Tennessee’s legislature recently enacted a bill requiring public schools to teach the “virtues of capitalism . . . as compared to other . . . economic systems such as communism and socialism.” I would have voted for the bill, I suppose, but not because I think it will get at the root of what is driving the movement in our nation toward overt wealth redistribution. In fact, I hope, were I still in office, I would have said on the Senate floor what follows, namely, that capitalism, as understood today, rests on the same worldview as socialism and communism and, consequently, the bill will not have the effect hoped for. 

I was a “MAGA man” before MAGA was a thing. What might distinguish me from some MAGA enthusiasts today, but perhaps not many Christians, is that when I ran for the State Senate in 1994, I aspired to bring Biblical principles to the legislature to save our country from liberal ruin. I now confess that aspiration was un-Easter like.

The last Sunday service before I headed from Chattanooga to Cincinnati for law school, my pastor presented me with a briefcase and reminded me that Jesus had said, “Woe to you lawyers.” Debate over the Marital Contract Recording Act has helped me understand what Jesus was saying, and its application to some of the surprising opposition to it. 

For the last few years, I have argued that the Ninth Amendment protects rights not enumerated in the text of Constitution and the Bill of Rights, specifically the right to life and the right of a man and woman to participate in the historical institution of marriage defined strictly in terms of man and woman. Last week, Judge Jackson backed me up. I was flabbergasted.

To George Bernard Shaw has been attributed the statement, “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.”  Funny, but true. True, but not funny is that America is now a country divided by the same language, as demonstrated by two events this week involving a single word—the testimony U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and the response of an opponent to legislation that moved forward in the legislature. This week's events portend trouble for our nation.

I was frank last week about the sad state of evangelicalism, but today I will be frank about myself and the low view of marriage I held most of my life. It was driven home to me when a pastor who was interviewing me for a podcast mused that the way many Christians view marriage is no different from that of many same-sex couples. Based on my own experience, I think he may be correct.

Last Sunday a friend told me at church that my writing has become more “frank,” a step down from “camel-hair wearing and locust-eating” from a couple of weeks ago. Nevertheless, be forewarned: If you don’t want frank talk, then skip what follows. And do not listen to today’s podcast about the future of parental rights and home education. Stick with reading verses and poems in DaySpring greeting cards and listening to Joel Osteen sermons.

From parents divided along lines of regulating COVID, textbooks, “porn” in libraries, “don’t say gay,” to sex education, some or all of which is driving charter school and student voucher legislation, public education has become a political war zone. What kind of fruit will come from the legislative efforts of political conservatives directed at these issues?

Last week a pastor well known in certain Baptist circles in Tennessee texted these words to me after receiving my new book about the United States Supreme Court, The Naked Court-Understanding and Resisting a Damnable United States Supreme Court, “You are a camelhair-wearing, locust-eating, fire-breathing PROPHET.” So, now, turning from the Court, I will provide an honest assessment of the work being done in conservative and Christian political circles.

After meeting this week with a respected state legislator who I personally like and whose moral values I share, I left disheartened. CPED is killing our nation. I fear those now trying to recruit candidates to run for the legislature will not look for signs of CPED and will be sorely disappointed, even if their candidate wins. CPED is not easily detected, but this should help you spot it going forward.