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Whither is Good Government? Reflections on Psalm 45
My tongue is a pen of a quick writer . . . The Psalmist takes to honorific writing to praise the king, the anointed of God. God indeed anoints. And God’s will is known throughout the world. The Apostle Paul … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Government, Reflections on the Psalms
Tagged god, Old Testament, psalms
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Democracy
The idea of democracy, like the idea of capitalism, promises much, though the reality always falls short. The promise is of wide participation in government, free and open competition among diverse groups, self-determination. Democracy offers the vision of individuals … Continue reading
Posted in European history, General Essays, Government
Tagged Government, history, philosophy
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From Modernization to Globalization
Modernization is a major social scientific theory that emerged in the 1950s to explain different levels of development in the world’s societies. Although the roots of modernization theory developed in the response of nineteenth-century American and European intellectuals to industrialization, … Continue reading
Liberalism
Liberalism refers to a system of thought that focuses on the good of the whole of society as opposed to its neglect in the service of the restricted few. Liberalism began at a time of rejection of traditional feudal … Continue reading
Posted in American History, European history, General Essays, Government
Tagged Government, history, philosophy
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Laissez Faire
Laissez-Faire, a French phrase that means literally “let do” meaning “let a person alone,” was applied to economics by English and French thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The phrase generally applies to the same conditions in modern as … Continue reading
Posted in American History, General Essays, Government
Tagged Government, history, philosophy
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Conservatism
Conservatism is a system of thought that focuses upon upholding traditional values, social structure, government, and economic systems. Conservatives hold specific views about the role of government in the economy and the value of democracy. Conservatives have sometimes been suspicious … Continue reading
Posted in American History, Christianity, European history, General Essays, Government
Tagged Government, history, philosophy
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Philadelphia in 1787: The Making of the Constitution of the United States
Philadelphia, the capital of Pennsylvania, was in 1787 a city of a little over 40,000 people. The city had been founded a century earlier by Quakers and it still had a strong Quaker presence. Philadelphia was the cultural and intellectual … Continue reading
The Return to McCarthyism
Almost seventy years ago, an obscure senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, used fear as a means to initiate widespread panic and intimidate the innocent. Fear can do this to people. Fear makes the rational become irrational, the innocent become guilty, … Continue reading
Posted in American History, General Essays, Government
Tagged Demagoguery, McCarthyism
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Independence: Disorder in a Democracy
In today’s day, we are confronted with disorder, almost chaos and anarchy at times. How do we bring order out of a disorderly situation? The concluding years of the American Revolution in the 1780s provides us with an example. The … Continue reading
Posted in American History, books, Christianity, God's Providence, Government
Tagged Biography, books, Constitution, god, history, Providence
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The Crisis in American Politics
What the 18th century Framers of our government feared, abuse of power and corrupt politicians taking control of our system of government, has apparently come to pass, if this election season and those who are our choices for President, are … Continue reading
The American Plutarch 