Wake Up, Republicans!

"Conservatism doesn't Work" Is this statement true? Well, it all depends on what you want it to do. If by "work" one means that it will make you rich, probably not. If by "work" you mean it will help to promote homosexuality or pornography, no, it won't. In the Keynesian era, conservatism and liberals are different in degree, not in type. Cultural issues like protecting families and reigning in what schools teach about sex are THE issues for Republicans. The fact of the matter is that libertarian Republicans are identical to the liberals on these issues. Judy Baar Topinka lost the election because she poised herself as a "center-right" candidate.

Illinois Railsplitters

Estase is an alumnus of the University of Illinois, which has decided to abandon Chief Illiniwek as its symbol. Estase suggests that the U of I takes on as its new symbol the Railsplitters, as a reference to Abraham Lincoln. Not only was Lincoln tied to Illinois, but the Railsplitters has a wholesome, athletic sound to it. Imagine the Assembly Hall faithful waving styrofoam axes as a token of enthusiasm. And even scumball liberals can't object to Lincoln!

This is on a different topic, but Estase would like to extend a hearty BOO! for Congressman Tim Johnson for his decision to favor Trouble-Free internationalism. In Estase's book, Congressman Johnson deserves to be ranked up there with Neville Chamberlain for his high minded foreign policy.

The Threat of Plan B

This letter to a local newspaper deserves wider readership.
" Normal low-dose birth control pills (also horomones) are not available without a prescription because they entail some serious health risks if not taken under the supervision of a physician. These risks can include blood clots, stroke, heart attack, and indirect links to certain gynecological cancers. These risks can be magnified by other health conditions and lifestyles, and because of this, the FDA has deemed that these low-dose horomones need physician oversight for prescribing. If the normal dose of birth control medication has been deemed risky enough by the FDA and most women's health advocates to require physician oversight, why should Plan B of much higher horomone amounts not also require it? No long term studies have been performed to determine if Plan B is safe with repeated or long-term use, yet granting Plan B over-the-counter status would send the message that it is safe. Without physician oversight, women may obtain an over-the-counter version of Plan B well after the 72-hour window and actually be causing an abortion, while imposing significant health risks to themselves. The availability of Plan B without a prescription creates a false sense of security in women, particularly adolescents, whose only concern tends to be pregnancy."
Jennifer S. Schroeder M.D.

Virtue and the Body

"How then came it about that, of all the existing species, mankind alone should relinquish man's nature, forget the body, and find its Chief Good not in the whole man but in a part of man?"
Cicero
De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum
Rackaham trans. Book Four

Merit and Power

And I see as little of policy or utility as there is of right in laying down a principle that a majority of men told by the head are to be considered, and that as such their will is to be law. What policy can there be found in arrangements made in defiance of every political principle? To enable men to act with the weight and character of a people, and to answer the end for which they are incorporated into that capacity, or must suppose them (by means immediate or consequential) to be in that state of habitual social discipline in which the wiser, the more expert, and the more opulant conduct, and by conducting enlighten and protect, the weaker, the less knowing, and the less provided with the goods of fortune.

Edmund Burke Appeal From the New to
the Old Whigs

An Unhappy Anniversary

Laws are to be passed by legislatures in a republic. They take their legitimacy from the fact that these legislatures are elected by the public.
Judicial review is based on the fact that written laws include certain rules that are constitutionally instituted. For example, if there was a law against some form of speech, it would fall to judicial review to determine if the written law violated the written Constitution.
Where courts go wrong is by creating rights that are not in the written Constitution. For example, Roe v. Wade says that the right to abortion exists because of analogous rights elsewhere in the Constitution. The right to protection from having one's house searched without a warrant becomes something else. The "right to privacy" is consistent with the written Constitution, but appears nowhere in it.

One Faithful Harp

The minstrel boy to the war is gone, in the ranks of death you'll find him; His father's sword he hath girded on, and his wild harp slung behind him; "Land of Song!" cried the warrior bard, Tho' all the world betrays thee, one sword at least, thy rights shall guard, one faithful harp shall praise thee!" The minstrel fell! but the foeman's steel could not bring that proud soul under, the harp he lov'd ne'er spoke again, for he tore its chords asunder; And said "No chains shall sully thee, thou soul of love and brav'ry! Thy songs were made for the pure and free, they should never sound in slavery!"
Thomas Moore 1779-1852

Families Similar to Polities

"In some cases the subordinate relations are voluntary, in others they are necessary; but the duties are all compulsive. When we marry, the choice is voluntary, but the duties are not matter of choice; they are dictated by the nature of the situation. Dark and unscrutable are the ways by which we come into the world."
Edmund Burke, "An Appeal From the New to the Old Whigs"

Celebrities As Political Experts

Samuel L. Jackson recently called for a pullout from Iraq. Estase is sad to see one of his favorite actors advocating something so stupid. At least I haven't heard that Lawrence Fishburne is advocating trouble free internationalism. Morpheus is one of the coolest things in the Matrix movies. Incidentally, what qualifies actors for making pronouncements on foreign policy? It reminds me of Bishops condemning tax policy or nuclear weapons. Stick to what you've spent time thinking about, Cardinal Mahony.

Involuntary Association

Now, though civil society might be at first a voluntary act (which in many cases it undoubtably was), its continuance is under a permanent standing covenant, coexisting with the society; and it attaches upon every individual of that society; and it attaches upon every individual of that society, without any formal act of his own. This is warranted by the general practice, arising out of the general sense of mankind. Men without their choice they are subjected to duties in consequence of these benefits: and without their choice they enter into a virtual obligation as binding as any that is actual.

