Year: 2023

The Death of Public Liberty

The Constitution Study with Host Paul Engel – We often talk about freedom of speech and freedom of the press because they are important. But it’s not the speech or press that are truly important, but what they represent, the expression of thought. This explains why tyrants often try to squelch the expression of ideas they don’t like. To quote Benjamin Franklin, writing as Silence Dogood: “Without Freedom of Thought, there…

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Lie, Lie Again

The Constitution Study with Host Paul Engel – Just when you thought it was safe to go about your life, the lies come back to destroy your liberty. I wonder, which shocks you more, the arrogance of these institutions, which fail to learn from their mistakes, or the refusal of the American people to wake up to their failures. COVID-19, wildfires, and safe drinking water are just a few examples of the lies we’ve been told and the consequences…

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Lie, Lie Again

The Constitution Study with Host Paul Engel – Just when you thought it was safe to go about your life, the lies come back to destroy your liberty. I wonder, which shocks you more, the arrogance of these institutions, which fail to learn from their mistakes, or the refusal of the American people to wake up to their failures. COVID-19, wildfires, and safe drinking water are just a few examples of the lies we’ve been told and the consequences…

Are Whiny Children Our Future?

The Constitution Study with Host Paul Engel – We’ve all seen that child, the one who whines and complains until they get their way. Most of us shake our heads in disgust, some at the child and others at the adults who refuse to act like parents. What does that say about some of our social and political discourse today? We watch as children like Greta Thunberg and David Hogg use emotion rather than reason to tell us how we…

383 – The Powers of Congress

I encourage people to ask questions. I believe there are only two “stupid” questions in the world, the one you don’t ask and the one you ask three times. Questions are important. We cannot truly learn unless we ask questions. Several weeks ago I posted the article The Role of Congress. I was pleased when I was asked a question about that article. Specifically, what are the powers of Congress. This article is the answer to that question.

382 – Gift of Freedom on Independence Day

I don’t think I’m exaggerating to day that Judge Terry Doughty did more to protect Freedom of Speech and Press in America in my lifetime, possibly since the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791. What could one man do that had such a tremendous impact? How could one preliminary injunction be so important? While there has been plenty of hype about judge Doughty’s order, from both sides, as I have taken the time to review it, I am impressed both by it’s scope and it’s quoting of both the Constitution and Founding Fathers to prove the rightness of it’s position. What decision of a judge could have such an impact on the rights of the American people? The recognition of if infringement on one of our most basic rights, the freedom of expression, and the willingness to stand against it.

Some may say it is fate that this judge issued his order on the 4th of July, 2023. I see it as providence that this judge has once again honored that date as our Independence Day!

381 – The Role of the Federal Courts

In this third installment of the three-part series on the branches of government, we look at the role of the third and weakest branch. At least that is what our Founding Fathers thought of it. What is the role of the federal judiciary? What are the extent of their powers, how do they related to the other two branches of government, and why is a proper understanding of the role of the judiciary critical if the United States is to remain a constitutional republic?

380 – Compounding Errors in Favor of Religious Liberty

Our judicial system today works like a bad case of the game “telephone”. You probably remember that game from grammar school. The teacher would whisper something into one child’s ear, who would then whisper it into the next child’s ear, and on and on until the message got all the way around the room. Then the teacher would compare what they had whispered in to the first child’s ear with what the last child heard, and it would be completely different. This child’s game shows the dangers of what I call a “compounding replication error”, the idea that small errors that occur when something like a message is replicated, compounded with each new replica, until the original message is lost. This is how our judicial system works today, often with disastrous effects. In the case of Groff v. Dejoy, Postmaster General most people see a win for religious liberty. I, however, see another generation of a compounding replication error in judicial opinion that, while granting the correct outcome today, lays the groundwork for the destruction of our rights and the rule of law tomorrow