Friends:
I strongly encourage you to listen to the remarks of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels through the audio file link below. Even if you don't agree with his views on the centrality of faith, it will encourage your heart to hear his heart on how we carry out the Commandment to love our neighbor as we love ourself.
Please leave a comment if his remarks blessed you.
http://www.in.gov/gov/files/Audio/021908_Leadership_Prayer_Breakfast.mp3
America's pastime is baseball, but in Indiana our sport is basketball. Our son, Andrew, enjoys that love of basketball as a Hoosier high school player, and I have had the joy of watching and encouraging him in this pursuit for many years now, up to and including his school's loss in the sectional finals last Saturday night. That game and most of the 65 or so games he has played through his junior year have demonstrated for me what the coarsening of culture means for our state's beloved sport. It is the loss of the rule of law as a foul becomes an extremely subjective judgment by the referees.
I see no conspiracies to throw games and I know complaining about the refs is neither healthy nor productive. But now that his third Indiana basketball season is over, I have to observe that the growing roughness of the game is ruining the skill aspects of the game and rewarding rowdy roughness. We see the "thug factor" at play in the NBA everyday, but it is seeping down to the high school circuit in Indiana. (Note: I played Indiana high school basketball more than 30 years ago, so I have some historical perspective). It seems to me this trend mirrors a larger decline away from clear, simple, bright-line, "right-wrong," legal-illegal" distinctions in our culture. As a result, referees make subjective calls that frequently determine the outcome of close games. Call me old-fashioned, but I thought we wanted the athletes to play hard as we root for the better team to win. Not so on Indiana basketball courts that I've watched over the past three years. Basketball has become wrestling.
This mirrors the growing reliance on judges and courts, to make one comparison, to handle controversial issues after the fact rather than calling on our legislators to proactively address them. Some might say life today is so much more complex, so the facts" or context matters more and it is hard for legislators to address them. That fact -- the limits of the legislative process -- is one of the bulwarks of our freedom. And to return to basketball, certainly the level of play today is far better than the level of play in my day. But the "rules" are less clear. What is a foul? It's what the referee says it is. And they are not consistent in their subjectivity. Refs allow pushing, shoving, grabbing jerseys, and triple-team traps and hacking that would have led to players being ejected in my day.
Call me simple, but I see in the decline of the rule of law on the basketball court as a sad indicator of the overall coarsening of culture.
Our friends at the Rockford Institute report the following disturbing development in Luxembourg as that tiny nation takes a further step toward euthanasia. The erosion of faith and an ethic of life in public life leads to such "utilitarian" views and votes as societies lose their way and elevate the expedient over the eternal.
WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES SHOCKED BY VOTE TO LEGALIZE EUTHANASIA IN LUXEMBOURG
World Congress of Families Global Coordinator Larry Jacobs expressed “shock and dismay” over Tuesday’s (Feb. 18, 2008) vote to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in Luxembourg. Euthanasia is currently legal only in the Netherlands and Belgium.
“Europe is quickly slipping into a new Dark Age, in the words of Winston Churchill, ‘made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science,’” Jacobs observed.
The Luxembourg parliament voted 30 to 28 to allow so-called consensual euthanasia, over the objections of Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker and his Christian Social Party.
Proponents are in the process of establishing “guidelines” for euthanasia in Luxembourg. While news sources have reported that the law would apply to the terminally ill, Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition says the bill would also allow individuals with “grave and incurable” conditions to be euthanized.
Obviously, a person can have a condition that’s “grave and incurable,” but not life-threatening.
“Euthanasia proponents always assure us that the act will be voluntary,” Jacobs observed. “But the devil is in the details. Frequently, if a patient is unable to indicate consent, this life-or-death decision is made for them by a relative or a physician.”
A 2005 report by the Dutch government concluded that in 2004 there were an estimated 550 killings of individuals who were comatose or otherwise unresponsive in the country.
The Luxembourg bill has gone through first reading. A final vote will come after procedures to implement the measure are devised.
“We hope parliamentarians will have second thoughts about unleashing this lethal measure on the people they serve,” Jacobs declared.
And so does Veritas Rex.
Today's Indianapolis Star reports the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee voted 11-10 along strict party lines to remove the 1 percent cap on property taxes and to impose residential property taxes based on household income. This is both a sharp departure from the consensus that has guided deliberations thus far and a remarkable creation of a new form of income tax for tax-weary Hoosiers.
My hunch is this is simply a negotiating ploy -- it is not an idea that was debated and vetted prior to Wednesday's vote. Party line positions on untested ideas late in the session rarely become new public policy.
Please share your thoughts with Veritas Rex readers on the substance of the measure. My guess is this will fail to pass the full House as that chamber stakes out its final position prior to negotiations with the Senate (and the Governor). But beyond that, it strikes me at first reading as bad public policy. I'll keep an open mind as I learn more, but it is a second income tax rather than a reform of property tax. To that degree, it is anti-family. I say that because families are consumers and generate extra income to meet the needs of the next generation. This is the so-called "wealth effect" experienced by married couples. Sales tax, too, is anti-consumption and so hits families harder. This double-barreled tax blast (increase sales tax, link property tax to household income rather than assessed property values) hits families hardest.
