The Bible gives us far more information about how the world works than even many Christians understand. Here we’ll look at the biblical perspective on government, economics, and more.
Jesus' Rule Over the Nations
On X, someone recently responded to a post I made about the role of belief or unbelief in Christ in our cultural and political conflicts:
So I thought I would provide some Bible passages on the topic of Jesus' rule over the nations--and the role that His people--Christians--will have in His rule. Here we go:
Read MoreSocialism on the Rise in Texas: A Biblical Critique of the Texas Budget
This article was first published at Texans for Fiscal Responsibility
Executive Summary
The Texas Legislature is in the midst of a 20-year spending spree. Since 2003, the appropriation of state funds per legislative session has increased from $76.2 billion to $233 billion. Remarkably, 44% of that growth happened in 2023 alone. Of the $157 billion increase over the last 20 years, the recently concluded regular session of the 88th Texas Legislature is responsible for $69.3 billion.
Not surprisingly, the increase in state government spending has led to an increase in socialism in Texas. More and more of society’s resources (property) used to produce goods and services are owned or controlled by government. Several examples of advancing socialism in the Texas budget adopted in 2023 include the Texas Energy Loan Program ($5.0 billion), the Texas Broadband Infrastructure Fund ($1.5 billion), the Texas Water and the New Water Supply for Texas Funds ($1.0 billion), the Texas University Fund ($273 million), Electric Grid Debt Relief ($3.9 billion), and government-funded hospital construction ($2.3 billion).
Yet socialism does not work. It decreases, rather than increases, prosperity. This should not be surprising because it stands in opposition to God’s gift to us of private property as the most efficient and obedient way of fulfilling his command to us to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. If Texas and Texans are to prosper, we must turn back the increase of socialism by reducing the size of the Texas budget.
Read MoreA Lesson in Liberty from the (Pseudo) Pandemic
When the pseudo-COVID19 pandemic hit, I was glad that my family attended the church that we did. Our church was shut down for about a short of time as any other church in town. But I was a bit disappointed that that there was little discussion about what limits there might be on our Romans 13 obligation to honor and obey the government's order to shut down gathered worship. We simply shut down when the government said we must and opened back up when the government said we could. I believe, though, there is more to it than that.
Read MoreA Theology of Public Education
A while back I watched a short but insightful video featuring Dr. Carl Ellis at Reformed Theological Seminary. At first, when he stated, “All theology is contextual; all theology is historically and culturally determined,” I thought he was saying all theology was subjective. But that is not the case.
The point he makes is that the church has historically developed its theology in reaction to events of the world around us. As I thought about that, it made perfect sense. For instance, we have an Apostle’s Creed and Nicene Creed because the church was being forced to develop its Christology in the face of heresies about the person and nature of Jesus Christ. The same thing happened we saw the development of doctrines such as sola scriptura and sola fide as the Catholic Church sought to elevate the authority of the church and its traditions over God's Word. Similarly, Protestant Resistance Theory developed in the 16th century as Christians sought to understand Romans 13 in the context of civil leaders to whom they were supposed to be subject to trying to murder them. And, not surprisingly, Protestant Resistance Theory is being rediscovered and further developed by the church in a similar context today.
Read MoreThe Problem with Big Government
I recently spoke to the Brazos Valley Republican Club about the problem with Big Government. We focused on the problems with Texas' budget, property taxes, and electric grid.
While there are a lot of problems in Texas that Christians and conservatives need to deal with, such as election integrity, Democrat chairs in the Texas House, further protecting unborn babies, the sexualization and mutilation of Texas kids, the invasion of Texas' border, parental rights in education, and gun ownership, I'd suggest the primary issue we need to deal with is shrinking big government. As I told the great group of folks in College Station, we can’t stop Big Government from taking away our God-given unalienable rights. Our only successful path to Liberty is to turn Big Government into Little Government.
You can download my PowerPoint presentation here.
Read MoreYahweh Miśrâh: Christ, the Lord of Politics
A proposal being debated in my church and denomination (the Presbyterian Church in America) would insert language into our Book of Church Order (BCO) that says, "Men who describe themselves as homosexual, even those who describe themselves as homosexual and claim to practice celibacy by refraining from homosexual conduct, are disqualified from holding office."
A friend of mine, during a recent conversation on this issue, said that the proposed statement was "political" and did not belong in the BCO.
I know my friend did not mean that homosexuality is only a political issue that has nothing to with faith. I took him to mean instead that the focus of some people in our denomination on those who are gay and celibate has moved beyond faith to politics.
His statement reflects a sentiment popular among some Christians today that evangelical Christians, especially white evangelicals, have politicized the Christian faith.
In an interview with Vox last year, David French said, "Any time you’re going to tie faith to ideas and people who do not either personify biblical ethics or positioned to flow from biblical ethics, you’re creating a real problem. They’ve essentially politicized their faith."
Notice how carefully French constructs his statement. He has positioned himself so that if he finds a Christian who supports a politician French believes does not "personify biblical ethics," perhaps Donald Trump?, he can easily claim his opponent has politicized his faith. Likewise, if a Christian takes a position on public policy that French and company do not think "flow[s] from biblical ethics," French can readily dismiss it as political, not based in faith.
Read MoreProtestant Resistance Theory
Romans 13 tells us to "be subject to the governing authorities."
Yet the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, from Luther and Calvin to Knox, Rutherford, Junius Brutus, and others, had a problem: the rulers they were supposed to be subject to were trying to, or actually did, murder them. To understand what the Bible taught about this, they spent the better part of 200 years studying and writing about it.
The result is today the body of work we call Protestant Resistance Theory. By far the best and most accessible modern book I've read on this is Slaying Leviathan by Glenn Sunshine.
Read MoreThe Christian Foundations of Government: A Bibliography
I teach a high school class on government and economics at a classical Christian school. Below is the list of books and original sources that I have used to prepare for and teach the class. Not everything on the list has a Christian perspective, but even those that do not can, when viewed from a Christian worldview, help us understand how Christian government and culture should--or should not--be organized, including the laws that we should live under and the limits that are placed on the authority of four primary spheres of government: self-government, family government, church government, and civil government.
Read MoreWill Trump Be Indicted? Why Christians Should Care
Christians’ ability to speak and live out the Word of God is under assault from the secular, progressive left. They seek to remove any trace of God or His people from the culture.
The ongoing assault against President Trump is part of this. In order to understand why this is the case--and why Christians should be concerned, let us take a look at what the left has done to Trump in light of attacks on other Republican presidents before him.
