The connection between law and politics

Antonio P. Contreras

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BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE TELL ME THAT AS A POLITICAL SCIENTIST, I HAVE NO BUSINESS TALKING ABOUT THE LAW BECAUSE I AM NOT A LAWYER

The connection between law and politics is deep and intricate. Far from being separate worlds, the two constantly shape, constrain, and legitimize each other. Here is how this relationship is usually framed, and why a political scientist like me is not only allowed but in fact well-placed to venture into legal issues:

1. Law and Politics as Interdependent Domains

*Law as a product of politics: Most laws come from political processes. Legislatures enact statutes; executives issue regulations; and even constitutions themselves are political compacts, written in the context of historical power struggles. Courts may claim neutrality, but their composition, jurisdiction, and procedures are shaped by political bargains.

*Politics as constrained by law: Once enacted, laws define boundaries for political action. Constitutional provisions, electoral laws, and anti-corruption statutes, for example, impose limits on what politicians and public officials can do. In other words, politics operates inside a legal framework.

*Law as a legitimizing force: The authority of political decisions often depends on their legality. Political power that ignores law tends to be delegitimized, while law gives a veneer (or a reality) of stability and fairness.

2. Why Political Scientists Study Law

Because legal institutions are political creations and arenas, legal issues cannot be separated from political analysis. The fields of public law, constitutional politics, judicial politics, and law & society explicitly examine law as a political phenomenon. Political scientists study:

*How courts influence policy (judicialization of politics).

*How constitutions are interpreted and used as political weapons.

*How impeachment, martial law, electoral rules, and administrative law operate as mechanisms of political control.

*The role of legal discourse in framing political struggles.

In short, political scientists can and should study legal issues. We must, because law is a critical part of the political system.

3. Distinction Between Legal Doctrine and Political Analysis

The caution is this:

*Lawyers focus on doctrinal reasoning: interpreting statutes, precedents, and applying them to cases.

*Political scientists focus on the structural and behavioral dynamics: why certain doctrines emerge, how courts behave, and what power relations drive legal outcomes.

When a political scientist engages legal issues, it is not to give legal advice, but to analyze law as an institution, as discourse, and as a political process. This difference of perspective is our strength.

4. Advantages of a Political Scientist’s Perspective

*Contextualization: We can situate legal rules in their broader historical and institutional setting.

*Critical Distance: We are less constrained by internal legal reasoning and can question how “neutral” doctrines actually serve power.

*Interdisciplinarity: We can integrate sociology, political theory, and history with legal analysis, revealing patterns lawyers might miss.

5. When Political Scientists Cross into Legal Scholarship

Many respected scholars have done so. Fields like constitutional design, judicial politics, international law, and law & development are populated by political scientists, not lawyers. For example: Alexander Bickel, Sanford Levinson, and Ran Hirschl (political scientists) shaped debates in constitutional law. International relations scholars deeply influence international law on war, treaties, and global governance.

Conclusion

Law and politics are inseparable. Law is politics in institutionalized form, and politics often plays out in the language of law. As a political scientist, I am on solid ground in venturing into legal issues—especially if I approach them with the distinct methods and perspectives of political science. I am not replacing the work of lawyers. I am expanding the understanding of how law functions as an instrument of power, a site of contestation, and a product of political process.

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A Holy and Imperfect Family

Tuesday, July 29, 2025 Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus Readings for Today

