What Is Common Sense?

At the beginning of his Discourse on Method, René Descartes said that common sense was “the most widely distributed thing in the world.” Is it? Much as I admire Descartes, I have to note that he was imperfectly acquainted with the realities of 21st century America. If he were with us today, I am sure he would emend his opinion.

After all, is it common sense to pretend that men can be women? Or to pretend that you do not know what a woman is?

Restoring American Culture

Roger Kimball, Imprimis 2/25, Hillsdale College

There Are Things You Just Can't Pick

How the Ancient World Knew There is a God

A century before Christ, the great Roman writer Cicero said, "When we see something moved by machinery, like an orrery [mechanical model of the planets] or clock or many other such things, we do not doubt that these contrivances are the work of reason; when therefore we behold the whole compass of heaven moving with revolutions of marvelous velocity and ... perfect regularity ... how can we doubt that all this is effected not merely by reason, but by a reason that is transcendent and divine?"

So when Paul wrote the book of Romans, his audience knew as well as we do that the cosmos gives evidence of a mind that is "transcendent and divine."

Cicero concludes, "You see not the Deity," yet "by the contemplation of his works you are led to acknowledge a God."

Nancy Pearcey

How Comes Tyranny

If you demand that a man betray his conscience, you have eliminated the only moral basis for his fidelity to the rule of law, and have destroyed the moral foundation for democracy.

President James Madison

How Communism Takes Over

I suspect that we are all familiar with what the “long march through the institutions” wrought in American culture. The phrase is a bit of Marxist jargon popularized in the early part of the last century. Its basic idea is that the best way to achieve the longed-for revolution is through a process of co-option. Take over a society’s schools, churches, and other cultural institutions, marinate them in a broth of liberationist ideas drawn from Marx and other left-wing intellectuals, and pretty soon you have taken over the commanding social, moral, and political heights of that society.

Restoring American Culture

Roger Kimball, Imprimis 2/25, Hillsdale College

Don't Be a Hyphenated American

In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American….There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.

Theodore Roosevelt, 1/3/1919.

The Needed Basis For Laws

The moral principles and precepts contained in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws…. All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.

Noah Webster, cited by Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.357.

Abortion is NEVER Necessary!

In my 36 years of pediatric surgery, I've never known of one instance where the child had to be aborted to save the mother's life.

C. Everett Koop, US Surgeon General, 1982-1989.

Liberty Needs God

God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.

Thomas Jefferson, cited by Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.358.

Beware of Islam

If Islam continues to grow at its present rate, critical mass will be achieve by 2020 and the eventual Muslim transformation of America will become a statistical possibility. This is not to say that sharia will be the law of the land, but it is to affirm that the religion of the prophet will be a force that cannot be denied by our elected officials. Demands will be met; concessions granted.

Paul Williams, Crescent Moon Rising, pg.25-26. Cited by Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.354.

Mr. Williams was right on target. Just look at how Islam has been taking over the USA—and Europe!  

Laws Are Discovered, Not Developed

By securing liberty, the Constitution assumes that laws are discovered, not developed; found, not created. Most of the founders believed this is so because everyone can observe God’s revelation in nature if they have not suppressed their ability to observe it by other commitments. On this basis, it is possible to establish a body of laws to remove barriers to economic arrangements, create a framework for resolving disputes, establish accountability that restrains evil, and provide a better environment in which everyone is allowed to flourish if they choose to do so.

Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.341.

Liberty Lies in the Hearts of Men and Women

I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, not law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.

Judge Learned Hand, “The Spirit of Liberty Speech.” Cited by Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.339.

Trans Visibility Day

The espoused goal of the LGBTQ community is tolerance. Tolerance means “to put up with.” That may have been the initial goal, but after having achieved it, they upped the ante, seeking affirmation. Are they entitled to tolerance? Yes. But they are not entitled to affirmation—we are not obliged to affirm behavior we find offensive. 

LGBTQ activists, seeking affirmation, have become among the most intolerant people in the nation….These LGBTQ zealots disdain tolerance: their goal is to shove their radical agenda down the throats of Americans, forcing everyone to bow to their demands. They are a threat to religious liberty and to democracy, in general. So, too, are organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and the ACLU which support these efforts.