The week before the raid on Trump's home, George Parry published an article in the American Spectator, "The Democrats’ Looming Trial and Conviction of Donald Trump." In it, he wrote:
Read More“We intend to hold everyone, anyone who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding January 6, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable,” said Garland.
Who’s he kidding? Garland made it sound as if there is a chance that Trump might not be arrested and prosecuted. But, to anyone who has been paying attention, the intention of the Democrat-controlled federal government has always been and remains to be the legalized destruction of Donald Trump. It is, in fact, the whole purpose behind the illegally constituted Jan. 6 committee’s Soviet–style show trial, its contempt citations of Trump administration officials, and the follow-up supporting criminal cases by the FBI and Justice Department.
Thinking Economically
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
As we learn at the very beginning of Scripture, God is the Creator of everything. As such, He is also the owner of everything. Which means we have to follow God's rules about how to use His property.
The good news is that He has told us everything we need to know about how to do this: "let them have dominion over ... over all the earth"; "be fruitful and multiply"; "fill the earth and subdue it"; "thou shall not steal"; "thou shall not covet"; "you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much," etc. He also made us in His image, so we are creative and can make many things out of the earth He has given us to steward.
Another way of saying this is that God has made us and taught us to think economically. Producing, building, saving, buying, and selling is what we were made for. Even so, we still need to focus on the economic laws and principles God has given us to help us understand when we get off track--as we will in our fallen nature.
That is why several of us at the Texas Public Policy Foundation joined with economist Arthur Laffer back in 2008 to publish the 10-lesson series, Thinking Economically. Each of these short (6-7 pages) lessons are intended to cut through the raucous debates over public policy that are raging in our culture today to help us understand how God designed the world to work.
Of course, some people have agendas that make God's designs of no interest to them; they prefer to rage. Nonetheless, those of us interested in taking care of God's world according to His will would do well to read what Dr. Laffer has to say. If you don't have time to read all ten, though, I'd suggest lessons 1, 2, 3, 8, and 10.
Lesson 1 - Violate at Your Own Risk: The Immutability of Economic Laws
Lesson 2 - What's it Worth: The Value of Things
Lesson 3 - Government and Prosperity: Free Market Institutions
Lesson 4 - The Condition of Our Nation: The Press is Always Wrong
Lesson 5 - Money Makes the World Goes 'Round: And the Fed Makes Money
Lesson 6 - Trade: You Ain't Got the Frills if You Ain't Got the Skills
Lesson 7 - State's Right--to Mess Up: What Makes a State Competitive
Lesson 8 - Entrepreneurs versus Regulators: Government Intervention in the Market
Lesson 9 - When You're Right You're Right: The Laffer Curve
Lesson 10 - The Perfect as the Enemy of the Good: Market Failure of Market Opportunity?
Read MoreGod & Government: A Discussion of the Theology of the State
I recently took part in a discussion with a Lutheran pastor and a reformed Baptist pastor about Christian engagement with the culture. Click below to watch. You can also listen to the podcast here.
Read MoreLiberty Requires Rights Exercised in Free Markets
The free market is waning in today's uber-regulatory world. The government tells us what we must inject into our bodies to get a job, what products we can--or must--sell, what people we must serve--or reject, the wages we must pay--and receive, the price at which we can buy and sell products, and more. Capitalism, which as the replacement for feudalism allowed for the first time in history people from all classes to freely use their land, labor, and capital to their own benefit, is rapidly being replaced by a modern-day feudalism in which the wealthy and politically connected are once again becoming our lords.
There have been certainly challenges with capitalism over the last several centuries since it sprung out of 14th-century Renaissance Europe—poor working conditions, fraud, and strained relationships between owners and workers among them. Even so, the benefits of capitalism are indisputable in terms human prosperity and health.
Also indisputable is the history of failure by government officials who attempt to override consumer preferences—and God-given rights—by intervening in markets in the name of "consumer protection." Yet the interventions—and failures—continue unabated.
Read MoreBeing Conservative is No Longer Enough
We don't need to spend time calling Americans back to conservatism; we need to call them to faith in Jesus.
The modern conservative movement came to life in the 1950s around William F. Buckley, Jr. and National Review. Thirty years later Ronald Reagan and the Heritage Foundation brought it into the mainstream. When Newt Gingrich and congressional Republicans took back Congress in 1994, it looked like that in less than fifty years modern conservatism was well on its way to becoming America's guiding principle of governance.
Today, it is obvious that was not the case. Not only has it not taken over America, but conservatism is not even the guiding principle within the Republican Party. In fact, conservatism, if we define it as a commitment to free markets and individual liberty, is struggling to stay afloat in the world of intellectual thought and think tanks on the right.
We are not going to examine here all the different politicians and institutions claiming to be conservative that really are not. Besides the amount of time it would take, it would really miss the point. We don't need to spend time calling Americans back to conservatism; we need to call them to faith in Jesus.
Read MorePutting on Our Coates Coats
by Douglas Wilson
Introduction
The only real science involved in all the corona-panic anymore is the science of crowd control. And however poorly our governments may have done with regard to the virus itself, having run out of rest homes to put the contagious in, they have done a marvelous job when it comes to manipulating and all-round spooking the general population.
Now there are plain indications of significant restiveness here and there, but over all the totalitolerance brigade has gotten away with a whole lot more than I think even they believed possible. They are not interested in the science called virology. It is more like the science of compliance.
But one of the things that has been revealed as a consequence, at least for those who have kept their eyes open, is the exact nature of the end game we are facing. That end game is control—control without brakes, control without limit, control without any system of restraints. Just as Richard Rorty once said that truth is whatever his contemporaries let him get away with, so also human rights (to the current managerial elite) are in that same malleable category. Whatever they can successfully seize must somehow belong to them. Due process is whatever their lap dogs in the media are prepared to let them get away with.
Those Pockets of Restiveness
I have been pleased and surprised at what has started to happen in Canada—things that make me the right kind of proud of my Canadian heritage. Have I mentioned that my mom was from Alberta? No, I am not referring to the Canadian government, which is being every bit as demented and twaddlesome as the government reigning over my place of birth, that being the state of California, which is saying something.
I was rather referring to the patrons of the restaurant in British Columbia chanting at the inspectors to “get out.” I was referring to the Polish pastor in Canada who managed to abbreviate that simple message down to the pithier word “out,” along with a postscript of “psychopaths.” But preeminently I am referring to Pastor James Coates who was imprisoned for refusing to stop preaching. And after he was released, the officials then felt constrained to build a big fence around his church, and they padlocked it. The official guardians of freedom Alberta-style then dispatched 200 cops to keep people from worshiping at the barricade. When this is all over, a lot of pastors need to contemplate what is happening, and then they all need to put on their Coates coats.
