He is Risen!

Happy Easter! Today marks the annual celebration of the day when all relational, social, political, historical, philosophical, and theological questions were answered. Christ not only satisfied the perfect demands of justice where we never could. He not only removed the barrier between mankind and God. He not only submitted Himself to death on our behalf...

He then rose again, defeating death and demonstrating once and for all who he truly is.

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:1-4)

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5)

He is risen!

Friday miscellaneous (4/6)

This was a busy week, so there are lots of links.

Can a case be made for breaking up big banks?

Here’s another good review of The Hunger Games.

President Obama took on the Supreme Court this week. In doing so, he showed ignorance of the concept of judicial review. How could a former constitutional law professor do that? Well, he didn’t teach that part. A former student confirms this.

On a related note, the Constitution’s reputation is improving. (As a law student at a liberal law school, I can confirm this in my own experience. The question “is this constitutional” is being taken more seriously than it used to.)

Dennis Prager observes that conservatives speak liberalese better than liberals speak conservativeese.

Sen. Rubio appears to be trying to soften Romney (and by extension, the Republican party) on immigration. I hope he succeeds.

This is a fascinating story about a DC taxi official who became an FBI informant.

Student loan debt is also hitting senior citizens. Maybe something might be wrong with this system?

Michael Horton gives some very good reminders about how Christians should approach politics. It was prompted by this story.

New evidence has been uncovered that ancient Egyptian civilization made it to California. Oh wait, that’s just the set of the 10 Commandments.

We all know government bureaucracy is bad. But sometimes it gets put in its place.

This is long, but it’s very worth it.

Western religions

The great political ideologies of the twentieth century include liberalism, socialism, anarchism, corporatism, Marxism, communism, social democracy, conservatism, nationalism, fascism, and Christian democracy. They all share one thing in common: they are products of Western civilization. No other civilization has generated a significant political ideology. The West, however, has never generated a major religion. The great religions of the world are all products of non-Western civilizations and, in most cases, antedate Western civilization.

-Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

Will There be a Brokered Convention in Tampa?

I just saw a headline that cited Rick Santorum indicating that a convention floor fight would be good for the Republican Party. That may or may not be true but the truth of the matter is that it will not happen. The math is easy, and there will only be one ballot at the Convention in Tampa.

First, if what people are saying is right and Santorum has a chance to come back, it will take a huge swing. If that were to happen (and it is possible, if not likely), he would have to sweep the remaining states and doing something like that will build such huge momentum that he will have the necessarily delegates at the convention. The swing would have to be that big.

Let's say, however, that Santorum only gets close and Romney somehow fails to make the 1,144 pledged delegates in the last few states. That would mean that the Gingrich and Paul delegates would chose the nominee. I have heard people in both of those camps argue that they will make their play there and that Newt (or Paul) could hold his ground and win.

That is not true. I was enlightened on this by a Karl Rove interview where he explained RNC rule 40. Basically, rule 40 means that only candidates who have the support of a plurality of delegates in 5 or more states will be on the first ballot in Tampa. There will be only two candidates who meet that criteria: Romney and Santorum. That means that there are only two options for the 2,286 delegates to vote for. You don't have to be an election expert to do the math. When there are only two options and only a majority wins, there will be quick work and no run off.

I hope post isn't too heady or political, but a convention battle is not likely. There are over 400 delegates that are unallocated and they will also be fought over, but the bottom line is that the nomination if it is not won outright by a series of strong wins will be won over the phone and in meetings all over the country. Romney and Santorum will be wining and dinning with them because in the end, it will all be decided on the first ballot.

Friday miscellaneous (3/30)

The Democratic Party should soften its stance on abortion; or so says former President Jimmy Carter.

This week was all about healthcare. On Tuesday the Supreme Court heard argument for and against the individual mandate. SCOTUSblog has an excellent summary.

On a similar note, the individual mandate is often considered the cornerstone of Obama’s healthcare bill. But did you know that conceptually it was originally a conservative idea advocated by the Heritage Foundation? Now, to be fair, Heritage changed their mind before the Obama bill adopted the provision, but that’s still a fascinating story of how ideas shift between parties. (And it goes both ways. The PAC was designed in 1943 by labor unions to get around campaign finance restrictions and support FDR.)

Here is another story of a successful business breaking the mold by caring for its employees.

This article at FPR on Burke is worth reading. But for those who don’t click the link, here’s the gem.

