Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: U. S. Constitution

  • Observations on Free Speech

    1. One's right to express an opinion brings with it an obligation to form correct opinions, or at least the obligation to make a sincere effort in that direction.    The right to free speech brings with it an obligation to exercise the right responsibly.1 2. Free speech is rightly valued, not as a means…

  • On Legal and Illegal Immigration

    A reader from Down Under poses this question: America is experiencing immigration problems somewhat like Australia's. The idea of  'multiculturalism' some would say is beginning to show its flaws. Who do you believe should be allowed to enter your country? Please feel free to be as politically incorrect as you like. 1. First of all,…

  • The Lawlessness of Obama

    Obama's Top Ten Constitutional Violations of 2013  

  • Cruciphobia

    Given that the ubiquity of crosses all across this great land has not yet established Christianity as the state religion, why, as it declines in influence, do the cruciphobic shysters of the ACLU and their ilk agitate still against these harmless and mostly merely historical remnants of a great religion? This question occurred to me…

  • Theism is not a Religion

    Yesterday I argued that atheism is not a religion.  Well, theism is not a religion either, but for different reasons.  Atheism is not a religion because it amounts to the rejection of the central commitment of anything that could legitimately be called a religion.  (So if atheism were a religion, it would amount to a…

  • Nat Hentoff on ‘Hate Crime’ Laws

    Hats off to Hentoff for a fine explanation in this 5:56 minute YouTube video of what is so wrong and dangerous and unconstitutional about 'hate crime' legislation.  (via Malcolm Pollack) Related articles A Prime Instance of Political Correctness: The Blackballing of Nat Hentoff What Does Abortion Have to Do with Religion? Nick Gillespie on Why…

  • The Rand Paul Filibuster

    In Paul's own words: I wanted to sound an alarm bell from coast to coast. I wanted everybody to know that our Constitution is precious and that no American should be killed by a drone without first being charged with a crime. As Americans, we have fought long and hard for the Bill of Rights. The…

  • Why the Second Amendment?

    Walter E. Williams gives us a little history lesson.  The piece ends thusly: Here's the gun grabbers' slippery-slope agenda, laid out by Nelson T. Shields, founder of Handgun Control Inc.: "We're going to have to take this one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily — given the political realities — going…

  • More Conservative Contortions to Find Something Positive in the Roberts Opinion

    You've read George Will and Charles Krauthammer, no doubt, but perhaps you haven't seen the piece by George Weigel in which we find: I have no special insight into the mind or motivations of the “human author” of the Obamacare majority opinion; Chief Justice Roberts is certainly not God, and Supreme Court decisions are not…

  • Pessimistic Thoughts on this Fourth of July

    Is there anything to celebrate this  Fourth of July?  Not much. Maybe there will be cause for celebration in November.  But I'm not sanguine about that either.  Our founding documents have become merely ornamental.  They  are interpreted to mean whatever those in power want them to mean. The Commerce Clause is to be found in Section…

  • The Bible as the Christian Faith’s ‘Constitution’

    James N. Anderson has a thought-provoking post entitled Ecclesial Activism.  A key idea is that the Bible is to the Christian  faith as the U. S. constitution is to the U. S. government.  And just as judicial activism is a Bad Thing, so is ecclesial activism.  The Roman Catholic Church comes in for a drubbing…

  • Obama on Constitutional Law: Did He Lie or Is He Just Ignorant?

    Asked recently whether SCOTUS would uphold the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) or strike it down as unconstitutional, President Obama replied, "I'm confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress."  Strong majority?   Unprecedented? …

  • Clarence Thomas and the Second and Tenth Amendments

    A tip of the hat to Bill Keezer for pointing me to Walter Russell Mead, New Blue Nightmare: Clarence Thomas and the Amendment of Doom.  An excellent article.  Dismissed by the Left as an intellectual cipher, the much-maligned Thomas is leading SCOTUS back to sanity.

  • Christine O’Donnell and the First Amendment

    Although O'Donnell  comes across as an airhead, she was actually right: there are no such words as "separation of church and state" in the First Amendment.  The Establishment Clause reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . ."  Chris Coons got it wrong…

  • A Mosque Grows Near Brooklyn

    Here.  Where is the money coming from? Sarah Palin calls the building of this mosque an "unnecessary provocation."  As opposed to what, a necessary provocation?  But don't let Palin's infelicitous language distract you from the serious point she is making.  It is indeed  a  provocation, and the Islamists are testing us to see how far…