The Social Conservative Review: December 1, 2011
by
Dec. 1, 2011
Click here to subscribe to the Social Conservative Review.
Dear Friends,
The likeability of a presidential candidate is important to both political parties and to the American people. Some of us will vote less on the content of a candidate's character and convictions than whether or not he seems "nice."
The cover story of this week's Time Magazine is titled, "Why They Don't Like Mitt (Romney)." A Los Angeles Times poll last month found Newt Gingrich to be "one of the least likeable candidates." And in a poll reported by the Des Moines Register, Michele Bachmann was rated as the "least likeable" of the Republican presidential candidates.
During one of the 2008 presidential debates, this exchange occurred between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama:
Then-Senator Hillary Clinton was asked about her deficit of "likeability" and joked that the question hurt her feelings but she would "try to go on." The audience laughed and Clinton , looking over at fellow candidate for the Democratic nomination Barack Obama, admitted "he's very likable - I agree with that." "I don't think I'm that bad," Clinton said, smiling. Obama barely looked up from his notes. "You're likeable enough, Hillary," he said.
In one respect, these perceptions are meaningless: Many of us like people for whom we would not vote for President, and support presidential contenders we might not want for neighbors. Moreover, one person's likeability is another's distaste: Subjective impressions about likeability should be far down the list on our electoral criteria.
Character counts far more than likeability. A person can be winsome, charismatic, and funny, and also be a serial adulterer. On the other hand, someone might be socially stiff and a bit awkward and be an exemplar of sterling virtues. Ideally, we want to be able to support someone both pleasant and principled. But should not principle triumph over a ready smile, if it comes to that?
"A vote is like a rifle," wrote Theodore Roosevelt in his autobiography. "Its usefulness depends upon the character of the user." As each of us thinks and prays about our vote in the 2012 primaries and general election, let's bear in mind that our choices will reflect our own character as much as that of those for whom we vote.
Sincerely,
Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice President
Family Research Council
P.S. It's been two months since the military opened its doors to homosexuality. Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis (USA-Ret.) was a member of the 1993 Pentagon team that wrote the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy. In his new paper Looking Back, Looking Forward: Homosexuality and Military Service, Maginnis details how America's armed forces have become a cultural battleground for advancing the radical gay agenda.
Educational Freedom and Reform
Homeschooling
- "Public School Standards For Homeschoolers," Home School Legal Defense Association
- "Home schooling: a growing trend in East Texas," Jennifer Heathcock, KYTX
Legislation and Policy Proposals
- "Making sense of the whole "Are teachers overpaid?" thing," Rick Hess, Education Week
- "Where are the Christians in Academia?," Qideas
- "Graduation Rates Can Be Predicted More Precisely by Examining Student Characteristics, Report Says," Jennifer Gonzalez, The Chronicle of Higher Education
- "A Plea to College Presidents: Exercise Your Moral Leadership," Cathy N. Davidson, The Chronicle of Higher Education
- "Best and Worst in American Education, 2011," The Hoover Institution
- "Christie makes education reform bills a priority for December," Diane D'Amico, Press of Atlantic City
- "Jury still out on success of Teach for America," Christine Armario, Associated Press
- "Want cheaper tuition? Find religion," Blake Ellis, CNNMoney
Government Reform
Regulation
- "Soup Kitchens and Bureaucrats," Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
- "Obama Office Alters More Federal Rules Than Bush," Ari Shapiro, NPR
