Stephen P. White

In Poland, they have a saying: A pessimist is someone who says, "Things can't possibly get any worse!" An optimist is someone who says, "Oh, yes they can!" Given our current circumstances, here are five reasons for optimism.

Today's Democrats are malleable on those moral issues where the Church is firm and they are rigid where the Church is open to debate. This spells trouble for the once-close alliance between Catholic voters and the Democratic Party.

It's been four years since then-Senator Obama's infamous "above my pay grade" remark in response to Pastor Rick Warren's question about human life. Everyone seems to remember Warren's question as "When does human life begin?" But that wasn't the question, and the answer (still) isn't above Obama's pay grade.

Two recent homilies, one by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia and one by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, should remind us that, while political freedom — negative freedom, freedom from coercion — is not sufficient for human excellence, it is vitally important for true human freedom, which is always freedom for truth.

EPPC Fellow Stephen White appeared recently on the Diane Rehm Show (WAMU/NPR) to discuss the ongoing controversy involving the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

The surest road to despotism is for men and women to pass off their own responsibilities of citizenship to "someone else." That should be a warning both to those who expect government to solve our social ills and to those who forget the obligation of everyone to strive for solidarity and the common good in every aspect of their lives.

Attempts to reform the Leadership Conference of Women Religious could prove doubly difficult given the nature of the rift between LCWR and the Vatican.

It's hard to tell what irritates the Catholic Left more: Paul Ryan's proposals for conservative fiscal policies or the fact that he is making a compelling case for those proposals on moral grounds to which the Catholic Left believes it holds exclusive rights.

E.J. Dionne has resorted to angry recriminations against those who oppose President Obama's HHS mandate — a mandate he once opposed on the same grounds as do those he now attacks.

If Republicans want to win this November, they must challenge the liberal myth that conservative policies are a drag on the common good, and the fatuous notion that the only way to form "a more perfect union" is for government to do and spend more.

In its handling of the recent HHS contraception mandate, the Obama administration seems intent on accelerating the transformation of the Democratic Party into the Party of Irreligion.

Republican candidates (at least these days) are good at proposing more liberty and less government, but from the libertarian Ron Paul to the more moderate Mitt Romney, they have failed to make any such appeal beyond the limited grounds of self-interest. That's a mistake.