Bill Donohue, Underside of Trans Visibility Day

A Human Paradox

It is a human paradox that to be free we must abide by laws that constrain our freedom. Either we must discipline ourselves to submit to an orderly way of life, or we will be forced to submit to tyranny. As Edmund Burke said, “Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”

Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.339.

The Danger of Sociology

Sociology is a pillow carefully embroidered to suffocate religious impulses while they doze.

Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.311.

The Barbarians Are Closer Than You Think

Because Roman civilization perished through barbarian invasions, we are perhaps too much inclined to think that that is the only way a civilization can die. If the lights that guide us ever go out, they will fade little by little, as if of their own accord…. We therefore should not console ourselves by thinking that the barbarians are still a long way off. Some people may let the torch be snatched from their hands, but others stamp it out themselves.

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America. Cited by Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.308.

Marriage Solves Many Social Problems

And, of course, strong families are the real solution to a multitude of social evils, from crime to education to poverty. Men and women getting and staying married and raising their children together are far more effective at ameliorating these evils than any government program.

The complementary union of men and women in marriage is the basis of civilization, not only in the obvious sense of providing for its continuation but also because it unites the two halves of the human race in solidarity and love. In this, we fulfill the vocations of marriage and parenthood that most of us are called to and in which we find deep joy.

Nathannael Blake, Demons Must Be Delighted At How Badly Americans Have Butchered Marriage

Abortion Needed for Sexual Immorality

The sexual revolution required abortion to get rid of human beings whose conception is unwelcome, and this violent rejection of parental responsibility is self-perpetuating. By eliminating the reproductive consequences of sex, abortion encourages more casual sex, which then leads to more abortions. Thus, even though the sexual revolution has resulted in less sex overall, it has led to more sex in circumstances where a pregnancy will likely end in abortion. And as the fundamental solidarity of mother, father, and child is replaced with a selfish clash of competing interests, hearts are hardened as the most dependent humans are met with violence, rather than love.

Nathannael Blake, Demons Must Be Delighted At How Badly Americans Have Butchered Marriage

The Problem of Cultural Promiscuity

A culture of promiscuity makes it more difficult to establish and maintain stable romantic relationships, and this then further entrenches a culture of promiscuity as people settle for hookups or open-ended relationships without commitment. This has decreased overall sexual satisfaction because people are most likely to have regular, pleasurable sex in committed relationships. Men may fantasize about bedding a new woman each night, but the truth is that very few have the status, wealth, or charisma to actually do so. For most of us, monogamous marriage is the best sexual deal we are going to get.

Nathannael Blake, Demons Must Be Delighted At How Badly Americans Have Butchered Marriage

How to Pay for Charity

There are people in need of help. Charity is one of the nobler human motivations. The act of reaching into one’s own pockets to help a fellow man in need is praiseworthy and laudable. Reaching into someone else’s pocket is despicable and worthy of condemnation.

Walter E. Williams

It's True

It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Patrick Henry.

Women: Stop Showing Everything!

There’s a clear Christian case for decency in how men and women dress, but lest you think our societal need for slut shaming is driven by “purity culture” prudes, jealous ladies, or misogynist men, it isn’t. Modest may or may not be hottest, but that’s not the issue. When women perpetually give away the goods under the guise of “empowerment,” they give away the real sexual power of women everywhere — and make no mistake, women have sexual power men just don’t. Thanks to unlimited supply, value is in freefall.

Kylee Griswold, Bring Back Slut Shaming.

Before we were all “bootied out,” a woman’s sexuality was not just mysterious and proactive, but the most powerful force on the planet. It drove men to face great risks, cross oceans, write ballads, and even start wars just for the chance to gaze at a woman’s booty. Women held all the cards in intimate relationships.

Madeline Osburn, This Man Is All Of Us: America Is ‘Bootied Out’ And It’s A Shame

I just thought these two quotes belonged together.

Making Men and Women Unsuitable For Each Other

Because men and women are different, the current cultural and relational wasteland will play out differently for each, often in ways that make men and women even less suited for each other, thereby establishing a relational doom loop in which cultural corruption encourages individual dysfunction that damages and destroys relationships — thereby further entrenching both the cultural and individual problems. 

