The Lone Conservative Weekly: January 23, 2022
Where we wonder what in the world Biden is thinking.
Dear reader,
We hope you are recovering well from Covid (because everyone got Omicron, right?).
Earlier this month, there was an internal debate among Lone Conservative contributors regarding the constitutionality of capital punishment. While Russell Kitsis and Ethan Mackler both subscribe to the doctrine of originalism, they disagree about whether the Constitution forbids the death penalty. Kitsis argues that the framers of the Constitution intended for the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment to be malleable. Responding to Kitsis’ piece, Mackler contends that the text of the Eighth Amendment neither prohibits nor mandates the use of capital punishment.
As President Biden emulates Jimmy Carter at home and Neville Chamberlain abroad, he gave a disgraceful press conference last week where he suggested a “minor incursion” by Russia into Ukraine may not be punished severely by the United States or our allies. The comments, which come at a time when 100,000 Russian troops have been stationed at Ukraine’s border and Ukrainian government websites have been hacked, were so egregious that many saw it as giving the green light to Putin for an invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took the rare step of rebuffing an American president’s comments, saying, “There are no minor incursions.” With our nation and president preparing to fail in our responsibilities as the leader of the free world just as we did in Afghanistan, we should all have the people of Ukraine in our prayers, for they are facing a menacing tyranny, and may be forced to face it alone.
This week, several prominent Democrats have, in one way or another, cast doubt on the legitimacy of future elections. In response to recent state-led election reforms, Democrats want to declare voting security measures “racist” and declare any future elections that don’t go their way illegitimate, just as they have since 2016. In their Friday article, The Editors of National Review argue that in their attempts to cast doubt on the fairness of our elections, Democrats want to “lay the foundation for an assault on our traditions of governance.”
Peggy Noonan is not prone to exaggerated prose. Anyone who reads her columns for the Wall Street Journal knows they are paragons of assertive yet sober opinion. So readers should listen when she calls President Biden’s Georgia speech a “disaster” and a “break point.” Biden’s speech was indeed “aggressive, intemperate,” and “meant to offend.” It was a speech that equated any who oppose his voting bill to the racists of generations past who hoped to thwart civil rights. The day after the speech was given, Mitch McConnel said he “did not recognize” the Joe Biden who delivered it. We agree.
Here are the rest of the best from our pages:
They Can Hear Music – A Children’s Book Sends a Pro-Life Message by Sophia Corso
Democrats Take a Step Back on COVID by Dace Potas
Vaccine Passports and the Age of Digital Totalitarianism by Erin Van Natta
Warmly,
The Newsletter Team