Icee Dems

Waaay too good to keep to myself. (For those who tried earlier, sorry about the malfuction. This video is NOT about chipmucks, though they can be very funny, too.)

(HT: My Name is Simacha)

Supreme Court Round-up

This past week the Supreme Court has wrapped up this year's term and announced several rulings. Interestingly, the vast majority of the rulings were 5-4 decisions, with are five Catholic judges banning together to bring back some sanity to the U.S. high court. Some of the highlights:


*Faith-based Initiative Win: In Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation, the Court ruled that a group of atheist taxpayers did not have standing to sue the federal government to stop using tax dollars for faith-based welfare programs.

*Political Speech Win: In Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, the Court ruled in favor of the Wisconsin Right to Life. The ruling found that restrictions placed by the McCain-Feingold campaign finance act of 2002 on the organization's ability to air ads using a candidate's name within certain time limits before elections violated their right to free speech.

*"Bong Hits for Jesus": In Morse v. Frederick, the Court ruled that a school superintendent did indeed have the right to punish a student for holding up a "Bong Hits for Jesus" sign at a school function.

*School Segregation: In two separate cases, jointly decided, the Court ruled that school integration programs could not use race, except in limited circumstances, to decide who would be assigned to a school. Writing the majority opinion, Chief Justice Roberts stated, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

P.T.Y. (Pretty Young Thing)

Since I'm generally feeling like something the cat dragged in these days, it was quite an ego-boost to find out that I am actually three years younger than I thought. According to longetivity expert and Oprah guest, Dr. Michael Roizen, my chronologically age may be 27, but my real age is a young 24!

Take the Real Age Test yourself. I mean, if it's on Oprah, it must be true!

What gets me through the morning sickness...

knowing that I'm creating another baby that will be this cute!

Homeschooling Update

Today's the day for updates, I guess. A few months ago, I posted on a great article by Sally Thomas in First Things on homeschooling. She just wrote a follow-up article responding to many critical responses she received on her first article. The basic criticism is that Christians have a responsibility to be "salt and light" to the world and that by leaving public schools, they are abandoning that responsibility. She responds beautifully.

BRJ Update

I haven't done a BRJ update in sometime....because, miracle of miracles, the war has been won! And even more miraculous, Momma won! Paul has not had a cup of Big Red Juice for almost a week now. And some people don't believe in miracles.

Of course, we needn't talk about Paul's current chocolate milk intake.

This ain't polite society...so let's talk politics and religion!

So I've been spending some time over at a new Catholic blog on culture, society, and politics called Vox Nova. It tends a bit left-leaning (well, maybe more than a bit), but it interesting to read and comment on. While I often find myself in disagreement on many issues with the authors of this blog, they are certainly devout Catholics who are attempting to live out the teachings of the Church. Today a contributor to the blog posted a lengthy discussion of the Welfare State, poverty, and Catholic Social teaching. In this post, the author generally upholds the benefits of the welfare systems in Europea, mostly Nordiac, countries based on the low poverty rates in these countries. He laments:

Sadly, too many in the US dismiss the welfare state as an outdated relic from socialist Europe, often for the reasons enunciated by Alesina-Glaeser-Sacerdote, ignoring the plight of the poor in their own country. And Catholics will routinely dismiss a core aspect of Catholic social teaching as mere prudential judgment. As I've said a million times by now, prudential judgment is not a license to ignore, but the application of Catholic teaching to changing concrete facts and circumstances. In terms of addressing poverty, there is more than one solution, but there needs to be some solution.

Needless to say to my readers, I had a few comments to this post. Through the Church’s teaching on the universal destination of goods and the preferential option for the poor, one can make a Catholic case for the creation of a Welfare State. However, I think one can also make a strong Catholic case against the creation of the Welfare State on the principle of subsidiarity. In the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, the Church teaches:

The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to certain forms of centralization, bureaucratization, and welfare assistance and to the unjustified and excessive presence of the State in public mechanisms. ‘By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending.’ An absent or insufficient recognition of private initiative — in economic matters also — and the failure to recognize its public function, contribute to the undermining of the principle of subsidiarity, as monopolies do as well.

I think this is may be what the author at Vox Nova was referring to as a “culture of dependency.” When the State takes on the tasks better performed by individuals, families, associations, charities, and lower levels of government, the results are detrimental to the dignity of the human person and the fabric of civil society. As a Catholic, I am opposed to the creation of large welfare programs at the national level here in the US because I think they violate the principle of subsidiarity. It better serves the dignity of the poor AND the growth in virtue for the whole of society to address poverty issues at the local level, by both private associations and public entities, when needed. The preferential treatment of the poor needs to be maintained; I simply do not think the Church is often calling the federal government to do the heavy lifting. It is primarily calling on individuals, families, parishes, charities, and the numerous civic associations created by civil society to do the majority of the work.

