Family Values

Last updated on: December 8, 2007 at 6:44 pm By Henry Karlson

According to this Indian Catholic article, “The Lok Sabha on Wednesday night passed a historic bill that makes it compulsory for children and grandchildren to take care of their parents.” It used to be that families stayed together, and helped take care of each other. But it seems our capitalistic world has good reasons to work for an individualistic society where families are split up as much as possible. More resources and goods are needed the more divided families become. Businesses benefit from... Read more

Happy Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception!

Last updated on: December 8, 2007 at 4:58 pm By Radical Catholic Mom

Do not forget to attend Mass, not because it is an obligation, but because you want to thank Mary for saying “yes” to our Salvation. Read more

Taxes and Welfare

Last updated on: December 8, 2007 at 5:58 am By M.Z.

John Médaille of the Distributist Review has an interesting post criticizing the Fair Tax. The Fair Tax is a proposal being advocated by Mike Huckabee who is running for President. He expresses as well as I could the general deficits of the plan. In principle, the advocates claim that it taxes consumption. This is another way of expressing that it adds friction to trade. While I think there is significant benefits to adding frictional costs in some areas, I don’t... Read more

The Vatican and the Iraq War Revisited

Last updated on: December 7, 2007 at 3:58 pm By Morning's Minion

This is pretty much common knowledge at this point, but it is a tale still worth telling. Before Bush’s Iraq war, a Vatican delegation led (I believe) by Cardinal Pio Laghi came to America to try and dissuade the administration from invading and occupying Iraq. They made two main points. First, there was no way the just war theory applied, especially as the threat was not imminent. Second, the Vatican’s sources stated that Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction, and... Read more

Vox Nova At the Movies: Troy, The Director’s Cut

Last updated on: December 7, 2007 at 11:18 am By Henry Karlson

Homer’s Iliad is a profound religious work; while it was written by a pagan, the issues he brought up continue to be ones which Christian theologians throughout the ages try to find answers to. According to Balthasar, “The real theme of the poet of the Iliad is the divinity caught between the prayers of men, rent apart by the tragic contradictions of the world (this division is expressed in the personal relationships of the individual gods to their protégés and... Read more

News Commentary You Can Use: Romney Wins One Poll

Last updated on: December 7, 2007 at 8:09 am By Henry Karlson

Newest poll says Romney is the candidate voters most want to get into a bar fight with. Read more

The Reaganomics Myth

Last updated on: December 6, 2007 at 11:12 pm By Morning's Minion

This a a follow-up to yesterday’s post about the fact that shifting norms and institutions meant that productivity gains were no longer shared with workers from the 1970s onwards, leading to rising inequality. There seems to be a prevailing myth that somehow the free market reforms initiated by the Reagan administration– cutting top marginal tax rates, crushing unions, curbing welfare, deregulation etc– led to superior economic outcomes. This is dogma among Republicans in particular. And many Catholics are claiming that this... Read more

Organic, Cultivated Civic Virtue

Last updated on: December 6, 2007 at 8:12 pm By jonathanjonesuiwdpt

If a culture no longer believes there is an objective, reasonable truth that can be discovered, then can it be asserted by the governing authorities that such things as fundamental human rights, freedom of religion, and the idea that persuasion is better than coercion exist? Does the absence of belief in an imprinted rationality upon the created allow for the development of a warped “theology” where a given will can come to command nearly anything? (more…) Read more

Maybe it’s not the compassionate conservatism…

Last updated on: December 6, 2007 at 4:35 pm By M.Z.

There has been much back slapping in the media and the blogosphere over identifying Mike Huckabee as a “Compassionate Conservative.” In fact a search of his website will find the phrase “Compassionate Conservatism” three times. (Changing to Compassionate Conservative” yields similar results.) In all three instances they are in the comments sections of posts. I don’t doubt that one can make the argument, but there appears to be a dearth of direct evidence for the accusation. In the absence of self-proclamation one must... Read more

A quick thought about Romney’s speech . . .

Last updated on: December 6, 2007 at 2:30 pm By rgarnett

I’d welcome Vox Nova readers’ reactions to this post, by my colleague at Mirror of Justice, Fr. Robert Araujo. He writes: It is too early to assess Governor Romney’s speech at this hour. However, I think it is important that we who are dedicated to the pursuit of Catholic Legal Theory might wish to keep in mind that Kennedy, Romney, and, in a much earlier period, Thomas Jefferson were or are politicians who saw the need not to alienate voters.... Read more