Democrats hope to pay for the new social programs they are proposing by increasing taxes on the wealthy. But, as Jonah Goldberg points out, groups that the government depends on the most for funding acquire the most political power. Political scientists call this the "resource curse." And since the top 1% in income pay 40% of the taxes, they already have an inordinate influence in our democracy.
Matt Whitman, who earlier made a video about visiting a Lutheran church, has a sequel in which he discusses Lutheran theology with Pastor Will Weedon, whose engaging, winsome explanation of what he believes can be a model for all of us.
If you visit the Colosseum in Rome, where thousands of Christians were martyred, you will pass at the entrance an enormous image of Moloch, the gruesome Canaanite deity that demanded the sacrifice of infants and small children.
Democrats are realizing that if impeachment goes to a Senate trial, they will face the possibility of a train wreck. The Republicans will control the process and will call embarrassing witnesses; the timing will conflict with primary campaigns; and Trump's inevitable acquittal will allow him to claim vindication.
Free health care is an attractive proposition. But Elizabeth Warren's Medicare for All plan would cost $2 trillion per year. Currently, all federal tax revenues only come to $3.4 trillion. Actually, the U.S. already has a national health care system, operated mostly in the private sector. We should identify the problems and address those, as opposed to tearing down what we now have and starting from scratch.
Once again, Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari is quoting Pope Francis as rejecting a key tenet of Christianity. This time it's the bodily resurrection of Christ.
To honor our military veterans, read these citations for two recent recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
People used to say that the USA was founded as a Christian nation. Today scholars say that the country was founded on Enlightenment principles, drawing on the thought of John Locke and related political theorists. But new research concludes that Christianity was far more influential than the Enlightenment in the founding of the nation.
Richard Nixon had his "silent majority." Ronald Reagan had his "moral majority." Now Donald Trump has what he calls his "angry majority."
Another study of America's political polarization sees the divide in terms of a concept often studied by Christian scholars: worldview.
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