Tag: rule of law

The Poison of Subjectivism & the Loss of Freedom

  

C. S. Lewis was no fan of politics. He had listened to political discussions from his youth, as his father was a lawyer with the government, but he found such talk ultimately unsatisfying. Yet that doesn’t mean he wasn’t concerned about good governing and the basis for understanding what is necessary for it. So even though he shied away from writing too much on politics per se, he never avoided advocating foundational concepts that applied to a society—government and culture… Read more »

When Rule of Law Prevails

  

The release of the Mueller Report has had the predicted result: very few partisans have been convinced to set aside their preconceived notions about either the guilt or innocence of Donald Trump with respect to contacts with Russians during the presidential campaign or his actions to obstruct justice in the investigation. What is most dismaying to me, though, is that partisans for Trump have rarely looked at key sections of the Mueller Report. Some won’t because they consider Mueller to… Read more »

My Political Wilderness (Part 2)

  

In my last post, I made it clear that I don’t have a home in the Democrat party. The extremism that dominates that party makes it an unwelcome place for those, like me, who believe abortion is wrong, that same-sex marriage is unacceptable, and that big-government socialism is not the proper path to follow for policy. All of those positions are anathema to me because of my basic Christian presuppositions. So my obvious political home should be the Republican party,… Read more »

Reagan & Modern American Conservatism

  

Finals week is upon my students and me. Another semester nears an end. Naturally, I am relieved, but I do enjoy the teaching. When students ask which courses are my favorites, I have to say I like them all. Yet there are some that usually stand out because of my particular interests: my course on C. S. Lewis is one, as is the course on Whittaker Chambers. Then there’s the one I just completed called “Ronald Reagan and Modern American… Read more »

Rule of Law & the Constitutional Convention

  

In our era, when the rule of law seems to be weakening, it’s instructive to look back at how our cornerstone document, the Constitution, came into being. The 1780s, under the Articles of Confederation, saw a loose-knit assemblage of states that were in danger of splitting apart permanently. Those with concern for the rule of law and who had a vision for a better system urged a meeting of all the states to address the governmental crisis. Twelve of the… Read more »

The Alt-Right Isn’t Right

  

I would like to gently—okay, forcefully—make a point today about a mischaracterization being promulgated in the media. It’s also prevalent in academia. It has to do with how the political spectrum is explained. We all know, since the Charlottesville episode, that the so-called Alt-Right has come under greater scrutiny. This is a group that, although it claims not to be Neo-Nazi or part of the KKK, nevertheless finds ideological companions in those detestable movements. In reality, the Alt-Right is just… Read more »

Going Nuclear in the Senate

  

Neil Gorsuch’s nomination for the Supreme Court is coming to a vote in the Senate shortly. Democrats on the Senate Committee who grilled Judge Gorsuch came our uniformly against him. Chuck Schumer, the Democrat leader in the Senate, says his party will filibuster the nomination despite Gorsuch receiving the American Bar Association’s highest rating. That organization is not exactly ruled by conservatives. So why the filibuster tactic? What is Gorsuch’s crime? Could it be that he simply believes judges should… Read more »