American Clarity Essays political, philosophical, and theological from an American romantic.

26. April 2009

The pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of evil

Filed under: philosophy,Theology — admin @ 17:34

Since America’s inception, the pursuit of happiness has been considered one of the essential human rights owed to our citizens, and has lately been used to defend the “rights” of people traditionally on morality’s bad side: advocates of sexual revolutions, easy divorces, gay marriage, abortion, and even Satanism.  But just as almost everything our forefathers said has been redefined and misconstrued due to a lack of either morality or intelligence (as gun rights are definitely not for hunting), so has the pursuit of happiness been turned into a mockery of what it should be.  The reader should note that this can only happen if you don’t understand how happiness works.  As such, let us consider three points.

First, thinkers must understand that all evils are relational, either being between the offender and a person or between an offender and God.  It is conceptually impossible to commit an evil when you’re the only person in existence.

Second, all people in all portions of the globe pursue happiness, but both where they look and how they look determine whether happiness results, and even the happiness of those around them. Obviously, some pursuits are noble and others aren’t, with some leading to considerably more unhappiness as a result of immoral pleasure-seeking.  A man who seeks happiness through financial stability may either work hard or con people.  A person who seeks to maintain power can either persuade the masses with his good policies or by chopping heads off in the public square.  And most of us–excluding actual sociopaths with mental disabilities or the perverse–recognize the difference between proper and improper methods of pursuit. (more…)

12. April 2009

Whose rights, exactly?

Filed under: philosophy,politics — admin @ 05:14

“Conservatives are trying to control you,” the liberals say. Conservatives are such fearful control freaks, in fact, that they’d be willing to strip you of your “earth-given right” (?) to have your own moral code and live as you please, free from the terrors of moral uniformity. Fortunately, anyone with a brain could analyze your rights and acknowledge that leftists aren’t just engaging in the bigotry they claim to despise, but they’ve already out-performed their conservative counterparts. For instance, in our current day and age, according to both the existing laws and the laws which are currently being made (make sure to read these links):

1) Making a movie in which rape/murder are viewed favorably: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT

2) Having unlimited children with unlimited women without ever getting married: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT(1)

3) Going on a spending spree with credit cards, not paying your rent, and then staying in your home at the expense of the landlord: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT(2)

4) Hopping a border and demanding in-state tuition from the people whose border you trampled: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT(3)

5) Starting an organization like NAMBLA, for the purpose of molesting little boys: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT(4)

6) Advertising for a Christian roommate: NOT A RIGHT(5)

7) Making your dating site only for straight people if you think that committing homosexual acts is immoral: NOT A RIGHT(6) (more…)

7. April 2009

Why guns shouldn’t go: a clear, concise, and abnormal argument

Filed under: cultural/racial,politics — admin @ 20:25

Just like the insurance giant AIG was brought down to its knees by a rogue London branch of the company, so could American liberties be thrown away to deal with small factions of the country, and factions that aren’t representative of the majority of Americans, at that (1).

But before explaining how this might happen, a statement must be made. This article is not intended to belittle anyone beyond their personal behavior, nor is it meant to paint an entire group of people with the same brush. As a Christian, this writer understands that the wages of sin is death, and that apart from Christ we’re all sinful creatures, worthy of damnation and completely without hope. But just as we’re all equal in our depravity without Christ, we are equal in our Heavenly Father’s eyes when we accept Christ and become brothers and sisters in Him.

However, in order to protect the common good of the majority of Americans, some issues must be brought to light in this day and age, they’re not all fun to deal with, and they don’t engender the inclusive tone that brotherhood in Christ brings. That being said, today’s topic is gun control, and why certain very tiny groups of people are responsible for and generally subjected to the gun violence we read about, and why these groups of people are the only reason that anti-gun legislation is successful at all. In order to preserve the only things keeping us from history’s long chain of violent and brutally domineering governments, Americans must not only know the truth about gun violence in America, but speak the truth and live by it.  (more…)

2. April 2009

Of socialism and sociability (or: Orwell rolls in his grave)

Filed under: philosophy,politics — admin @ 15:32

These days, it seems the slide toward socialism (in which the means of production are partially or totally state owned and redistributive monetary policy is pursued) is not only inevitable, but overwhelmingly accepted (1). With Republican and Democratic leaders embracing openly socialist policy, general approval of our president’s unabashedly socialist actions, and recent public ownership of banking structures, insurance companies, and the auto industry, it seems that capitalism has lost the battle for the New World (2). But why has socialist policy been able to capture the hearts of Americans?

Since its inception, socialism’s claim to the moral high ground is that it employs the public resources and the means of production to further the benefit of the poor, which appears noble upon first glance and has tremendous appeal to the public. But upon further inspection, the analyst is hard pressed to find socially beneficial qualities resulting from a leftist governmental structure at all.

For instance, anyone in the civilized world could tell you what social behavior would be. Charity, responsibility, and regard for the law are readily recognized as not only being beneficial to society, but also timelessly preferable to their inverses known as selfishness, irresponsibility, and lawlessness. In short, we all know who a good neighbor would be based on the behavioral traits they engender and promote, and as such, the institutions that promote these traits are inherently sociable and positive. On the flip side, institutions that reinforce negative traits should be recognized as harmful and discarded as soon as recognized. (more…)

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