In California, the governor has announced they are going to reopen on June 15. They are going to do so despite the ongoing minuscule danger of death. He is doing this, be aware, on account of the recall election breathing down his neck. Millions signed the petition for that recall, those millions being among the remaining Californians who didn’t move to Texas or Idaho.
And then in Florida, their governor has banned vaccine passports, and good on him. He was followed in this by the governor of Texas, and just the other day, our governor here in Idaho did the same thing by executive order. Further, our governor forbade any state agencies from sharing any vaccination status info with anybody, whether private companies or other government agencies. Given how singularly unhelpful our governor was on the whole lockdown question, this stand almost certainly indicates a politician’s sense of some shifting winds.
So, like I said, signs of coordinated resistance developing here and there.
Read the rest on Blog & Mablog
Read MoreWhat the Bible Can Tell Us About the Texas Blackouts
The Bible may not have been the first place you turned to over the last couple of weeks to look for information about the Texas blackouts.
This may be in part because some in the church today teach us that the Bible and Christianity are not really appropriate for the public square, that if we go much beyond "Thou shall not kill" the Bible doesn't inform us very much when it comes to public policy.
Yet I believe this perspective sells the Bible short. And leaves the culture in great danger of God's judgment.
Read MoreTrue Compassion
At my previous job, we tended to have lots of discussions about public policy. As part of that dialogue, an intern once asked:
Is government regulation never a good thing? Even if regulations are designed to reduce pollution or cut down on secondhand smoke in restaurants (nominally good goals, although the regulations may be flawed/designed incorrectly), is it always better to allow individuals/corporations to make their own decisions and enjoy or suffer the consequences? Or in the case of unemployment insurance or a more-limited form of welfare, is it better to make individuals responsible for themselves rather than helping them get back up on their feet? My principal exposure to these types of discussions comes from my microeconomics and public finance classes from this past year. The classes emphasized using taxes and subsidies in the case of externalities and other market failures (information asymmetry, natural monopolies, etc.), but I would like to have further discussion on these topics from other perspectives.
These questions are all very good. And all very challenging. In fact, they are at the very heart of what a conservative involved in public policy must come to grips with.
I believe that government was given to us by God for a reason, mainly to protect us by punishing wrongdoers so we live in liberty.
Libertarians tend to think that just the existence of government threatens our liberty. On the surface, that seems to makes sense. By definition, government has the authority to deprive us of life, liberty, and property. That’s what a government is, it taxes and wields the power of the sword over its citizens. Yet what it is really doing it protecting us from evil doers who are the real threat to our liberty. And sometimes, we are those evil doers, or at least potential evil doers.
Read MoreCompartmentalizing God
People in all ages have their conceits. For instance, a conceit of the ancient world was that man could manipulate the gods because the gods were a lot like man.
Today, in the modern age, a major conceit is that we think we can compartmentalize God and keep Him in His place.
Perhaps the primary way this is expressed in America and much of the Western world is through the concept of the separation of church and state. Unbelievers like Thomas Jefferson have (wrongly) used the Establishment Clause in the U.S. Constitution to claim that nothing from Christianity can enter into our considerations of how the government functions.
The compartmentalization of God does not stop there. We are not supposed to talk about God in the workplace. In school. At parties. Or just about anywhere in polite society. He is relegated to the church, some homes, and mission work--preferably in some poor, far away country.
We in the church have fallen for this as well. Not that we really believe God must be (or even can be) compartmentalized, but nonetheless we find ourselves not referencing Him and His Word in our everyday speech.
Read MoreWhat Does Liberty Look Like: Government and Rulers
One of the conceits of modern man is to deny the multiple spheres of government. When we hear the word government, we think almost exclusively of civil government. But it has not always been this way.
As recently as 1828, Noah Webster defined government as: "Direction; regulation. "These precepts will serve as the government of our conduct." This had a much broader application than the sphere of civil government. And so does the biblical concept of the term.
Our understanding of government should come from the source of government, Jesus Christ. Isaiah tells us that "the government shall be upon [Christ's] shoulder." His government is over of all creation, encompassing and ruling over all spheres of life and human government.
When it comes to human government, there are four different types of government that Christ has ordained:
Read MoreWhat Does Liberty Look Like: Property
This is the fourth post in the ongoing What Does Liberty Look Like series. Last week we looked at the cultural mandate; this week we examine how God created the institution of private property to provide us with one of the means we need to carry out cultural mandate, i.e., how private property allows humans to fill the world without starving, or without stealing from or killing each other to survive.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 ESV).
Nothing existed before God spoke the universe into existence. This makes God the Creator the original owner of everything. He signified his ownership by making the tree of the knowledge of good and evil off limits. Additionally, His prohibition provided a clear distinction between Creator and creatures: “Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3 ESV).
Yet, while God is God the Creator and we are not, He declared that mankind was going to be intimately involved in the management of His creation as steward-owners:
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. (Genesis 1:28–29 ESV)
This delegated ownership is the foundation of mankind’s ownership of property (Gary North). We learn a number of things from this.
Read MoreWhat Does Liberty Look Like: The Cultural Mandate
This is the third post in the ongoing What Does Liberty Look Like series.
In the last post we looked at the source of liberty, which is Jesus Christ. But to understand what Christian liberty looks like today, not just in our hearts and minds but in the world around us, we have to go back to examine the cultural mandate in Genesis 1.
The church is today the dwelling place of God with man (Revelation 21:3). The first setting in which that was true was the garden of Eden. God prepared Eden as His initial dwelling place with man, but that was just the beginning. The Westminster Shorter Catechism rightly tells us that “man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever” (Q. 1). And how are we to carry that out? By following His rules as given to us in His Word (Q. 2). And the very first rule that God gives to man is to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). In other words, God’s first command to us was to extend the garden so that all of the earth would be His dwelling place with us. One might say it is the purpose of everything that we do, a purpose that is often overlooked by Christians seeking to apply Scripture to their understanding of culture and government.
Read MoreWhat Does Liberty Look Like: The Source of Liberty
This is the second post in the ongoing What Does Liberty Look Like series.
When Jesus began His ministry as recorded in Luke, this is what He read from Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor (Luke 4:18–19).
