OrthodoxNet.com Blog

Human Events | Dennis Byrne | Sep. 24, 2008

Never has the United States had to make such a momentous decision so quickly, except on more memorable dates such as December 7, 1941 or September 11, 2001. Is this really that urgent?

Our betters tell us that the “financial meltdown” leaves us only two choices: Either put this nation in hock in unspeakable amounts to who-knows-whom for how long. Or bring on another Depression. And we must pick our poison right now — no looking for reasonable alternatives. All the key players agree that we’ve got no time to spare; all us bit players can’t fully understand why. Continue Reading »

FrontPageMagazine.com | Barry Loberfeld | Aug. 13, 2008

For defenders of the Constitution, the free market, and individual liberty, no single issue has thus far proved more defeating – on both the intellectual and electoral battlefields – than that of poverty. It has handed one unearned (and by no means inevitable) victory after another to the unconstitutional statism of collectivist liberals.

The conquest of poverty (to borrow the title of Henry Hazlitt’s classic) requires just two weapons: wealth and compassion. So the only real question is: Who can better provide these – civil society (”the market”) or the political state?

The answer as it regards wealth has now been settled: “[C]apitalism has won,” conceded left-aligned economic historian Robert Heilbroner in 1989. “Socialism,” conversely, “has been a great tragedy this century.” Continue Reading »

American Thinker | Paul Kengor | Aug. 10, 2008

In a tribute I wrote earlier, posted at National Review, I noted that it is impossible to capture in one column what Solzhenitsyn meant, experienced, and how he went about translating it to the West. Professors like me know such frustration well, as we struggle to fully convey the impact of such a man to a classroom of students born after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In my earlier piece, I talked about The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn’s shocking firsthand account of the Soviet forced-labor-camp system, where he himself had been held captive, and where tens of millions of innocents perished. In a disturbing way, that book may have made Solzhenitsyn the most significant of all Russian writers, quite a prize when one considers the caliber of the company. Continue Reading »

American Thinker | Kyle-Anne Shiver | Aug. 8, 2008

If Barack Obama presents a target-rich environment in his inflated balloon of media hype over one non-accomplishment after another, John McCain presents the opposite. No hype. No hot air. No blathering, bloated claims about ethereal change and meaningless hope in government to save us. None of this Hollywood stuff for McCain.

McCain is scrappy. He’s a scrounger. He’s downright humble. Rather than touting his formidable experience, or the fact that he has had three sons in the military, quietly serving their Country, John McCain presents a true model of decency, self-respect and laudable humility, in the same all-male bundle. Continue Reading »

American Thinker | Lee Cary | July 4, 2008

We the people metaphorically dodged a bullet when the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Second Amendment is still alive. While many of us celebrated, we were also dismayed by the thin margin of freedom’s victory.

But that should not surprise us. There have been close calls in the past. And there will be others in the future, because, as once the Liberty Bell cracked soon after it was hung, so too, from time-to-time, freedom itself hangs by the thin margin of one vote. Continue Reading »

Christian Examiner online | Chuck Colson | June 2008

Do you want to talk about traditional values on a college campus? Or do you want to speak out against same-sex “marriage”? You may have to enter the Whisper Zone. David Woodard is a political science professor at Clemson University—one who has first-hand experience on how dangerous it can be to speak out in favor of traditional values: He almost lost his job over it. Continue Reading »

American Thinker | Lance Fairchok | Jun. 21, 2008

We all knew it even though Democrat spokespersons denied it. Worried that the negative connotations would affect their electability and their eyes glued to the capricious winds of public opinion, they invented new words for the old ideology such as progressivism and communitarianism. Apparently, the camouflage is no longer needed. The masks are off. They now openly call for the nationalization of private business, the establishment of universal entitlements and increased taxation to pay for them. Why worry about socialist labels? The electorate is complacent, prosperity has numbed our senses and the left has worked diligently for many years to sap our national pride and deface our self-image. Continue Reading »

Townhall.com | Rebecca Hagelin | Jun. 12, 2008

Ask 10 people to define capitalism. Chances are, eight or nine will stress the importance of buying things.

