It appears that the first order of business will be for the GOP to decide how best to use their new mandate. Will they pursue a path of compromise as articulated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, or will they embrace the attitude expressed by Senator Ted Cruz, who pronounced an end to the era of Obama before a crowd of cheering constituents? What’s more, if the GOP does decide to strike a conciliatory tone, is there much common ground to be found?

Clearly, something has gone awry in the City of Brotherly Love. That so many police officers cannot be trusted to exercise their authority with integrity and discretion indicates a serious failure of both leadership and individual character. A police department with such massive problems cannot possibly be effective and most certainly cannot be trusted, and is emblematic of a nation that is quickly losing faith in its institutions.

We need a sensible, pragmatic, and effective sentencing process. As with so many failed policies hanging around America’s neck like so many millstones, the current system is a result of politics being put ahead of practical wisdom. It is possible to be tough on crime, to protect the American people from the bad guys while using our limited resources wisely and effectively.

Marriage still matters. Historically, marriage – marriage between one man and one woman – has been the foundation of civil society. It is this unique relationship that has produced children, secured the inter-generational transmission of values, provided a solid foundation for the economy and security for women and children, etc. Marriage is and always has been more than the sum of its parts, more than a mere social convention.

Since law tends to be a reflection of culture, it is incumbent upon policy makers to understand the implications of embracing the “right to die” movement wholesale. They will also do well to remember that the idea that there are some lives “not worth living” undergirded Adolph Hitler’s Aryan-supremacy world view. His policy of eliminating the “unworthy” began with the mentally handicapped and physically disabled but spread to millions of Jews.

Recently, secular liberals have adopted a new tactic. Rather than continue our public debates, some secular liberals have decided to take a different route — attacking the very foundations of Christian institutions. In this assault, they have been aided and abetted by the current administration.

A great problem in our modern culture is our lack of connection to our neighbors. This is particularly troubling when we see it among Christian conservatives. Of all religious and political combinations, Americans claiming to be both Christian and conservative ought to be immensely other-oriented. After all, for the Christian, the second greatest commandment is “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

In today’s culture we are constantly cajoled about the need to concern ourselves with “niche interests” and to demonstrate acceptance for those who choose to live “outside the norm.” Unless, that is, the different characteristic is Down syndrome.

The first week of the McDonnell corruption trial has concluded, and if the testimony thus far is any indication, things aren’t looking good for the defendants. Regardless of the ultimate guilt of innocence of the Governor and his wife, the facts of the case reveal the unsavory influence that power and celebrity can have on individuals and families and of the insidious relationship between money and power in the world of politics.

If ever a federal agency has made ineptitude into an art form, it has to be the IRS. After months of stonewalling and grandstanding and Fifth Amendment privilege-pleading before congressional committees, Lois Lerner and the IRS are now the subject of a federal lawsuit. In response to charges that they unfairly impeded the tax-exempt application of the organization “True the Vote,” for political reasons, the IRS is invoking “the dog ate my homework” defense.