Since I work in an industry that is subject to constant change, I suppose I must have at least some tendency to tinker. Hence, from time-to-time I will try a new blog theme. However, since the new one, Chateau, sometimes displayed text using fonts that were difficult to read, I went back to the old one, Twenty Ten.
Change is not always a good idea.
From The Bookworm Room;
When it comes to the IRS’s ongoing, repressive behavior against conservative groups, you’re likely to hear different verdicts: The hard Left says, of course, that this is a molehill that the Republicans are scandalously trying to turn into a scandal. (The New York Times perfectly exemplifies this line of thinking.) Others on the Left admit incompetence, but refuse to assign moral blame.
Is the IRS scandal the worst in American history? I think there have been worst.
I got home last night late, and I am not good at sleeping late. Therefore, I am tired. So I am just going to make a few cynical observations about sausage-making and thank God sausage still tastes good.
Yesterday, I attended the Republican Party of Virginia convention in Richmond, VA. That made for a L-O-N-G day.
John Godfrey Saxe. Library of Congress description: “John Godfrey Saxe”. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made. — attributed to John Godfrey Saxe (from here)
For the most part, government is disgusting work. Even structured as a constitutional republic, government still reeks of abusive power and incompetence. Hence, we think of sausages, something we find increasingly less delectable the more we learn more about it.
To nominate its candidates for statewide sausage-makers, the Republican Party held its convention in the Richmond Coliseum.
PWC, Stafford and Loudoun are all in the nosebleed seats on one side while Fairfax is on the other. Horrible acoustics in the Richmond Coliseum. (from here)
Of course, I sat with Prince William County’s delegation, and the acoustics were awful. Since my hearing is already poor, I had difficulty understanding the speeches. Therefore, I cannot recall being inspired by any of the speakers — just frustrated by my inability to hear them clearly.
Could the party have made a better choice than the Richmond Coliseum? With about 10,000 people in attendance, I guess not, but I don’t know why anyone would bother paying money to attend a concert in that place.
There were various shenanigans at the convention (Chesapeake bishop surprises, wins Va. GOP lieutenant governor nomination), but here is something that has not gotten much coverage. In RPV convention updates, Chelyen Davis of Fredericksburg.com had this report.
Stafford supervisor Susan Stimpson was eliminated in the second round of balloting for the Republican lieutenant governor’s nomination. But her staffers say they tried to protest the vote because delegates were misled into thinking she did poorly in the first round.
What happened is Stimpson finished second in the first round of balloting (see Tech Problems Slow GOP Convention Results). However, when convention chair Delegate Tim Hugo gave the preliminary results, he provided the convention incomplete, therefore misleading, information. When Hugo said which candidates would be on the ballot in the second round of balloting, he gave Stimpson’s name last. His choice of words, that is, the order of the names, implied Stimpson had finished in fifth place, thus barely making it into the second round. That was unfortunate. In second place in the first round of voting, Stimpson still had a real chance of winning in subsequent rounds of voting. In fifth place she had almost none.
Apparently, Hugo just wanted convention delegates to know which candidates remained eligible on the second ballot (The first ballot eliminated two of the original seven.), and he communicated more than he intended. However, if that is the case, then Hugo misunderstood the process. Because each round of balloting allows the delegates to shift their support to another candidate, the delegates must know which candidates are garnering the most support. Even though E.W. Jackson may have been the most popular first choice, Stimpson still might have won. If the delegates thought she had a chance of winning, then the delegates might have selected her as their second or third choice. In fifth place, Stimpson had no chance of winning.
Why mention this? Although it may first appear otherwise, Stimpson made an excellent effort. Events beyond her control brought her campaign to a halt. That suggests she has no reason to give up her quest for statewide office. Instead, her supporters should take heart; Stimpson has good reason to consider running again. Even Ronald Reagan had to run more than once.
Undoubtedly, relatively few people, particularly Susan Stimpson’s supporters, left the convention satisfied with the process.
English: Sir Winston Churchill. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. – Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (from here)
Churchill spoke these words after WWII. Even though his party led the United Kingdom to victory in the bitter struggle that was WWII, in 1945 the people voted for that other party. What might have infuriated a lesser man, Churchill accepted with surprising grace. Thus, Churchill continued to serve, eventually serving a second term as Prime Minister.
Churchill accepted the imperfection of humanity. Perhaps he just understood why better is the enemy of good.
In spite of the imperfections of the process, the delegates to the 2013 RPV Convention still managed to select three good candidates. Please check out their websites.
None of these men are perfect. What matters is whether each will do the job better than the guy they are running against. If you think they will, then please lend them your support.
Here are some blog reports.
Here are some biased news media reports (it is all biased.)
This post is the fourth part in a series. Here are links to the previous posts.
As we discussed in the first post, the founders established a republic to prevent tyranny. The second post described what government exists to do. That is, the second post described the rights the founders wanted to protect. The third post pointed to the origins of our failure, the prideful hope man can perfect himself without God. What this post will do is address the question asked in the title of this series.
There exists no simple formula we can use to predict the fall of our republic. In fact, when our republic does fall, we will probably not know the critical moment, our last chance to reverse course, until years after we have passed the point of no return. Perhaps, we have already passed it. Consider what has happened in recent days and years.
Recent Post: In IRS steals10 million medical records in CA, bunkerville reports that the IRS may already wildly abusing its new powers under Obamacare, that abomination most Americans never wanted and still do not want. Here are some other reports.
A More Fundamental Sign of Danger: Do we really want to strip our military personnel of their right to talk about their beliefs? Read Soldiers may be court martialed for sharing Christian faith.