The Compendium goes on to say that:

Various circumstances may make it advisable that the State step in to supply certain functions. One may think, for example, of situations in which it is necessary for the State itself to stimulate the economy because it is impossible for civil society to support initiatives on its own. One may also envision the reality of serious social imbalance or injustice where only the intervention of the public authority can create conditions of greater equality, justice and peace. In light of the principle of subsidiarity, however, this institutional substitution must not continue any longer than is absolutely necessary, since justification for such intervention is found only in the exceptional nature of the situation.

To me, this seems to further the notion that the creation of a Welfare State at the national level is not the de facto “Catholic” response. There certainly are exceptional situations which call for the involvement of the federal government (for example here in the US, the end of slavery, the Great Depression, national disasters, etc.). However, the Church urges the end of these state interventions as soon as possible.

The statistics offered by the author are extremely interesting, but there are other statistics to consider. Firstly, the size of the countries he upholds as examples: Denmark has a population of 5.3 million (less than 21 of US states); Sweden has a population of 9 million (close to the population of NYC); the Netherlands have a population of 16.5 (still less than 4 US states). The US has a population of about 302 million. To create a Welfare State in these smaller nations is a much less gross violation of subsidiarity than would be here in the US simply because they are already smaller government entities. Therefore, the people are “closer” to their national governments because their governments are so much smaller. I would have much less of a problem with an individual state in the US setting up significant welfare programs rather than the US national government for this very reason.

There is true wisdom in the Church’s principle of subsidiarity. National solutions to economic issues in the US attempt to impose a one-size-fits-all solution on widely varying local economies, geographies, societies, and cultures. The problems facing the immigrant communities in Southern California are vastly different than those facing out-of-work manufacturing workers in Michigan and Ohio or those in the impoverished areas of the Deep South. Better solutions can be found on the local level where the people actually understand the nature of the problem and understand the solutions that would work best in their communities.

In addition, I believe finding answers to poverty and other social ills at the local level leads to a greater growth in virtue for the populace as a whole. A nationalized Welfare State can lead citizens to reduce their contribution to society to paying taxes and, possibly, voting. One sees this phenomenon in the very low charitable giving rates throughout Europe. In fact, the higher the social security contribution per person in a country, the lower the rate of charitable giving. (See http://www.efc.be/ftp/public/cpi/Newsletter_Jan07/InternationalGivinghighlights.pdf)
For example, the charitable giving rate in the US is 4 times higher than that in the Netherlands as percentage of GDP. Interestingly, charitable giving does not seem to be tied to taxation rates, but to the size of the Welfare State. It seems that a Welfare State can lead people to believe it is the government’s job to care for the poor, not their own responsibility. Little is accomplished if a decrease in economic poverty simply results in spiritual poverty. Implementing solutions to poverty on the lowest level possible helps counteract this tendency since the people are more immediately involved in the situation.

In conclusion, there has been a lot of dismissive posting about “prudential” judgment lately on Vox Nova. I think it is not as easy as that. The Church Social Doctrine is simple in many ways – based simply on the reality of Jesus Christ – but putting it into practice is often not simple. Different cultures, economies, and political entities have different need, different difficulties. Solutions are not one-size-fits-all, which is exactly what Church Social Doctrine is not. It is based on respect for the dignity of each human person. Each human person needs Christ, but Christ is often revealed to each person in a different way. Is it hard to accept that different societies may seek to live out Catholic Social Doctrine in different ways?

Save the Date

Check out this great new website founded by Steve Dillard: Catholics Against Rudy. It opens officially on July 4th. I've already marked my calendar.

A Namesake Already

Momma: "Paul, Momma has a baby in her tummy."

Paul, pointing to his tummy: "Paul has baby in Paul's tummy."

Suddenly, Paul pulls his imaginary baby out of his belly button and begins rocking it in his arms. If only childbirth was really so easy.

Momma: "Paul, what is your baby's name?"

Paul, thoughtful for a moment: "Momma."

Aww, my first namesake.

Lucky Readers

Today is your lucky day. I've decided to give a special reward to my faithful readers. You certainly deserve it, considering you put up with my meaningless ramblings, brazen bragging about my kiddos, and sad attempts at humor.

Today your everlasting patience will be rewarded. The Bremberg family has some exciting news, and I am posting it here first - a whole day before a send out the mass e-mail! You will be in the know a whole day early. Make sure you lord it over our other friends.

Andrew and I are expecting our third child! (Cue confetti, balloons, trumpets, all types of fanfare.) We feel very blessed and excited. All the world should, too. Another too-cute Bremberg baby is on its way!

You know it's been a long week when...

you could feed a third world village for a week with the food you just swept up off the kitchen floor.

Some more beautiful women...

Miss Piggy

I'm sure this is one of those pics she's going to hate me for in her teenage years. But I just have to share that lil' piggy nose!

Poor Stay-at-Home Mom for Hire...Let me help you do your part for the plant!

(HT: Simcha)