A time for smaller government?
Posted on February 18, 2009
Filed Under Politics, Society | 13 Comments
Small government advocates are a little too happy at the belt-tightening going on (at state and local levels, anyway) to deal with the effects of the recession. Utah’s legislature is overshooting estimates in its zeal to make government smaller. Is smaller government desirable? Sure!
However, in order for conservatives to prove, in the famous words of Saint Ronald that, “Government is not a solution to our problem; government is the problem,” small-government types need to unplug the mouths and plug in the helping hands. Read more
“Resurrection” by Leo Tolstoy – Book Review
Posted on January 26, 2009
Filed Under Movie/Book Reviews, Politics, Religion, Society | 2 Comments
Tolstoy’s very readable tale of Prince Dmitry Ivanich Nekhlyudov, a man humbled by the results of his past sins and attempting to right wrongs and redeem himself, is a timeless criticism of human attempts at civilization and self-rule. In the process of the story, Tolstoy skewers high society, the church, the government, the military, the courts, lawyers, land-owners, revolutionaries, the prison system, and anything else he passes on the way. But he also reveals his life-view of Christian anarchy, the idea that man should follow the teaching of Christ despite any contravening man-made institutions, forms, and influences. Read more
The President and the Constitution
Posted on January 19, 2009
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Tomorrow we’ll witness a miracle. It happens every four or eight years in the U.S. It’s a peaceful (acquiescent if not voluntary) passing of authority from the most powerful person in the world to another person, often of an opposing worldview. It truly is a miracle. Read more
Soldier v. Warrior
Posted on January 14, 2009
Filed Under Politics, Society | 3 Comments
No, it’s not a new video game or action movie. It’s a transition in the basic philosophy of the U.S. military. Read more
Things you don’t talk about in polite company
Posted on January 14, 2009
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In Santa Clara, California on May Day, 2002, George W. Bush said, “The public education system . . . is where children from all over America learn to be responsible citizens, and learn to have the skills necessary to take advantage of our fantastic opportunistic society.” At first blush this is just a gaffe, Freudian in my opinion. But there is much that is more concerning in this statement than a private-school boy not knowing the usage of the word “opportunistic.” Read more
The Doctor Himself is Sick
Posted on December 18, 2008
Filed Under Politics, Society | 1 Comment
Last night I was listening to a commentary by Daniel Schorr, an OLD hand in Washington journalism, and an unabashed liberal. I really enjoy Mr. Schorr’s commentaries, because they usually tell truth to power, hold people’s feet to the fire, and he does it so well. Last night citing the Blagojavich and Madoff scandals and recent news of corruption in the allocation of funds for Iraqi reconstruction, Schorr had them on the ropes, and I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the knock-out punch. He set them up with a jab, “I am unhappily reminded of my time in the Soviet Union, where bribery and other corruption were so commonplace as to be accepted as a dismal fact of life. Health care was nominally free, but it took a bribe to see a doctor. America isn’t there yet, but it badly needs. . . .”
Needs what, Dan? A good swift kick in the pants? A return to morality and honesty? Fire from heaven? What? Read more
This Land is Whose Land?
Posted on December 10, 2008
Filed Under Politics, Religion, Society | 5 Comments
How many times have we read Christ’s parable of the vineyard and assumed its application is long in the past? It’s easy to interpret as the history of the Jews, who were given the Abrahamic Covenant but then failed in their stewardship by rejecting the prophets and ultimately killing the Master’s Son.
But recently, reading Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy, I saw the parable in a whole new light. Tolstoy says: Read more
An Explanation of Mormons’ Support of Proposition 8
Posted on November 26, 2008
Filed Under Religion | Leave a Comment
I’m no theologian nor do I speak for the LDS Church, but I would like to lay out the doctrinal reasons I think the Church supported a ban on homosexual marriage under Proposition 8 in California. I will try to cite as much as possible from the Church’s publications, primarily from chapters 2 and 47 of Gospel Principles. Read more
Two Tries for Small-Fries
Posted on November 14, 2008
Filed Under Cringers | 1 Comment
When I went back to college after my mission, I decided to fill my Phys. Ed. requirements with a volleyball class. I had played the same game most Americans have played that we generously call volleyball, where the only thing more lacking than knowledge of the game is talent to play it. I remember my first volleyball experience being at a family reunion where the only consistent rule was “two tries for small fries,” meaning if a young player missed a serve, he got a second chance. I liked this rule, being a small fry at the time. In my teens I played in some more competitive, competent games, but never seriously. So I decided to take a beginner volleyball class. Read more
America’s Religion of Wealth
Posted on November 11, 2008
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In the New Testament, there are two occurrences of the word wealth: a silversmith of Ephesus said to his fellow idol-makers “. . . ye know that by this craft we have our wealth” (Acts 19:25); and from Paul to the Corinthians, “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth” (1 Cor 10:24). It is interesting to see these two statements juxtaposed onto America today. Our idol is wealth itself, the accumulation of which has become the American Dream. Whereas seeking another’s wealth, or the prosperity of another, is seen as anti-American. Read more
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