[ladtx]

I know that for many self-labeled conservatives, the "culture war" is one of their favorite topics. My advice is, don't enlist.

Charley, ignore the culture war at you own risk. Without a viable culture all the great economic gains are meaningless.

[Sam's Army]

Is this the same Charlie Reese that thinks Israel is always in the wrong?

[grobdriver]

The major problems facing the United States have nothing to do with culture. They have to do with government and economics.

Who is this person who has strawberry preserves for brains?
It's because of the lack of culture and morals that the people who are government do the things they do to cause the problems we face!
One Mr. Bill Clinton, for instance, for whom we have to thank that kids are defending their oral sex in school saying that it "isn't sex".

[M-cubed]

Jeez!...where to begin??????......the rise and fall of the Roman Empire maybe?......Debase the culture, the money system, the basic morality of right and wrong...

[alloysteel]

Without the "culture war", what framework DO we have? All the ills described, the loss of American jobs, the so-called jobless recovery, the deficit, the unfair tax code, the trade deficit, the record levels of debt, a failed public-education system and a screwed-up foreign policy, may be most accurately ascribed to failure to study and apply the culture that has nourished this nation for the past 226 years. True, the framework then is not the framework that changed and grew, adapting to the needs as they arose, but the damaging blows being sent at that framework now are not the least bit constructive. Many things are being challenged, or simply being asserted, in the laws today that were never in the older framework, and work at cross purposes to future growth.

Someday the shining city on the hill, America, may fail. Not because it must, but because so few cared. Charley Reese is one of those who no longer care.

[Constantine XIII]

"Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." - John Adams, 1798

[Tribune7]

How about we just stick up for the Constitution (and Democracy) and get our judges to stop interfering with tradtions?

[Esther Ruth]

And the WOLF who was dressed up as a SHEEP said to the Real SHEEP -

" Lay down and be real still and quiet will you? it will be easier for me to eat you!"

And SOME of the stupid sheep said "Oh he is so kind and polite, ok - I will lay down and be quiet, now why was it again you needed me to lay down and be quiet?"

[Unam Sanctam]

Attraction to the same sex is not amenable to the law. The attraction will exist whether the law forbids it, allows it or ignores it.

The issue is that the liberals want to use the law to promote it. That is an illegitimate imposition of liberal moral values on the rest of society.

[BenLurkin]

Soeey Charley.

The danger America faces today is rooted in the takeover of our schools by left leaning zealots.

They indoctrinate the kids into thinking that it is government's job to provide jobs, and that all other values are "relative".

Government grows and the culture blows.

[eleni121]

Here's clueless Charlie "bubbles" May 10 2002:

"I wish more Americans had an opportunity to get to know Muslims. Then they would not be susceptible to the silly anti-Muslim propaganda that is floated by some right-wing Christians."

[MarcoPolo]

Sorry Charlie. The moral fabric of this country has become largely unwound and that's what gives government the open door to go bad.

The once strong belief in the existence of God and, indeed, in the existence of the entire Holy Trinity was eroded by people's acceptance of evolution and secular humanism thereby causing the American public to drift away from belief that their rights and freedoms came from God (as the founders believed and stated) and thereby removing the most significant cornerstone of our nation's foundation. This shift has had profound impact on shaping our government's actions since it no longer felt it had to answer to any higher power for its actions.

The Godly ethic of hard work went down the drain, and so people started demanding that their government provide for them, hence the socialistic social programs we have.

The rise of selfishness and the decline in respect for fathers and for the family as a cohesive unit in general has sparked the allowances for no-fault divorces, the breakdown of the American family, and the wholesale abandonment of American children by many of the parents in this nation. Parents instead began leaving it to daycares, foster homes, schools, and television to raise their children. More and more government has taken control of these institutions and thereby taken the authority of raising the children of this nation, and they never teach them the right things.

The ridicule and emasculation of men, and especially fathers, coupled with the demeaning rhetoric against motherhood and femininity, has led to a rise in gender confusion which has been used to convince many, many Americans that they are gay and to accept that lifestyle of death. This of course has led to more and more government intervention on behalf of the evil underbelly's twisted, permuted victims in the name of "gay rights" and the trampling of the rights of the morally opposed persons in our society who do not accept this lifestyle of death.

Again false science and our own selfishness came together to hammer away at our belief in the importance of protecting innocent life. This of course led to the clamor for and the legalization of abortion, a blight on our nation which has only served to eat us out from the core as it was intended to do.

It is quite obvious therefore in light of these things that moral decline is a necessary and inevitable precursor to a decline into tyranny and oppression. If our government is a government "of the people" then it only stands to reason that if the people are morally corrupted then they will bring that corruption with them and govern themselves corruptly.

[LiteKeeper]

Morality is a matter of individual conscience

And that is the heart of the culture war in America - morality is NOT a matter of individual conscience. Morality is based on the Judeo-Christian roots of America. The measure of morality is objective, revealed, and not up to the individual.

If his statement was true, then there would be NO grounds for assessing anyone as "right" or "wrong". There would be no objective standards for determining "evil" and "good." Neither Hitler nor Mother Teresa could be judged for the course of their lives.

That statement is foolish, self-serving, and just plain ignorant!

[KC_for_Freedom]

Attraction to the same sex is not amenable to the law. The attraction will exist whether the law forbids it, allows it or ignores it. The same is true of addiction to chemicals. Fidelity in marriage, faith in a religion, personal honesty, integrity, respect for others, frugality and courage are all beyond the reach of government — and should be.

This is the heart of the libertarian thought. but the government has a vested interest in the stability that marriage between man and woman provides. So it endorses that marriage and provides some government goodies, like social security to widows...

The marriage of homosexuals, however important it is to them is really a part of the democrat coalition list of pet causes. So is more welfare for illegal immigrants. the left has been chipping away at the fabric of this country for a while. Teachers in schools all know how important acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle is. they could lose their jobs if they don't agree. So it goes. Charlie Reese is so very out of touch with what is really happening, and why the moral part of America is correct to enlist in the culture war that he really does not deserve editorial space, and would not get it if it were not for the media being party to the democratic coalition's agenda.

While Charlie may be right that some behavior cannot be a matter for the police, marriage is a public function that requires a public license. The government is involved, whether to issue it or deny it.

[cynicom]

Charley seems not to be able to get it right. He among many other media conservatives have an oblique method of supporting Martha. Bash the government then portray Martha as a victim. They have not the guts to come out and support Martha without hiding behind government bashing. Wes Pruden did the same thing. Cowards