The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Last October, I had the privilege of conducting a wedding in our little country church. The groom is a retired U.S. Army corporal. The bride is a direct descendant of Patrick Henry. Born 29 May 1736, Henry is the subject of my column for May. Most Americans, when they think of Patrick Henry, are reminded of his timeless words, “Give me liberty or give me death!” They think of Henry as a great orator but not much else. But an orator’s power to move people wells from the depth of conviction in hi...
The meaning of the term “federal” has changed over the years. When the Framers of our Constitution spoke of “federalism,” they meant a government in which powers are divided between the national (federal) government and the state governments. And at that time practically everyone in America was a federalist by that definition. After the Constitution was drafted and signed by the delegates in 1787 and sent to the states for ratification, those who supported it called themselves federal...
The spring of 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of a sad event in American history: The fall of Saigon, and the failure of the United States to honor its commitment to save South Vietnam from Communist aggression. Not that our military failed. At a colloquium years later between American and North Vietnamese to discuss the war, an American officer said, “You never defeated us on the battlefield. A North Vietnamese officer replied, “That is true. It is also irrelevant.” He meant that the Commu...
March 1, 2025 - MONTGOMERY, AL - In at least 39 places, this bill takes powers away from the SBVA and places them instead with the Governor, the Commissioner, or the Department of Veterans Affairs. It takes away this power in a variety of ways: By striking “Board” and inserting instead “Governor,” “Commissioner,”, or “Department,” wherever the Board formerly had actual powers. Those powers are now transferred to the Governor, the Commissioner, or the Department. Except for management of o...
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. Matthew 2:1-2 For 2,000 years, the wise men of the east have intrigued us. Who were they? From whence did they come? Whom were they seeking? And why? Could their quest have had anything to do, even in part, with the principles of law and...
The east pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court building features Solon of Athens as a western lawgiver and Confucius of China as an eastern lawgiver. But In the center between them, taller seated than Solon and Confucius standing, is Moses holding the Ten Commandments – a recognition that the Decalogue is the moral foundation of law. The basic principles of our legal system are found in the Ten Commandments: • Respect for life, found in the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” and in our homicid...
Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration. I learned a lot teaching and practicing law, but my law student experience consisted mostly of left-wing theories I’ve had to unlearn. But way back in the early 1950s, in Whittier Elementary School of Sioux City, Iowa, I sat in fourth grade under Miss Mildred Terhune, the strictest and best teacher I ever endured. When she wasn’t disciplining me for whatever mischief I could concoct, she taught me the Bible (this was before Abington Township v. Schempp of 19...
Desperate people will say anything. And the Radical Left is getting desperate as they look to the November election. They can’t run on the economy. The voters know that inflation has wiped out any financial gains, and they have less buying power than they had four years ago. They can’t hide behind the COVID pandemic as they did in 2020. Increasingly, Americans are realizing that the lockdowns and compulsory vaccinations probably did more harm than good. They can’t run on foreign policy – not...
Many today know the name of Samuel Adams more for ale and pubs than for American history. But Thomas Jefferson said of him, “I always considered him as more than any other member [of Congress] the fountain of our important measures.” Preparing his first inaugural address, Jefferson recalled, “I often asked myself, is this exactly in the spirit of the patriarch of liberty, Samuel Adams?” Encyclopedia Brittanica says Sam Adams “did more than any other American to arouse opposition against E...
Abortion supporters generally shy away from Scripture, because numerous Bible passages demonstrate that the preborn child is a human person. But grasping at straws, they sometimes point to two passages that they think support the pro-abortion (I will not use the term pro-choice, because the baby isn’t given a choice) position. They cite Genesis 2:7, claiming that this passage proves that life begins at birth rather than at conception, and Exodus 21:22-25, claiming that this passage proves t...
For the past half century, state courts have largely toed the line and followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade (1973) decision creating a “right” to abortion and thereby invalidating the abortion laws of nearly all states. But the U.S. Supreme Court has overruled Roe v. Wade in its Dobbs v. Jackson (2023) decision, so state and lower federal courts are no longer bound by that earlier decision. Join me as I tell a “Tale of Two Courts,” how two state supreme courts have addressed preborn hum...
Here’s a tax reduction proposal everyone should love: · No tax at all on your first $95,000 income ($125,000 if filing jointly) · 1% tax on income above $95,000 (or $125,000 if filing jointly) · An extra 1% super-tax for those making more than $600,000 per year · The super-tax increases to 6% for those making $16 million per year. Too good to be true? Maybe it is -- today. But that’s the tax we had in 1913, the year the 16th Amendment was adopted. The first IRS Form 1040 exempted all income...
