Archive for the ‘Constitutional Issues’ Category

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Proposition 8 Ruling

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

On Tuesday February 7, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Judge Walker’s mysterious discovery of the right to same sex marriage in the U.S. Constitution.  Some people who have read the Constitution wonder about this since marriage is nowhere discussed there any more than privacy, abortion, sodomy or the right of local governments to take private property to deliver it to other private parties.  Such people may have missed the news that we no longer have a written Constitution, but rather a “living” one, which is to say an imaginary one that exists only in the minds of a committee of nine lawyers called the Supreme Court.  This situation has been going on for decades because the U.S. Constitution is dead in the hearts of an overwhelming majority of Americans.  When asked about the Constitutionality of Obamacare, Nancy Pelosi replied “Are you kidding?  Are you kidding?”  This is a reasonable response from her point of view since no one has cared about the Constitution for a very long time.  That is what also makes the question of Obama;s eligibility seem farcical.  Why do you care about the Constitution now?  Must be racism since you haven’t cared about it forever.

This same sex marriage ruling comes at the same time as a large number of other brazen assaults on the Christian community which is finally showing some signs of realizing their peril, albeit possibly too late.  Secretary Sebelius has issued orders for Catholic institutions to participate in what they consider to be mortal sin.  General Boykinis not allowed to speak at a West Point prayer breakfast because the U.S. arm of the Muslim Brotherhood calls him names.  The federal courts uphold New York’s policy of not renting school space to churches while renting them to everyone else.  The Supreme Court refuses to take up the case.  It all reminds me of a Tee Shirt I saw a pro-abortion demonstrator wearing at an Operation Rescue event in 1989: “Christians Are Asswipes.”

This morning’s OC Register covered the Ninth Circuit Ruling with a picture of a typical pastor looking shocked, but still unsure of his position.  “I don’t want to see people discriminated against, but this goes against Biblical morality.”  No Scat Sherlock.  Here we have Christian leadership on display.  “I never took a stand against abortion, gay civil unions, gay sex clubs in schools or any of those violations of God’s Law, but now I want to take a half-hearted stand against this one.”  Is it any wonder we are losing?

Still, one must hope.  Faith, hope, and Charity are, after all, what always remain. Perhaps the devil’s disciples are going too far too fast.  Perhaps a few segments of the sleeping Church will wake up.

If nothing else, this is good timing for me.  I just bought my first ad for EMPIRE on the Christian Examiner online edition.  It should go up in a few days.  Maybe some frustrated Christians will buy a copy and start thinking about these things before they are thinking about them in a gulag somewhere.

Posted in Constitutional Issues, Current Politics, The Homosexual Political Agenda | 18 Comments »

Late to the Game

Sunday, January 15th, 2012

As the coils of secular government begin to tighten on the Church, the clerics are finally beginning to notice.  Here Francis Cardinal George lists some of the encroachments and sounds an alarm.  Elsewhere, a group of pastors were arrested in New York for protesting the City’s decision, upheld by the federal courts, to rent public space to any and all groups except churches.

For 39 years abortion has been “legal” in this country, and for 39 years 99% of pastors have been virtually silent on the issue.  The government has used the public schools to indoctrinate children from Christian homes and churches into atheism and immoral sexual practice and the pastors have been similarly silent if not supportive.  Now, in the final stages of the radical secularization of the country, when the government feels strong enough to just go around shutting churches down outright, the pastors notice.

Better late than never I suppose.  Although God might well say as He does in Isaiah 1:15 that He will not hear the prayers of those whose hands are full of blood.  How can a Church that has stopped its ears and turned its eyes from the littlest victims of injustice now cry to God for justice?  It may even be that the only hope for the Church in America today is for the government to shut down all the existing compromised, man-pleasing church enterprises so we can try again.

Speaking of games, the whole world is flipping out over Tim Tebow violating the Constitutional separation of Church and Football by taking a knee in prayer and thus confessing his faith in the public square.  The public square is reserved for things like Gay Pride parades and defecating on police cars, not shameless demonstrations of faith in Jesus.  When will the courts take action against this transgression?

Pay no attention to that man “Tebowing” in the snow.

Posted in Abortion and Life Issues, Constitutional Issues | 10 Comments »

American Exceptionalism

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

A recent posting by Newt Gingrich on this subject inspired me to write something about why I think America appears to be an exceptional nation and what it means.