Burke "An Appeal From the New to the Old
Whigs"

Republican Post-Mortum

Why did Republicans suffer the loss of the House in November? Due to my other responsibilities, I couln't give analysis at the time, but I will now. What did Congressional Republicans do to stop the runaway spending when they held power? To my knowledge, nothing. Did they enact the term limits Newt Gingerich called for in 1994? Hardly- - they seemed to forget all about the advantages of citizen legislators, going so far as to increase incumbent advantages.
Why did Judy Baar Topinka lose her challenge to Governor Rod Blagojevich? Before her candidacy was even announced, Topinka in 2005 gloated that Alan Keyes lost because " Illinoisans want a center-right government." In a contest between a pro-abortion Republican and a rabidly pro-abortion Democrat, Estase voted for the pro-abortion Republican. He did not want a "center-right" governor, but had no choice but vote for an insipid, charmless time-server. The Illinois Republican party is a mess. The new year will include Dick Durbin's campaign for reelection. Illinois Republicans should be able to defeat the laughably stupid Durbin, but they won't as long as the party leadership puts forward candidates who are no different from the Democrats. No more pro-abortion Republicans!
Please!!!

Baldwin Blows

Apparently Professor Jean Kirkpatrick died this week. She was a voice for treating our enemies like enemies. Actor Alec Baldwin chose to say that Dr. Kirkpatrick was a war-monger, and questioned her sexuality. So Alec, here's Estase's hope that what goes around comes around. On the day you die, I hope people insult you and soon forget your stupid, meaningless life.

The Two Possibilties

The psychotic and/or ideological ass-wipe at the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran recently wrote a letter to the American people. I would include the text of this maniac's remarks, but I'm sure they can be found elsewhere on the net. The remarkable thing about his remarks is that they are indistinguishable from the words of the press and Democratic party. The same concerns (waste of life and money, the "futility" of the war) as what we have heard from the Pelosis and Murthas are now echoed by the leader of the most dangerous man in Southwest Asia. When an obvious enemy of the Free World says things that are indistinguishable from the words of the majority party in Congress, we have to conclude one of two things. One, the Iranian president is really a kind and generous man, or, two, the Democratic Party has become subversive to American liberty.
There is no third possibility.

Draft Dodger's Wife Tells Abizaid His Job

"Hope is not a strategy. Horatory talk about what the Iraqi government must do is getting old. I mean, I have heard over and over again the government must do this, the Iraqi army must do that. Nobody disagrees with that. The brutal fact is, it is not happening."
Military expert Hillary Rodham Clinton

What Catiline Didn't Do

And the nature of man, he said, is such, that as it were a code of law subsists between the individual and the human race, so that he who upholds this code will be just and he who departs from it, unjust. But just as, though the theatre is a public place, yet it is correct to say that the particular seat a man has taken belongs to him, so in the state or in the universe, though these are common to all, no principle of justice militates against the possession of private property. Again, since we see that man is designed by nature to safeguard and protect his fellows, it follows from this natural disposition, that the Wise Man should desire to engage in politics and government, and also to live in accordance with nature by taking himself a wife and desiring to have children by her.

Cicero, On Final Good and Evil, Rackham
trans., 289.

Popularity

For my part I hold that what is popular is often positively base, and that, if ever it is not base, this is only when the multitude happens to applaud something that is right and praiseworthy in and for itself; which even so is not called "moral" (honorable) because it is widely applauded, but because it is of such a nature that even if men were unaware of its existance, or never spoke of it, it would still be worthy of praise for its own beauty and loveliness. Cicero On Final Good and Evil Rackham trans., p137.

Samson Leftism

One really wonders how the Democrats will govern, since they campaigned on nothing but Bush and Iraq. Their only stated objective is to impeach the president. They seem more destructive than constructive.

On a similar note, student government at Orange Coast College in Los Angeles will not permit the use of the Pledge of Allegiance. Fine. The U.S. government can't stop them, but it seems only fair to me if it denied Federal funding to Orange Coast College. This will never happen with liberals in charge. Why is it that the socialist left pretends to be courageous about defying the rest of us, but the rest of us refuses to penalize them? It would be nice if we gave them an actual reason for feeling courageous.

Passions

Burke- Society requires not only that the passions of individuals should be subjected, but that even in the mass and body as well as in the individuals, the inclinations of men should frequently be thwarted, their will controlled, and their passions brought into subjection.

Hume- Reason is and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.

Kerry Didn't Say What He Said!

The Sixties holdovers strike again! In exactly the same way that Dick Durbin did! Kerry, who pretends to be a war hero when it suits him, says that America's servicemen are losers! See my ancient blog "Right for the Wrong Reason." The similarities of Durbin comparing servicemen to the Nazis, Michael Moore claiming America brings misery to every place it involves itself, and the new Kerry quote are easy to triangulate. These three show that Democrats hate our military, or at least the MoveOn.com types do. They think our military is a jobs program. They don't believe in fighting our enemies, choosing instead to call the president Hitler. They disagree with a war that Kerry himself voted for. And their fondest dream is to impeach the president for "lying." Kerry supported the war when he thought it would be a short-lived pep rally like Desert Storm/Gulf War I was like. And now Kerry can't even take the heat for something he said freely.

Cicero versus Catilina

You can see them about, lovely young men with elegantly combed hair, either beardless or bearded to excess, wearing tunics that reach down to the wrists and ankles, and togas which look more like veils. Their entire interest in life and all the alertness they can muster are squandered on parties that last all night long. In these gangs are to be found every gambler, adulterer, debauchee and sensualist who exists. These soft and pretty boys are experts at making love and having love made to them, and they know how to dance and sing; but they have also learnt to wave daggers about and sprinkle poisons.

Michael Grant, translator