Principle Perspective Archive

THE WORKERS IN THE VINEYARD A parable takes a commonly-understood truth and uses it as a foundation (or a principle) to explain some other truth.  In other words, it takes what the audience already understands and then uses this understanding to explain something the audience does not understand. In Matthew 20, the parable of the workers in the vineyard teaches … Read More

Obamacare: A Constitutional Analysis In 2012, IPS commented on the 5-4 Supreme Court decision in which the Affordable Care Act was upheld. Those words of the past are eerily relevant to today’s decision that once again upholds socialized medicine in America. Below is our article from 2012 on the previous Court decision. Supreme Court decision: What did we expect? When … Read More

War and the Constitution In modern America, there is considerable confusion about the constitutional requirements related to matters of war. Some people believe that the Constitution gives the President extremely broad power in warmaking decisions, while others contend that the Constitution severely limits that power. Sadly, the majority of Americans simply don’t care what the Constitution says. Most Americans are … Read More

Rethinking Taxation Death and taxes may be inevitable in life, but this fact doesn’t excuse us from our responsibilities to handle both of these eventualities in a prudent and judicious manner. Our legal system endeavors to establish clear, cautious standards for dealing with issues of life and death—our procedure for trying a capital crime being just one example. In like … Read More

Unions & Collective Bargaining: Is There a Simple Answer? An individual walks into a place of business seeking employment. The owner of the business and the job seeker interview each other, and both decide that an employment relationship may be to the benefit of each. They enter into negotiations over compensation and arrive at a mutual agreement on services to … Read More

The Freedom Movement Manifesto Note to Readers: While the following article is addressed specifically to the Tea Party movement, the principles discussed here are relevant to every organization and movement in support of a cause. One of the most frequently-asked political questions of our day is, “What will come of the Tea Party movement?” Both the left and the right seem … Read More

Negative Interest Rates If you have seen bank advertisements for CD rates, or if you have called your local bank or broker lately, you know that interest rates are abysmal. As I write this, Ally Bank is touting their 2-year certificate of deposit at a rate of 1.78%—I guess that is supposed to be a good deal these days. More … Read More

Read Us Our Rights One of the most important and fundamental principles of government involves a question of origins—not the origin of the species, but the origin of rights. It is difficult to discuss any aspect of government without addressing some question about rights. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy insightfully explains the importance and centrality of our understanding of rights: … Read More

Health Care in America The following article was originally published in early 1994. At the time that he wrote this article, Mike Winther was the Executive Director of the Society for Handicapped, a California based charity. Although this article was written over a decade ago, we feel that it is still timely and relevant to the health care crisis that … Read More