Elections for Sale | Capital Commentary

Elections for Sale | Capital Commentary by Ray Clouser.  MGB: The important thing to remember about Citizens United is that rights circumscribe governmental powers.  The Court was not glorifying the plutocracy, as some contend.  They were saying that imposing power over their speech is a dangerous step that could yield more power to the state.

The answer is not to increase the power of the state over speech but to decrease the power of wealth over society, particularly in the area of employment. Empowering workers to own and control their own companies so that the wealthy can no longer "buy them" would solve a myriad of problems and would not do violence to the Constitution.

Rising above the Rights-based Abortion Debate | Capital Commentary

Rising above the Rights-based Abortion Debate | Capital Commentary by Michelle Crotwell Kirtley. MGB: First all, privacy is about autonomy, not just confidentiality - just to be clear.  Much of the debate is undertaken as if this is a legislative issue. It is not unless the Congress acts to extend personhood to some stage earlier than birth, which is what is in the plain language of the Constitution.  Doing that is not exactly easy if you want to go anywhere into the first trimester and help out embryos (you were only a fetus in the second trimester), largely because miscarriages are common and making miscarried embryos legal individuals is problematic if your only way to stop abortion is to make them people.  Making embryos people means abortion cannot be treated as a prohibited medical procedure but some form of homicide, with punishments accruing to all involved and an expansion of tort liabilities as well.  Any exemptions to treating miscarried and aborted embryos differently will not stand the test of equal protection, just as treating embryos recognized under law differently than children will not either.  Exemptions to investigation will simply allow providers to keep going as they currently do.  Dodging the question, however, means that 90% of abortion occur as present and many of the other 10% will be covered by exemptions for the life and health of the mother (the latter if the fetus is essentially doomed by defects - although Downs babies will be saved).  Of course, such a compromise will not be acceptable to the pro-life movement.  The bottom line is, for those of us who are pro-choice, that until a first trimester bill is actually drafted that deals with the miscarriage problem in a way that meets equal protection problems and somehow deals with them - THERE IS SIMPLY NO REAL ISSUE!  The onus is on those who change the status quo to come up with such a bill.  So far, it has not happened.

The other option is to deal with the circumstances that lead to abortion.  Many abortions happen because conservative parents are covering the fact that their kids are sexually active.  You can focus on sex or life.  If you want to focus on life, then having sex must be a judgement free zone and a human right.  If you keep it shameful, you get abortion.

Economics are even more important.  Helping adoption happen is not enough, nor is supporting pregnancy only.  The Christian response (even if abortion is not the issue) is to assure all families have a living family wage which increases with the addition of every child - and that teens who have children can do so and get the same wage for continuing their studies - both a base wage for them and an add on for their kids.  I say their because both the father and the mother need a subsidy to keep studying.  Make it economically possible to have a family and most boys will realize that chastity is a virtue.  We must end the conversation that teen pregnancy is a godsend for infertile couples.  Society needs to support teen parents instead, as nature and evolution intended.  Would you have forced Mary of Nazareth to put Jesus up for adoption?  Biologically, we are the same as we were 2000 years ago.

Moving Juvenile Justice Towards Restorative Justice | Capital Commentary

Moving Juvenile Justice Towards Restorative Justice | Capital Commentary by Rachel B. Livingston.  MGB: Most crimes, while not excused by insanity, are in some way caused by either mental illness, alcoholism or addiction - with illiteracy as a confounding factor.  Both children and adults should be treated as patients, not prisoners or even penitents.  While children can't be locked up with the key thrown away, neither should adults.  Life without parole for anyone basically guarantees death by the state - but a slow lingering one.  All convicts should be held both until they are safe and for what amounts to the minimum sentence for their crime should they plead or are found guilty by reason of insanity (a new and much needed plea to avoid most trials - as long as the innocent are not railroaded to take it).  After that improvement, age segregation will matter less, although is likely still appropriate.

Same-Sex Marriage and the Political Task | Capital Commentary

Same-Sex Marriage and the Political Task | Capital Commentary by Paul Brink.  MGB: I agree that gay unions need to be recognized by the state, however they should be called marriages because they are marriages.  The resistance to this is simply an attempt at political correctness in dealing with religious people.  That kind of PC is outdated and not justified, as the genesis of the need for marriage often comes because of profound disrespect paid to gay spouses in end-of-life situations, although currently that is declining.  As importantly, the Church needs to celebrate these unions for the sake of the education of the families - not because the State tells them to but because it is the right thing to do.  In for a penny....