Waste/Fraud/Abuse
- "The Obama stimulus: Fighting talking points with talking points," Daniel Rothschild, The Enterprise Blog
- "The Myth of the Wall Street Bailout," Justin Paulette, The Ashbrook Center
- "Supercommittee Ends; Superelection Begins," William Voegeli, The Ashbrook Center
- "The generation that will pay," Emily Belz, WORLD Magazine
Health Care
Abstinence
- "Promiscuity is Like Smoking," Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
- "Wisconsin Senators Pass Controversial Bill Pushing Abstinence Over Contraception in Sex Ed," Fox News
- "More Texas Districts Dropping Abstinence-Only Sex Education," Terrence Stutz, Dallas Morning News
- "The Rhetoric of Chastity: Making Abstinence Sexy," Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Christianity Today
Conscience Protection
- "Hey Nancy Pelosi, Catholics Should Have a Conscience," Krystle Weeks, LifeNews.com
- "Conscience Cause: Will the President Make a Call for Liberty?," Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review Online
- "Pelosi whines about Catholics having "this conscience thing"," Tina Korbe, Hot Air
Health care reform: Political and Legislative efforts
- "Handicapping ObamaCare's Day in Court," Thomas P. Miller, The American
- "The health spending 1 percent," Christopher J. Conover, American Enterprise Institute
- "Natural Rights Trump Obamacare, or Should," Hadley Arkes, First Things
- "Medicare Privatization Push Becoming Bipartisan?," Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
- "Bye-Bye, Berwick," Dr. Milton R. Wolf, The Washington Times
- "Liberating Medicine's New Frontier," Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Paul Howard, City Journal
- "Health-Care Law Violating the Interstate Commerce Clause?," Daniel D., The 1789 Project
Homosexuality
- "UN General Assembly Silent on LGBT Rights," Stephano Gennarinni, The Friday Fax
- "Girl Scouts Hire Lead Singer of 'Queer Rock' Band," Cathy Ruse, National Review Online
- "Counseling student says she was punished by Augusta State U. for her views on homosexuality," Dorie Turner, Associated Press
- "Homosexual activists 'increasingly aggressive': Family Research Council," Thaddeus Baklinski, LifeSiteNews.com
Human Life and Bioethics
Abortion
- "Here's a Good One for the "Dirty Jobs" Show: Health Inspector of Illinois Abortion Clinics," Cathy Ruse, Family Research Council
- "A Snapshot from the House Health Subcommittee Hearing on Obamacare's "Contraceptive Mandate"," Jeanne Monahan, Family Research Council
- "Is the "Good War" Against Abortion, and the "Bad War" Against Gay Marriage?," Timothy Dalrymple, Patheos
- "Why Can't the Constitution Protect Unborn Children?," Hadley Arkes, The Catholic Thing
- "Philosophy, The Handmaid of Judicial Review," Francis Beckwith, The Catholic Thing
- "San Jose Articles Used to Block Right to Abortion in Uruguay," Austin Ruse, The Friday Fax
- "Va. Del. Bob Marshall files anti-abortion bill that grants fertilized human eggs 'personhood'," Associated Press
- "Why contraception mandate should be scrapped," Richard W. Garnett, USA Today
- "Pro-life advocates: Study shows link between breast cancer and abortion; cancer institute: no way," Caroline May, The Daily Caller
- "Behind Romney's change of heart on abortion," Kathleen Parker, The Washington Post
- "Probe: Obama Admin Broke Law to Push Abortion in Kenya," Jeff Sagnip and Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com
Bioethics and Biotechnology
- "Medical Advances Won't End AIDS Without Behavioral Change," Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council
- "Science Meets Divinity," John Couretas, The Acton Institute
- "When Does a Human Begin," Gerard M. Nadal, Coming Home blog
Euthanasia and End of Life Issues
- "Campaign Life Coalition to Canadians: act now to stop euthanasia before it's too late," Thaddeus Baklinski, LifeSiteNews.com
Stem Cell Research
To read about the latest advances in ethical adult stem cell research, keep up with leading-edge reports from FRC's Dr. David Prentice, click here.
