A Heretic Born on the Fifth of July

As we are in high-patriotic season when it comes to the American liturgical calendar I thought it apropos to recall this speaker I heard being aggressively pushed on local Christian radio stations in 2019.

Revisiting World Magazine and Olasky's Social Calvinism (Part 2)

Section five is a celebration of Social Calvinism's greatest innovation and perhaps one of its greatest sins – the fictitious and wicked doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate – the idea that it's permissible and even obligatory for men to take up the sword against their ruler as long as they do it under the aegis of a lesser (or lower ranking) magistrate who is (supposedly) on the basis of law acting to curb tyranny.

Revisiting World Magazine and Olasky's Social Calvinism (Part 1)

https://world.wng.org/content/social_calvinism

I first came across World Magazine in the 1990's after I returned to the United States and started frequenting Reformed churches. It was marketed to me as the Christian answer to liberal Time magazine and as it was easy enough to find copies on book tables in church foyers and other locales I certainly read my fair share of the magazine.

The End of World War II in Europe: Establishment Narratives and Bircher Conspiracies (Part 2)

The Stab in the Back and the Communist Plots

There are conspiracies to be sure. I've already mentioned some of them. The US strategy was to betray its ally the USSR into doing about 80% of the fighting in Europe and tens of millions died as a result. Churchill wanted to hold on to the British Empire and was conniving to control Western Europe – thus he was attempting manipulate the post-war order – leading to not only the handing over of Eastern Europe but the massive (and tragic) repatriation of Soviet prisoners and other units that had joined with the Germans to fight against the USSR. As a result thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands more anti-Soviet elements would die in the years following 1945.

The End of World War II in Europe: Establishment Narratives and Bircher Conspiracies (Part 1)

The Race for Berlin

The final days and aftermath of the European theatre of World War II is a topic that still generates some controversy even seventy-five years after the events. Competing nations have their respective narratives regarding the defeat of Nazi Germany and who can rightly claim to have 'won the war'.

Additionally there is the popular perception of the history, a neat and tidy narrative of 'good guys and bad guys' and then there is the reality – a rather messy, confusing and even contradictory series of events that defies the narratives, upsets some and generates controversies and suspicion of conspiracy in others.

Libertarianism and The Oligarchic Progression

Some forms of libertarianism posit a near anarchic view of society in which government is minimal and many of the functions and services commonly associated with the state are privatised or in some cases eliminated.

This thinking fails to take into account the vacuums that are created in society by a lack of explicit authority. As many have repeatedly pointed out, corporations actually want laws to provide a framework for contracts and some libertarians will allow for this to some degree. But they fail to take into account that as companies turn into monopolies, an economic oligarchy begins to develop – the corporations turn into a corporatocracy.