Reflections on the Institution of Marriage | Capital Commentary

Reflections on the Institution of Marriage | Capital Commentary by Amy Black.  MGB: In response, the words of both Genesis and their use by Jesus can be updated to account for gay marriage, as the becoming of one flesh applies not only to sexual union but also to the legal one. Marriage is the basic building block of families, including gay families with children from adoption, inheritance, a prior union or the wonders of modern procreative medicine.  Such unions are no less worthy of protection than marriages between those past their child bearing years.  Indeed, there would be no such demand for these unions had hospitals, particularly religious ones, honored the wishes of the gay partner as they would the married one vis-a-vis the family of origin.  Had these relationships been honored when it mattered most, the demand for marriage would not be so strong.  There are those who say marriage should be only a religious matter.  This is also mistaken.  Marriage is the basic unit of family law.  Without it, the State must make the end-of-life decisions now reserved to next of kin.  It is time for us to realize that we can as a society and must change how marriage is constituted and move on before the Courts do it for us.  Likewise, churches will eventually celebrate these unions, not because the state says so, but because doing so is good for the families, just as it is good for heterosexual marriage.

Good News for Voters? The Paul Ryan Effect | Capital Commentary

Good News for Voters? The Paul Ryan Effect | Capital Commentary by Timothy Sherratt.  MGB: The fact is, however, that Ryan's Libertarianism, with the implicit belief that if we make things bad for the poor they will improve themselves, is not at all in line with Catholic social teaching (or the Gospel for that matter).  Ryan fails to see that seniors in nursing homes will be wards of the states for the remainder of their lives and must be treated with dignity.  Of course, unless the Obama campaign points out that fact, Ryan and Romney may get away with it.  Finally, if Ryan becomes a liability, it will like be too late to replace him, as CEO Romney would naturally be wont to do.  More on how the libertarian vision of the economy is not consistent with doctrine can be found at http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/cult-capitalism-1

Navigating the Election Season with Humility, Grace, and Reason | Capital Commentary

Navigating the Election Season with Humility, Grace, and Reason | Capital Commentary Prayer is required to get into the mindset to do the other things Amy Black suggests, especially if your research finds that your side is preaching distortion.  Sadly, I am not sure how well houses of worship help in this process - some can be fairly uniform politically - or if they are diverse (like Catholics) there is a definite divide between the hierarchy and most regular attendees and those that go less frequently or go to more liberal parishes (or are younger).  In the end, God's will is done in the results, much as that is vexing at times.

Does Civility Work? | Capital Commentary

Does Civility Work? | Capital Commentary by Harold Hele.  MGB: Sadly, it has become a turnout election, which means that parties are exciting their bases rather than trying to convince the undecided.  Of course, if they go too far, they may excite the base of their opponents in swing states.  We also can't ignore that there are some very rich people funding all of this vitriol.  If we want to change civility, we must examine why they are funding all of this incivility and work on that.  Both sides are not equal in this regard.  There really is one side whose economics are all wrong from a Christian perspective.  This should not go unmentioned.

Holding Tight: Biblical Principles for Economics | Capital Commentary

Holding Tight: Biblical Principles for Economics | Capital Commentary by Eric Hilker.  MGB: There is also a wealth of scripture about dealing with the hired man and with slaves (who were more akin to paid laborers than chattel).  These are equally applicable to capitalism and its evils.

Challenging the Escalation of Negative Politics | Capital Commentary

Challenging the Escalation of Negative Politics | Capital Commentary by Michael Gerson.  MGB: If she was forced into second class insurance because the plant closed and Romney profited from that style of capitalism that closed it (that he brought to the firm from day one), than that view of capitalism is an issue. It never used to be this bad, mostly because the money was not there to do it.  Willie Horton ads, thanks to Karl Rove (whom Gerson served with in the Bush White House) had a lot to do with it, but Lee Atwater and Jesse Helms had something to do with it too - although certainly the nuclear war ad against Goldwater was probably the first shot.