This means that those who wish to redeem our politics right now should not be practicing politics, if by that term we mean to designate the holding of office, the deliberation of specific policies, the support of existing institutions – in short, participation in the civic life of America as presently constituted.  What they should be doing instead is the hard intellectual and spiritual work of reflection, raising their minds above the sordid state of affairs surrounding us and searching for a timeless understanding of our essential natures which will serve us in the work of social renewal.  Above all things, they should be turning to the study of literature and poetry, since, as I have argued before here at FPR and elsewhere, it is the study of these things which most effectively helps us to answer the ancient admonition, “know thyself.”

We’ve heard a lot about Romney and Santorum, and even a little about Gingrich. But whatever happened to Ron Paul?

The Paul Ryan budget gives Democrats a solution for the undertaxed rich. For some reason they’re not interested.

And thanks to Jeremiah for reminding me of this.

Let the games...never end

This is Part II of our review of the Hunger Games. Part I is available here.

Book 1 of The Hunger Games trilogy ends with Katniss returning home victorious in the games by virtue of her defiance toward the Capital. According to tradition, the winners remain celebrities in their home districts, where every need is provided for the rest of their lives.

But Collins, and by extension the Capital, couldn’t be that nice. Besides, after the success of the first book, a sequel needed to be written. So the next year, instead of picking new competitors as was typical, the Capital called two prior winners from each district back to compete against each other. Yes, this means Katniss is in the games again.

Unfortunately, Collins exhausted her supply of plot in the first book. So in book two (Catching Fire), once again we have the journey to the capital, the parading in front of ecstatic fans, and the fight to the death in a booby-trapped arena. This time, however, because the reader is attached to more characters, Collins must find a different way to cheat the ending. A previously unmentioned rebellion and deus ex machina (literally - a helicopter swoops down and rescues a group of contestants) achieves that goal.

Book three (Mockingjay) then follows Katniss’ involvement in the ensuing rebellion. Apparently, and previously unknown to her, she is some sort of a figurehead in the effort to overthrow the Capital. However, her former independent spirit and resourcefulness have largely disappeared and she is reduced to pawn in the rebellion. Intent on not being used by the Capital, she is instead used by the rebellion.

And, true to the formulaic pattern of the books, she again faces a booby trapped arena in the form of the Capital itself, which she must navigate street by street with a few loyal followers intent on killing the Capital's president out of revenge. This time, however, the brutal ending is not cheated. Many people are killed, and others disappear, as the Capital falls. By the end Katniss realizes that the rebellion she is fighting for is just as bloodthirsty as the Capital she helped overthrow. Only in the epilogue is she finally recovering--sort of. She returns to her original district and tries to piece a life back together.

So with that synopsis, let’s turn to the analysis.

First, as was probably evident from my intro, Collins’ second two books suffer from a severe lack of new story. And while a repetition model can sometimes work when it is clearly part of a larger plan (such as concentric plot circles, each level bigger to the previous one), that’s not the case here. Collins’ story is still highly engaging, and the reader is rushed along desperate to find out how it ends. But the reader also gets the sense that the author herself doesn’t know where she’s going, so she is simply circling back to kill time while she tries to find a satisfactory ending. Except that Collins has boxed herself into a corner that she is unable to write out of.

The second striking observation is Collins’ apparent increasing disillusionment with Katniss. While she is a strong character (even possibly a role model) in the first book, the second and third books are more about her fall than about the fall of the Capital. There are plenty of other engaging and sympathetic characters, but Katniss is not counted among them. Instead, most of the endearing qualities she had in the first book are shed as she becomes a drugged machine blindly set on revenge. Although the story is told from her perspective, she is increasingly detached and her judgement is clouded.

Which brings me to my next point. The love triangle. Yes, I neglected to mention it in my first post, but in books 2 and 3 it becomes a more central plot point as Katniss’ childhood friend/hunting buddy Gale and her co-competitor from the first games Peeta vie for her heart. In a way, they each represent a part of her dual personality. Gale matches her militant tomboy side, while Peeta reflects her desire for peace and a home. As Gale and Peeta become more and more defined, her personality traits also diverge, leaving her a psychological wreck. She must choose between the two of them, and how she chooses will affect who she is.

So what do we dowith the Hunger Games? In a way, as I argued in the first part of my review, they serve as a profound reflection upon today’s society and the direction it is heading. Book 1 especially made that point clear. But as she kept writing, Collins lost sight of that goal. Rather than critiquing that culture, she bought into its propaganda--pushing the spectacle further and further with more and more gratuitous and senseless deaths. She may be trying to object to a meaningless system of power, but she has nothing better with which to replace it.

Book one ended with Katniss defying the Capital and returning home. Book three also ends with Katniss at home, but this time she is trying to piece together what is left of her psyche and still playing games in her head.

The Hunger Games may be over. The Capital may have fallen.

But the games won.

________
Related articles:
Review of Hunger Games Book 1
Review of Hunger Games Movie