Jesus stops quoting Isaiah 61:1-4 where He does because at that point in His ministry only those words of Scripture had “been fulfilled in [the] hearing” of his audience. But there was more to come.
The “the day of vengeance of our God” in v. 2 was only 40 years or so away from being fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem, the final judgment against the city that had repeatedly rebelled against Him and failed to repent (Matthew 23:37-39).
Read MoreWhat Does Liberty Look Like?
This is the first post in the ongoing What Does Liberty Look Like series.
In a recent email with friends I mentioned that, “it is not so clear to me that the government having the power to tell people and hospitals what surgeries they can have and when they can have them—even during an emergency—is a good thing for preserving both life and liberty for everyone in the long run.” Then added:
The growth of government and the restrictions on liberty--in other words a greater turning away from the biblical mandate for government to assist our work of carrying out the great commission and preparing the world as the dwelling place for God with man (I'm sorry, there is no room in the Bible for the government to build roads, provide welfare, etc.)--have largely come in fits and spurts associated with crises.
In response, I received several questions:
Read MoreWhere in Scripture do we see this kind of thinking on display among God’s people? Do Jesus or Paul or Peter (in the NT) or Abraham or Daniel (in the OT) articulate this "biblical mandate”? It seems to me that those who are writing God’s inerrant word under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit are mostly agnostic on whatever government happens to be in place at the time.
Can you help me understand what you mean, when you say, “...the biblical mandate for government to assist our work of carrying out the great commission and preparing the world as the dwelling place for God with man...”
Did God mandate government assistance in the Great Commission? Has God said that the work of the church, with government assistance, is to prepare the world for Christ's return? Maybe I am missing something, but my understanding is we are called to proclaim the gospel, and make disciples. My understanding of government's role is to preserve the peace, so the gospel can be preached, but working, together with the church, to somehow prepare a place for God to dwell, is news to me.
Shaping the Culture Through Christian Economics
I've spent the last 30 years of my life trying to free Texans from government oppression.
Given that Texas' biennial budget has grown from $46.4 billion in 1990-91 to the present $235.2 billion (with the government/budget being under Republican control most of those years) and with it the regulatory, confiscatory, and prosecutorial state has also grown, one might say that I have failed miserably in my effort. I prefer, though, the optimistic perspective that there is less oppression today than there would have been in my absence.
For most of this time, I have been doing my work through a biblical lens. This has required, among other things, for me to develop theologies of government and economics. They are not perhaps the best developed theologies, but they are what I have to work with.
We are focusing on economics today, but both have a similar theme, liberty:
Read MoreThe Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18–19 ESV)
A Christian, Liberty-Minded Reader on Culture, Science, Governance, and Economics
I've spent a lot of time over the years studying economics, governance, science, culture, etc. from a biblical perspective. Although a number of the books I've read are not written by Christians, by God's common grace non-Christians can contribute to our understanding of the world and often do a better job than Christians--within limits. Here is a list of some of the books and lectures that I have found beneficial in helping understand how God designed the world to work.
The Fundamentals
The Reagan I Knew by William F. Buckley, Jr.
The Tragedy of American Compassion by Olasky Marvin
Black Rednecks and While Liberals by Thomas Sowell
How Should We Then Live by Francis Schaeffer
A Serrated Edge by Douglas Wilson
Miles Gone By: A Literary Autobiography by William F. Buckley, Jr.
Flags Out Front by Douglas Wilson
Slaying Leviathan: Limited Government and Resistance in the Christian Tradition by Glenn S. Sunshine
The Maker Versus the Takers: What Jesus Really Said About Social Justice and Economics by Jerry Bowyer
Plowing in Hope: Towards a Biblical Theology of Culture by David Hegeman
Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture by Anthony Esolen
Life After Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy by George Gilder
Black and Tan: Essays and Excursions on Slavery, Culture War, and Scripture in America by Douglas Wilson
Read MoreThe Bible, Politics, and the Gospel
We have a fair amount of discussion in my church over what the Bible teaches when it comes to government and how to apply God's Word to particular areas of public policy.
During one of those discussions, a friend recently commented, "I reject the notion that someone needs to be a small government conservative to be in a reformed church."
With that I am in 100% agreement. In fact, you don't even have to be reformed to be in a reformed church, at least in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).
When I came to my reformed PCA church, I was an avid history buff yet was basically ignorant about Luther, Calvin, and the Reformation. I was also an Armenian who believed that the earth was billions of years old and had some vague notion that the world was heading to hell in a hand basket, having been fed dispensationalist dogma throughout my years in Baptist school; I had no clue what post (or even pre) millennialism was.
But shortly after my arrival I attended a Sunday school class called Calvinism 101. Then I asked a friend why he believed in six literal days of creation; he suggested you can't properly account for death under the old earth scenario. And I also sat under some amazing teaching that showed me how God's Word points to Jesus' ongoing and effectual victory over Satan and sin and the world in history--imagine that! And here I am today; a reformed, eschatologically optimistic, young earther.
I will admit, though, that I did bring my small government conservatism with me to my church. But that wasn't what got me or the rest of us in. We just have to confess Christ as our Lord, be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and answer a few questions in the affirmative--including submitting to the discipline of and studying the peace and purity of the church.
I do believe, though, we need to talk through my friend's other comment, "I think that associating small government conservatism and the reformed church publicly risks driving people away over issues that don’t relate to the Gospel."
Read MoreA Brief Primer on Church and State--and Oppression
"The purpose of government is to justly uphold life, liberty, and truth in order to bring increase and peace to the Kingdom of God."
This shouldn't be a surprise. Because every government official, every government worker, every voter, every citizen, and every subject was made for one very specific purpose: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. High on the list of ways we accomplish this is to obey Him. Nobody gets a pass on this, whether or not they are a Christian. And it doesn't matter what institution they work in either. Which means every human institution is to do this as well.
Of course, in the case of government and the church, both were ordained/created by God for specific portions of this task. And given specific enforcement tools--the sword--to carry it out. But they are different swords. The Church has the sword of God's Word (Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16), whereas the government has a steel sword (Romans 13:4). Which means each has different spheres where the wield their swords.
Read MoreThe Trinitarian Nature of Private Property
Genesis 1:1 clearly establishes God as the owner of creation. Genesis 1:28 tells
Life works like the Trinity. Nobody is an individual without built-in relationships that cannot be discarded, no matter how much we try. It works that way with property ownership too.
Read MorePrivate Property and the Great Commission
In a recent email discussion, a friend from church recently noted, "I don’t think anyone is going to argue that government has carte blanche to take property from people."