Pornography is an obvious example. It may be especially appealing to men who have not, as a nature documentary might put it, been able to find a mate, but it encourages habits that make it harder for them to establish and sustain a relationship with a woman. For example, porn has taught a generation of young men to be aroused by degrading and dangerous kinks, such as sexual strangulation. The result is further alienation and enmity between the sexes.

Nathannael Blake, Demons Must Be Delighted At How Badly Americans Have Butchered Marriage

If Christianity Collapses, So Will Civilization

There is simply no other religion, political philosophy, or human framework that has brought more freedom and more prosperity to more people than Christianity. As Christianity collapses throughout the West, civilization will necessarily follow. We already see it. From economic freedom to freedom of speech and much in between, the religious fictions embodied in the anti-western and anti-white philosophy are sowing social and economic ruin across the West.

Vince Coyner, “As Christianity Dies In The West, The West Dies, Too”

Do You Have Enemies?

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

Victor Hugo

For Sure

It is better to listen to wise people who reprimand you than to fools who sing your praises.

Ecclesiastes 7:5

Culture Fails To Teach For Marriage

And though some people deliberately reject marriage and children, many men and women would like to get married and have kids but are struggling to pair off. Our culture does not teach men and women how to find, let alone how to be, good husbands and wives. Rather, it sometimes seems that, as Lutheran pastor Hans Fiene put it, “[O]ur culture teaches young men to be losers and young women to be narcissists.” Harsh, but perhaps fair. 

Nathannael Blake, Demons Must Be Delighted At How Badly Americans Have Butchered Marriage

Choose: Opportunity or Victimhood

Unlike most civilizations, Western civilization, in general, and America, in particular, offers everyone the opportunity to succeed and improve their lot. However, creating a victim narrative/grift is far easier than recognizing that reality and doing the hard work necessary to overcome challenges and succeed.

Vince Coyner, “As Christianity Dies In The West, The West Dies, Too”

LEFTISTs -- Green and Victimhood

Today’s environmentalists have the luxury of pushing for “green” energy only because actual, functional sources of energy exist to allow the grift to continue. They can pretend their preferred energy sources are “green” only because leftist governments and media ignore reality. Like leaders of other cults, they command their followers to ignore what’s right in front of them. Whether it be child slaves in the Congo, trillions of wasted dollars, “green” equipment that can’t be recycled, or infrastructure that doesn’t provide the promised energy, nothing can move them from their green mantras.

At the same time, the victim mindset that has taken hold because leftists have no more understanding of human nature than communist philosophers do. Life is unfair. There always was and always will be inequality. It doesn’t matter if it was the Roman Empire, the Han Dynasty, the Soviet Union, or America today; inequality has always existed, and different groups were/are disproportionately represented in the various classes.

Vince Coyner, “As Christianity Dies In The West, The West Dies, Too”

So Very True, Unfortunately

Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.

G. Michael Hopf, Those Who Remain 

Where Evil Will Come From

 The greatest evils in the world will not be carried out by men with guns, but by men in suits sitting behind desks.

C.S. Lewis.

You End Up With What You Make or Vote For

 

Freedom is NOT Abortion

Tyranny vs Freedom

When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

Thomas Jefferson

Make A Decision!

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.

Amelia Earhart American aviator (1897-1937)

Modern Education is Lacking

A recently reprinted memoir by Frederick Douglass has footnotes explaining what words like “arraigned," "curried" and "exculpate" meant, and explaining who Job was. In other words, this man who was born a slave and never went to school educated himself to the point where his words now have to be explained to today's expensively under-educated generation.

Thomas Sowell

The LEFT Redistributes Rather Than Creates Wealth

Since wealth is the only thing that can cure poverty, you might think that the left would be as obsessed with the creation of wealth as they are with the redistribution of wealth. But you would be wrong.

Thomas Sowell

Children With Parents Do Best

A raft of research demonstrates the sexual experimentation on the part of parents is strongly correlated to negative outcomes for the children, such as crime and substance abuse, whereas the children most likely to succeed as adults are those who grow up with mother and father.

Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.313.

What's Essential to Moral Order

 

Civics Lesson

 

Government MUST Obey the Constitution

None of our problems are beyond our constitutional order’s power to solve. What is it we need, after all? We need a Congress that acts like a legislature rather than a company of moralizing performance artists. We need a president who acts like a responsible chief executive rather than a drunken king. We need a judiciary that acts impartially in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of the land rather than in a partisan manner. And we need to disperse the political power that is now concentrated in the hands of the Washington establishment.