The most obvious thing that makes America seem exceptional has been its status as the “Land of Opportunity.”  People from all over the world have always flocked to America seeking economic opportunity they could not find in their native lands.  England and European countries often had rigid class structures that locked people into certain kinds of jobs and locked them out of others.  The idea of your economic opportunity being limited by class or race or political affiliation is oppressive, and a land where you are only limited by ability, drive, and luck is exhilarating.  America has never been perfect in this regard, but the fact that it has always been seen as much better than most other nations is reflected in our history of immigration, which continues.  So the top-level characteristic that makes America exceptional is economic opportunity founded on private property, freedom of contract, and free enterprise.

This top level rests on our form of government, which is a Constitutional Federal Republic.  This system constitutes a government of law, rather than a government of men, and embodies an elaborate set of checks and balances making it difficult for a faction to gain control of the governmental power for their economic benefit.  It is not a monarchy, dictatorship, or democracy.  This form gives people security in their property and freedom to compete economically, and has resulted in a level of prosperity and liberty seldom seen.

Because of their success, these top two layers have been copied in many countries with varying degrees of success.  We have even tried to impose them on other countries following wars, again with varying success.  Furthermore, we see these features of our country eroding at home.  Arbitrary government grows and economic opportunity shrinks under both political parties.  Why is this?

The reason has to do with the third layer, which is the foundation to the systems of government and economics, the religious layer.  The top two layers were built on a Biblical World View owing to the strong Protestantism of the Founders.  In this view, God is above all human institutions and man is individually accountable to God.  God’s moral law is known and applicable to both the individual and government.  This makes collectivist ideas of society and unlimited government untenable.  We would like to think that limited government and free enterprise could be built on any religious foundation, but this goes against both reason and experience.  If America continues on her path of religious apostasy she will lose both her political liberty and economic prosperity as we plainly see happening today.

In the larger picture, America is but one link in the chain of Christianity, whereby God is unfolding His plan in history.  Italy, France, Germany and England have been “exceptional” links in the past as America still is today.  If America falls it will be a nightmare.  But the plan of God will continue to unfold in another exceptional nation.


 

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Random Thoughts

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

 Here are a few thoughts on civil rights prompted by a Martin Luther King Jr. Day article on it by the Rev. Sharpton.  Sharpton lauds the progress made by Dr. King’s civil rights movement while lamenting a few things that still need fixing like education, employment, and incarceration in the black community.  He is quite vague about how to “fix” these little problems, talking about “access” to education and employment as if the problem was still George Wallace standing at the school house door.  These problems seem to have more to do with family breakdown than racism, and the civil rights paradigm may have little to contribute to the solution.  The idea of “civil rights” is different from the idea of “unalienable rights” in the Declaration of Independence.  Civil Rights come from civil government and reflect the shifting political power in society.  Unalienable Rights come from God and are enforced by Him.  Civil rights are a form of legal positivism while unalienable rights are associated with natural law.  Does this shift from talking about unalienable rights to talking about civil rights represent a form of apostasy, a substitution of faith in government instead of faith on God as savior?  Subtle changes in the language we use can affect our whole way of thinking.

 On another topic, a therapist in Britain is facing decertification for attempting to help a man overcome unwanted homosexual desires using a Christian framework.  The individual seeking the treatment was in fact a homosexual activist conducting a “sting” with a hidden tape recorder.  This is further proof that gay rights and Christian liberty cannot coexist.  Society must choose sides.  Either you are for Christ, or against Him.  (But here is a differing view.)

China Bow China continues to grow both in economic and military terms.  China announces a new stealth fighter as we announce military budget cuts.  Western leaders seem content to let that occur provided they can personally profit from some short term deals.  A western businessman with a lucrative deal in China has a whole new perspective on things like human rights.  If you were doing a scavenger hunt in the neighborhoods of some of our corporate and government leaders and had to find an American flag or a Bible you might be disappointed.

Posted in Constitutional Issues, Military, The Homosexual Political Agenda | No Comments »

Judicial Activism as Original Sin

Saturday, November 13th, 2010

In recent months we have seen a flurry of federal court actions to block the people from having any say about the laws they must live under.  Delicately referred to as Judicial Activism, such actions are actually judicial tyrannies or acts of judicial lawlessness.  The courts are not legislatures, still less constitutional conventions, and cannot be permitted to just make up stuff and say it is in the Constitution.

