American foreign policy is a mess, much of the world is mad at us, and our power seems to be declining. But there is one area that America does well and the rest of the world knows it and respects us for it: Whenever a
American foreign policy is a mess, much of the world is mad at us, and our power seems to be declining. But there is one area that America does well and the rest of the world knows it and respects us for it: Whenever a
In a discussion of the struggling Immigration Reform Bill, George Will tells about the Compromise of 1850. Henry Clay worked it out, but the bill that would implement it–dealing with scores of inter-related issues, such as limiting the spread of slavery, statehood for California, the
What Republicans were vilified for trying to do with the shut-down, President Obama did of his own free will. He delayed the full implementation of Obamacare. He said that he would postpone for one year the requirement that individual insurance plans that people currently hold
Here is another excellent review of Flannery O’Connor’s Prayer Journal, in Slate, of all places. It’s by Marian Ryan, who begins by saying how she does not believe in God. In addition to her thorough account of the book, with fascinating and judiciously chosen quotations,
One of my many interests is classical education, on the elementary, secondary, and collegiate level. A more common name for the classical education philosophy is “liberal arts,” a designation that refers not to progressive politicians but to the Latin word for freedom. The “liberal arts”
Obamacare train wreck update: First of all, the efforts to fix Healthcare.gov will not meet their end-of-the-month deadline for fixing the site. Second, the numbers have been released for how many people have signed up for Obamacare insurance exchanges. It turns out that far more
There are lots more Lutherans than Calvinists. And Calvinism has all of those scary doctrines like double predestination and the limited atonement, whereas Lutheranism is, well, happier, with its emphasis on the certainty of grace, Christian freedom, and its affirmation of the secular realm as
Speaking of Flannery O’Connor, her prayer journal has just been published, dating from her grad school days studying creative writing at the University of Iowa. Her reflections on writing, her thoughts on her vocation as a writer, and her love of God are stunning. After
The recent elections herald a political shift in America to the left. So says liberal columnist E.J. Dionne Jr., citing the overall defeat of Tea Party candidates, the victory of the pro-gun control, pro-abortion Terry McAuliffe in once-conservative Virginia, the “new progressivism” of New York’s
Calvinist theologian Peter Leithhart is calling for “The End of Protestantism.” It should be replaced, he says, by “Reformational Catholicism,” which he goes on to describe. Much of what he is calling for sounds like Lutheranism. Is it? His essay and questions from me after