How Fair is "Fairness"?

Why is it that those who claim to be the largest proponents of freedom and personal choice (i.e. liberals) oppose any freedoms that are not granted by the state? Last time I checked we have a country founded on the belief that our rights and freedoms are granted by God, not the Federal Government. Our right to freely and openly oppose our government or express our dissenting opinion is what makes America different, and may I say, better than any other country. In their quest for a liberal Utopia the political left in this country is on a crusade to silence opposition. One of the most obvious examples is their efforts to silence "hate speech". While I don't endorse any speech that is born out of hatred and meant to demean and devalue those of another race or religion, in America we have a right to express dissent and opposition to any person, organization or government institution.

The left in this country continually defends the right of individuals to use any type of crude , obscene or sexually explicit language in the public arena. This is touted as 'freedom of speech'. I would argue that all citizens have the right to any type of language in private, but are required by the laws of decency to eliminate this from public use. The Constitution provides, through the Bill of Rights, free speech in the form of economic, political and religious ideology, basically the type of speech that is most valuable and on the top of the list for liberals to ban. We may very soon be experiencing the reinstatement of the 'Fairness Doctrine' that will take us a long way towards government control of any dissenting point of view via radio. Liberals that spout off about freedom of choice and free speech are working hard to silence talk radio, the only media dominated by conservative political and religious thought. They cannot compete in a free market on the basis of their liberal agenda, and so the only course of action for them is to silence freedom's number one outlet.

Lately this has become an all-out war on Rush Limbaugh. Regardless of what you think about Rush, Sean Hannity, or Glenn Beck, if they are allowed to succeed in silencing conservative political speech on the radio, how long before they move to silence the internet news and bloggers? Or how about the churches that speak out on issues of morality? How long before any anti-abortion speech or the teaching that homosexuality is sin is condemned? Will the left continue to tolerate the homeschooling crowd that is bypassing their state indoctrination program? How soon will we find any speech opposing the liberal, socialist agenda outlawed as 'hate speech'? I am convinced that day is coming, and possibly much sooner than most of us think. Will entertainment addicted America ever wake up? I pray to God that we do.

Crazy Times

Maybe it's just me... I have always been a little different. My wife has often told me that I am just too extreme! I need to quit being so radical about things. Maybe she's right, I don't want to come off sounding like some wacko razor-wire, compound-livin', bomb-shelter-building, government conspiracy, Republic of Texas nut case. Yet, at the same time, I cannot sit by and just watch some of the crazy things that are going on without commenting. I feel that many like me are no longer heard in our representative republic and it is getting extremely frustrating.

I recently viewed a excerpt from a CNBC broadcast in which the usual talking heads were discussing the economy and the stimulus bills. If you have not seen this, you need to. In this excerpt Rick Santelli starts to actually tell it like it is (can you imagine, on CNBC) and of course is treated like a extremist radical by the elitist news people. You can watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZB4taSEoA

I have not seen anyone on any mainstream news outlet get it more right than this guy. Of course Hannity, Rush and Glenn Beck have been saying things like this for years... but this was a shot right into the numb-minded, propaganda believing audience of CNBC. Hope someone out there wakes up. I could not agree more with what was said. We have an establishment of elitist career politicians, educators and media pundits that are so out of touch with reality and what I hope is the silent majority of main-stream America that it is no longer even a little bit funny. These people walk around in their rich, elitist, socialist dream world without a clue about what the average middle-class American stands for or believes.

I am beginning to think that for the next presidential election we need to support Tommy. You know, the deaf, dumb and blind kid from Soho? I figure that he could not possibly more detached from what is happening in the real world outside D.C. (District of Corruption) than the idiots we have there now. These people are destroying America and running rough-shod over the Constitution and our rights. Do they not understand they are taxing us into oblivion? Are they really so stupid as to believe that government spending can solve anything besides lining the pockets of themselves and their friends. Taking from the producers in society to give to those that refuse to produce will not stimulate anything except a economic collapse.

Maybe I am a little extreme... but then again, I was raised to believe in a country founded by men of extreme faith and belief. A country that valued freedom above all else. A country that was founded to provide the opportunity (not the guarantee) for all people to work hard, usually against the odds, and to achieve something for themselves and their families. Guess that is a little extreme!

Life Just Isn't Fair

The old saying is true. Life isn't fair. I think most people's idea of fair is a level playing field, equal opportunity, a chance for everyone to be or do what they most want in life. This will never happen. One man is born with an IQ of 136 while another has a intelligence quotient of only 86. One woman is born with extraordinary athletic ability while another is born crippled and unable to walk. Many people are born in America where opportunity abounds, while others are born in war-torn areas of Africa suffering abuse and persecution. Life just isn't fair.