  1. In 2009 the Iowa Supreme Court imposed gay marriage on the State.
  2. In July, on the day before it was to take effect, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton issued an injunction against most provisions of Arizona’s SB 1070 which attempted to treat illegal immigration as illegal.
  3. In August, federal U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker issued a risible decision overturning California’s Proposition 8 which limited marriage to, well, marriage.  Recall that Proposition 8 was itself a response of the people to a similar overreach on the part of the California Supreme Court.
  4. In October, U.S. District Judge (and apparently Supreme Ruler of the Universe) Virginia Phillips issued a universal global fatwa overturning the1993 federal law enacted by Congress and signed by President Clinton which held homosexuality to be “incompatible with military service.”  (Her ruling is stayed pending appeal.)
  5. The people of Oklahoma just voted 70-30 to prohibit the use of Sharia or international law in its court system.  Naturally, another federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to block this “Islamaphobic” will of the people.

Many people have noted how polarized and acrimonious our politics have become, but few have noted one major reason why this has happened.  When the U.S. Supreme Court decided to bypass the legislative process and just make abortion legal by pretending to “discover” a right to abortion in the U.S, Constitution, they set in motion a destructive process.  If our most important laws concerning the most gut wrenching and profound issues are to be settled by an unelected and un-removable “committee of nine lawyers,” then the focus of politics will shift to the process of appointing these man-gods.  This will drive the two parties, as we have seen, to being either 100% pro-life or 100% pro-abortion.  There can be no middle since any given Supreme Court nominee will either be confirmed for life or not.  Compromise is out and total political warfare is in.  The radicalized parties will then find it difficult to reach compromise on other issues as well.

Seemingly oblivious to this, the Supreme Court has doubled down in its Lawrence ruling, which found a right to sodomy in the Constitution, right next to the right to abortion and the right of local governments to take property from one private person and give it to another.

When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit they made a fundamental transgression of God’s law-order.  This original sin had ramifications not just for them but for all succeeding generations and even for nature.  In a similar way, the practice of judicial activism, and its acceptance by the body politic, represents a fundamental breach of the whole constitutional order.  When judges act as judges, applying the law faithfully to individual cases, they should indeed be insulated from political passions and pressures.  But when they act as legislators, creating law out of thin air, they violate their oath of office and throw the whole system out of order.  If we fail to deal with this crime we stand to lose everything.

On a lighter note, the people of Iowa just dumped all three of the gay marriage judges who were up for confirmation, so maybe there is hope after all.


 

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Building Mosques and Burning Korans

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

Here are a few thoughts on the two big current flaps over Islam.

One Moslem guy with $10,000 in the bank wants to build a $100 million mosque near Ground Zero, a building no non-Moslem will be able to enter.  He says the reason is to “promote religious understanding.” It’s not meant to be a victory symbol or anything.  With a line like that, maybe he can raise the money by selling Mayor Bloomberg the Brooklyn Bridge.

I think this guy should have the same right to build his mosque as Christians do to build churches in New York City, which is to say, almost no right at all.  The Greek Orthodox St. Nicholas Church which was destroyed at Ground Zero nine years ago still can’t get a permit to rebuild.  The tiny Bronx Household of Faith has been fighting the city for 15 years for the right to rent vacant public school space on weekends.  The City says that allowing filthy Christians in their public buildings would violate the sacred Constitution that allows Moslems to build mosques on our graves.

Another guy, a pastor in Florida with thirty people in his congregation, wants to burn a Koran on 9/11 because Islam is “of the devil.”  Everyone from General Petraeus on down is saying he shouldn’t do it, because if a tiny church in some backwater burns a Koran, millions of Moslems all over the world will go nuts and kill Americans and local Christians.  Well, doesn’t that kind of prove the guy’s point?

And if he wanted to burn an American flag instead, wouldn’t all of the people condemning him be standing up for his free speech rights?  And what if some patriotic Americans went nuts over his threatening to burn the flag and threatened to kill a bunch of other people in protest?  Would anyone consider that an understandable response?

