On the Use and Abuse of the Constitution for Life

Annoying but popular Wall Street Journal op-ed piece on how our next census will be unconstitutional because it's going to count illegal aliens. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970204908604574332950796281832.html

My letter to the Wall Street Journal that's never going to be printed regarding an obvious problem with the viewpoint:

Mr. Baker's and Mr. Stonecipher's conclusory statement that Congressional representation based on a census of non-citizens is unconstitutional runs afoul the of the Constitution as originally written. The original Constitution explicitly provided for proportional congressional representation based, in part, on a census of non-citizens. That is precisely what the infamous "three fifths clause" provided for by allowing the southern slave states to count three fifths of their slave populations towards their representation in the House of Representatives. And as Chief Justice Roger Taney made clear in his decision in Dred Scott, slaves were not entitled to the rights of citizenship and were considered mere chattel. While I agree in principle that only citizens should be counted when it comes to congressional representation, it is far from clear to me that counting non-citizens towards representation is unconstitutional when the original constitution allowed for representation based on a tally of what was then considered property.

Religion is the Ultimate Materialism

When was the last time you saw a priest going hungry? Or lacking a roof over his/not her head? Just what exactly is the net worth of the Catholic Church? Or the net income produced by the Haj and the revenue stream generated by the merchants of Mecca since before Islam even existed (back when Mecca was a pagan pilgrimage site)? When was the last time you saw a destitute religious leader?

Yet a major critique by theists of atheism is that it leads to materialism. Ignoring for a moment that this doesn't logically follow because I can easily think of a couple of non-materialist philosophies that are consistent with atheism such as solipsism or Cartesian dualism, my response is essentially that the pot is calling the kettle black here. Religion is the ultimate form of materialism. That's why its so obsessed with controlling matters on earth. Why, if we are alive but a fleeting moment in relation to the eternity of heavenly reward promised true believers, are so many true believers fanatical about controlling those who do not share their beliefs? After all, according to the dominate religion in my part of the world, I'm going to burn in agony forever once I die because I'm an unbeliever.

I think the answer is a simple one: what the true believer is really trying to advance is their own material interest under the guise of some ethereal moral order that conveniently meets their earthly interests. This is why religion is also a form of hypocrisy. It cloaks its real concerns under an unverifiable, unquestionable, amorphous absolute that advances its material goals. It says it hates materialism when really that's the name of its game.

Finally, just what exactly is wrong with materialism? It feeds my family and adds value to my community as I pay my taxes, contribute to charity, improve my property and the like. Spiritualism feeds no one and is open to attack as a form of self indulgent hedonistic solipsism. And don't even get me started on the intellectual vacuity of the view that without God there is no morality, spirituality or "meaning." But that's another discussion.