So, where does that leave us? Should we abandon our efforts to help those that are disadvantaged? No. I do not believe that we can in good conscience abandon our efforts to help our fellow man, however, we must also realize that penalizing those with more opportunity is never the way to improve the situation. We must help those that will help themselves rise up to the highest attainable level their skills allow. We must not legislate penalties into our system to punish or slow down the achievers in society. We must be a society that teaches a mindset of running to win the prize... and if you fail, you get up, learn what you can from the experience, train more and run again.

The agenda we have allowed in our schools teaches cooperation and scorns competition. Teach the children to work together for the better of everyone. Take from those with an abundance and give to those in poverty. Sounds like a good idea doesn't it comrade? Don't compete, don't question, just cooperate. The problem is that they are being taught not to question or oppose liberal ideas. It appears that our students, from elementary through the universities, are being indoctrinated into the way of thinking that will make them fit best into a socialist society. The same people that during the decades of the 60's and 70's taught our young to question everything (because we were much more conservative) are now teaching them to question nothing. This is a huge failure on the part of our educational system. The most important thing we can teach our citizens is the history of this great nation, the documents that established it (i.e., the Constitution with it's Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence), and the ability to think for themselves.

Our young people need to realize that life is not fair. If you want to succeed you will have to compete. They need to be taught that overcoming an obstacle is a healthy learning experience that ought to be embraced for the reward that it offers on the other side. Dependence on one's self, family and God needs to replace dependence on the nanny state. We must teach them that cooperation and competition are not polar opposites. We all must cooperate with others to achieve common goals while we compete individually to be the best we can be. Life is not fair and you may not achieve the same success as someone else, but if you pursue excellence in all you do, live to use your unique talent to help others, and learn to mature from a state of dependency to healthy interdependence, you will achieve your own success.

Imprisoned by your Freedom?

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.(Gal. 5:1)

My religious background is a patchwork of various Christian denominations, each slightly different, yet all claiming the same major doctrinal tenets. I attended a Presbyterian church from the age of birth to somewhere around the middle of my grade school years. The next church for our family was a Congregational church where we stayed through the remainder my grade school years and into my freshman year of high school. At age 14 we switched again to a Nazarene church which I attended with my family until, at age 20, I decided to attend a Church of God (out of Anderson, IN) where there were more young people near my age. Somewhere during this denominational journey I made a decision to become a Christian and accept Jesus as savior, although I did so more out of a compulsion to avoid the fiery pit of hell than a clear understanding of what I was really getting into.

In 1985 I was married and began a journey through a few more versions of the Christian church, again with the same basic doctrine (belief in the Trinity, that Christ died for our sins and was raised, etc.) but variations on minor points and practices. Our new family stayed in the Church of God, the denominational affiliation of our college, and we were active in the local congregation for several more years. Upon moving to Texas in 1990, I began attending a Nazarene church again for a short time, then on to a Baptist church where we stayed until moving again around 3 years later. Our next move took us into the crazy world of the Charismatic believers. The freedom from ritual along with the contemporary music drew us in to this church home until we again moved. Since that time in 1993 we have moved several more times, but stayed in non-denominational, charismatic churches.

I tell you all of this denominational history to give you a limited idea of my background in the Christian faith and so you can understand why, to some degree, I have questioned so much of the teaching I have heard. I guess in some ways it has been beneficial to my spiritual development to have such a varied background, since this has allowed me the freedom to search out truths for myself. I know many people that have spent most of their years in one particular denomination and as a result have trouble with questioning their denominational training. They feel almost as though it is sinful to consider that what they have been taught may not be the full truth. Feelings of guilt overcome them if they question the fullness of their experience and start to wonder if maybe God has something more for them. This indoctrination leads to a type of enslavement that Charismatics would label as Legalism or Religiousness. I believe that this type of 'religion' and following ritual, rules and traditions for the sake of conformity is what Christ came to set His people free from.

As of late however, I have seen another form of enslavement that some non-denominational, inter-denominational or charismatic believers seem to be falling in to. It is an enslavement to their supposed new found freedom from legalism or a religious spirit. While it is true that as a believer in Christ, we are free from the strict legalism of the old covenant and the practice of dead rituals, it is also true that we can easily become captivated by our obsession with trying to appear non-religious. We must remember that to follow Christ in a non-religious manner is to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, not to be preoccupied with engagement in worldly activities that will signal to others that we are free. This type of pseudo-freedom actually has another name... bondage. We can be deceived so easily by our flesh into thinking that we should participate in things that will offend the religious legalists to show them what freedom looks like. This is not freedom!

