Yeah, blah, blah, etc.  The operative word from the good professor is "courage!"  Why on earth are we so timid?

No quibbling; he has all rights.

What an interesting debate! 

I've concluded that there is a limit to the power of intellectual analysis and that the underlying truth of this issue remains inviolate: life endures and enjoys a God-given aura of protection.  After five web pages of comment and erudite analysis, this is where we end up.  Professor Rahe loves life, but others assign qualifiers or limiting conditions. 

Too bad Larry3435 wouldn't engage. I was eagerly anticipating witnessing him auguring in. 

And, Professor, with heat comes light!  I appreciate your insights.

Hope I don't get thrown off this thread for speaking emotionally-laden truth.

Larry3435,

You ramble without focus.  A rhetorical intellectual veneer doesn't constitute or add to serious matters.   Life defines itself, not you.  Take your "measured discussion" to the leftie blogs.  Or, read Jonah Goldberg.

And, Larry 3435,

I comment on online content about once a month, so don't even try to write me off as a hack or troll.  You really got my dander up.  Let's try truth!  Let's not nestle in comfy rhetoric.

Larry 3435,

You seem the perfect mouthpiece, similar to all those apologists who've existed throughout history, who try to ameliorate the harshness of what is true Fascism.  Such a stream of weasel words.  Don't even begin to argue with me unless you've read and understood Jonah Goldberg's remarkable treatise on Fascism.  Aren't we to never forget!?!?

"Moderation" in the face of unmitigated evil is cowardice!

The  WSJ link is broken.

Ted Cruz or Rand Paul, either, because both are smart and speak about freedom and faithfulness to the Constitution, and because they present well.   Cruz beat the old-line GOP in Texas, and Paul has an admirable libertarian bent.

(Don't be misled by the foolish snipes at Paul and his supposed isolationism.  The reality is that whatever country is the 900 pound economic gorilla is going to lead international influence.   We don't need to brandish swords, drones, or foreign aid  in order to assert our clout and support freedom.)

Trying to be "cool" is so unworthy, fatuous and superficial.  Try being principled.

"Liberals are not some other-world-creatures, they just have a different set of answers, to the same problems that conservatives have. "

Real liberal progressives are in fact other-world creatures.  This quoted sentence embodies the false idea that our ideologies are equivalent in some sense.  No.  The Liberals are espousing the failed answers of the last century, which was drenched in the  blood of patriots defending the ideology of freedom.  Don't try and sell this as a tame comparison of "answers", when it is a fact that Progressive ideas are anti-freedom, morally bankrupt and have always failed.

And, note that insulation from the perception of  a need for firearms derives from a failure to read and understand history, and from a false hope that criminals will choose your neighbor's house, not yours.  Some addict, thief or pervert  is breaking down your door in a home invasion and you're going to just call 911?  Not me.

Get over your high-toned commentary.

So much energy wasted on triviality. We need to focus on the amoral custodian of our presidency.  Quit yammering about minutia and tackle the fight head-on.

Homosexuals by definition are a small and dying breed and don't merit this much discussion when we have actual serious issues to deal with.  DHS buys two billion bullets and we obsess about unimportant issues?  The  Progressives have mastered misdirection and lead us by the nose.  Wake up!

New? Pffffbt!

I quit reading Ramesh about two years ago, much as I appreciate NR.  Muddled thinking disguised as intellectual analysis.  No wonder the NYT publishes him, as a token.  Is he David Brooks, in disguise?

Reagan's wisdom wasn't confined to particular nostrums, but was centered on the basic relationship between citizens and their subservient government.  Rand Paul is the closest we now have speaking similar wisdom.

In another more violent venue, this would be labeled appeasement.  The concept applies if you will accommodate a war metaphor.  Giving any peace and intellectual space to those who seek to undermine our culture will result in defeat and failure.  As a former Scout, it is unimaginable to me that the organization is even listening to tripe from the subculture.  We must be firm and unyielding in our defense of morality and civility.  That most emphatically does not include pandering to those who seek to destroy perfectly useful and desirable organizations such as the BSA.  They stood their ground in San Diego and were victorious in the sense that they are allowed to continue as they have for decades.  Too bad that it must be labeled as a victory, but such are our times; we must join the culture war.  

End of metaphor, and the beginning of concrete, righteous action.  Contact your local Scouting organization, encourage your children to join, and offer support and your voice to oppose those who would dismantle the BSA.

Do not give an inch to the dividers and haters.