In short, the solution to our problems is not to scrap or transcend the Constitution, but to start obeying and applying it again. Under that document, “We the People” already possess every power we need to reestablish majority rule, minority rights, democratic accountability, equal justice under law, and national sovereignty.

Kevin D. Roberts, Populist Conservatism and Constitutional Order, Imprimis, October 2024

We Need to Overrule the LEFT

With few exceptions, the Left as we know it today has rejected populism out of hand, embracing instead Big Government, Big Business, Big Banks, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Labor, Big Ag, Big Media, and Big Entertainment. For the most part, today’s Left is hard at work fortifying the power these institutions wield against the rigors of democratic accountability.

Thus the only hope for a sustainable, democratically legitimate populist reform movement today is on the Right. The question is whether the leaders of the movement can harness the highly negative energy from which the populism emerges and channel it toward a coherent, positive politics of national renewal and reform.

Kevin D. Roberts, Populist Conservatism and Constitutional Order, Imprimis, October 2024

A Prodigal Son

When a prodigal son wants to follow his appetites, or the latest fashion in idols, he tells himself that he has made a careful evaluation of everything when he is in reality just going along with the crowd. At such time, the last thing he wants to listen to is wise counsel.

Phillip E. Johnson, The Wedge of Truth

The Only Foundation

Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.

John Adams, 21 June 1776

Society Shifting to a Dangerous Worldview

The view that treats puberty and pregnancy as undesirable processes stems from a more fundamental shift in thinking. Society has slowly abandoned the Christian worldview and its theistic implications. If there’s no God, then there’s no Creator who made our bodies to operate in a certain way. Organs don’t have a teleology—a way that they’re designed to function. If there’s no design, no standard, or no optimal way for organs to operate, then there can be no substandard or less-than-optimal way they function. A uterus can gestate a fetus or not. It can grow fibroids or not. It can be kept in a woman’s body or removed. Likewise, it is reasoned, genes and the endocrine system can progress a body through puberty or not. We can accept the process of puberty or block the hormonal pathways that lead to it. There’s no way our body is supposed to be. It just is, and we can do what we want with it.

As a result of this worldview shift in our culture, some people think it’s possible that any process of the body is optional. That’s why they think puberty might need consent. Indeed, even life itself is a matter of consent for some, which is why physician-assisted suicide is gaining in popularity.

Alan Shlemon, Do Children Need to Consent to Puberty?

You Don't Have to Defend Truth

Truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.

Augustine of Hippo (AD 354 to AD 430)

Origin Ideas Steer Values

A culture’s understanding of the origins issue steers the value of its people: The Judeo-Christian origins perspective tells the story of morally culpable human beings made in God’s image and for companionship with one another. This understanding alone leads to a particular view of free will, the intrinsic value of human life, and traditional marriage as a part of God’s plan. The Darwinian origins story, on the other hand, is one of individuals in constant competition, seeking not to flourish in harmony but to survive at the expense of the other, which justifies Nietzsche’s view of the world—the pursuit of unbridled power. Where you begin will determine where you end up, and this carries great consequences for everything in our lives, especially how human society should be organized.

Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg. 256.

LEFTISM Doesn't Work

 

A Warning to Heed

Ethics of Marxism

The value of hatred is right and good in the Marxist ethical code as long as it is directed toward the property owners, the bourgeoisie. Hatred is needed to fuel the clash between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. To keep their followers in a perpetual revolutionary mind-set, Marxist leaders, such as Mao Tse-tung, Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro, and Kim Jong Eun, decades after their respective revolutions wound down, dressed in military garb and peppered their speeches with revolutionary language. Marxism draws its inspiration from the hope of a more harmonious future but draws its energy from the rehearsal of grievances against the bourgeoisie.

Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg. 235-236.

Tolerance vs Intolerance?

Sometimes Christians are criticized as intolerant busybodies who make rules about other people’s business. However, intolerance works both ways. Those who become angry at restrictions on which gender of person they may marry are often delighted to support policies requiring employers to provide contraception and abortion services to their employees.

Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.227

Parents vs Public School