One of the temptations that comes to people who learn how to see and identify “deep structures” in a narrative — adeptly twirling chiasms they have found, or anticipataory foreshadowing motifs, or whatnot — is that they sometimes lose their ability to read what is right there on the page. They know that the Mississippi …
The Coming Tax Revolt
Tax revolts are funny things. The powers that be are lulled into complacency, for increased taxation is inevitable, for do we all not know that progress is inevitable, and so the grinding business of governmental coercion as usual must continue on unabated? But this is like the man who was striving to live to be …
Regardless of Real Amounts
There is no real understanding of modern politics possible that does not take into full account the deep and pervasive presence of envy. And such a broad cultural understanding will not come about until there is a reformation in the church, and my current suspicion is that it will have to be the kind of …
Laugh Like a Developmentally-Challenged Hyena
One of the things a lot of people need to learn how to do is make political determinations, whenever possible, based on the undisputed out-in-the-open facts. This is possible a lot more than is pretended otherwise. The alternative is to try to make determinations based on the contested behind-the-scenes-facts, and this is an invitation to …
Lobbying for Vanilla Bleh
I recently received a good set of questions about Christian political activism from a gentlemen I met at the Desiring God conference, a man engaged in the noble work of Christian activism. Since the questions have broad relevance for many others, I thought it would be good to attempt to set forth my answers here, …
Gakkk
Soft despots love “the fact that the citizens enjoy themselves provided they dream solely of their own enjoyment. It works willingly for their happiness, but it wishes to be the only agent and sole arbiter of that happiness. It provides for their security, foresees and supplies their needs, guides them in their principal affairs, directs …
Sweet Defiance
Why sweet defiance? In Psalm 119:23, we are told, “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” Now these are wonderful words in every believing ear. We could do some nice graphics work with it, no doubt — along with a picture of a beautiful sunset and beach, have …
A Few Trillion Back
So I watched Hannity’s interview with Sarah Palin last night, and had a few brief thoughts. No detailed defenses of anything here, although I am pretty sure we will all get into the deep weeds of that discussion again sometime. Here are just a few quick takes. First, she is clearly a very nice Christian …
Legislating Sunshine
It is starting to look as though he might be doing it all on purpose. Many years ago, William Simon commented that right wingers are prone to conspiracy theories precisely for this reason — it seems apparent to them that the destructive nature of the proposed policies A, B, and C are evident to all, …
Nadil Malik Hasan and the Street Light
A joke is told about a drunk who was crawling around under a street lamp on his hands and knees. He had been there for some time, and another guy came along and said, “What are you looking for?” The answer was that he was looking for his lost car keys, and so the new …