The American Spectator

Whenever I hear someone say Santa Claus doesn’t exist, I have to ask them, “Are you sure?” How can you be sure?
— Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida

Is Santa Claus real?

My oldest son had a proof worthy of Anselm (well, maybe Michael Mann and Phil Jones). When confronted by a skeptic, the lad said, “There has to be a Santa Claus; my parents wouldn’t buy us all this stuff!”
— Dan Martin
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

STOP GIVING THEM THE KEYS
Re: Quin Hillyer’s Laughing at the Left:

Great piece, Quin. Yes, the Left is quite a hoot. Truth be told, most of us probably do laugh at them, at least under our breath, but they get elected anyway, and that’s not so funny. So, why do these adolescents keep getting the keys to the family car after they’ve wrecked it time and time again, even when someone’s been injured or killed? Chesterton had the answer, “The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.”

Until, as responsible adults, we stop giving them the keys, and put good drivers behind the wheel, the car will just keep getting wrecked, and eventually, we could all lose our licenses, or maybe even our lives. Then, it won’t matter anymore. I wouldn’t get my hopes up for a change anytime soon.
— Mike Showalter
Austin, Texas

NOT A CONTRACT
Re: Reader Mail’s Smooth-Talking Saviors/Worth the Costs:

Mr. Kessel has it exactly backwards. Folks went out and got “civil marriages” long before Queen Victoria knew there were such things as homosexuals precisely because they didn’t want the Church involved — particularly they didn’t want to bind themselves with the obligations required in Christian marriage. The State and Mr. Kessel may view marriage as a matter of contract but the Church(s) does not. The more “orthodox” among the Christian denominations will either counsel the couple or show them the door if the “to-be-married” insist on a “contract”. You have no business in a church if you want to “shop a contract” around.

The more conventional suggestion is for couple to register at the county courthouse where once signatures are on the dotted line they have a “contract.” (Contrary to the popular imagination, a ceremony is not an actual necessity.) Then the couple may proceed to the Church for marriage under the doctrines of Christianity. Those couples of other faiths may do the same under the laws of their religion.

Marriage (as recognized by Conservativism) is a “pre-existing institution” that antedates the State. States come and go; but marriage persists. It is for this reason the State has only limited legitimate jurisdiction. The precise meaning of marriage is beyond the State’s competence to determine or set. Any attempt by the State to do so IS A VIOLATION of liberty.

Oddly, under the guise of liberty and equality, the “simple” solution in Mr. Kessel’s proposal will attack the very liberty society has from the coercive power of an overweening State. The individual needs institutions (in this case, both religion and marriage separately and together) to stand between him/herself and the State as the individual’s abilities to stand up for him/herself is no match to the resources and powers of the State. Any attempt by the State to impose a “reasonable” meaning of marriage is really a challenge to undermine the authority of those free institutions. Clearing away those free authorities will leave the individual naked before the whims of those in power. While those now in power may be benign toward marriage, there is nothing in principle to stop them from imposing what they think should be required and what a couple must do in the future. If you think the Right is “imposing its morality” now (and I don’t accept that premise), wait until a Left-friendly government imposes its ideals on us and our children. You will look back and “rightwing morality” will look like a day at the beach.
— Mike Dooley

FATAL TUNE ON A REID INSTRUMENT
Re: Robert Stacy McCain’s Political Psychosis:

Nice group psychoanalysis, Mr. McCain, and no doubt accurate.

What is puzzling is that the present leader of this merry band is Harry Reid, whose definition is different for me than simple madman.

A definition of the “common reed” (Phragmites australis) — a tall thin plant that lives in shallow water out of the mainstream, characterised by a hollow core and a propensity to bend in the slightest breeze, whose only common use is to make a loud shrill sound when someone else plays the tune.