Orthodox Editors

Fields: When Manly Virtue Died

Manly Virtue in Danger by Suzanne Fields –
Cultural forces are driving men away from traditional responsibilities

These are difficult and perilous times for boys. A distorted culture has robbed them of virtue against which to measure themselves. The good once associated with masculinity in a patriarchal society has been tossed out with the bad. This, alas, is the era of feminist ascendency.

Manhood is more easily mocked, satirized and derided, or exposed for its villainy, exploitation and criminality than held up as an ideal for boys to aspire to. We’ve always had rogues, rascals and villains, but until now, we’ve also had a base line, a common denominator, of what it means to be a man. Male-female cultural distinctions, once blurred, are disappearing. [Read more…]

Obama’s Disastrous Energy Record

Obama No Energy for America by Chad Stafko –
The energy policies of the Obama administration have made America less safe and have significantly contributed to our nation’s high unemployment rate and lackluster economic growth. At the same time, President Obama’s failure to expand our oil resources has led to higher prices at the gas pump for all Americans. In short, the Obama administration has been an utter failure in managing the energy sources of the United States.

The U.S. State Department recently delayed approval of the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline until at least early 2013. This pipeline was to have run from Western Canada’s Alberta province all the way down to the U.S. Gulf Coast. It would have provided for 500,000-700,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada, one of our closest allies. But the Obama administration cowered to some protests of extremist environmentalists in Nebraska and thus decided to punt the decision until after the 2012 elections. [Read more…]

What the Pilgrims Can Teach Us about Economic Freedom

Thanksgiving Freedom Economic Freedom Economic Freedom –
The Pilgrims struggling to survive at Plymouth Plantation learned the importance of private property first-hand in 1623 when Governor Bradford adopted a free-enterprise system after just two years of communal sharing. Their experiment with socialism revealed valuable lessons that inspired the colony to shift to a free-market economic system that would serve as the foundation upon which America would grow into a great and prosperous nation.

As the Pilgrims learned, societies that respect property and the rule of law capture the benefits of free-market enterprise and enjoy high levels of prosperity. The benefit that we see from free markets is contingent on individuals having the right to own and protect property and to benefit from their labor. [Read more…]

The Artificial Imposition of Poverty

by James Peron –
Most of the world’s poverty is not self-inflicted, yet apparently many seem to think it is.

My experience, living in Africa, tells me otherwise. Much of global poverty is imposed and I don’t mean by evil “multi-national corporations” or “globalization.” Those myths are easily debunked. The real causes of poverty in these nations are not hard to find.

First, however, I’d like to start with what is not the cause of poverty. People in poor nations are not poor because they lack ambition or are lazy. [Read more…]

Radicals Don’t Compromise

Democrats Extreme Communists Radicals by Jeffrey Folks –
As the impasse at the deficit reduction supercommittee shows, Congress’s inability to get things done is once again on display. The blame for this failure has been widely attributed to the “unwillingness of both sides to work together,” but the reality is that liberal Democrats on the committee never intended to compromise. They would rather pursue their goal of socialism than save the country from fiscal collapse.

This is just sort of behavior that has brought Greece to ruin and that now threatens all of Europe, if not the entire global economy. To channel Rick Perry’s thoughts on Chairman Ben, the refusal to put country ahead of party is nothing less than treasonous.

For their part, Republicans have engaged in political posturing as well, but when the chips were down, as they have been now for weeks, the GOP at least offered a proposal, albeit a flawed one. Democrats have offered nothing that would bring the committee anywhere near $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next ten years. Not only that, but their immediate response to the GOP proposal, without even pausing to consider its contents, was to denounce it as “laughable.” [Read more…]

Citizen, Heal Thyself

Ten Commandments Orthodox by James Hitchcock –
Social Sins Are Easily & Fashionably Confessed
A major divergence between orthodox and modernist religious believers is the distinction between “personal” and “social” sins, with the orthodox pointing out that individual offenses against the Ten Commandments​—profanity, lying, murder, theft, adultery—have always been at the center of Christian moral teaching and liberals arguing that the conditions of modern life implicate people in networks of guilt—“institutional racism,” unjust economic structures, acts of aggression by nations.