Christ Jesus died on the cross for us so that we may truly be free to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in every area of our lives. True freedom will allow us to make decisions and involve ourselves in activities that bring glory to Him without purposely offending our brothers and sisters that may have differing doctrinal beliefs. We must remember that while all things are permissible, not all things are beneficial. We are reminded in the New Testament that we are to be considerate of those that may be caused to stumble because of our exercise of freedom. While we will not allow ourselves to be resubmitted to the bondage the Holy Spirit has led us out of, we must also take seriously our responsibility to the body of Christ and to avoid pride and arrogance which will lead us into bondage of another sort. I urge you all (as I remind my self) to examine yourself daily and to follow in humble submission to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the only true way to the freedom God has for each of us.

Bail Out? Maybe that's exactly what we should do...

The talk everywhere you turn for the past several months has been about government bail-outs and the need for economic stimulus. I have heard many of the arguments for, and to a lesser degree, the arguments against these actions. I know many are confused on what needs to be done, torn between giving ailing businesses and industry sectors help and leaving the market place to itself to correct the problems over time. For most of our politicians I think the question boils down to how much should the government be involved and what kind of return will they get when elections roll around again. The question I would like to ask is 'what caused these problems and when did it become the governments job to interfere in the marketplace?'.

If you dig past the surface of 'smoke and mirrors' that the politicians in congress are throwing up you find that most of the problems we have faced go back decades into the past. A great deal of government interference (as opposed to involvement as some suggest) began with the policies of FDR and his Big Government approach to solving economic issues. Many scholars now point to his administration's policies as a key factor in extending the economic depression by up to seven years. This is where the modern big government liberalism started. President Johnson put us into the welfare crisis that we have today by allowing people to live off the success of others instead of working to achieve something for themselves. Nixon gave us the out-of-control, over regulating EPA to assuage the environmentalist radicals that demanded federal intervention in the pollution problems we faced. I could go on about many more federal agencies (such as the NHTSA, OSHA, etc.) and regulations that interfere with our daily lives and override the idea our founding fathers had of each state's right to regulate themselves.

If you look into the current crisis in mortgage lending the problem is not corporate C.E.O.'s with large salaries and 'golden parachutes'. Have some of these people been overpaid and given outrageous severance deals over the years? Yes. Is it the business of anyone other than the board of directors and shareholders to change this? No. The real problem that hit the mortgage industry so hard was a meddling government that required loans to be made to people that were bad credit risks and could not afford the homes they were purchasing.

The same is true of the ailing American auto industry. The people that know how to make and sell automobiles work for Ford, GM and Chrysler.... they do not hold seats in the Senate, House or any other post in the government. The C.A.F.E. standards that have been applied to the automakers along with the outrageous burden of the overpaid employees of 'Big Labor' have combined to cripple our domestic manufacturers ability to compete. If rising fuel prices cause the public to demand vehicles with better mileage, then competition will drive the manufacturers to meet that need without government interference. The market dictates who succeeds and who fails based upon a sellers ability to meet the buyers wants and desires.

This is where the problem for most politicians and radical liberals originates. They see themselves as better educated and wiser than the public. They spend all of their time talking about freedom of choice (aren't these the 'pro-choice' people?) yet they want to eliminate our freedom of choice in so many areas. They want you to drive the car that they approve of (in spite of their continuance to drive large SUV's and fuel inefficient sedans) instead of the car you would like to buy. They want our children to attend public schools and have a government mandated curriculum, and appropriate indoctrination, instead of allowing us to make a choice of where our dollars and our children attend school. These individuals who have proven that they cannot manage anything (how's the future of Social Security looking, or the federal budget deficit) want to take control of our financial institutions, the auto industry, health care, the petroleum producers, regulate the thermostats in our homes and now even dictate whether television broadcasts are analog or digital (and use our money to provide converters for those that cannot afford to miss Oprah or The View).

I for one think that it is time for a massive, all inclusive bail-out. The federal government needs to bail-out of the free market, the affairs of the free states, and our supposedly free lives. Our nations founders did not risk their lives, the lives of their families, their fortunes and all that they had to be ruled by a government that sought to control their money, education, purchasing decisions and tax them into oblivion. God help us to start the return to reason in government and restore our freedoms to their intended state.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I don't know about you, but I was in a real funk on Nov. 5th. This election was not the first time that I have been disappointed in the results (ie: Clinton's 2 terms), but for some reason I was effected to a much greater degree. I was not a strong believer in John McCain as the right man for the job. In fact I was unsure of my vote until he selected Sarah Palin as a running mate. Somehow though, I knew there was more riding on this election than any previous in my lifetime. Perhaps part of my reaction was due to the obvious negligence of the mainstream media in letting the American people know just exactly who Barak Hussein Obama is.

