Christian Values

Although there is something a little chilling when Germany veers towards a renewed nativism, nevertheless, German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently made some of the healthiest comments I have heard in a long while regarding Muslim immigration and assimilation, comments that bear strongly on our own immigration issues.

Of particular interest is her demand that immigrants adopt "Christian values."  Contrary to the inevitable hysteria from the Left warning of an incipient theocracy, Merkel is referring to Christian societal prohibitions on forced marriages and the like.  As such, she is equating Christian values with Western liberal democratic values, as opposed to, say, totalitarian systems like Sharia.

Translating to America, this is no less true.  As Calvin Coolidge reminded us in one of the great Presidential speeches of all time, our founding principles of tolerance, freedom, and democracy were born out of decades of preaching from the Christian churches enunciating just those same principles.  For instance, Coolidge tells us that it was the Rev. John Wise of Massachusetts who wrote a book in 1717 on the principles of civil government.  Reprinted in 1772, this book was declared to "have been nothing less than a textbook of liberty for our Revolutionary fathers." 

Christian values in the American sense are precisely the founding principles of the Republic as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, and there is simply no reason to take any immigrant into this country who has a problem with such things.

And for the same reason, there is simply no reason to exclude religion and religious talk from the public square, as has been the goal of our societal betters since the 1960's.  But that is another subject that I shall leave for later.

Obama Audaciously Suspicious

This just in from your President: Citizens who decide to engage in the public debate prior to an election are ..... suspicious.

White House press spokesperson Robert Gibbs (D., Stay Puff Marshmallow Man) responds to Jake Tapper yesterday about the Administration's attacks on the Chamber of Commerce with the following:

This isn’t just the Chamber. American Crossroads. American Groups for Blue Skies, Mom and Apple Pie. There are all these great groups out there, that we now know they’re doubling down on even more money in this election to influence its outcome.

Funny he didn't include the AFL, CIO, SEIU, and a slue of other alphabet groups out there pumping money into the electoral process. And as far as questionable funding sources, was there anything that topped the suspicious meter like the almost $1 billion raised by Mr. Obama himself in the 2008 elections? Curious how so much of that money came from people with gobble-degook names, located in foreign capitals, and/or in amounts just below the requirement for specific identification. But, well, nothing to see here, people; move along now.

"Spending money to influence the outcome of elections" is another way of saying "getting involved in the democratic process." Which is sub-specie the First Amendment and all those other rights which the President took an oath to uphold and protect.

But I guess the President's oath was just another one of those promises which come with an expiration date.