Thoughts on the Fourteenth Amendment

The recent decision by the United States Supreme Court that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship to “every free-born person in this land” raises some interesting issues.  First, of course, is the situation itself.  The concept of an executive order that creates law or changes the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution is, at least in the opinion of this writer, intriguing.

A Question of Jurisprudence

Today we look at abortion from a natural law perspective.  In our opinion, looking at it an any other way is at best a misdirection, and at worst a serious strategic and tactical error.  In particular, making it a religious issue does little good in the long run, although in the short run it makes it easier to get emotional support and raise funds.

JTW Podcast: Originalism and the Constitution

Today we have something very unusual: a talk that actually mentions constitutional scholar William Winslow Crosskey (about half an hour in), and doesn’t really go into his importance in depth, but still it’s there:

Sticking to Your Guns: Rights and Wrongs

 

The recent horrifying upswing in mass shootings in the United States has again focused on the question of gun control — and rightfully so.  At least in today’s posting, however, we are not going to take a position on the question of gun control, but to examine the underlying assumptions and principles of a very broad spectrum of opinions on the subject.

Reply to a Relativist, Part II

      As we saw in yesterday’s posting, some people think that taxing an estate or gift is unjust by its very nature.  Others — as we found out from some vocal readers of this blog — insist that an income tax is inherently unjust, and yet others declare that all taxation is unjust.  Of course, it’s not exactly clear from the, er, thoughtful remarks we received where government is supposed to get its funding or whether we’re supposed to have government at all.  After all, if government funds itself we get a tyranny, if there is no government we get chaos.

Something Wild and Crazy

Given that virtually the whole of the global media are focused today on the outcome of the as-of-this-writing undecided U.S. presidential election, we thought we’d do something so wild and crazy that everybody will want to read it.  And contribute their lives, fortunes, and their sacred honor to promoting the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism.

Whence This Chaos?

 

In a recent article in Catholic World Report (“Why We Are Where We Are“), George Weigel opines that the increasing chaos we see around us these days is the result of the United States having lost its way after being cut loose from the liberal principles of its founding.  There is a good deal of merit in Weigel’s argument, but it doesn’t really explain how the U.S. lost its anchor.  As he says in this edited-for-length extract (since you can read the entire article by clicking on the link; it’s not long):

A Tale of Two Machines, I: The Cotton Gin

Many people are aware that advancing technology has an effect on society and individual behavior.  From the displacement of human labor from the production process to video game or social media addiction, technology often seems to benefit only a relatively small number of people at the expense of everyone else.

What They Should Have Read

It’s that time of year when various publications, online and off, come out with their lists of “best books of 2019,” some of which the people who said they read them might actually have done so.  A lot of the lists, however, sound more like books you leave on view so people will be impressed that you (presumably) read them than something they actually wanted to read.  And what better way to put hoi polloi in their places than to be asked for a list of books that you thought were the best?

The End of Democracy

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, had he not been assassinated, there is evidence suggesting that Abraham Lincoln would have used the 1862 Homestead Act as the first step on a total social reformation, putting the financial system on a sound basis and opening up opportunities for everyone to own capital other than land.

“An Unbelievable Decision”

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the landmark case Scott v. Sandford (the notorious Dred Scott decision) resulted in a change in understanding the whole basis of the United States Constitution.  It was changed from a grant of rights from people to create the State, to a grant of rights from the State to create persons.

The Two-Part Tariff Question

In last week’s news items we looked at President Trump’s tariff proposals from a constitutional point of view.  Not that we’re experts in constitutional law, but we ran our understanding past someone who was a student of William Winslow Crosskey (1894-1968), and he (the student, not necessarily Crosskey) agreed with us.

Missing the Point, II: Why It Was Missed

Yesterday we noted that, on the whole, latter day Chestertonians and distributists seem to have missed some very important points Chesterton made in his thought and writings, viz., that certain modern phenomenon were presaged by some fundamental errors made in the Middle Ages and were carried forward to today, and that the great error of the modern age (again anticipated by events in the Possibly-Not-So-Dark Ages) is widespread acceptance of the shift from the Intellect to the Will as the basis of the natural law. The great problem is the effect this shift has had on civil, religious, and domestic society.

Sovereignty and Subsidiarity, II: The Turning Point

Yesterday we took a look at how many people view the principle of subsidiarity.  We discovered that a great many people have a great many odd ideas about something they do not appear to understand.  At the same time, they have no hesitation in speaking authoritatively on the subject.

The American Chesterton, XIV: Problems and Framework for a Solution

As we saw in the previous posting in this series, the two problems Fulton Sheen addressed in God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy were, one, a new concept of God and religion, and, two, the rejection of the intellect.  Not that either of these two issues is peculiar to the modern age.  As far as the capacity for error goes (especially in religion), the human race has seen very little that is new under the sun.  As Sheen noted,

Enthusiasm, XI: “Ugly Monuments to the Failures of Education”

In 1908, G.K. Chesterton published what many people consider one of his four (or five) greatest books.  This was Orthodoxy: The Romance of Faith, written soon after his conversion to Christianity.  He had previously flirted with socialism and theosophy, both of which were integrated into the program of the Fabian Society.

Enthusiasm, V: The Spirit of Vatican II

As we’ve seen in this series, one of the most striking characteristics of the shift in the basis of the natural law from the Intellect to the Will is the necessity of rejecting reason itself — even among individuals and groups who claim to base their respective positions on reason and common sense.  The “inner light” Chesterton disparaged is their only guide and lamp unto their feet.  As Knox explained,

Three Key Books on Common Sense, X: In Defense of Common Sense

In St. Thomas Aquinas: The “Dumb Ox”, G.K. Chesterton made a point of calling himself stupid — a fool or a moron, in fact.  If it were anyone other than Chesterton, a reader might tend to think Chesterton was trying to get people to contradict him and say, no, how intelligent he really is, he’s just being modest, etc., etc.

World Meeting of Families, I: First Day Report

Yesterday was our first day at the World Meeting of Families here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  We had a brief trip up on Monday and set up portions of the combined CESJ/CCC/EEI/CAFFAF booth on Monday afternoon.  We were pleased to see that we are right next to “Priests for Life,” a group with name recognition that we thought might bring a few people over to where we are to see what “Economic Justice for the Family” might be.

Democracy in America

Last week we came across the following quote from Abraham Lincoln.  At least, that’s who it was attributed to, so we’ll take the internet’s word for it.  (The internet knows everything.)  Anyway, the (alleged) quote was, “America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”