Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 37
January 19, 2018
Should We Bring Back Earmarks to Make Congress Effective?
Our nation’s legislative branch is stalemated on issue after issue, from the complexities of immigration reform to the housekeeping details of keeping the government from shutting down. Lawmakers have little incentive to compromise, buck their leadership, or work across party lines. President Trump has proposed a solution: Bring back earmarks. Traditionally, legislators would attach spending […]
January 18, 2018
The Philosophy That Opposes Birth and Being Born
In researching policies that are “antinatalist”–that is, “anti-birth,” discouraging having children–I found that there is actually a philosophy known as Antinatalism, which teaches that procreation is immoral and that it is better never to have been born. This school of thought, held by a number of prominent philosophers, makes the following argument: (1) It is immoral to […]
And Now a TV Series about the Trump White House?
Get ready to fall through the postmodernist looking glass, in which all distinctions between fiction and reality, entertainment and politics, and celebrity and history disappear. Michael Wolff’s depiction of the Trump White House–an “inside story” that the author admits is also an imaginative construction–is going to be made into a television series! Television rights to […]
January 5, 2018
Luther on Epiphany and Vocation
Today is the 12th and last day of Christmas. (Happy drummers drumming day!) Tomorrow is Epiphany, marking the coming of the Wise Men but also beginning the season of Epiphany, which commemorates the various “epiphanies” or revelations of Christ’s identity. These took place throughout His life on earth (His baptism, His first miracle, etc.), with the season ending […]
Legalizing Marijuana as a Test Case for Federalism
A growing number of states, including as of the turn of the year California, have legalized marijuana. But the drug is still illegal under federal law. That conflict between the two jurisdictions is shaping up as a test case for federalism, the constitutional system by which sovereign states coming together under a central government. President […]
January 4, 2018
New Religions Rushing into the Void
A culture that is “spiritual but not religious”–made up of people who have mystical impulses but reject the existing organized religions–is a fertile ground for the introduction of new religions. We have blogged about a leftist version of “civil religion,” which invests the state and the government with religious meaning. We have blogged about how the sexual […]
Bannon Betrays Trump
President Trump has long been the target of the liberal media, Democratic politicians, and the academic left, all of which are scathing in their contempt. But now the unkindest cut of all is coming from Steve Bannon, the alt.right populist who had been Trump’s key advisor and strongest supporter! Bannon is the major source for […]
January 3, 2018
How the Sexual Revolution Morphed into a Religion
If traditional religions are receding, and yet much of the population remains “spiritual but not religious,” we can expect new religions to rush into the void. Mary Eberstadt analyzes the teachings and practices of the acolytes of the sexual revolution and concludes that this movement has hardened into a new religion, a church of sex. […]
The Marxists at the Gun Range
You might see some folks wearing red bandanas around their necks shooting their AK-47s at the gun range. Or passing out flyers at a gun show. Or cracking heads at a street protest. These are actual Marxists, not affluent college kids playing at being leftists. These folks call themselves Redneck Revolt. They have the motto “putting […]
January 2, 2018
More Reasons to Believe in the Virgin Birth
There are people who profess to be Christians who nevertheless don’t believe that Jesus was conceived “by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary” without a human father. But the notion that this teaching is a mythological accretion or a misunderstanding of the language is being shot down. The virgin birth of Jesus is best […]