The death of Senator Edward Kennedy once again brought this dichotomy into focus. By Christian standards, he was an irresponsible person who did a good deal of harm in his personal life, but he was all but canonized after his death, because he passionately espoused the “correct” public issues. (The converse, however, is never true—an upright personal life is never said to excuse a deficient social conscience.)

Liberal Moralism
Otherwise virtuous people may indeed feel no responsibility for morally dubious situations from which they derive advantage. The present status of individuals, families, churches, even whole nations, can often be traced back to historical events that are today deemed unjustifiable. [Read more…]

Socialism’s Fundamental Flaws

Obama communist socialist democrats by Andy Logar –
The official, ultimate demise of the greatest socialist experiment in history, that of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, occurred, ironically, on Christmas Day 1991, but only after it had dispossessed, imprisoned, tortured and murdered untold millions of its own citizen in the quest for the workers’ chimerical paradise of equality and fairness, where each was projected to produce according to his ability and receive according to his needs. After 69 years of unremitting misery for the overwhelming majority of its people — the socialist Nirvana never coming even remotely within sight — the inevitable economic collapse took place, leaving hapless millions in grinding poverty.

However, Westernized socialism, as practiced in European social democracies and to a lesser extent in the U.S., is still alive, no matter how unwell. What salient faults brought down Soviet socialism and what lessons can be drawn? Are fault lines emerging in socialism’s Western iterations which, if addressed, may prevent disaster? [Read more…]

What Time Is It for Your Child?

family time child orthodox christianby Fr. Athanasios Papagiannis –
John weighed seven pounds, seven ounces on the day he was born. His first days of life were highlighted by bouts of crying and long periods of sleeping. On the drive home from the hospital, a few days later, John’s mother glanced down, looked at her new baby, and for a moment she smiled.

Then she looked ahead.

“Honey,” she began, as she stared at her husband, “I know we decided to keep our careers so that we can be financially secure, but now I’m having second thoughts. I want to give our son the most attention we can. I want us to reconsider having me stay at home with him.”

Her husband shook his head in frustration. “We discussed this, remember?” he shot back. “We can’t afford to have one of us at home all the time. It doesn’t make sense.” For the next few minutes the proud new parents shared their thoughts and uneasiness of leaving their child in the care of someone other than his parents. Conversations like the one above are common among new parents. Every parent wants the best for their child, yet mapping out how to exactly deliver that parenting has become more and more difficult. [Read more…]

Finding America: Our History Flows From our Belief in Self-Evident Truths

America Freedom Creed Truths by Peg Luksik –
What, exactly, makes this nation “America”? It’s not economics. Economic conditions are always the result of a nation’s culture and policies, not the cause. We need to ask what created the culture and policies that made us the most prosperous nation in history.

The answer tells us what we, as a nation, believe. Our Founders began by saying, “We hold these truths to be self-evident”.

Our entire history flows from our belief in those self-evident truths. In modern language, the truths of America’s heritage are:

God exists and is the highest authority. The American Revolution can only be justified if there was an authority above the King – an authority whose standards the King was violating. A government can only be wrong if there is something higher to measure its actions against. [Read more…]

God Has a Lot to Do with It, Christianity and Freedom

Chuck Colson
Chuck Colson
by Chuck Colson –
A recent op-ed in the Los Angeles Times asked “What’s God got to do with it?” The “it” being referred to was the security and freedom that Americans enjoy and often take for granted.

The answer to the question is “quite a bit,” and arguing otherwise requires taking something else for granted: our way of life’s debt to Christianity.

The man asking and answering the question was Michael Shermer, the publisher of Skeptic magazine. Shermer took exception to the words of a recent House resolution to keep “In God We Trust” as the national motto. The resolution read: “Whereas if religion and morality are taken out of the marketplace of ideas, the very freedom on which the United States was founded cannot be secured.”

Shermer was troubled by the “belief that religion has a monopoly on morality,” especially, he says, “in this age of science and technology, computers and cyberspace, and liberal democracies securing rights and freedoms for oppressed peoples all over the globe.” [Read more…]