Perspective
Take your bill and write 50
Every course in constitutional law begins with a discussion of Marbury v. Madison, an 1803 case that established the power of judicial review. Marbury struck down a federal statute that […]
Perspective
Palms and ashes
My wife has a Palm Sunday habit of weaving her palm into the shape of a cross. I keep mine straight and tuck it behind the crucifix in our kitchen. […]
Perspective
Come on in
When I was a boy, there was a revolution in Hungary against the communist government. The Soviet Union put it down brutally. Several hundred thousand Hungarians fled the country, some […]
Perspective
McGuffey Readers
When I was in high school, my English class read Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” in an edition that showed Daphne in the altogether, as she was transformed into a laurel tree. The […]
Perspective
COVID-19 and scientism
At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, I was puzzled about how our reactions to it divided along party lines. There is no obvious reason why Democrats should fear sickness […]
Perspective
Government by executive
Perhaps the most pernicious side effect of the recent pandemic has been the substitution of executive action for democratic processes of government. We might have expected a certain amount of […]
Perspective
Jesus walks
Any Christian who goes to Jerusalem will come away inspired by the experience of visiting a city where Jesus walked. Of course, as with all tourist sites, there is a […]
Perspective
The will of the people
Left-leaning editorial writers and news anchors have recently been warning us that public approval of the Supreme Court is dropping. They refer to polls conducted by Gallup and the Annenberg […]
Perspective
St. Junipero Serra, California’s fall guy
California’s legislature now has it in for St. Junípero Serra, who has long been considered the founding father of the Golden State. Authorities let an angry mob tear down the […]
Perspective
Risky businesses
The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report recently whose alarming rhetoric about carbon dioxide emissions — “code red for humanity” — got me thinking again about nuclear […]
Perspective
Who’s your Daddy?
In Plato’s “Republic,” Socrates discusses a society in which the state arranges marriages among its best citizens and assigns their offspring to nurses chosen for the job, “employing every device […]
Perspective
‘Holy God, We Praise Thy Name’
Every 12 months or so, I’ll remind my wife that I would like the recessional at my funeral to be “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.” I mentioned this to […]