"Whenever there is a proposal for a tax cut, media pundits demand to know how you are going to pay for it. But when there are proposals for more spending on social programs, those same pundits are strangely silent." – Thomas Sowell

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy" - Martin Luther King Jr.

"When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law." – Frédéric Bastiat

Friday Reflection

Texas Scorecard

Yes, You Do Legislate Morality

When we set aside God’s wisdom, we embrace tyrants’ whims.

Yes, You Do Legislate Morality by Michael Quinn Sullivan In the greatest hits of “truisms that are lies,” few are as tiresome as a line that undergirds much of our cultural rot with the uproarious approval of Christian influencers. The lie goes that “you can’t legislate morality.” It is a lie told to justify blatant sin and excuse a weakening of cultural standards. It gets the soft imprimatur of upwardly mobile pastors eager to enter the rarified social and political climes into which they would otherwise not be accepted. And it is a lie that, if told quickly enough, won’t be questioned by the flocks they fleece on Sundays—and might even be repeated. The notion is absolute hogwash. It fails every possible measure of history, rationality, and scripture. But if you listen to the hip pastors on YouTube and TikTok, you’ll find it embedded in the woke view of the world they must adopt if they are to be loved by the God-hating masses whose approval they seem so desperate to earn. For clergy, it signals a fashionable lifestyle outside the dreary doldrums of their ecclesiastical labors. It serves as a signal that they are comfortable with casual parishioners shoving the Truth of God into a Sunday-sized box. They won’t actually say that … on the record, at least. So they say, instead, that “morality cannot be legislated.” It sounds very philosophical, as befitting someone who spent seven years in higher education. It sounds like it might have been written by an ancient (non-Christian) philosopher—translated from Greek, of course. The lie makes it easy to be loved by the God-hating elite, whose approval seems more important to them than God’s own. In fact, all law is a matter of morality. The only question is if that law is in keeping with, or foreign to, the moral precepts of holy scripture. From rape to murder, and fraud to defamation, the law of the land is a reflection of the collective understanding of moral principles of the people who live there. No law has ever been passed or imposed—here or anywhere—that is separate and apart from the moral beliefs of the lawgivers. Every action taken by a legislative body is a moral statement, good or bad. Every single law is a moral declaration, for better or worse. I will give the devil his due; all well-told lies have a thimble of truth. It is true that a law cannot “make” a man moral … but that is never the point. If all men were moral, we would not need laws. So while passing a law does not make men moral, the law does temper men’s immoral impulses with the threat of judicial consequence in the present. Romans 13 describes secular government as “an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.” So, please, will you tell us again about how we don’t legislate morality? Dousing oneself with perfume can mask the stench of unwashed filth, but it is no substitute for being clean. Yet for the casual passerby on the street, the perfume will be preferable to the odor left in a foul man’s wake. The same is true for the law. A man wishing to violate the person or property of his neighbors has a heart problem that is not cleansed merely by adherence to local and state ordinances, but the threat of legal punishment makes life in the community more pleasant. Let me close with a bit of uncomfortable clarity: No one actually believes morality cannot be legislated. Those who proclaim that lie just don’t want legislation based on the morality of God as enunciated in the Bible. They want to substitute the life-giving morality of God with the self-serving pleasures of fallen men. Divorcing legislative action from moral principles is the first step down the road to violent serfdom. When we set aside God’s wisdom, we embrace tyrants’ whims. As a self-governing people, we must each be increasingly diligent in ensuring the laws of our republic are in keeping with moral precepts set forth by God for our own good.

Today's bounty! Very blessed!

"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." – Mark Twain

"Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure." - Thomas Edison

Fellow Coracle Users: I think this is self-inflicted, but can anyone help me with this Coracle issue: Whenever I dig down into a thread, then exit back up, Coracle puts me at the beginning of the feed, instead of continuing where I was. Is this normal, or did I do this to myself? I can't find an option to undo this. Thanks.

Today in History On July 17, 1861, the U. S. Congress passed legislation authorizing the printing of $250 million worth of "Demand Notes." This was the first paper currency issued by the U.S. government since the years prior to the Constitution.

"The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"All great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage." - William Bradford

Cayenne's are off to a good start. This is from the last week or so. Lots more coming!

“It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” C. S. Lewis, "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment"

[Moses is speaking] 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? Deuteronomy 4:5-8 English Standard Version

"No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself." -Seneca

"Even when you are down, look up at what you must defeat. Then get up and fight." - Bruce Lee

Today in History On July 10, 1832, U. S. President Andrew Jackson vetoed legislation rechartering the national bank. Jackson was distrustful of central banking, in general, as well as its economic power over Americans and the lack of oversight exercised by Congress. Due to Jackson's continued opposition, the national bank's charter expired in 1836. Quote-Unquote "Many of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought us to make them richer by act of Congress. By attempting to gratify their desires we have in the results of our legislation arrayed section against section, interest against interest, and man against man, in a fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union." – Andrew Jackson Bank Veto Message

National Constitution Center – constitutioncenter.org

Bank Veto Message (1832) | Constitution Center

National Constitution Center Historic Documents Library record for Bank Veto Message (1832)

"Cowards die many times before their actual deaths." - Julius Caesar