Freedom

In Defense of American Exceptionalism

March 5, 2011March 5, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

by Herman Cain –
There is no denying it: America is the greatest country in the world. We are blessed with unparalleled freedoms and boundless prosperity that for generations have inspired an innovative and industrious people. America is exceptional.

American Exceptionalism is the standard that our laws reflect the understanding that we are afforded certain God-given rights that can never be taken away. We know that God, not government, bestows upon us these inalienable rights, and because of that, they must not be compromised by the whims of man. This makes us a unique nation, a nation that remains, as President Ronald Reagan once said, “a model and hope to the world.”

Unfortunately, some politicians have either forgotten or chosen to ignore the glory of our founding. [Read more…]

Addiction or Sinful Habit?

February 19, 2011February 20, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

by Benjamin Wiker –
Is gambling an addiction or a sinful habit? What about pornography? Overeating? Drinking? Shopping? Checking email? Texting? Watching television? Playing video games? Working? They’ve all been called addictions. Is that really what they are?

If we follow this line of reasoning out to its logical conclusion, then it would be logical to call all bad or destructive behavior, “addictive,” so that “addicts” of whatever kind are helpless victims of forces beyond their control. A woman gambles because she cannot help it. A man drinks because he cannot help it. A woman shops because she cannot help it. A man throws himself into internet pornography because he cannot help it. Addicts, helpless victims, one and all.

The obvious problem with this view is that it entirely destroys morality by denying the possibility of good, freely-chosen action. We should call them what they really are: sinful habits. Or we could use the more exact and compact word, vices. A sign of the correctness of this word is that “vice” contains the notion of addiction – a kind of helpless slavery – even while it affirms the presence of free will and moral culpability. [Read more…]

Playing Chicken with Free Speech

February 18, 2011February 18, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

by Chuck Colson –

Is giving away chicken sandwiches an act of homophobic bigotry? According to certain homosexual groups and websites, it is: when you give away sandwiches to people attending a conference on marriage. You heard that right. Gay-rights groups are slandering and boycotting the well-known national fast-food chain Chick-fil-A—you know, the one that says we should “eat more chicken.”

That’s because one of its restaurants decided to donate some sandwiches to a February marriage conference sponsored by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, which opposes so-called gay “marriage.” [Read more…]

In Vietnam, Hating Communism Anew

February 15, 2011February 15, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

by Dennis Prager –
Seeing the Communist North induces outrage at the senseless deaths and historical lies.

Here is the truth: Every Communist dictator in the world has been a megalomaniacal, cult-of-personality, power-hungry, bloodthirsty thug. Ho Chi Minh was no different. He murdered his opponents, tortured only-God-knows-how-many innocent Vietnamese, and threatened millions into fighting for him — yes, for him and his blood-soaked Vietnamese Communist party, backed by the greatest murderer of all time, Mao Tse-tung. But the moral idiots in America chanted “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh” at antiwar rallies and depicted America as the real murderers of Vietnamese — “Hey, Hey, LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?” …

It was difficult to control my emotions — specifically my anger — during my visit to Vietnam last week. The more I came to admire the Vietnamese people — their intelligence, love of life, dignity, and hard work — the more rage I felt for the Communists who brought them (and, of course, us Americans) so much suffering in the second half of the 20th century.

Unfortunately, Communists still rule the country. Yet Vietnam today has embraced the only way that exists to escape poverty, let alone to produce prosperity: capitalism and the free market. So what exactly did the 2 million Vietnamese who died in the Vietnam War die for? [Read more…]

Colson: The Desire for Freedom, It’s Written on Our Hearts

February 6, 2011February 6, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

by Chuck Colson –

What’s happening in the Middle East is one of the most volatile international situations since 9/11. Will the government win? Will radical Islamists highjack what might be a nascent democratic movement? Nobody knows.

But one thing should be very clear to anybody who is paying close attention—especially to Christians: People everywhere, we see it in the streets, are yearning to be free. And they yearn to be free precisely because every man, woman, and child, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or otherwise, is made in the image of God.