As I told him, I don't think that is the case. For starters, I certainly would.
And so might folks like the justices on the Texas Supreme Court, who gave Texas state and local government carte blanche when they opined “Property owners do not acquire a constitutionally protected vested right in property uses.” Just like the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court did, when five of them allowed the city of New London, Connecticut, to take Susette Kelo's house in order to develop a new office park for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. In doing so, they wrote, "For more than a century, our public use jurisprudence has wisely eschewed rigid formulas and intrusive scrutiny in favor of affording legislatures broad latitude in determining what public needs justify the use of the takings power."
I am pretty sure that the 4,200 mostly black residents of the Poletown neighborhood, in Detroit would take my side in this discussion. But I'll never know for sure since I can't find them because, well, Poletown doesn't exist anymore. The mostly black former residents' 1,400 homes were condemned and torn down to make way for a new General Motors plant, a decision supported by the all-white Michigan Supreme Court. Cart
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, Paul writes, "For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." Is Paul saying that one who is not willing to work is commanded by God not to eat? Surely not. Calvin suggests that
When, however, the Apostle commanded that such persons should not eat, he does not mean that he gave commandment to those
persons, but forbade that the Thessalonians should encourage their indolence by supplying them with food.
In other words, we are forbidden from continuously giving food to those unemployed by sloth.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. - Psalm 128:2
A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. - Proverbs 10:4
Those who "earn their own living" are blessed, and those who "walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies" are cursed. Food continuously given to people even though they are not working out of sloth is cursing them, not blessing them.
Read MoreThe 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 them.
The welfare state potentially encompasses a lot of different government programs and concepts, but most of us would think of cash payments to the poor, free medical care, subsidies for housing, and food stamps. Why should Christians be upset about these things?
Well, for starters, they are a form of theft.
Read MoreEvangelical 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
The federal government joins with state and local governments to take more than $100 billion of dollars each year from American taxpayers and give them to the wealthy executives and stockholders of U.S. and multinational corporations with multi-billion dollar market caps.
Laws that mandate minimum wages, force unions on employees and employers, and make it illegal for consumers to purchase many goods and services hamstring the American economy, put millions of Americans out of work, and reduce the quality of life for millions more.
Bring up the injustice caused by big government through these and other interventions in our lives in many churches and you'll hear crickets. However, throw out a few choice phrases like white privilege, the oppression of women and LGBTQ+ Christians, and social injustice and you'll get a firestorm of outrage calling for the heads of the most convenient perpetrators; most recently a few Catholic high school boys.
Why is this?
Read MoreChristian Liberty and Civil Government
Christian Liberty
Ever since the fall of man in the garden, natural man has been a slave to sin:
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. (Romans 3:10-12 ESV)
Jesus Christ came to set us free from the bondage of our sin:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1 ESV)
This liberty in Christ, however, is not licentiousness; it has a purpose:
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. … For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:1, 13 ESV)
The English poet John Milton described Christian liberty this way:
Christian Liberty means that Christ our liberator Frees us from the slavery of sin and thus from the rule of the law and of
men, as if we were emancipated slaves. He does this so that, being made sons instead of servants and grown men instead of boys, we may serve God in charity through the guidance of the spirit of truth.
Christian liberty is just like Christian worship; it cannot be confined to the inner, personal realm. It is part of every aspect of life, and must inform our considerations of the more public
Why I Will Vote for Trump in 2020
In the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election, I shared with anyone who would listen why I wasn't going to vote for Donald Trump.
The primary reason for my decision was that I wasn't sure the country would be better off with Trump as president than it would be with Hillary. I admitted it was possible it might be, but it was unclear to me that candidate Trump actually was committed to the things he was saying after spending much of his life supporting Democrats and their causes.
Another reason was that I was tired of the Republican party nominating big government-loving moderates and then having moderate Republicans and Evangelicals telling me I had to vote for them because they were better than the Democrats. As I noted:
Read MoreUnfortunately, the difference [between Republican and Democratic governence] has often been marginal at best; one must look closely at times to discern that there have been any Republicans in Washington during the last 28 years.
Liberty Is an Anti-Darwinian Concept
The traditional view of creation that has been held almost unanimously throughout church history is that creation took place over six 24 hour days. Augustine seems to have believed instead in instantaneous creation, but no prominent members of the church believed in a creation scenario that allowed for the earth to be millions or billions of years old.
That is until Charles Darwin and friends came on the scene in the 1800s, anxious to undermine the authority of Scripture.
Read MoreEconomics 101: Image
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” – Genesis 1:26
God thinks and acts, and does so with purpose:
- “God created the heavens and the earth.” - Genesis 1:1 ESV
- “God sent me before you to preserve life.” Genesis 45:5 ESV
- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son.” John 3:16 ESV
- “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” Ephesians 1:4 ESV
Since "God created man in his own image," man also thinks and acts with purpose:
- “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” - James 1:3-4 ESV
- “Sing praises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds! For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.” Psalm 9:11–12 ESV
- “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.” - Psalm 27
Bringing Sanity to Fallen World: Idaho Health Care Edition
Idaho appears the national leader now in bringing sanity to our health care system. Not that you would know it from the many complaints about what they are doing, as seen in the article in The New York Times:
Some groups representing patients, including the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association and the lobbying arm of the American Cancer Society, have denounced Idaho’s plans, saying they fear that some people will actually end up paying more. The new, cheaper plans would appeal to the healthiest people, they said, leaving less healthy people in a shrinking pool of people seeking coverage that meets the Affordable Care Act standards.
“A.C.A. premiums would increase, and options for individuals with pre-existing conditions would narrow,” the American Academy of Actuaries, a nonpartisan professional group in Washington warned in a letter to the Idaho Department of Insurance.
Sanity, of course, is exactly what these folks are objecting to. Because if people could actually see the world through a scriptural, i.e., accurate, perspective of reality, they would instantly see the folly of having the government provide health care to anybody. More on that later.
Read MoreEconomics 101: Work
Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion ... Genesis 1:28
Man was created to work. The objective of that work, as seen in the cultural mandate of Genesis 1:28, was to prepare the world as a dwelling place for God and man. God provided the Garden of Eden as the starting place, but man was to take it from there, essentially turning the garden into a garden city that covered the world.
This transformation involves three related tasks that require three types of work:
- Structural: fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion through procreation
- Functional: fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion through discipleship
- Physical: fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion through the work of our hands
All of these tasks existed pre-fall and still are in place post-fall. It is the third type of work of building the garden city, spread God’s glory through the work of our hands, that most concerns us when it comes to economics.
