Who Think They Are Big

  

The view that the people, as a collective, are always right is fallacious. The voters make huge mistakes all the time. Yet so do kings and totalitarian rulers. What, then, is the solution? Our Founders came up with an arrangement that sought to minimize the sinfulness and foolishness of man. The federal republic they created, while not perfect, since there is no perfect system in this world, nevertheless has the potential to diminish the bad effects of man’s selfish tendencies…. Read more »

Iranian Persecution of the Christian Faith

  

Iran continues its persecution of Christians. The latest victim is Saeed Abedini, who is now an American citizen. Last week, he was sentenced to eight years in prison by a judge known for his particularly harsh sentences. What did Abedini do to run afoul of the regime? In the early years of this new century, when he was still an Iranian citizen, he converted to Christianity and became a leader in setting up a network of house churches. This, in… Read more »

Heroes vs. Famous Faces

  

Two big events in Washington, DC, this week. The first was the presidential inauguration; the second will be the annual March for Life on Friday. The first got a lot of coverage; the second won’t get nearly as much. Yet the second event is far more significant spiritually. While the inaugural address gave lip service to the ideal of the right to life as stated in the Declaration of Independence, the March for Life is the public face for those… Read more »

Interpreting Obama’s Inaugural Address

  

One of the key ways to mislead people is to use the same words everyone else uses, but to give those words a different meaning without explaining to the listeners the new definitions. President Obama’s inaugural address needs to be interpreted in that way. He used “Progressive-Speak” to make his points, yet most Americans don’t understand this particular language. I feel it is my duty to be his interpreter. I won’t include the entire speech; it would be far too… Read more »

Those Executive Orders

  

President Obama yesterday put forward his executive orders for curbing gun violence. There were twenty-three of them. I read through all twenty-three carefully. While I’m somewhat relieved that he didn’t go beyond the regular misuse of such executive orders—no sweeping new mandates this time—he nevertheless stepped over the constitutional boundary that separates the executive from the legislative. His orders, while not establishing new laws, which would be unconstitutional in itself, still added new spending in the billions. Unless that money… Read more »

The Giglio Saga: The New Intolerance

  

This week was the first time I had ever heard of Louie Giglio. It’s the first time many Americans heard his name, but now, for those who pay attention to the news, he has become prominent. Here’s why he ought to be prominent: he is a Christian leader whose ministry just drew 60,000 young people to Atlanta for the dual purpose of worshiping God and helping to end the abominable practice of human trafficking—the slavery of our age. He ought… Read more »

Constitutional Limitations & Obama

  

Who cares about constitutional limitations? Certainly not Barack Obama. He likes to let people know he was a professor of constitutional law, but the truth is that 1) he was a lecturer, not a professor per se, and 2) he has no regard for the document at all. He’s referred to it as an encumbrance that gets in the way of his goal of transforming America. As I noted yesterday, and as at least some of the media have picked… Read more »