We know, as Augustine taught, that God, who has a free will, bestowed upon us the gift of free will. The desire for freedom—the freedom to choose right from wrong, the freedom to order our lives—is imprinted in our very DNA.

This is what the biblical worldview teaches us. And that is why tyrannical governments can put a lid on freedom for only so long. Inevitably that human desire for freedom will boil over—just like it is doing in the streets of Cairo today. [Read more…]

Why the Constitution is Better Than Marx

January 7, 2011January 16, 2011 by Orthodox Editors

by James Lewis –

George Orwell said that the first duty of decent people was to say the obvious. So here it is for today.

The United States Constitution enshrines a far greater political philosophy than anything Karl Marx ever dreamed of in his totalitarian ideology.

In 1787, the Constitution proclaimed a political philosophy that has led to greater well-being and happiness for more people over more centuries than anything Europe’s totalitarians ever did. But precisely because the Constitution limits the greed of the power-hungry, it is always under assault. Every generation needs to understand that because human nature has not changed since 1800. Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler are alive somewhere today, because greed for absolute power is part of human nature. Look at the absolute dictators around the world; they are no different. If we are not the brainwashed followers of a Napoleon or Hitler, it is only because our minds have not been dominated by some totalitarian ideology. That is what at stake today, just as it is in every generation. [Read more…]

Capitalism’s Gift of Peace

December 15, 2010December 16, 2010 by Orthodox Editors

12/15/2010 – J.T. Young –

The Korean peninsula demonstrates the fundamental differences between free and fettered markets. As always, there are the free market’s obvious attributes of prosperity and democracy. However as recent events have shown, peace should not be overlooked. And just as importantly, neither should its proper attribution to a free market.

In one relatively small section of the world, the stark differences between the world’s most important dichotomy is clearly visible. In South Korea, a capitalist market, open society, and democracy exist. In North Korea, a closed market, closed society, and totalitarian regime exist. You also have a stark distinction between peace and war.

Perhaps capitalism’s most overlooked attribute is peace. Virtually all conflicts of the last century have been initiated by fettered market, authoritarian states. Often the world’s armed conflicts have been between two such regimes. Contrastingly, military conflicts have almost never pitted two capitalist, democratic nations against one another. [Read more…]

Why Do the Poor Stay Poor?

December 10, 2010 by Orthodox Editors

12/9/2010 – John Stossel –
Prosperity is impossible without property rights.

Of the 6 billion people on Earth, 2 billion try to survive on a few dollars a day. They don’t build businesses, or if they do, they don’t expand them. Unlike people in the United States, Europe, and Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, etc., they don’t lift themselves out of poverty. Why not? What’s the difference between them and us? Hernando de Soto taught me that the biggest difference may be property rights.

I first met de Soto maybe 15 years ago. It was at one of those lunches where people sit around wondering how to end poverty. I go to these things because it bugs me that much of the world hasn’t yet figured out what gave us Americans the power to prosper. [Read more…]

American Freedom and Religious Morality

December 7, 2010December 7, 2010 by Orthodox Editors

12/5/2010 – Andie Brownlow –

Liberals and conservatives both believe that as Americans, we should be moral people. The major difference is where their morality intersects with their politics. Most conservatives believe that our morality should come from religion, separate from government. Most progressives incorporate moral guidance as a function of government.

The humanistic tendencies of the political left assume that morality can be governed by state laws and dismiss religion as an origin and arbiter of moral law. Therefore, government must become a humanist’s ultimate authority to address and regulate human nature. [Read more…]

Liberals and the Coming Redistribution of Fault

December 2, 2010December 5, 2010 by Orthodox Editors

12/2/2010 – J. Robert Smith –
It’s coming. Expect it. Liberals blaming everyone and everything but themselves for the nation’s continuing economic crisis. And the mounting crisis of government. It’s already begun, in fact, over at U.S. News and World Report, where Mortimer B. Zuckerman dusts off Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West to mull over the notion that the West — including the United States — may be reaching the end of the line.

Let’s congratulate Zuckerman for pointing the way in the coming attempt to foist blame on Western civilization for what is, essentially, a failure of leftism. [Read more…]