Read MoreHow an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes by Peter and Andrew Schiff
Peter and Andrew Schiff wrote How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes based on the book by their father, Irwin, How an Economy Grows and Why It Doesn't. It combines simple explanations and cartoon-like illustrations on almost every page to lay out clearly the effects of government intervention in the market.
It begins with three men on a Pacific-style island who work all day to catch one fish with their bare hands--just enough to survive. One of them, Abel, finally gets tired of sustenance living and his desire for more leads him to invent a net. Abel has to go without eating for an entire day (since it usually takes him all day to catch his food supply) to have the time needed to build his net. But his efforts paid off, as he netted two fish in just a matter of hours the next day with his new invention.
Read MoreChristian Economics 101
Economics often gets overlooked by Christians.
From one perspective, this makes sense. Economics is not the gospel. Understanding biblical economics won't save our souls.
On the other hand, economics is at the very heart of the Christian life. God commanded Adam and Eve to "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion ..." Even before the Fall, God had provided economic means built around private property to enable mankind to carry out the cultural mandate. Resources were scarce (meaning work was required to obtain them) and man's knowledge was limited (even perfect man was not omniscient), so production utilizing natural resources through the division of labor and voluntary trade through markets with prices would have been required to increase the capital stock needed to feed, clothe, and house mankind.
Read MoreChristian Liberty and Economic Freedom
Christ came to set us free from the bondage of our sin:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1 ESV)
Christian liberty, however, is not licentiousness; it has a purpose:
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. … For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:1, 13 ESV)
Christian liberty is just like Christian worship; it cannot be confined to the inner, personal realm. It is part of every aspect of life. Not just in being kind to others and in giving to the poor, but in the realm of government.
Government has existed from the beginning. Before the fall, government existed in these ways:
- God’s governance of man
- Man’s governance of earth
- Man’s governance of himself
- A husband’s governance of his family
Eliminating Renewable Energy Subsidies is Key to Boosting Prosperity
Residential electricity prices have steadily increased for years, up more than 15 percent in the United States (not including Texas) since 2004. A newly released U.S. Department of Energy report on electricity markets and reliability makes it clear that renewable energy subsidies are contributing significantly to the increasing cost—and the decreasing reliability—of the national electric grid.
Yet the report stops short of making the most obvious recommendations to address this challenge—eliminating the subsidies and forcing renewable energy generators to pay for the costs they impose on the grid because of their intermittency and unreliability.
Unless the federal government and the states eliminates these policies, we will find ourselves suffering through energy poverty—a sharply reduced standard of living caused by high energy costs—in the future.
Read MoreThe Swamp Wins in Alabama
Mark Steyn is one of the two best political commentators in the English speaking world today.
Here is an excerpt of his thoughts on the swamp's victory in the Alabama Senate race yesterday:
Roy Moore was the nominee only because the smart guys over-invested in Luther Strange (just as in 2015 they over-invested in Jeb Bush). In the first round of primary voting, Mitch McConnell's priority was to prop up Strange by taking out what he regarded as his principal threat, Mo Brooks. Congressman Brooks would have made an excellent senator, and would have been elected in a walk, and he can also claim more plausibly than Moore to be a populist conservative aligned with the Trump agenda. But McConnell didn't want him in the Senate and, as he saw it, once Brooks was gone, Luther Strange would have no trouble walloping Moore in the run-off.
Read More
Local Government Regulation Tramples Property Rights
“Property owners do not acquire a constitutionally protected vested right in property uses …” – Texas Supreme Court; City of University Park v. Benners, 485 SW 2d 773 (1972).
To fully solve the problem of local regulations making Texas cities less and less affordable for the average Texan, delaying construction, and costing Texans jobs, the Texas Legislature must undo the damage done by Texas courts that have subjugated private property rights to the whims of local government planners.
Under the Texas Supreme Court’s 1972 University Park v. Benners decision, property owners must have permission from the government to use their property for anything. So cities can tell owners how they can and can’t use their property, tell them how much of their property they can or cannot use, and can even allow property owners to use their property for a specific use for a time then later prohibit that use. Owners must bear the full cost of these restrictions to serve the “public interest.”
Fortunately, the solution to this is simple. The Texas Legislature should subject cities to the provisions of the Texas Real Private Property Rights Preservation Act, just like every other Texas government entity, giving property owners the ability seek compensation for losses due to regulations. By removing the exemption for cities found in Sec. 2007.003 of the Texas Government Code, the Texas Legislature will provide Texans their day in court to recover the costs of local government regulations that result from outcomes like these:
- In Harris County, media reports indicate the approval process for business permits can cause delays of up to six months while trying to comply with unnecessary provisions.
- A 2015 study found that bureaucratic procedures can add up to 3.5 months to the already lengthy Austin permitting process.
- A survey from the National Association of Homebuilders found that “government regulations represented 25 percent of a [residential] unit’s final sales prices.”
No Tolerance at Airbnb
As I attempted to log in to my Airbnb account yesterday, I was greeted with this message:
Before you continue
Whether it’s your first time using Airbnb or you’re one of our original travelers, please commit to respecting and including everyone in the Airbnb community.
I agree to treat everyone in the Airbnb community—regardless of their race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or age—with respect, and without judgment or bias.
Though I too often fail at it, my goal is to treat everyone with respect. But that doesn't mean I always agree with them. And sometimes, I even think they are wrong. In other words, I judge them. And I judge whatever situation I'm in with the bias that comes with being a Christian who believes what the Bible says because it is God's Word. I can't not look at the world other than the way God describes it. And if there are people who are living out their lives outside of God's Word, I'm going to see it as wrong--just as I see it is wrong when I sin against God. So I clicked 'decline' on Airbnb's community statement.
Read MoreTruth through Simplicity
The opponents of freedom thrive in an environment of complexity. One of my favorite examples of this is when Politifact labeled as half true a statement by Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams "Gas prices have gone up $2 since Obama took office." Politifact looked at the facts, determined that gas prices had in fact gone up $2 dollars since Obama had taken office, but after a long, complex analysis of things that had nothing to do with the statement in question still labeled it only "Half True."
Our job as free market conservatives is to cut through the false complexity of the left and the big government moderates and simplify the issues so that people can see the truth. It is very hard to do this, because, as R.C. Sproul points out below, we have to have in-depth knowledge of the very complex issues ourselves before we can simplify them without distorting the truth. It is also hard because any errors we make will be attacked by opponents of liberty.
