Jeffrey Blehar tells a story from ancient China: "Yue’s most devoted warriors would march forward from the front ranks, stand before the opposing army on the battlefield, and demonstrate their implacable fearlessness by chopping off their own heads." What would be some examples of this syndrome today?
The most important question about the evident incapacity of President Biden is not how this will affect the election but who is running the country? Evidently, members of his staff. These unelected professionals would seem to exemplify a specific approach to government that has been emerging on many fronts: technocracy, government by experts.
The Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago" exposed the evils of Soviet Communism by documenting the atrocities in the Soviet prison camps, where he himself was confined for nearly a decade. Another theme in that three-volume exposé was how he himself was converted to Christianity. Gary Saul Morson in the "Wall Street Journal" tells about how that happened
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that presidents have an immunity from prosecution in carrying out their "official acts," but not for their private "unofficial acts." Justice Sonia Sotomayor responded with a dissent claiming that "the President is now a king above the law." Why that is completely wrong.
The Democrats' conundrum--and a way out. The future of marriage: different spouses for sex, companionship, money, and parenting. And the total of all countries' national debts.
Our society is anti-life both at its very beginning and at its very end. "Euthanasia," says Randy Alcorn, "is simply abortion of the elderly, disabled, and terminally ill." The Bible, though, offers a different perspective on old age, both for those who care for the elderly and for those of us who are becoming elderly ourselves.
Vahaken Mouradian has written a post entitled "Why I've Fallen for America" consisting simply of a list of things he personally finds endearing about this country: the Colorado sky; red Solo cups; bluegrass; "the very size of the place"; ideological polarization (something many countries don''t allow); etc., etc. As an Independence Day weekend exercise, let's do the same.
If you listen to our politicians from both sides, you would think that America is a dystopian hell hole. Is it really so bad to live in America? Both sides are saying that "Democracy won't survive" if the other guy is elected. Is America with its constitutional form of government really so fragile? We citizens need some perspective so that we can keep a clear head and avoid succumbing to political panic.
Political scientists Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski (who would later become President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor) defined six characteristics of a totalitarian regime. To what extent do we see these today?
Niall Ferguson has been arguing that a new cold war is emerging, with the alliance of Russia, China, and Iran forming a new "axis" opposing Western democracies. But now he has added a twist: In Cold War II, the United States is resembling the Soviet Union.
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