In perhaps 58 A.D., the Apostle Paul wrote the Book of Romans, the longest of his Biblical writings. It is also the closest of any New Testament work to what theologians call a systematic theology (an orderly treatment of key topics from a theological perspective). In Chapter 13, among several matters, he tells Believers of Jesus Christ they must live in subjection to civil authorities (governors and kings in the language of that day). He also defines the role of government in public life -- to restrain evil and promote justice (see verse 3).
In 1215 A.D., the English elites checked the absolute power of Bad King John by forcing him to sign the Magna Carta. In 1776, we expanded on that first-step in self-government in America by declaring the citizenry the sovereign. This development -- the citizenry becomes the king and selects (elects) the governor -- is at the heart of the Indiana Family Institute's rationale for public policy engagement by people of faith (whether through IFI, as individuals, or in other groups such as a local expression of the church universal). But few among the faithful focus on this area of theology, given the demands of daily life and the other assaults on the Bible, the church, and Christians.
A key question for all of us to ponder, however, is whether self-government works without a broad shared moral consensus (such as cultural Christianity) informing the citizenry. The issue is not following the laws of government -- that's a given, per Paul's authoritative writings. The issue is our responsibility to make the laws. Can we do this without some common moral mindset, political philosophy or shared theology. Can Western-style democracy thrive or even survive without some shared worldview from which we can govern ourselves? If the governing ethic is simply majority rule, won't changing public passions whip-saw society while depleting the public treasury? If the governing ethic is maximum individual freedom (or substitute the word tolerance), won't we regress to the moral minimum? Is this why Thomas Jefferson rooted our rights in the Creator, to communicate that freedom is "a gift from God and not a grant of government?"
In this election year, IFI is committed to sparking and informing this conversation in the churches across the Hoosier State. And we invite all Hoosiers of good will -- those coming from a faith perspective, and those from other viewpoints -- to join us in this conversation. Let it begin here today.
I have included some information below that comes to us from James E. Garrett, Jr., Executive Director of the Indiana Commission on the Social Status of Black Males. It details the high incarceration rate among African American men (4.16 percent of population; nearly 40 percent of imprisoned population). We can the debate the cause(s), but there is no debate that this fact has a devastating impact on tens of thousands of Hoosier families.
As a policy organization focused on strengthening families, we are committed to helping African American families as well. Stay tuned for exciting news in the near future about a national policy demonstration project we are leading for the federal and state government that will address some of the precursors of this problem. In the meantime, we encourage all Veritas Rex readers to our main website (www.hoosierfamily.org) and learn more about volunteering as a mentor to a prisoner. Research shows they will better adjust to community life upon release and are less likely to commit additional crimes if they have a mentor. Go to the page and watch the video overview by Indiana Colts Coach Tony Dungy explaining how you can fight crime by simple being a friend.
(From the forthcoming Commission report)
Black males represent only 4.16% of the total male population in the state of Indiana. However, they represent a dramatically disproportionate population in the Indiana Department of Corrections – 37.9%(Indiana Department of Correction, 2007). The State of Indiana statistics, as of December 3, 2007 revealed that Black males represented 37.68 percent of the male population incarcerated from January 2006 through 2007 within institutions under the auspices of the Indiana Department of Correction (Indiana Department of Correction’s Statistics). Black male juvenile offenders represented 29.9% of the incarceration population while being only 2.86 percent of the total state population (Indiana Department of Correction’s Statistics).
Over seventy percent of the of the juvenile male offenders being held were charged with person and property offenses as opposed to violent offense (Indiana Department of Correction’s Statistics). Within the Department of Corrections more than eighty percent of the juveniles being held range between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. (Indiana Department of Correction’s Statistics). The Indiana Department of Correction Division of Research and Planning indicated that as of April 2, 2007, Black males under the age of eighteen (18) represented 31.13% of the male population incarcerated within institutions (Indiana Department of Correction, 2007).
We continue to share some of the highights from the American Viewpoint survey of likely Hoosier voters (n=800).
The results below show the Governor is doing well in a tough political environment for Republicans and that Huckabee, the most conservative of the three remaining viable GOP candidates, would beat both Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton (leading Democrat candidates) in Indiana. I was told there were no so-called "head-to-head" match-ups for John McCain and Mitt Romney vs. the Obama and Clinton. Maybe I'm being spun on that point....but here's the data, which is consistent with polling data I've seen recently (we did a little poll of our own last week in one interesting legislative race) and general trends over 25 years of reading polls as a campaign manager, operative and consultant:
Verbatim poll results as shared with Veritas Rex:
"Now I am going to read you names of several people who are active in politics today and have you tell me if you are aware or not aware of each one. For those you know, I would like you to tell me if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of them…
Mitch Daniels
57% TOTAL FAVORABLE
37% TOTAL UNFAVORABLE
Pat Bauer
20% TOTAL FAVORABLE
18% TOTAL UNFAVORABLE
Jill Long Thompson
22% TOTAL FAVORABLE
11% TOTAL UNFAVORABLE
Jim Schellinger
7% TOTAL FAVORABLE
4% TOTAL UNFAVORABLE
If the election for President were being held today and the candidates were (ROTATE) Mike Huckabee (huck-a-bee), Republican and Hillary Clinton, Democrat for whom would you vote?
