Obama the War President

by Chadwick Ciocci

Anti-war Barack Obama has become pro-war President Obama, and has done so at the expense of America’s national security as well as the Constitution. America now finds itself engaged in the Libyan War for well over important 60 and 90 day benchmarks, which is in clear violation of the 1973 War Powers Act. That resolution was passed by Congress in response to President Nixon’s secret bombing campaigns during the Vietnam War, and was specifically meant to limit the President’s ability to start wars on a whim. Congress essentially asserted its own authority to have a say in when and where wars are to be started.

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Capitalism and Christianity

The Public Religion Policy Institute has come out with a recent poll claiming that more Americans believe Capitalism and Christianity are incompatible (44%) than believe they are compatible (36%). While there are numerous issues to be taken with the methodology of the institute’s polling, it cannot be denied that there are, unfortunately, many Christians who believe their faith and the very system which permits them to practice the charitable aspects of that faith are at odds. Regardless of denomination, believing the two systems are at odds is simply bad theology.

One needn’t delve in to complicated theological tracts or have some profound understanding of the nuances between Anglicanism and the Episcopal Church. Put simply, God’s commandments are individual mandates, not government mandates, and as such are meant to be lived out through individual acts after the individual decisions of individual people. These individuals may come together (and almost always do) within their faith community to help the less fortunate or take on other projects, but these are voluntary associations which in no way dilute the moral clarity of those acting out a Biblical life.

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A Case for American Exceptionalism

American Exceptionalism may just be the most misunderstood concept in contemporary American politics. Liberals seem to have absolutely no understanding of it whatsoever, and unfortunately, I fear a majority of conservatives believe the concept simply amounts to “We are better than them”.American Exceptionalism does not simply amount to bragging rights that we have the largest economy in the world, the most successful military and one of the freest countries yet to grace this earth. These observations are post facto a much larger and far more important premise which forms the foundation of American Exceptionalism: God grants rights directly to individual people, not governments, and does so in equal measure.

Of course, this is not the end of it. The concept is neither American nor exceptional (in that it is not the product of one philosopher or nation). English and French philosophers had argued this point long before George Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention. What does make this concept American and exceptional though, from our vantage point as modern people, is the fact that our Founders codified this philosophy in our most important political and governing documents, most notably the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [people] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

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