Recent Post: In Misc. News Links, Teresa Rice reviews several news stories related to the anti-Christian behavior of the Obama administration. That includes:
A More Fundamental Sign of Danger: When we vote, are we voting for something that will survive the test of fire? Check out Catholics at the Voting Booth and the Test of Fire.
Recent Post: In Unequal Protection, Russ White considers the wildly unequal application of a law that protects birds.
A More Fundamental Sign of Danger: In If You Can Keep It, Russ White considers whether we can keep our republic.
Recent Post: In Liberal Justice Ginsburg Admits Roe v. Wade Was a Bad Decision, Biltrix considers Judge Ruth Ginsburg’s evolving view of Roe v. Wade.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg official portrait (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A More Fundamental Sign of Danger: In Relativism and the Decline of Religion in America, Biltrix assesses some polling data related to what people believe and how they vote.
The posts above may seem almost random. Nonetheless, there is an overriding theme. To remain a republic, America must remain a people who believes and practices what the Bible says. That does not mean we convert people to Christianity because we want a republic. We convert people to Christianity because we want Jesus to save them from Hell. Yet if we are losing our republic, we are also losing people to Hell.
What we are seeing are the signs of our failure to help each other become and remain good Christians.
Colossians 3:12-17 Good News Translation (GNT)
12 You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. 14 And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. 15 The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. 16 Christ’s message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts. 17 Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father.
This post is the third part in a series. Here are links to the previous posts.
In this post, we will consider the principles upon which our leaders govern us today.
In my last post, Wish Hillary Clinton a Happy Mother’s Day, I reblogged a video posted by 
In the middle of the The Sermon On The Mount, Jesus spoke these words.
Matthew 7:6 Good News Translation (GNT)
6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs—they will only turn and attack you. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs—they will only trample them underfoot.
Do we not give something holy to the people we elect? When we give people leadership over us, isn’t that responsibility a great pearl? So how are we to react when our leaders demand the transformation of our once great republic into a crude tyranny? By cursing our leaders? That won’t do any good, but we must most certainly get angry enough to replace them.
Portrait of Aristoteles. Pentelic marble, copy of the Imperial Period (1st or 2nd century) of a lost bronze sculpture made by Lysippos. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In the last part of this series, we consider a portion of the Introduction to THE ETHICS OF ARISTOTLE. That excerpt explained how Aristotle defined the relationship between virtue and happiness. Aristotle believed that in order to become happy we must become virtuous. Unfortunately, Aristotle was a pagan. Therefore, Aristotle ends his analysis of the relationship between virtue and happiness by asserting that government must work to transform the People into virtuous beings. Here is an excerpt from the last section of Book X.
The formation of a virtuous character some ascribe to Nature, some to Custom, and some to Teaching. Now Nature’s part, be it what it may, obviously does not rest with us, but belongs to those who in the truest sense are fortunate, by reason of certain divine agency,
Then, as for Words and Precept, they, it is to be feared, will not avail with all; but it may be necessary for the mind of the disciple to have been previously prepared for liking and disliking as he ought; just as the soil must, to nourish the seed sown. For he that lives in obedience to passion cannot hear any advice that would dissuade him, nor, if he heard, understand: now him that is thus how can one reform? in fact, generally, passion is not thought to yield to Reason but to brute force. So then there must be, to begin with, a kind of affinity to Virtue in the disposition; which must cleave to what is honourable and loath what is disgraceful. But to get right guidance towards Virtue from the earliest youth is not easy unless one is brought up under laws of such kind; because living with self-mastery and endurance is not pleasant to the mass of men, and specially not to the young. For this reason the food, and manner of living generally, ought to be the subject of legal regulation, because things when become habitual will not be disagreeable.
Yet perhaps it is not sufficient that men while young should get right food and tendance, but, inasmuch as they will have to practise and become accustomed to certain things even after they have attained to man’s estate, we shall want laws on these points as well, and, in fine, respecting one’s whole life, since the mass of men are amenable to compulsion rather than Reason, and to punishment rather than to a sense of honour.
The idea of man producing perfection in ”other” men is old. Even ancient Aristotle thought masses could only be made virtuous if they were properly habituated by the state. Of course, since slavery was commonplace in Aristotle’s time, it never occurred to him to question the state’s right to do such a thing. After all, if the slaves were “virtuous,” wouldn’t they be better and happier slaves?
Unfortunately, we are sheep. Even when we begin with good intentions (and Aristotle probably had good intentions), we forget to listen for the voice of our Shepherd. So it is that unconsciously and unknowingly, our country has wandered into Aristotle’s age-old dream. Too many hoped in and believed in the words of the god-like aristocrats among us. Thus, we too have become pagans. Instead of trusting in God and His Word to build our children’s character, too many of us turned our children over to bureaucratic government institutions. And instead of raising virtuous children, we raised children ignorant of their nation’s heritage; we raised children almost without the knowledge of God’s Word.
Contrary to Aristotle’s hope, governments do not instill virtue into their People — when the People belong to the government, government has enslaved the people and wants docility, not virtue. The People instill virtue into their government. As Lord Acton observed:
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. — Lord Acton in 1887 (from here)
That is why the founders created a republic. They understood the nation’s character depended upon the moral character of the People.
We have no government armed in power capable of contending in human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. — John Adams, 1798, Address to the militia of Massachusetts (from here)
Their leaders also had the humility to admit their own human fragility.
Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become wolves. — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787 (from here)
At this point, what I originally intended to do is speak the lies originating from our leaders, but there is no end to them. Besides, the people who most need to be convinced refuse to be convinced. So here I will just reference a couple of posts at Settled In Heaven. The subject is harmful speech.
When politicians make promises they cannot keep they lie to us. When we believe them, to believe them we must deceive ourselves. That is, we have to talk ourselves into believing them.
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