Jesus raises Lazarus by Lawrence OP, license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Video Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” John 11:19–22 Today’s memorial is relatively new within our Church. In the year 2021, Pope Francis replaced the Memorial of Saint Martha with this memorial in honor of all three siblings: Martha, Mary and Lazarus. In commenting on the reason for this new memorial, the Congregation for Divine Worship stated: “Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words, and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of the One who humiliated death.” Furthermore, these three siblings gave an evangelical witness to us all. They model for us how to be Christians within our imperfections. They did this by welcoming Jesus into their home, by listening to Him attentively, and by believing that He is the Resurrection and the Life. These three siblings each had their own unique personality and loved Jesus in their own way. Though not much is said about Lazarus' personal interactions with Jesus, we do have some helpful insights into both Martha and Mary. In one Gospel story, Martha complained to Jesus that her sister left her to do all the cooking. Jesus gently corrected her. Mary, on the other hand, gave a witness of deep prayer and love of Jesus by sitting at His feet listening to Him. However, in the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, there is a reversal of roles. Martha is the one who runs out to meet Jesus and expresses her deep faith in Him. Mary, on the other hand, heard that Jesus was coming and appeared to stay at home because she was upset. Perhaps the most helpful way to ponder these siblings is to acknowledge two things. First, they are now saints in Heaven enjoying eternal beatitude and glory. Second, on earth they were people of faith and love, but they were also very clearly imperfect. Therefore, the witness they give to us should be twofold. We hope to share in the glory in which they now share, and we trust this will happen if we also befriend our Lord and welcome Him into our homes, imperfect though we may be. Reflect, today, upon this holy but imperfect family. The imperfections and manifest weaknesses of these three siblings should encourage us to press on in our practice of the faith when things are not perfect in our lives either. There are many reasons why we might get discouraged or feel like doubting or giving up at times. Perhaps things are not perfect within the Church—or at the particular church you attend. Perhaps you are struggling with loving someone in your family. Perhaps you are struggling with an emotional issue. Perhaps there is some sin you seem to be incapable of overcoming. Perhaps you struggle with a physical ailment and wonder why God permitted it to happen. If you are able to relate to any of these, or any other forms of imperfection, then take inspiration from this family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Invite Jesus into the home of your heart, your family home and everywhere you go. He will come, gently correct you when needed, and give you the gift of new life, raising you up from your sins and weaknesses. Lord, You befriended this ordinary family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. You visited their home, received their hospitality, gently corrected them when needed and eventually raised them to the new life of eternal glory. May I also welcome You into the home of my soul, within my family and into every aspect of my life. Please come to me and raise me to the newness of the life of grace. Jesus, I trust in You.

Does smoking really cause cancer?

Thomas Cayne

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Writer, painter, thinker, madman. 14h

Does smoking really cause cancer?

My aunt Erin had a history of smoking, but that was so long ago that it belonged to the mists of antiquity.

She had smoked pretty intensely until her early forties, and then she quit. (But that was almost 40 years ago.)

In December 2024, a persistent cough became apparent that wouldn’t go away. The cough then quickly grew worse, until she could hardly speak anymore. The hoarseness of her voice was alarming — what was causing it was much worse.

Lung cancer, stage IV. Metastasized to the bones.

The diagnosis came mid January 2025. By the end of January she was gone.

What people don’t understand — especially in skin cancer and the many cancers relating to smoking habits — is that the damage caused due to tanning and smoking cannot be “undone.” Some (millions of) cells are damaged, and quitting tanning or smoking won’t “un-damage” these cells. If they started to proliferate uncontrollable, they will keep doing that beyond any measures you will take.

One single episode of sunburn in your childhood can be enough to develop skin cancer in your mid forties. It’s that bad.

As for smoking, my aunt Erin thought she was safe after 40 years of non-smoking, but the damaged cells didn’t care one bit. They amassed into cancerous lung tumors, and then spread while nobody had a single what was actually going on. The cough announced the final chapter.

In general, smoking really does cause various types of cancer — it is widely considered to be the single worst seed that will sprout to a cancer seedling in the end.

In some people the seedlings never show, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there: if my aunt would have died of heart failure in 2023, we would have never known she had stage IV lung cancer. But in any case, the chances of getting various types of cancer greatly increase as the smoking years in a person increase.

And “chances” are often excuses for people to ignore their very lifestyle, because chances aren’t guarantees, after all —

But they are promises all the same.

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SOURCES: Getty images.

Eight-Year-Old Abducted Girl Wheeled Through Street In Suitcase

An 8-year-old girl has been rescued in the Philippines after being kidnapped and carried down the street, stuffed in a suitcase.

The girl was returning home around noon on Thursday after buying a soda at her aunt’s grocery store on Cebu island when she was kidnapped and put into the black briefcase, police told Sunstar.com.

Her mother, Tyree Lanny Rendal, raised the alarm hours later when she came home and couldn’t find her daughter, the news outlet said.

She then checked her building’s security video and saw the hooded man taking the luggage away, the outlet said.

After an intense and frantic search, police finally found the girl at a boarding house less than a kilometer from her home in Bakilid district of Mandaue City, the Manilla Bulletin reported.

Surprisingly, she was largely unharmed, except for minor scratches on her hands, feet, and mouth from allegedly being tied up with duct tape.

Police arrested Godiflor Rama, 32, who worked for more than a year as a guard at the apartment where the girl and her family lived.

