Category: Politics

Rousseau and Marx on Historical Progress

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This is an essay I wrote last semester for my Modern and Postmodern Philosophy class.  For Rousseau, historical progress only further removes man from his natural state of living. He argues that the cultivation of civilized studies weaken the natural virtues of men; in his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, Rousseau writes, “our souls have become corrupted to the extent that our sciences and our arts have advanced towards perfection.” He cites Romans of old as saying, “Since the learned men began to appear among us, good people have slipped away.” Rousseau attributes this decline to the intentional pursuit…

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Why My Conscience Will Not Allow Me to Vote for Romney

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I am afraid this is beating a dead horse, but there are several reasons for dredging up the “to vote or not to vote” issue again:

1) The horse may be dead, but it is an important horse. There are many subjects that I disagree with other people about, but I figure it isn’t a big deal, and is not worth publicly disagreeing. However, for anyone who has discussed this issue in person with me, you will know I’m passionate about what I believe. It is no small matter, this comes down to our basic assumptions about the role of government and the duty of the Christian. It is not to be taken lightly.

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In Defense of Liberty

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My latest post, The Lesser of Two Evils, resulted in quite the controversy. I had a feeling about that, so I wasn’t completely surprised. I really hesitated to publish it because I knew the topic was so loaded. I have compiled a list of arguments against my position, and I’d like to take the time to respond to each of those.   1) A person must use the “lesser of two evils” principle and vote for the candidate who has the best chance of winning.  I don’t see why this is necessary. We are called to do what is right. As long…

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The Lesser of Two Evils

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The Republican National Convention has been nothing short of a complete overthrow of any pretensions of justice, as Dana Milbank of the Washington Post explains. “The Romney campaign had taken pains to stifle the Paul rebellion, by denying him a speaking role, expediting the roll call, changing party rules and even unseating Paul delegates from Maine.” I haven’t even bothered to follow the events because it sickens me to think of the utter lack of principles, the blatant disregard for integrity, and the deep animosity against the libertarian movement. And regardless of the Republican Party, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates have…

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You Don’t Have To Yell

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So I’ve mentioned my appreciation of Chris Rice, but in case you missed it the first time, I’m posting another of my favorite songs, titled You Don’t Have to Yell. I have included the full lyrics below, but would like to highlight the lines that I especially like, or more accurately, the verse: Everybody take a breath Why are all your faces red? We’re missing all the words you said You don’t have to yell Draw your lines And choose your sides Cause many thing are worth the fight But louder doesn’t make you right You don’t have to yell……

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Liberty Defined by Ron Paul

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I purchased this book soon after it came out, just because, well, it is by Ron Paul who is of course plain awesome 🙂 But then I procrastinated on reading it because I felt like since it is an introduction to libertarian philosophy, I probably wouldn’t learn anything new from it. But it was on my “need to read” pile and since I have some other heavier reading to do, I decided to just go for it. So… I would highly recommend Liberty Defined for anyone, regardless of your background in libertarianism, or lack thereof. Ron Paul’s disadvantage in the…

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Obedience, Not Success

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I like to peruse a few theological websites on Sundays in order to catch up on the recent posts and happenings in the Reformed circles. I ran across this article at Ligonier.org, Should Christians Refuse to Pay Taxes When They Are Used to Finance Abortions? by R.C. Sproul Jr.  This is a topic I often think about so I was curious to hear new thoughts on it. I have struggled with the thought of knowing my money is going to used for something that is immoral. This bothers my conscience. I find it hard to imagine standing before God and reconciling it….

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Avoiding the Question

I was listening to NPR today because my classical radio station wasn’t coming in, and that was the only other option, besides Rush Limbaugh, which, although it may be hard to believe, is even worse to listen to than NPR. So the host was interviewing this NPR political correspondant who has covered news from Congress for about 10 years and is now leaving to develop a new project. They were discussing the situation in Washington right now, gridlock, party conflicts, etc…and one of the comments was, “Washington is broken. And we need to figure out how to fix it.” And…

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Favorite Videos

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I’m sure I’ve posted some of these before, but just wanted to do it again. Here is Ron Paul’s “What If?” speech from Congress. Absolutely brilliant.     And here is a rather chilling history of Iran. Chilling because there is so much I didn’t know our government did. Chilling because everyone is saying we need to bomb Iran. Really? Don’t you know your history?     And every so often I watch this one, just to cheer myself up and get all excited about liberty again. It is so clear and so beautiful in the defense of self-ownership. Must…

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Not such a bright idea…

Last week we had a salesman come into work…I can’t remember what company he was from, but they sell basically everything. He handed us a catalog that was about 3″ thick. We gave him a tour of the shop and he was about to leave when he said, “oh, btw, just so you know, the lightbulbs you use in those lights there won’t be available next year. We have lights that you can buy to replace them with, if you’re interested.” When probed further he said, “yeah…the government is making them illegal…but that’s another story,” and like it is treason…

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