A life in words

  • Faith in America

    I just watched Mitt Romney’s speech on “Faith in America” and was quite impressed. I was impressed how he framed his ideas in terms of the moral foundation of the Declaration of Independence—much as Lincoln framed his arguments against slavery not in any formalism in the Constitution, but on the Declaration. I was impressed by…

  • Some Political Thoughts

    Largely based on discussions of egregious violations of the Constitution by the Bush presidency, and a reading of Wikipedia’s article on Abraham Lincoln: The government cannot operate merely on a legal basis, but must ultimately have a moral foundation. Lincoln found this in the Declaration of Independence; I find it in that document as well…

  • Standing Against the Tide

    [I’m not going to cite sources. I’m just going to give my thoughts.] Many people believe that the United States should execute a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. I disagree. Indeed, I think that’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard! The Wrong Time to Withdraw There’s little debate about whether our reasons for going…

Of a commonwealth, whose subjects are but hindered by terror from taking arms, it should rather be said, that it is free from war, than that it has peace. For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from force of character….Baruch Spinoza, Tractatus Theologico-Politicus V.4, 1670, trans. A. H. Gosset 1883