Scripture from the State | Capital Commentary

Scripture from the State | Capital Commentary by Matthew Arildsen.  MGB:   It is not the Court's business to determine the political or moral righteousness of the Health Care Law, even though the four conservative justices were chomping on the bit to do so. The Chief Justice was quite correct in deferring any suc

h change to the political process - although given the likely requirement that repeal meet a 60 vote point of order because it would increase the deficit, such a political repeal, even during reconciliation, is highly unlikely. The constitutionality of the social welfare state was secured with the passage of the income tax in the 16th Amendment, even though it took time to build practical majorities to enact it (and yes, the progressives did contemplate health care reform, even then). A good source in analyzing the moral righteousness of the social welfare state is over 100 years of Catholic Social Teaching (not the same as the Evangelical social gospel - as it is based on reason, not just scripture - although there are scriptural bases for it). In every papal letter on the subject, the passage of public social programs has been seen as a good thing - and their repeal a tragedy. The current Pope was quite explicit on this in Caritas in Veritate. I recommend a thorough reading to anyone who would engage in this issue.

A Non-messianic Presidency | Capital Commentary

A Non-messianic Presidency | Capital Commentary by David Koyzis.  MGB:  There was a great deal of debate over the 10th Amendment about inserting the word "expressly" before the word enumerated.  The strict constructionists lost that one and the government has been growing in scope ever since.  Once the income tax and a directly elected Senate were added, a much more responsive government was assured.   Habits of presidential supremacy also became ingrained when the legislature decided it was more libertarian to spend most of its time outside Washington, letting the executive fill the gap.   Giving the Electoral College no independent power base also doomed it to being overcome by the eventual populist desires that would turn it into essentially an elected office.  If indirect election of the president is desired, the best way would be to form regions of equal electoral vote strength and have each elect two legislators and one regional vice president, whom as a body would select the President from time to time.  If regional offices each ran every six years, with one regional officer being elected every two years, then every two years a third of the electoral college would be replaced, meaning you could have a presidential election that frequently (or force a confidence vote).  Regional government could also shift most day to day government action and funding, including funding the non-deployed military, to a more local level - producing a more manageable and smaller government.  It is easy to demand low grazing fees if the national government you get for your area is paid for by rich people in Los Angeles, New York and the DC metro area.  Of course, it would take a bit of a messianic president to bring forward such changes.

Taking Aim at Gun Control | Capital Commentary

Taking Aim at Gun Control | Capital Commentary by Prof. Roy Clouser.  MGB: Co-opting the NRA into gun control is an interesting idea worthy of merit, however it would not have stopped many of the mass shooting incidents.  Even Suspect A's university knew there was a problem - but erred on the side of not interfering with his freedom to reject treatment, although the local gun master may have denied him a license to buy firearms, given his reaction to the voice mails left at his range .  Still, as long as individuals get the benefit of the doubt on judging their own sanity, we will have such incidents - maybe with explosives instead of firearms.  As Christians, we must err on the side of compassion, which may trump the liberty rights of those whose freedom is impaired by their own illness.

Religious Freedom for Muslims | Capital Commentary

Religious Freedom for Muslims | Capital Commentary by Chelsea Langston.  MGB: I suspect that the opposition is as much about race as it is about religious affiliation, with the racists operating under the self-justification provided by September 11th.  It would not be too hard to guess that some of the members are probably finding difficulty finding the housing they want as well.

Politics & Prose | Capital Commentary

Politics & Prose | Capital Commentary by Byron Borger on Os Guinness' The Call.  MGB: This looks like a primer political theory for Evangelicals, although I am sure progressive Catholics will find value as well.

Let’s Talk Politics | Capital Commentary

Let’s Talk Politics | Capital Commentary by Clay Cooke.  MGB: I suspect the reason that face to face political confrontation is rare is that, by and large, our positions are due as much to our group identities as they are by any individual initiative.  We mostly join with people who share our beliefs rather than seek out people so that we can change their opinions.  We will not find a confessionally Christian Democratic movement in either party - we must create one - in essence we must build it and they will come.  While we can certainly go to other groups to poach members, we won't be taking over any other side.  With the Republicans appearing to go off the deep end by reducing themselves largely to a group of older white males marked more and more by the politics of resentment, there may even be an opportunity to organize a new alternative.   Indeed, it is why I am going on the internet discussing issues, rather than simply chosing a tribe (likely the Democrats) and following the party line.