(The right answers:  Private parties should be able to build churches and mosques on private property with minimal restrictions.  Public property should be rented to religious and non-religious groups on equal terms.  The Moslem guy should not build the mosque there out of respect, but probably will because he means it as a symbol of triumph.  The pastor has a legal right to burn the Koran as a publicity stunt, but should be ignored.  Islam is of the devil, as are all non-Christian religions, but Christians don’t go picking gratuitous fights.  “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” Romans 12:18.  The wisdom now is to try and split the radical and non-radical Moslems, not unite them.)


 

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Legitimacy

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

From whence does our government derive its power over us?  Is it just the raw power of an occupying army, or does it have some legitimacy?

Ancient regimes and medieval kings claimed divine right.  They said God in heaven had given them and their families the right to rule over their subjects.  But our current rulers make no such claim.  In fact they deny the relevancy if not the existence of God.

Our founding documents state that governments derive their just powers from “the consent of the governed,” meaning our rulers must be elected and face periodic reelection.  But our elected officials have transferred their power to unelected judges and regulators.  The true power over us is exercised by individuals who need have no regard for our consent.

Federal judges say their arbitrary power over us derives from the Constitution.  But they also say that the Constitution means only what they say it means.  So their true claim is that their power derives from themselves.

Our ruling class claims their superior intelligence and moral sensibility gives them the right to rule over us for the same reason a rancher has the right to rule over his cattle.  But where is the evidence of this intellectual and moral superiority as they lead the world into chaos, the economy into a ditch, and the society into moral anarchy?

To be sure, the government, like an occupying army, has terrible power over us.  But it can articulate no reason for this other than that our alternative would be anarchy.  This constitutes a crisis of legitimacy.  We obey only because of fear, not conscience.  This is a very dangerous and unstable situation.  Once the economy goes into hyperinflation or painful depression, what will hold us together?

A legitimate government meets two tests.  (1) It sees itself as the minister of God and seeks to conform its governing to His moral law.  (2) It derives its just power from the consent of the governed as a republic.  America began and prospered on this basis as no other nation.  However, we have turned from God and ceased to be a republic in all but name.  Either we come back to our senses, repent, and restore the foundations, or we perish.


 

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Observations on the Prop 8 Battle

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

The battle over California’s Proposition 8, which limited marriage to one man and one woman, is the current focal point of the overall struggle for the future direction of the United States as a Constitutional Federal Republic.

 In the first place, we have the question of whether the laws of the United States will be, or indeed can be, brought into conformity with the moral law of God.  In his ruling, Judge Walker asserted that moral and religious views could not for the basis for the laws of this country.  This is a fairly astounding claim, but one which demonstrates the total break with God’s law that is at stake.  This is one more step along the path most dramatically started with Roe v. Wade, and I think the final one, to a total break with God’s law.  Should this decision stand there will be no sense in which we can claim to be a nation “under God.”

In the second place, this struggle has crystallized the battle between the imperial judiciary and the people.  The people voted against gay marriage as a matter of law.  The California Court threw this law out and created gay marriage in California.  The people passed Proposition 8 as a State Constitutional Amendment to overrule the Court’s usurpation.  The State Court accepted this action, but now a federal court “discovers” a right to gay marriage in the U.S. Constitution, and throws out the amendment.  This is being appealed, and we all wait to see how Justice Kennedy, the expected swing vote on the U.S. Supreme Court will feel about the issue.  Is this any way to run a Constitutional Federal Republic?  No, and the fact that we have come to this point shows that in casting aside God’s law we have also cast away any pretense at being governed by the consent of the governed.

 For a good dissection of the errors in Judge Walkers rulings see this.  I will only point out that what Walker does is to list his opinions on very debatable matters and call them “findings of fact.”  He even makes assertions about the future, which no one can know, and calls these findings of fact.  This is pure self deification and judicial fiat.  Yet it is a better than even bet that the Supreme Court will uphold his ruling and impose same sex marriage on all fifty states the same way they imposed abortion and everything else.

 This then is another case of the elites versus the people, and the people are losing.  We have moved from being a government of laws to a government of lawyers.  There are good Christian lawyers, but by and large the class has been taken over by the enemies of Christ who hate His people.

 How has it come to this?  The fault lies with the Church, which has failed to be a faithful witness to her Lord and given away the battle before it even began.  The Church declares Jesus to be “your personal Lord and Savior” only, not the Lord of heaven and earth comprehensively.  The Church acknowledges the “right” of civil government to have laws contrary to God’s law, thus treating civil government as another god, rather than as God’s minister.  The Church is thus effectively polytheistic.