53% TOTAL HUCKABEE
35% TOTAL CLINTON
If the election for President were being held today and the candidates were (ROTATE) Mike Huckabeee (huck-a-bee) Republican and Barack (ba-rock) Obama, Democrat for whom would you vote?
49% TOTAL HUCKABEE
36% TOTAL OBAMA
If the election for Governor were being held today and the candidates were (ROTATE) Mitch Daniels, Republican and Jill Long Thompson, Democrat for whom would you vote?
53% TOTAL DANIELS
34% TOTAL LONG-THOMPSON
End of poll report.
One surprise for me is that Speaker Pat Bauer (D-South Bend) is not better known. His ratio of negatives to positives seems right to me, but I would have guessed he was better known by likely Hoosier voters recently polled.
A new public opinion poll conducted by the House Republican Campaign Committee confirms continued strong Hoosier support for traditional marriage and a constitutional amendment to remove the issue from judicial activism. The poll was conducted by American Viewpoint (n=800), and here is the precise question on this topic -- which was the mostly strongly supported measure among several issues included in the poll results made available to Veritas Rex today:
"As you know, the General Assembly has reconvened in Indianapolis and will consider a number of pieces of legislation over the next several months. I would now like to describe for you several of the topics the General Assembly might consider and have you tell me if you favor or oppose each one. The first issue: (RANDOMIZE)
"An amendment to the State Constitution that would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
72% TOTAL FAVOR
23% TOTAL OPPOSE
We hope this prods the House leadership into allowing a vote and not thwarting the people's will in this critical issue.
By most measures, the Internet is still a teenager -- not yet 20 years old. Of course, Al Gore quibbles with that -- and clearly futurists talked about linking computers in the 70s and the Defense Department funded the research forging the building blocks of the Internet during the 80s.
But this new, energetic, strapping creation -- still a teen-ager -- show us so much about our times in its youthful exuberance. It has the power to save lives by delivering essential knowledge and information to remote and distant places at little or no cost. It makes our lives easier and more fulfilling as it tips us off to traffic jams, helps us find good shopping deals, and answers obscure questions in a fraction of a second. But it also has a dark, dark side, reflecting the fact it is a human creation. Pornography remains one of the key economic drivers advancing the net's technology. Other sexual perversions find their full expression in this anonymous space as well. And the financial scams, efforts to tap into our private information, and abundant offers of questionable medicines show us greed, too, can travel at the speed of light.
Some worry about this disorienting, discordant, cacophony on the net, especially in public policy discourse. But not IFI. We have a north star, an orientation, a rooting in faith that transcends this trend as it did in all other eras of the human experience (such as the brutal totalitarianism of the past century and the plagues of prior eras). John Milton (1608-1674) said it well: "Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth to be put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?"
Still better are the words of Jesus Christ, when He said simply (John 14:6): "...I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through me."
Veritas -- truth -- wins the battle, we know from history. And Truth, spelled with a capital "T," God himself in the form of man, wins the War that wages all about us everyday.
So let Truth and Falsehood grapple on the Internet, or anywhere else, confident that Truth wins in the end.
Today the Indiana Family Institute initiates a blog, Veritas Rex, with great anticipation and excitement. Increasingly, communication in all realms occurs over the internet, particularly in this unique forum we call blogging. However, this is especially true in the policy and civil society realms that the Indiana Family Institute seeks to influence. So, we launch this blog to inform and hopefully influence the lively conversation we call public discourse with an eye toward being a catalyst for positive, pro-family, Biblical world view policies and practices.
The name was selected by my colleague, Ryan McCann, who will be the blog's leading light. The word “Veritas,” which we hasten to point out is part of the founding creed of Harvard University, simply means "truth" in Latin. A modern-day English usage is veracity, which means in common parlance one’s devotion to truth. "Rex," of course, is Latin for king, as in Tyrannosaurus Rex. But the significance of this name for IFI is really rooted in the work of a remarkable Scot named Samuel Rutherford (c. 1600-1660). In his seminal work, Rutherford took the ruling political ethic of the day – Rex Lex – or the King is Law -- and turned it literally upside down -- the Law is King, by which he meant (and so do we) God's Law. This book, Lex Rex, was immediately branded as treason by the English Government and burned as he was placed under a death sentence that could not be carried out before he succumbed to a natural death. However, the book and its theory of limited government and constitutionalism prevailed and was a very important pillar to the founding of the American Republic.
So we initiate this blog as an honest, honorable effort to advance the discussion and bring a Biblical world view to the challenges and opportunities before the Hoosier State, which we dearly love.
Let us know what you think -- good and bad.
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