Political philosophy
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Precedent and Democracy
“Long-standing” precedent is generally regarded as more authoritative than one of recent vintage. But there is reason to question that assumption, too. The more ancient a rule, the more likely it is that the reasons that made it sensible or good (whatever one’s criteria for the goodness of legal rules!) at the time it crystallized… Continue reading
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Eux non plus
Je voudrais revenir sur le sujet de la laïcité des représentants de l’État, dont j’ai déjà énormément parlé en lien avec la « Charte des valeurs québécoises » proposée par le gouvernement du Québec. Un aspect du débat qui entoure cette proposition que je n’ai pas abordé jusqu’à présent, c’est l’existence d’un assez large consensus… Continue reading
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L’intention ne compte pas
J’ai reçu, évidemment, des critiques pour mon billet soulignant la ressemblance entre le projet de « Charte des valeurs » du gouvernement péquiste et la Loi sur la restauration de la fonction publique nazie, qui chassait les Juifs (et les opposants politiques) de la fonction publique allemande. La plus sérieuse de ces critiques, qui mérite une réponse, est… Continue reading
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Histoire des deux chartes
Dans sa démarche de propagande pour nous faire avaler sa « Charte des valeurs », le gouvernement du Québec la compare souvent à la Loi 101, la Charte de la langue française. L’argument est que les deux Chartes sont semblables en ce qu’elles sont nécessaires et, surtout, en ce que, bien qu’extrêmement controversées au départ,… Continue reading
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Collateral Damage
Religious liberty is in danger; protections that were, not long ago, taken for granted, is now at risk of being swept away by a rising tide of hostility to the claims of believers not only to have a right to worship as they see fit, but also to live their lives in accordance with the… Continue reading
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How Power Corrupts II
In my last post, I used The Lord of the Rings to explore the meaning of Lord Acton’s dictum ― “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” There is another novel, similar in many ways, though perhaps not superficially, to The Lord of the Rings, from which we might also learn something about… Continue reading
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How Power Corrupts
Over at Bleeding Heart Libertarians, Bas van der Vossen has a post asking what is it exactly that we mean when we say, with Lord Acton, that “[p]ower corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” As he shows, the meaning of Lord Acton’s dictum is not quite clear. Prof. van der Vossen suggests three possibilities ―… Continue reading
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Freedom and Institutions
The who study the question of religious freedom often wonder why it should benefit and protect not only individual believers, but also religious institutions. Application of religious freedom to institutions such as the Catholic Church―institutions which, needless to say, are not often themselves models of internal liberalism, equality, or democracy―generates a good deal of criticism.… Continue reading