The only people you hear screaming about Walker’s ruling are the small activist groups that pushed Proposition 8 in the first place.  You don’t hear any of the big leaders of the Church saying anything.  How can they?  They have said next to nothing about abortion or immoral sex education in the schools, or the jailing and persecution of faithful Christians at home and abroad.  Are they going to find faith and courage now?

 Even those who fought for Proposition 8 said they were not against civil unions.  God’s law says that homosexual acts are always wrong.  If Christians say they are OK as “civil unions” but not OK as “marriage,” then Judge Walker is right to dismiss this as a matter of mere taste and prejudice.  Will God in heaven fight to vindicate a Church that will not offer a full throated defense of his word?  Will He not instead declare such a Church to have “lost its savor,” and to be “henceforth good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under feet of men?”

 What is needed is not just a political revolution but a spiritual one.  A lot of weak pastors need to lose their jobs along with a lot of politicians.  Just like conservatives are realizing they need to throw their support behind hard core fighters instead of compromising establishment RINOs, serious Christians need to seek out the few pastors willing to take a stand and follow them.  Non-serious Christians should just stay with Pastor Milquetoast.

Posted in Constitutional Issues, Current Politics, The Homosexual Political Agenda | 3 Comments »

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Following Judge Walker’s overturning of Proposition 8, he stayed his ruling pending arguments as to whether it should be permanently stayed pending appeals to prevent chaos.  Governor Schwarzenegger joined Attorney General Brown in calling for oxymoronic same sex “marriages” to begin at once regardless of any chaos, chaos being the normal state of affairs in California.

“The administration believes the public interest is best served by permitting the court’s judgment to go into effect, thereby restoring the right of same-sex couples to marry in California,” lawyers for Schwarzenegger said in the legal filing. “Doing so is consistent with California’s long history of treating all people and their relationships with equal dignity and respect.”

It also follows California’s long history of treating the will of the voters with contempt.  Since we voters keep reelecting these people, maybe contempt is what we deserve.

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The Elites vs. the People

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Building on my earlier post on the growing divide between our elite (in their own minds) ruling class and we, the subjected sheeple, I note several news events that seem to highlight this situation.

In California, where same sex marriage advocates, having failed in the legislative process, got the State Supreme Court to impose same sex marriage on the people.  The people overturned this result with Proposition 8, and the State Court grudgingly acknowledged their right to do so.  Undaunted, elite advocates took it to a gay federal judge in San Francisco to get it overturned.  Surprise, surprise!  The liberal gay judge overturns the vote of the people as “irrational,” which is to say, other than what he and his fellow elites would choose.  Yes it will be appealed, but the point is that the final decision will be made by the elites with no regard whatsoever for the will of the little people

 In Missouri, voters passed Proposition C, rejecting Obamacare’s mandate to buy health insurance by 3 to 1.  Reflecting the elite mindset, several opponents of Proposition C said they expected to overturn this result “in the courts.”

 This mirrors the situation in Arizona where elites ignore popular outrage about illegal immigration and go to one of their own on the federal bench to have the popular will dismissed.  Elites to People: “We won’t protect you, and we won’t let you protect yourselves. Neener neener.”

Public opinion on things like abortion, gay marriage, racial preferences, illegal immigration, private ownership of guns, and belief in God run from slightly to very conservative.  But in any “elite” setting, be it corporate board room, faculty lounge, editorial writers, or government council, you will find 90% of opinion to be liberal.  No wonder these people want all decisions to be made by unelected and unaccountable judges and bureaucrats.

On the way into work I heard a talk show citing a poll out today that says the ordinary people think the country is on the “wrong track” by over 80%.  The ruling Washington elite say it is on the “right track” by over 60%.  Such a disconnect is politically explosive.  It reminds one of Louis XV’s “après moi, le deluge,” (after me, the flood) except that Louis claimed divine right for legitimacy.  Today’s elites reject divine right and now, it seems, also reject consent of the governed as a source of legitimacy, clinging only to their own sense of superiority.  How long can that work when they keep messing everything up?

Posted in Constitutional Issues, Current Politics, The Homosexual Political Agenda | 4 Comments »

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