Godiflor Rama was arrested at a boarding house less than half a mile from the scene of the kidnapping.

Rama reportedly admitted to the kidnapping but tried to excuse his actions by saying he did it to teach the child’s grandparents a lesson after a quarrel.

“I hope the family can forgive me for what I did,” the suspect told local reporters, according to the Daily Mail, which identified the girl as Jin Nichole You.

“I only did it because they accused me of stealing their things, like their bags and hangers.”

Rama said he did not close the suitcase all the way so the girl could breathe inside – and denied sexually assaulting her while she was his captive.

“I admit that the girl is attractive, but that doesn’t mean I like her. I did not rape her,” he told the media.

“I fed her and let her play games,” he reportedly said, saying he planned to return the child to her family after 6 hours.

The 8-year-old kidnapping survivor has since been reunited with her mother, who thanked police for quickly rescuing her daughter from the clutches of her kidnapper.

“I couldn’t imagine this kind of thing happening to us,” the woman said of the heartbreaking ordeal.

Source link: Eight-Year-Old Abducted Girl Wheeled Through Street In Suitcase

Are Filipinos usually cliquey at work?

Mark Haywood

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Are Filipinos usually cliquey at work? They never speak to me, I’m not a boss & am always polite & nice to all ppl, I get yes/no answers & feel hurt, it’s a medium sized workplace, different nationalities, have I done wrong?

Yes, they are cliquey and uncomfortable around “foreigners" and this is my experience after having many interactions with them.

I was once invited by a Filipino friend to a party/gathering at the house where he and other Philippines OFW's lived.

No one spoke to me until a male Filipino showed up later and shortly after seeing me he started yelling at me from across the room and accusing me that I was likely taking advantage of my Filipino friend. No one spoke up to defend me including my friend. I took the abuse and then stayed a little longer to see if anyone would try to make up for this guy's abuse by at least apologizing for him.

No such luck. I then excused myself quietly to my friend and left. I chose never to see him again. I've found that mostly the highly educated and VERY fluent English-speaking Filipinos will dare to have a conversation with you. (The others could care less trying although Filipinos are welcomed the world over as OFW's and apart from their labor they send back to The Philippines billions of dollars every year to be spent there and not in the countries that paid them that money.)

Every Filipino will defend all other Filipinos whenever a foreigner is involved in the social equation. If a Filipino approaches you first with a smile and open arms keep your hands in your pockets because they're likely looking for a financial or social benefit from you and not interested in a genuine friendship. They're working some kind of angle and they’re great at playing the long game. They're praised for being family-oriented but only their families and no other groups (ie. your co-workers who won't speak to you).

I even married a Filipino because I'm a sucker for punishment. I separated from him four years ago and he has found another foreigner willing to take the chance. Both of us are Caucasian foreigners so he can immigrate to our wealthy countries.

Now he's trying to move to Australia (I'm Canadian). He got in on a visitor's visa last August even though neither he nor the Australia guy has told the authorities what their plan is. Once he gets landed immigrant status there he said he'd be divorcing me. They have both asked me for a divorce!

I told them I won't be paying another penny on the ex so they better send me the money for my share of the legal costs, otherwise my self-described ‘Christian’ ex can continue to ‘live in sin'.

I could care less if I remain married on paper. I have no intention of ever re-marrying because here in Canada if I live long enough with another partner that partner can make financial claims for ongoing support on my estate. I'm cool with that.

I've actually considered moving to The Philippines (remember, I told you I'm a sucker for punishment!) now that I'm comfortably retired after surviving a bankruptcy brought on by the nearly $100,000 I spent on him. I have, however, realized that I could move to any non-speaking English countries and have better experiences. What's the use of moving to The Philippines with English as an official language there when no one will speak to you unless your conducting business with them?

Noticing a trend here? Money is their motivation to talk to you, so don't feel bad if they don't talk to you at work. Maybe invite them out to a restaurant and offer to pay, however that's still no guarantee you'll make a connection that lasts.

I would be glad that they don't talk to me because they don't seem to have a gift to offer much of value in a conversation. YOU are NOT family! Even if you married one of them you are NOT family! If they ask for a loan from you or you're generous in giving then and only then are you family. Of course you're expected not to expect them to pay back a loan, and if you do then again you're NO LONGER FAMILY!

If you find a Filipino or Filipina that puts you first then you've found a unicorn and you run as far away from their family as you can. Good luck at work. Just believe that silence is golden.