Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 117
November 18, 2016
The inevitable march of History
The “progressive” worldview assumes that society is getting better and better. That is to say, history is on an inexorable march towards “progress.” Thus, those on the left are fond of saying some one they oppose is “on the wrong side of history.” This leads to the assumption that progressive gains may never be reversed, that progressive [Read More...]
The Left’s support of Donald Trump
The Wikileaks e-mails of Democrats’ correspondence show that the Hillary Clinton campaign feared running against the more mainstream Republican candidates such as Marco Rubio. So they launched an effort to legitimize the candidacy of Donald Trump, the assumption being that he would be perhaps the only candidate whom she could beat. The strategists put out [Read More...]
Why presidents should take a salary
Donald Trump, rich guy that he is, has said that he will not take the $400,000 salary that comes with the presidency. Instead, he will just take $1. George Washington made the same pledge to serve without a salary, but the new Congress insisted that he take it. It turns out, the Founders had good [Read More...]
November 17, 2016
The Two Cities vs. the Two Kingdoms
It’s common to associate Augustine’s Two Cities with Luther’s Two Kingdoms. But they are really quite different. In The City of God, Augustine defines the two in terms of two different loves: The City of God has to do with the love of God; the City of Man has to do with love of self. [Read More...]
An electoral vote campaign vs. a popular vote campaign
That Hillary Clinton did win the popular vote should be of concern to Republicans, Democrats having won six of the last seven presidential elections with a plurality of the votes cast. But, as David French points out, we really can’t say who would have won the popular vote if the popular vote settled the elections. In this [Read More...]
Vast oil deposit discovered in Texas
Geologists have found a site in the Permian Basin in Texas that holds some 20 billion barrels of oil. The entire area may hold 75 billion barrels, making it the largest unconventional deposit in the United States, and the second in the world, next only to the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia. The oil is in [Read More...]
November 16, 2016
A Lutheran critique of Escondido theology
Westminster Seminary in Escondido, California, has some impressive theologians–Michael Horton, David Van Drunen, and other Calvinists of the sort who appear on White Horse Inn. I know some of these guys, think highly of them, and appreciate how some of them are being influenced by Luther and Lutheran theology. But though they speak of the [Read More...]
Trump’s briefings on America’s “deep secrets”
New presidents get three special intelligence briefings on America’s “deep secrets.” These cover our intelligence resources, current covert operations, and–crucially–how to work the “nuclear football” (the codes and options in that briefcase that accompanies the president at all times in order to launch a nuclear war). These briefings can be a harrowing experience, according to recent presidents, as [Read More...]
No one won a majority of votes
Democrats are claiming a moral victory–and sometimes an actual rightful victory–by saying that Hillary Clinton won the majority of the popular vote. Actually, no one won a majority. She won a plurality, but not a majority. Clinton had 47.7%. Donald Trump had 47.5%. Some 5 million Americans voted for neither candidate. The turnout was about [Read More...]
November 15, 2016
The curses on vocation
Picking up from yesterday’s post, something else I learned from Jordan Cooper’s presentation on the Two Kingdoms and Creation. He pointed out that just as God established human culture by appointing the vocations of marriage, parenthood, and work in Paradise, the curses after the Fall are directed specifically to vocation: conflict within marriage; pain in [Read More...]
