The Texas Supreme Court ordered the release this morning of Shelly Luther after Dallas area state District Judge Eric Moyé had ordered her jailed for seven days on Tuesday for refusing to close her salon. Moyé had suggested he would lighten her sentence “If you would … take this opportunity to acknowledge that your actions…
Category: Government
Civil Rights Under Assault During the COVID-19 Lockdown
This article originally ran on Texas Scorecard on April 29. Diners at Gloria’s Latin Cuisine in Colleyville were the subjects of a photo spread at Dailymail.com after Mayor Richard Newton authorized patio service in area restaurants in a “controversial” proclamation. According to the MailOnline, these patrons engaged in shocking behavior when their “masks … came off once…
Governments Slow to Match Sacrifices Texans are Making During the Coronavirus Lockdown
The article originally ran in The Texan on April 29. Café Medici is a locally owned coffee shop operating three cafes in Austin. That number used to be six, though, before the COVID-19 shutdown. “We had to close three of them; one for good,” said owner Michael Vaclav, who founded the company with his wife…
Policymakers’ Guide to Corporate Welfare
Conservatives have long questioned whether welfare is the best way to help the least fortunate among us. More recently, the debate has shifted to a different type of welfare. Conservatives today are challenging whether “corporate welfare” achieves its stated goal of boosting economic growth. And, as in the case of traditional welfare, the debate extends…
Gimme All Your Money: The Trap of Progressive Liberalism
During its 1980’s resurgence, the Texas band ZZ Top released its Eliminator album, which contained the hit single, Give Me All Your Lovin’. The chorus went like this: Gimme all your lovin’, all your hugs and kisses too,Gimme all your lovin’, don’t let up until we’re through. Reviewing the song’s lyrics as I write this,…
Cassidy and Peacock on Capitalism and Socialism
David Cassidy, my church’s former pastor and a godly man, and I had a brief conversation on Facebook a while back. I thought I’d re-post it here: Cassidy: Pastors are not on the job to ‘Save America’. We are here to announce its eventual demise, conquest, redemption, and replacement with something that is already here…
Are Unbiblical Government Activities Theft?
In 1 Samuel 8:10-18, Samuel warns the people of Israel. He is warning them because they sinfully want to replace God with a human king: God says “they have rejected me from being king over them.” One thing to keep in mind is this is really God’s warning to the people; Samuel is just passing…
The Hope of Biblical Compassion: Charity
In my last article, I made the case that the welfare state is unbiblical. I built my argument on three premises: that the welfare state 1) is a form of theft, 2) destroys charity, and 3) harms everyone associated with it–funder, deliverer, and recipient. Let’s take another quick look at this. In 2 Thessalonians 3:10,…
The Tragedy of Evangelical Compassion: The Welfare State
What do we do when we realize the welfare state isn’t working? Well, for a lot of Evangelicals, the trick is actually getting to that point. Many appear content with government welfare programs as a means of assisting the poor; some even seem to think that we are sinning by not spending enough money on…
Evangelical v. Biblical Compassion
The United States of America spends over $1.8 trillion each year on welfare programs and public education systems that consign millions of people to lifetimes of ignorance and poverty, provide substandard housing and medical care, separate fathers from their families, and lead many young black men to prison or an early death. The federal government…