“They don’t have to gamble,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey says of gambling opponents. Perhaps not. But we all have to live with the evils gambling produces. And Alabamians should remember the lessons of Phenix City. Life Magazine described Phenix City as the “wickedest city in the United States, …everything from gambling to murder to arson to fraud.” Known as “Little Las Vegas,” between 1945 and 1954 this little town of 23,000 featured casinos, lotteries, cockfighting, and other forms of gambling, and...
“First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.” So said General Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, speaking the eulogy of our first President whose birthday we celebrate this month. But recent polls suggest that many Americans hardly know who George Washington was, when he lived, or what he accomplished. Some even challenge his military skills, saying he was at best a mediocre tactician, lost more battles than he won, almost lost the war, and at one point was almost removed as...
Church and State are separate kingdoms, but both are established by God upon the authority of His Word, the Bible. Christian churches have historically recognized the Bible as the inspired and authoritative Word of God, and as President Andrew Jackson said, "The Bible is the rock upon which our republic rests." But during the last two centuries, the Bible has been under unrelenting attack. Unsurprisingly, secular philosophers denounce the Bible as a collection of fables, myths, and legends loose...
That’s the way many want to celebrate Christmas today. The secularizers note that America is more diverse than it used to be, that we shouldn’t offend others, that saying “Merry Christmas” might be bad for business, and that public Christmas observances might even violate the First Amendment. Then they deliver their crowning blow: “Besides, everybody knows Jesus wasn’t born in December.” But saying “everybody knows” begs the question, as saying “all scholars agree” defines anyone who doesn’t ag...
We know the basic Pilgrim story: The Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic in the Mayflower to find the freedom to worship God as the Bible commands, established a colony at Plymouth, faced great hardships that took the lives of half of them the first winter, but somehow managed to survive and held a feast to thank God for bringing them through these hardships to a land of blessing. All true. But few realize that forced communal living was a major cause of the Pilgrims’ suffering. How did that h...
During a recent speaking engagement in Columbus, Ohio, I asked to see the Columbus statue near City Hall. My hosts sadly informed me that, after a protest that claimed Columbus had engaged in violence and enslaved Native Americas, in 2020 the statue had been placed in storage and will be replaced by “a work of art that better represents the people of Columbus.” Why, we should ask, did Columbus come to America? It wasn’t to prove the world is round; every educated person in 1492 knew that. Isaia...
2,014 years ago, around the 9th of September of 9 A.D., two events were happening that would change the world. In Galilee, a Child was growing up who would die on a Cross for the sins of the world. And 1,500 miles to the northwest, in Teutoburg Forest of northern Germany, some 18,000 Germanic warriors were waiting in grim silence as the 17th, 18th, and 19th Roman legions drew near. Little did they realize that the blood they would spill that day would decide the future of Western civilization...
Last month's column, "Declaration of Independence: Rebellion, or Interposition?" asked whether the Declaration of Independence and the War for Independence that followed were consistent with the Bible's admonition that we are to obey the civil authorities (Romans 13:1-7; I Peter 2:13). We saw that civil disobedience is sometimes justified (Exodus 1; Daniel 3, 6; Acts 5:29); but further, we saw that the American War for Independence was neither rebellion nor civil disobedience; it was lawful...
Those who think of something more than hotdogs or fireworks on the 4th of July, generally honor the day as a patriotic holiday, the birth of American independence. But if we believe the Bible to be the Word of God, we must ask whether the Declaration and the War for Independence which followed were consistent with the Bible. If not, can we truly celebrate Independence Day? Romans 13:1 commands, "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers," and I Peter 2:13 enjoins us to "Submit yourselves...
In 2011, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas decried "an Establishment Clause jurisprudence in shambles." Unable to come to a consensus, the Court has shifted from one theory to another, with confusing, conflicting, and sometimes bizarre results. Over the past several decades the Court has struck down school prayer (1962) and Bible reading (1963) but allowed prayer at town board meetings (2014), prohibited (1948) but later allowed (1952) released-time programs whereby children could be release...
Maybe in North Korea, maybe in Cuba, maybe in Iran – but not in the United States, the land of religious liberty. Well, maybe in Boston, or San Francisco – but certainly not in Selma, Alabama, right in the center of the Bible belt. But it happened. A man was arrested for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the street. It was Halloween 2022. People in Selma were walking, some in costume, in an annual Monster March. And Rickey Caster, a Georgia street evangelist accompanied by his sister, came...