They’re making a common mistake — equating capitalism with consumerism. As our friends over at the Acton Institute understand, capitalism, properly understood, involves more than just spending. It’s an economic system that (to the horror of liberals) puts decision-making power over financial matters where it belongs — with free individuals, not with government. Continue Reading »

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Investor’s Business Daily | May. 28, 2008

Manuel “Sureshot” Marulanda and his FARC terrorist group died long before he did last March 26. That’s because Colombians now embrace free markets over terror. So why is Congress still halting free trade? Continue Reading »

American Thinker | Jonathan D. Strong | May. 15, 2008

Since the end of the Second World War, much of Western Civilization took it for granted that the progress and triumph of human rights, freedom, and liberal democracy would continue in perpetuity. Of course, there were setbacks as communist insurgencies and revolution snuffed out the lights of liberty in various places round the globe, but the hope of freedom always reappeared in places like Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Tiananmen Square, Poland, and most recently in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And despite the success that liberal democracy has experienced since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the possibility of Western concepts of freedoms no longer progressing, but in fact, regressing, is now more of a possibility than perhaps since Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930’s. What we may be witnessing today is not progress but regress in terms of our rights and freedoms. Continue Reading »

American Thinker | Mike Austin | May. 11, 2008

Another sophisticate has spoken out, and bravely. “I don’t want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don’t, then you’ve got the Army, Iraq, I don’t know, something like that. It’s not as bright.”

So said Stephen King. He is a writer of horror I hear, though I have never read his books. I do hope that his written prose is more literate than that evinced by his speech. Continue Reading »

American Thinker | David Bueche | Apr. 20, 2008

I don’t know what the “Free Tibet” bumper sticker crowd must be thinking these days, but I can assure you it most certainly doesn’t involve the 101st Airborne, tanks, guns, or any of that other “culture of violence” stuff.

I guess it involves something along the lines of everyone focusing — I mean really focusing — their energy, and the ensuing global vibe snapping the Chinese out of their misguided ways. This would be followed immediately by a retreat, apology, and later, some really cool sharing and cultural appreciation between the two. Continue Reading »

FrontPageMag | Thomas A. Bowden | Apr. 3, 2008

As the Declaration of Independence recognizes, governments are created to protect our individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The right of self-defense is included and implied in the right to life. In forming a government, citizens delegate the task of defending themselves to the police. But to delegate is not to surrender. Each citizen retains the ultimate right to defend himself in emergencies when his appointed agents, the police, are not available to help. Continue Reading »

OrthodoxyToday.org | Raymond J. Keating | Mar. 14, 2008

Scouting reinforces lessons we try to teach about hard work, respecting others, responsibility, faith and love of country. Unfortunately, the Boy Scouts have been assaulted in recent times by left-wingers who don’t like the group’s values. But rising in defense is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, with his new book, “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.” Continue Reading »

Acton.org | Chris Banescu | Mar. 12, 2008

Declaring that “parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children,” the Second District Court of Appeal for the state of California recently issued a ruling that effectively bans families from homeschooling their children and threatens parents with criminal penalties for daring to do so. According to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) this court decision has made “almost all forms of homeschooling in California” a violation of state law. Once again our judicial system moves to restrict religious and personal liberties, severely limit parental rights, and significantly increase the power, scope, and control of the state over our lives. Continue Reading »

Statesman.com | Ken Herman | Mar. 11, 2008

During a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, President Bush said there’s nothing fair about the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” that once required broadcasters to offer air time for competing ideologies.

The FCC got rid of it about 20 years ago. Now, some Democrats in Congress - long the target of popular conservative radio talk-show hosts - think it’s time to bring it back. Continue Reading »

WorldNetDaily | Bob Unruh | Mar. 7, 2008

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today blasted a court ruling that endangered homeschooling and homeschoolers statewide.

“Every California child deserves a quality education and parents should have the right to decide what’s best for their children,” the governor said in a prepared statement. “Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children’s education.” Continue Reading »

SFGate.com | Bob Egelko, Jill Tucker| Mar. 7, 2008

A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution. The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming. Continue Reading »

WorldNetDaily | Bob Unruh | Feb. 29, 2008

A California court has ruled that several children in one homeschool family must be enrolled in a public school or “legally qualified” private school, and must attend, sending ripples of shock into the nation’s homeschooling advocates as the family reviews its options for appeal.

The ruling came in a case brought against Phillip and Mary Long over the education being provided to two of their eight children. They are considering an appeal to the state Supreme Court, because they have homeschooled all of their children, the oldest now 29, because of various anti-Christian influences in California’s public schools. Continue Reading »