Containment Is Not Enough

Vali Nasr and Ray Takeh on Iran:

Iran is not, despite common depictions, a messianic power determined to overturn the regional order in the name of Islamic militancy; it is an unexceptionally opportunistic state seeking to assert predominance in its immediate neighborhood. Thus, the task at hand for Washington is to create a situation in which Iran will find benefit in limiting its ambitions and in abiding by international norms.

Dialogue, compromise, and commerce, as difficult as they may be, are convincing means. An acknowledgment by the U.S. government that Tehran does indeed have legitimate interests and concerns in Iraq could get the two governments finally to realize that they have similar objectives: both want to preserve the territorial integrity of Iraq and prevent the civil war there from engulfing the Middle East.

The Limits Of Judicial Restraint

Rod Dreher sees past them:

We pro-lifers have placed so much stock in getting the right justices in place to overturn Roe that we have forgotten, or seemed to have done, that all overturning Roe would do is leave abortion policy up to the states — most of which would take about two days to restore Roe’s protections.

Culturally conservative voters need to get beyond the assumption that creating a culture of life — and indeed, a culture built around the values of duty and obligation, not autonomy and choice — depends wholly on the judiciary, and instead and "to begin doing the hard work of cultivation." I agree with this, which is why, taking the long view, I am far more hopeful about extrapolitical work of cultural renewal.

The Poop Theory Of Life

Filling in the evolutionary gaps:

The rapidity of speciation has perplexed generations of scientists, among them Darwin himself, who devoted a whole chapter to the Cambrian in On the Origin of Species and considered it a potential objection to his theory of evolution. Darwin eventually concluded that the Cambrian’s evolutionary divergences started earlier, but left no trace in the fossil record. Stephen Jay Gould called it "the most remarkable and puzzling event in the history of life."

What’s at the heart, then, of this most remarkable and puzzling event? Poop, says [geoscientist Graham] Logan.

“Theo-Democracy”

The first Mormon candidate for the presidency of the United States was Joseph Smith himself. Here’s his pitch:

Smith directly pushed what he called "theodemocracy," the blending of religious belief and democracy. And his campaign was rooted entirely within the church that he founded; at the April 1844 LDS general conference, 244 church elders heeded the call to volunteer for Smith’s campaign.

Hundreds of Mormons traveled the United States to spread the word not just of Smith’s prophesies but his candidacy; many of them met with angry mobs and violence.

"There is not a nation or a dynasty now occupying the Earth which acknowledges almighty God as their lawgiver," Smith told the Neighbor newspaper in Nauvoo, Ill., where he and his church brethren were then headquartered. "I go emphatically, virtuously, and humanely, for a theodemocracy, where God and the people hold the power to conduct the affairs of men in righteousness."

A Rudyite Responds To Romney

"To be blunt, Romney is saying:

It is legitimate to ask a candidate, "Is Jesus the son of God?"

But it is illegitimate to ask a candidate, "Is Jesus the brother of Lucifer?"

It is hard for me to see a principled difference between these two questions, and I think on reflection that the audiences to whom Romney is trying to appeal will also fail to see such a difference. Once Romney answered any question about the content of his religious faith, he opened the door to every question about the content of his religious faith. This speech for all its eloquence will not stanch the flow of such questions," – David Frum, NRO.