Let me back up just a bit and tell you something you may find extremely weird, troublesome, nutty, etc (pick your own word). I was very anxious for this election. I found myself counting the days when we were still weeks away from the voting. I voted early here in Texas and was really looking forward to spending the election day evening with friends and watching the returns come in. Then a strange thing happened. As I finished work for the day (which was early on Tuesday) I started to feel a heaviness in my heart about the evening. As I walked up to the front door of my home, I noticed that the American flag we had out had somehow become completely wrapped around itself and the pole. Ordinarily I would probably of thought nothing about it, except that it had never happened before. But on this day I heard a voice (not audibly) say that for the next four years the flag (which I somehow knew was representative of our freedom) would be bound up and not allowed to fly freely.

If you knew me, you would know that this was a pretty weird thing for me to experience. As I thought about it I felt strongly that many of our rights (free speech, right to bear arms, etc.) would be challenged and perhaps even restricted in the years to come. I tried to shake this off and told myself that it was silly, since the polls had not even closed yet and surely the McCain-Palin ticket would win. I just couldn't shake the feeling of dread and/or doom that I felt the rest of the night. By around 9:00 CST I knew it was over. Depression set in!

Having some time to think about this and process it some (my brain works on stuff SLOWLY) I have arrived at what I think is the Lord's will in all of this. We are told in the Bible that God is Omnipotent and His purposes will be accomplished. So where does that put us as Christians that may feel a man has been elected that supports some agendas we know go against God's will, and others that are at the very least contrary to the Constitution? We must rest and be at peace with God's sovereignty and know that He will work things for our ultimate good.

We must also be vigilant and watch closely for any party or politician that may go against the principles of the Constitution and our founding fathers. If and when these issues arise we must not be silent, as the German people were in the 1930's, but we must protest and petition to be heard. Beyond this we must also, and more importantly, pray for our leaders... even those we don't like. We must pray that God's will is done and pray that He would give insight and wisdom to those governing our country. I am not proud of the fact that I did not do this when Mr. Clinton was in office because I so strongly opposed the man and his lack of integrity, honesty and morals... but let us learn our lesson and do our part this time around. We must be a light and a blessing to all and truly learn to selflessly pursue God's will over our own social or political agenda.

Peace is the Answer... or is it?

I was raised during the 60's and 70's, a time when changes were coming... and not all of them good. There was a lot of unrest with young people born in the 40's and 50's that were disenchanted with a war they didn't understand and the politicians that were trying hard to lose it. For the first time ever television was showing the horrors of war to the public and they didn't like it. Suddenly peace was the answer to all our problems. If we could just leave the rest of the world, and mankind as a whole, to do whatever makes them happy all would be better off. We just needed to talk, listen and understand each other and everyone would act reasonably and avoid war.

If you believe that man is basically good and desires nothing but the best for everyone, I guess the peace movement all makes sense. After all, if our enemies are basically just good people then there must be a reason why they are behaving in a violent or threatening manner. That reason must be America. Our system of capitalism, freedom, religion and foreign policy must force our enemies to action. We must be the catalyst that makes them behave in such a manner and hate, attack and kill others.

Of course the only problem with this logic is the premise that man is good. The truth is that man is inherently evil and selfish. We are all born with a rebellious nature that is concerned only about ourselves and our pleasure. Unfortunately history is full of people that demonstrated this time and time again. How can we believe that other governments will always be peaceful and benevolent when we see hate and crime everyday? No amount of rationalization will convince a leader bent on destruction of peoples of another class, race or religious belief to behave in a civilized manner. Sometimes nations must be disciplined and punished just as individuals are in most societies.

Peace is certainly an admirable goal and one we strive toward constantly, however, peace at all costs is not worth the price that must be paid. Peace is valuable, but not more valuable than justice. Life is valuable, but not more valuable than principle. I would suggest that without justice and principle, peace is not worth anything except to those that fear death more than their loss of freedom or basic human rights. No, peace is not necessarily the answer. The answer is found in a people that pursue righteousness and are willing to stand up for the rights of others regardless of the price that must be paid. If it means trading our lives for the lives and rights of those less fortunate, then so be it.