Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 236
July 8, 2015
Gay marriage & civil liberties in Canada
Gay marriage won’t affect anyone else but the same-sex couples who now can get married, we are told. It certainly won’t have an impact on anyone’s civil liberties. Well, it has in Canada. So says Dawn Stefanowicz, writing for the Witherspoon Institute. From Dawn Stefanowicz, A Warning from Canada: Same-Sex Marriage Erodes Fundamental Rights | Public [Read More...]
Democrats surging to the left–as is the country?
Democrats in Congress voted against the wishes of their own President in in opposing the free trade bill, which has advanced thanks only to Republicans. Meanwhile, the socialist Bernie Sanders has all but caught up with Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire and Iowa, attracting some of the biggest crowds of any candidate so far. Political [Read More...]
July 7, 2015
Pope apologizes for Milton’s “slaughtered saints”
Pope Francis recently apologized to the Waldensians. They had their beginnings in the 12th century, anticipating many of the teachings of the Reformation four hundred years later, which the group then joined. The Waldensians suffered centuries of persecution from the Roman Catholic Church, culminating in the Easter massacre in the Piedmont of Italy in 1655, [Read More...]
Supreme Court can’t tell what “legislature” means
Lost in the tumultuous week of Supreme Court rulings over Obamacare and gay marriage was another odd ruling. To combat gerrymandering, the people of Arizona passed a referendum that would take away the state legislature’s power to draw electoral boundaries and give it instead to a non-partisan commission. That sounds like a good outcome, since [Read More...]
The Trump of doom?
Despite all of the outrage he is provoking, to the point of losing his TV shows, Donald Trump as a presidential candidate is soaring in the polls. One poll has him leading the crowd. Polls in the early primary states New Hampshire and Iowa have him second to Jeb Bush. Is this due to the [Read More...]
How the Greek economy is like ours
Greece has racked up a huge national debt and has such low economic growth that it is impossible to service that debt. Economics columnist Robert J. Samuelson points out that the situation in Greece is just an extreme case of what the American economy is up against. (Our national debt is now 105% of our [Read More...]
July 6, 2015
The right to dignity
To find a right to abortion in the Constitution, the Supreme Court justices in Roe v. Wade construed from the text a “right to privacy.” To find a right to gay marriage in the Constitution, Justice Kennedy, with the concurrence of the majority, has construed a “right to dignity.” Law professor Jonathan Turley, who supports [Read More...]
The Declaration of Independence and natural law
Legal scholar Randy Barnett offer a fascinating section by section reading of the Declaration of Independence, which he says succinctly states the political theory of the American founding. He summarizes it this way: The rights of individuals do not originate with any government, but pre-exist its formation. The protection of these rights is both the [Read More...]
Greeks vote “No”
Greeks voted “no” on a referendum on whether they should let their economy get bailed out at the price of austerity measures. Now we’ll see what this will do to the Greek economy, to the Euro, and to the European Union. (Not to mention the rest of the world’s economy, including that of the U.S.A.) [Read More...]
July 3, 2015
Celebrating America, in light of everything
People on the left often have problems being patriotic on the 4th of July, since they consider the nation whose birthday is celebrated to have been built on slavery, imperialism, and a predatory capitalism. But now conservatives, usually the big flag wavers on Independence Day, might also feel disillusioned with the USA. We live in [Read More...]
