Beliefs

I really like this web page in which law prof Doug Linder sets out his personal beliefs about many important things. Here are a few of my beliefs (including some responses to Prof. Linder's beliefs):

My Beliefs About the Good Life, About Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

1. I believe that the best part of life under the sun is a a loving wife and as many children as God gives you.

2. I believe in the blessings of liberty, in freedom of speech, religious liberty, and an equal right to educate your children in a school of choice. An equal right to education includes an equality of public funding for all children, including those who attend private religious schools.

3. I believe that the government that governs best is the government that governs least. It saddens me that this does not describe the government of the United States.

4. I believe that taxes are a necessary evil and that they should be kept as low as possible. I believe that taxes in the United States are much too high and much too progressive.

5. I believe that everyone should pay his or her fair share of the tax burden. I believe that we make a mistake when we structure taxes so that many working men and women pay no federal income taxes. Every adult citizen should feel the sting of the whip when our government spends tax revenue.

6. I don't believe in Obama's call to "spread the wealth." Government exists to protect private property, not to redistribute private property.

7. I believe that marriage is a relationship of one man and one woman for life. Every child deserves to have one mommy and one daddy. As Prof. Lynn Wardle likes to say, if Heather has two mommies, she does not have a daddy.

8. I believe that both good and evil exist, and that we should embrace good and flee from evil.

9. I believe that Ronald Reagan was the best President of my lifetime, and that Barack Obama is the anti-Reagan. Thus, I tremble for my country as I consider the near future.

10. Nevertheless, I believe we are a hardy people and will endure.

My Beliefs About Constitutional Law

1. I believe the Supreme Court should exercise judicial restraint when asked to declare a democratically-enacted law or policy unconstitutional.

2. To paraphrase Churchill, I believe that the jurisprudence of original understanding is the worst form of constitutional interpretation, "except for all the others that have been tried from time to time."

3. I believe that the Constitution should be amended to provide that the Court may declare a law or policy unconstitutional only by a strong consensus. I would require 7 votes on a Court of nine Justices to declare a law or policy unconstitutional.

4. I believe that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided, because it has no basis in the text or original understanding of the Constitution, and because it elevated the taking of innocent human life to the status of a fundamental constitutional right.

5. I believe Roe v. Wade is the most unjust judicial opinion I have ever read. It is an almost perfect example of man's inhumanity to man.

6. The grave injustice of Roe v. Wade changed forever the way I view both the Constitution and my country. I cannot believe that I wake up every morning is a country in which thousands of legally-sanctioned abortions take place every day.

7. I believe an Obama Court will be an extremely activist one, and will likely decide that the Constitution requires all 50 states to recognize same-sex marriage. I believe this will be a tragically wrong decision that will destroy marriage as the foundation of a good and civilized society.

8. The best and brightest constitutional scholar of my lifetime is Judge Michael McConnell of the 10th Circuit. I believe Mike would make a great Supreme Court Justice, one whose opinions would stand the test of time.

9. I believe the best Supreme Court decisions of the last 25 years include Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (upholding the First Amendment right of expressive association) and Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (holding that it does not violate the Establishment Clause for a state to fund an education of true private choice).

10. I believe that the Constitution requires the states to provide equal educational funding for all children, including those who attend private religious schools. Freedom of thought, freedom of belief-formation, and freedom of religion are all inconsistent with a government-school monopoly over the public funding of education.

11. I believe Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas are the greatest Justices of my lifetime. I wish we had a Court of 9 such Justices.

12. I believe the death penalty is constitutional, but if I were a state legislator I would vote to repeal the death penalty.

13. I believe the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own guns, but I choose not to personally exercise that liberty.

14. I believe the Second Amendment serves the same purpose as the First Amendment, to act as a check on tyrannical government. Just as free speech and a free press allow citizens to speak out against tyranny, an armed citizenry enables a free people to resist tyranny. No tyrant should feel safe when he seeks to deprive free men and women of the blessings of liberty.

15. I believe Jefferson was wise when he said “what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. . . the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

16. I believe the Constitution is an enduring charter of government, not a living, breathing, evolving document.

17. I believe that much of the divisiveness of the "culture wars" in America is the result of judicial activism by the Supreme Court in matters touching upon religion in the public square, abortion, sexuality, and public and private education. By "judicial activism" I mean judicial decrees that are based upon the policy preferences of the Justices as opposed to the text, history and original meaning of the written Constitution.

My Beliefs About Many Things Concerning Life Under the Sun

1. I believe Townes Van Zandt is the best (and the saddest) songwriter of my lifetime.

2. I believe that Mel Gibson's portrayal of Braveheart was inspiring. I always cry when he gives that great speech:

"Fight and you may die. Run and you will live, at least
awhile. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be
willing to trade all the days from this day to that, for one
chance to come back here as young men, and tell our enemies that
they make take our lives, but they will never take our freedom?"

I would follow a man like this to the Gates of Hell and back.

3. I love Rumpole of the Bailey, Andy Sipowicz of NYPD Blue, and Jack Bauer. As you might have guessed, I struggle with authority.

4. The greatest theatrical musical of my lifetime is Les Miserables. I would love to see Les Mis performed once a month for the rest of my life.

5. I believe Benjamin Franklin was wise when he said: "Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power."

6. He was also right when he said that a person who would trade liberty for security deserves neither. I think of this all the time when I take off my belt and shoes at airport security checkpoints.

7. Speaking of Franklin, I also love his quote that "beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." By the way, I believe that drinking in moderation is a good thing for those who can handle it. Assuming I had enough water to sustain life, if I could choose only one beverage to drink as a castaway on a desert island, it would be a lasting supply of Sam Adams ale.

8. I believe Charles Dickens was profound when he wrote the following in Nicholas Nickleby (chapter 43):

"Pride is one of the seven deadly sins; but it cannot be the pride of a mother in her children, for that is a compound of two cardinal virtues--faith and hope."

9. I believe Paul McCartney was the most talented of the Beatles, and that John Lennon's reputation with the critics is mostly a product of his cynicism. Imagine that!

10. I believe that when you tell me your favorite Beatle, you tell me a great deal about yourself and your beliefs. Religious conservatives like Paul; secular liberals love John.

11. I like Paul. And then George.