Read MoreWhy I am Not Voting for Trump
I am not going to vote for Donald Trump for president of the United States. This has caused consternation among some of my friends stuck in the binary choice paradigm that voting for anyone besides Mr. Trump or not voting at all is essentially a vote for Hillary Clinton.
I am comfortable with the decision to support and vote for Trump by those who believe that there is at least the possibility that our country will be better off with Donald as president because with Hillary we know what we will get—and it won’t be good. However, this is not a position we should attempt to impose on the consciences of others; the deliberation of both conservatives and Christians over who to vote for should be informed by a broader perspective than the “Clinton or Trump” paradigm the political and religious moderate elite want to trap us in.
America’s contributions to liberty and prosperity are unparalleled in human history. Today, however, we are best described as the “greatest failure in self-government.” We murder over 1 million of our children every year, trailing only China, Russia, and Vietnam—countries that have made every effort to eradicate God from the culture. Not to be outpaced by the communists, America is rapidly moving toward replacing God with government as the supreme authority in the land. Along with this has come the inevitable anathematizing of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the public square and denial of the existence of inalienable, i.e., God-given, rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Read MoreMark Steyn on the GOP
"The reality is that the GOP establishment, after their appalling behavior in the Hastert years, were given a second chance by the base in 2010, and a third chance in 2014. Now they're demanding a fourth chance - and people go, well, say what you like but a Republican president will at least get to appoint rock-ribbed Supreme Court justices, like, er, John Roberts, who constitutionalized Obamacare, and, um, Anthony Kennedy, who gave us federally mandated gay marriage. Boehner, Mitchell, Kennedy, Roberts... Not much to show for a party that's been supposedly dominant for 35 years, is it? The GOP thinks the issue is Trump; much of the base thinks the issue is the GOP." - Mark Steyn
Read the rest of his column here.
Read More
Chattel Law Enforcement
A Texas state representative recently complained about being treated like a child during an encounter with police after he had been clocked driving 94 miles an hour. His statement was in the context of hearings over the sad case of Sandra Bland.
There are a lot of problems we face today as we move toward not just an administrative state but a police state. But the imaginary problem of this traffic stop is not the big threat we are facing. And while race still factors into many things in our world today—including the criminal justice system, race is not the primary problem either.
One of the big problems is how we are all being treated chattel by law enforcement—witness the John Doe cases up in Wisconsin and other early morning, full body armor raids on law abiding citizens or citizens who may have broken some relatively minor criminal statute. In such events, we are no longer free citizens, but simply subjects to be treated by the government elite as they choose.
But an even bigger problem is how minorities are being treated as second class citizens by liberals who insist that they can’t fend for themselves and so have to remain dependent on the government—the same government that just so happens to bestow wealth and power on the liberals. In some ways we haven’t abolished slavery in this country—we’ve just transferred ownership of our poor from white, southern plantation owners to elite liberals of all ethnicities in all parts of the country. Yet the liberal elites keep promoting the idea that the source of racism in this country is conservatives, in order to keep minorities on the side of big government that can be used to combat racism. The sad truth, though, is that it is big government and the policies of the liberal elites—rather than conservatives—that are promoting racism and taking away freedom and prosperity from minorities.
Read MoreThe Family Romanov by Candace Fleming
I enjoyed reading The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming to my son (age 12). It kept him thoroughly engaged. My wife enjoyed it when she read it too. It also provides a sad commentary on elitism, both on the blindness of the elite to the real world around them and on the consequences of that blindness on the rest of the people. This still holds true today; elitism is not confined to the nobility and communists of early 20th century Russia. The American government is today filled with elites at the federal, state, and local levels. Though it didn't come to pass in Russia, the antidote to elitism is freedom. When people are allowed to make their own choices, they might not always like the consequences, but at least they are consequences of their choosing.
Read MoreReal Reformers' Real Advantage
“The real reformer has a real advantage, but one which he rarely recognizes himself as having. Living in the world that actually exists is an enormous advantage. There are times when it almost seems to me like cheating or something. In the long run, we need not worry. In the long run, blind stupidity never works. The revolutionary alternates between throwing rocks at the moon and barking at it.” – Douglas Wilson, Rules for Reformers, p. 176.
When he says “real reformer,” Wilson is referring to those who are trying to conform the way we live and/or the rules we operate under to the way the world was designed to operate. Which is generally what conservatives and Christians are trying to do. So the advantage we have over the left is that our vision for the world is much closer to reality than theirs. Of course, they get to play loose with the truth; that makes our job tougher. Nevertheless, we have the upper hand, and will eventually prevail.
Read MoreThe Wellspring of Freedom
The wellspring of freedom in our world comes from the Judeo-Christian belief that man is created in the image of God. If we are not, then there is no justification for one person to claim equality with those in a better position than she. And no reason for a person in authority to treat others as though they are equal to him. And thus no framework under which individual liberty could flourish.
We see this clearly in the ancient world where peace, but not individual liberty—such as what happened with life under the Pax Romana, was valued. It has been through the spread of Christianity—building on Jewish Scripture—that the belief that “all men are created equal” has taken root in many places across the globe. And while this belief has spread widely, there are many places where it has not. Asia is a prime example, though that is changing somewhat. But I’d also say that modern liberalism has rejected this concept in much of Europe and even right here in America.
In his article on Mises.org, Economic Progress and the Primacy of the Individual, Patrick Baron explains the connection between the “image of God” belief and economic progress. It is a good read that I highly recommend.
Read MoreThe Mouth of Rove: The Marginalization of the WSJ
In the Lord of the Rings, the Mouth of Sauron was the ambassador and messenger of Sauron. As a Black Numenorean, the Mouth had given up his greatness to worship and serve Sauron.
Likewise, the Wall Street Journal appears to be descending from once great heights to serve as the mouth of Karl Rove and other establishment Republicans who are trying to undermine the success of movement conservatives and the Tea Party.
The latest example of this is Tuesday's column by William Galston, The Jeb Bush and Tea Party Divide. Galston uses Jeb Bush's recent comments about immigration and the Common Core K-12 standards to call attention to the "conspiracy theories" and "paranoid style" of movement conservatives that "threaten to marginalize the GOP."
The marginalization of the GOP by the Tea Party and conservatives has been the standard line of Rove and establishment Republicans for sometime. They claim--after pointing to a few U.S. Senate races where a Tea Party candidate nominated by Republicans lost in the general election--Republicans are killing themselves by nominating conservatives that can't possibly win general elections.