- "Adult Stem Cells: the power of placenta," Dr. Peter Saunders, National Right to Life
- "UC Davis to test stem cell therapy to regenerate lumbar discs," HealthCanal.com
- "Stem cells: Research funding and the 2012 elections," Eryn Brown, The Los Angeles Times
Human Trafficking
- "Victims Twice Over: Sex-Trafficked Women Are The Real Losers In The Obama Administration's Decision To Cut USCCB Grant," Jeanne Monahan, NJToday
- "Sex-Trafficking Victims Further Victimized by Stubbornly Radical Obama HHS," Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review Online
- "Kathleen Sebelius' Gruesome Moral Calculus," Steven Wagner, National Catholic Register
Women's Health
- "Planned Parenthood lies about itself," Catherine Anthony Adair, The Washington Examiner
Marriage and Family
Adoption
- "25 states now offering pro-life tags," Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow
- "Adoption brings gift of hope in time for Christmas," Robyn Sanders, The Baylor Lariat
Family Economics
- "America's Gerontocracy," Samuel Gregg, The Acton Institute
- "Signs of life," Warren Cole Smith, WORLD Magazine
- "Recession hits families hard as half of Americans fear they won't be able to do their holiday shopping," Meghan Keneally, The Daily Mail
- "A Tax Code for Tomorrow," Josh Barro, City Journal
- "Is There a Retirement Crisis?," Nicole Gelinas, City Journal
Family Structure
- "Is Protecting Marriage Good or Bad for Business?," Tom McClusky, The Cloakroom
- "Study: Intact Married Families Build Strong Nations," Amanda Winkler, The Christian Post
- "One in six cohabiting as marriage rate declines," Victoria Ward, The London Daily Telegraph
- "Bad Economy Saving Marriages," Ken West, The News & Advance
Media
Pornography
- "Supreme Court refuses to resolve confusion over child pornography law," Warren Richey, The Christian Science Monitor
- "Link between child porn and sex abuse 'frightening and powerful'," Emiley Morgan, The Deseret News
- "Live Bold Magazine -- Helping Men Escape Addiction to Pornography," Christian News Wire
- "Escaping pornography," Mike Doyle, The Briefing
Internet
- "What the Healthcare Industry Can Learn From Technology Start-Ups," David A. Shaywitz, The Atlantic
- "Internet Freedom and Intellectual Property," Robinson O'Brien-Bours, The Ashbrook Center
Religion and Public Policy
Religious Liberty
- "Civil Religion in America Then and Now," Margarita A. Mooney, First Things
- "What's So Special About Religious Freedom?," Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs
- "2012 Presidential Hopefuls Urged to Sign a 'Pledge for Religious Freedom'," Patrick Goodenough, CNSNews.com
- "Christian groups finding hostility at colleges," Leigh Jones, Baptist Press
Religion in America
- "With Malice toward None, with Charity for All," Chris Marlink, Family Research Council
- "The King James Bible and its Unmatched Influence," Ray Nothstine, The Acton Institute
- "The optimist club," Janie B. Cheaney, WORLD Magazine
Secularism
- "Intelligent Design: Atheists to the Rescue," Howard Kainz, First Things
International
Israel
- "Calling Things by Their Proper Names," Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post
- "Stopping Iran," Caroline Glick, Center for Security Policy
International Economy and Family
- "Corporate Social Responsibility: New EU Strategy Threatens U.S. and European Companies," Andrew W. Markley, The Center for Vision and Values
- "Will the eurozone collapse? Here's what might happen next," James Pethokoukis, The Enterprise Blog
Religious Persecution
- "Minority report," Jill Nelson, WORLD Magazine
- "Vatican Cardinal Burke: 'We're well on the way' to Christian persecution in the U.S.," John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews.com
- "The Political Persecution of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff," Ned May, FrontPageMag.com
- "Senate Grants USCIRF a Stay of Execution Until December," Mark Hensch, The Christian Post
Sharia law -- U.S., foreign
- "'It Is a New Day for My Sons'," Ambassador Richard S. Williamson, The American
- "The Costs of Containing Iran: More Than the U.S. Is Bargaining For," American Enterprise Institute
- "Islamic Fundamentalism in the U.K.," Joe Carter, First Things
The Courts
Constitutional Issues
- "Professor Tribe's Will to Power," Richard Adams, The Ashbrook Center
- "When Clarence Thomas Came for a Visit," Dr. Mark W. Henderson, The Center for Vision and Values
- "What Is Constitutional Conservatism?," Yuval Levin, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Judicial Activism
- "The ABA Has Secretly Declared Many Obama Judicial Nominees "Not Qualified"," Justin Shubow, The Federalist Society
Other News of Note
- "Occupy Wall Street: A Perspective," Alex Marcus, Family Research Council
- "Blue Laws and Black Friday," Jordan Ballor, The Acton Institute
- "Losing our Language," Ann Voskamp, Qideas
- "The Refreshing Seriousness of Tim Tebow," Kevin Craft, The Atlantic
Book reviews
- "Why We Should Call Ourselves Christian," Joseph Wood, The Catholic Thing
- "Amiable Atheism," R. J. Snell, First Things
- "Treadmill complexities," Marvin Olasky, WORLD Magazine
- "The Boitnott Doctrine," Mark Helprin, The Claremont Review of Books
- "The Bubble President," Nicole Gelinas, City Journal