Tyranny is a problem, and as with all other problems it must be properly diagnosed before we start proposing solutions. I take it as a given that we are living under what Paul Rahe calls “soft despotism.” While it is true we don’t have to put up with goose-steppers or missile parades, the nanny state …
Coin from God’s Mint
John Bunyan spent a number of years in jail, and it was not for preaching the gospel, as is commonly supposed. He was there for preaching the gospel without a licence. A lot of modern Christians, more cooperative than they ought to be, will immediately wonder why Bunyan didn’t hie himself down to the Department …
Connected Christian Resistance
It should be easy to see that we need to dive into a complicated subject. We know that there will be turmoil when we get there, and there will be questions we cannot answer. There will be tangles. That’s all right. What is not over our head is the realization that we will very soon …
More Than Some Overdue Library Books
Kudos to Rand Paul for the filibuster on domestic drone strikes. The thing we have to understand about slippery slopes is that, if you have a ripe one, it is slippery all the way down. The first thing to note is that Rand Paul was not engaging in a mere political stunt — he was …
No Bureaucratic Shadow
All the early returns indicate that the available supply of energy in North America is virtually inexhaustible. Using words like inexhaustible is problematic to Malthusians, but it looks to be a good description. Energy, it appears, is about as abundant as salt water. With the discovery of new reserves and the development of new technologies …
The Conscription Question
A few weeks ago there was a flurry of concern over the possibility of daughters being drafted for combat roles. Now that women have been cleared for combat duty by the Pentagon, all that is now necessary for that monstrosity to happen is for us to abandon our commitment to an all-volunteer military. But this …
Gun Ownership As Civic Virtue
A few posts ago, I mentioned in passing that gun ownership was not a sin, not a vice, and was in fact a virtue. This generated a few questions, which I thought I ought to address in a separate post. So here goes. The first issue concerns what is meant by “virtue.” Do I mean …
That Will Be Soon Enough
Lest it be misunderstood, I wanted to follow up on my post about the propriety of certain kinds of arguments in the immediate aftermath of something like the Connecticut tragedy. The issue is not relevance, but demeanor and spirit, in this case measured by timing. The issue is not whether you are right, but whether …
Markets, Free and Rigged
I have a lot to say about this, and will no doubt be getting into much more of it in the months to come, but for the present let me just say what it is I have a lot to say about. I say this so that those Christians who think that Romans 13 was …
Courage and Brains Both
I was asked this morning if I was going to say anything about the secession petitions that have been filed at the White House, and I realized I needed to. I have clearly been remiss. Some who thought I have never heard of a secession proposal that I wouldn’t like might have been wondering what …