Of course, they conveniently forget the likes of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul that won the general elections that conservatives supposedly aren't capable of winning.
Read MoreIn Freedom's Cause: A Story of Wallace and Bruce by G. A. Henty
I love all of G. A. Henty books, as does my son. In Freedom's Cause: A Story of Wallace and Bruce is about the twentieth of Henty's great historical fiction books for boys--and their dads--we have read together. Like the rest of them, this one helped us learn about history and the difference between right and wrong, while telling an entertaining tale about a young man who is mature beyond his years. The new thing for me in this one is the harsh, even barbaric, treatment the Scots received at the hands of the English, who used religion as an excuse to persecute a people who worshiped God in faith. I know all people are sinners, but sometimes I give my English ancestors a pass on this. But Henty makes sure that the sins of the English are on full display here.
Read MoreQuote of the Week - Mises on the Religion of Government Spending and Credit Expansion
"No one should expect that any logical argument or any experience could ever shake the almost religious fervor of those who believe in salvation through spending and credit expansion." – Ludwig von Mises, in his book, Planning for Freedom: Let the Market System Work : a Collection of Essays and Addresses.
Read MoreThe Fringe is Marginal no More
“Yes, we do, because the fringe is marginal no more.” – George Will, in a 1995 column.
I first read this quote on January 1, 1995 as Washington, D.C. was preparing to swear in the first Republican majority in the U.S. House in 40 years that would join the existing Republican majority in the U.S. Senate. Most of us conservatives were quite giddy at the prospect of undoing much of the harm that the liberals had done over that period. And despite a Democratic president we were rewarded in quite a few ways as welfare was remarkably transformed, the federal budget was balanced for the first time in the memory of most people, and the economy continued its record growth begun under the Reagan presidency. Truly, we thought, we—the conservative fringe—are marginal no more.
Here is the quote put into more context:
Robert Merry of Congressional Quarterly recalls Pat Moynihan's first Senate campaign, in 1976, against the conservative incumbent, James Buckley. Addressing a labor audience, Mr. Moynihan said, “Look, there's this particular fringe, and their one fundamental problem is they simply never accepted the New Deal.” He added: “Didn't Franklin Roosevelt settle this issue once and for all? I mean, do we really have to go over it again?” Yes, we do, because the fringe is marginal no more.
Then came not just a Republican Congress, but a Republican president. We had it made! Except that even before we won the presidency, the Republican Congress had fallen back in many of the free spending, big government ways of incumbents. The new president in many ways joined in with this, and after a while it seemed as if conservatives were becoming the marginal fringe even within the Republican party.
Read MoreLet’s Break Up Tiger Woods
In the aftermath of Tiger Woods’ dominant victory in the recent American Express Championship golf tournament, a number of Wood’s competitors announced they will be asking the U.S. Department of Justice to file suit seeking the breakup of Woods for violating federal antitrust laws.
“He’s dominating the game,” said Adam Scott, who finished second, eight shots back of Woods. “It’s not the first time he’s done it, either. We need to take steps now to ensure that the game remains competitive.”
After finishing in fifth place, Ernie Els, one of golf’s top players, joined in with those who said something must be done.
“Tiger just doesn’t understand how abusive he is of his monopoly position,” said Els. “He unduly pressures and intimidates competitors and potential competitors.”
Read MoreInflation, Money Creation, and the Gold Standard
“In a social order that is entirely founded on the use of money and in which all accounting is done in terms of money, the destruction of the monetary system means nothing less than the destruction of the basis of all exchange.” – Ludwig von Mises, The Theory of Money and Credit, p. 202.
In a recent email chain, some of my friends said the gold standard was crazy and wrote of the need for the Federal Reserve to manage our money supply—relying on appeals to “experts” to make their case. I wrote the following to try explain the problem with central banking. I hope you find it informative:
The fact that most economists and "experts" think returning to the gold standard to be crazy should be another reason to support such a move, given the competence of most economists these days.
But lest I rely too heavily on ad hominem attacks against them to make my case, let's look at the facts.
Read MoreEconomic Freedom and Quality of Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1U1Jzdghjk&feature=player_embedded
Read MoreToday's Digest
The Right Kind of Bright in Your Eyes
Doug Wilson gave the commencement speech to the graduating class of New Covenant Schools. Lots of good stuff, here is a sample:
Scripture teaches us that to the pure all things are pure. To the defiled, all things are defiled. The principle can and should be extended. To the dullard all things are dull. One of the central reasons why G.K. Chesterton is such a wonderful thinker and writer is that he had the gift of making us see how extraordinary all ordinary things are. He would cock his head sideways and describe the living room from that vantage, and all of us would learn new things about a place where we had lived for years. The simpleton thinks that ordinary things are ordinary. The faux-mystic drops some acid—a weird custom you may have heard about in your history classes—in order to find out that extraordinary visions are extraordinary. But only a healthy soul can see how remarkable every unremarkable thing actually is.
Read MoreHappy 100th Birthday Ronald Reagan
"I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference: it was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things." – Ronald Reagan, in his Jan. 11, 1989 farewell address to the American people (text)
“The biggest misunderstanding about Reagan's political life is that he was inevitable. He was not. He had to fight for every inch, he had to make it happen. What Billy Herndon said of Abraham Lincoln was true of Reagan too: He had within him, always, a ceaseless little engine of ambition. He was good at not showing it, as was Lincoln, but it was there. He was knowingly in the greatness game, at least from 1976, when he tried to take down a sitting president of his own party.” – Peggy Noonan, in her column on Ronald Reagan during this season of his 100th birthday celebration.
“We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion human beings now enslaved behind the Iron Curtain, "Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skins, we're willing to make a deal with your slave masters."” – Ronald Reagan, in his October 27, 1964 “Time for Choosing” speech
“Reagan understood instinctively that modern liberalism represented a rejection of the constitutional premises of self-government. … Hence the core of Reagan’s political purpose was recovering an appreciation for the Founder’s understanding of the principles and practices of American government. This was central to his rhetoric to a much greater extent than it was to that of any other modern day president of either party. … ‘We’re for limited government,’ he said in his 1988 State of the Union speech, ‘because we understand, as the Founding Fathers did, that it is the best way of ensuring personal liberty and empowering the individual so that every American of every race and region share fully in the flowering of American prosperity and freedom.’” – Steven F. Hayward, in The Age of Reagan, 1980-1989: The Conservative Counterrevolution.
Read More