Actually I have two topics, one more important and the other just an illustration of how bureaucractic organizations can become pathological or dysfunctional. So let’s begin with Syria. My colleague Mark Smith enumerated well the various issues and positions on the question of whether we should use force against Assad’s ruling regime. It is indeed […]
Archives
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Random Thoughts
07 Sep 2013
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Whatever Became of Christian Worldview?
29 Aug 2013
In 1901 a Scottish professor wrote a book about Christian worldview, The Christian View of God and the World. This would become the first such book in modern times on that subject. The book received much attention from evengelicals and fundamentalists, though little from other groups. At the same time Abaraham Kuyper, though he never […]
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Looking for Microcosms in DC
28 Aug 2013
This is the first of what might be an ongoing series of posts based on our experience here in the District of Columbia (that’s Washington) this Fall. Today’s post was stimulated by both some visits to public buildings and an article today by Lee Habeeb, in the National Review entitled “Risk Mismanagement.” My own experience […]
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Despite the temptation to address President Obama’s most recent foray into higher education–which, by the way, if implemented by Congress, would only drive up costs more and eviscerate much of what is left that works–I will examine a different issue, one that for Christians poses an even bigger problem in the long run. It goes […]
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A Moral Case for Markets?
20 Aug 2013
Some of you who read this blog and some who have read the recent works by Robert Sirico and Arthur Brooks know that the need of the hour seems to be to make a moral case for markets. Nearly everyone admits their efficiency and ability to create massive wealth. But the criticism on ethical […]
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Whatever Happened to Higher Education?
16 Aug 2013
When I began my college education in 1974, my perception was that things were pretty simple. You (the student) went to class, listened to your professor and took notes, did the assigned reading, studied for quizzes and exams and, Lord willing and you behaving properly, you graduated not only with a degree but with some […]
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Detroit the Exemplar
24 Jul 2013
I have been reading quite a bit on the travails of the City of Detroit and I find this is an opportunity for me to rant about one of my favorite topics: economic development efforts in cities, or what is also called urban renewal, better labeled “urban removal.” These wonderful programs (note the sarcasm please) […]
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The long-awaited Supreme Court decisions concerning the right to homosexual marriage under California’s Proposition 8 and the receipt of federal benefits under the Defense of Marriage Act, have now been issued. I have not yet read the decisions in their entirety, but I will hazard a few comments for the present. First on Defense of […]
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The Perfect Storm
30 May 2013
I hope everyone has been watching the unfolding scandal at the IRS (that’s the Internal Revenue Service for the present). As I see it, this seems like the perfect convergence of several disturbing trends in recent decades. First, we see the increasing use by congress of “big” and “broad” statutes whose language is left (deliberately?) […]
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Lately it seems there have appeared more articles on the subject, known among Reformed folks as “The Radical Two Kingdoms Debate” or “R2K.” As near as I can tell, this debate is a resurrection of one that has been going on for centuries. It appears to be between those who accept the transformational model of […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach