Some Thoughts About Politics

As a general rule I don't normally say anything about politics in a public forum unless it is to address a specific issue. However, I have been thinking lately about this past year and what has taken place in our government and I thought I would share some of those thoughts in my blog.

First of all, I am greatly concerned about the direction our government is taking this country. As one who espouses a strong message of faith in God, I find it very troubling that we seem to have a group in both the White House and Congress that think that government is the answer to everything. The problem with this way of thinking is that our government is not equipped to be a god -- the almighty provider for all the ills of society.

The underlying worldview that supports this trend is essentially secular humanism. It is the idea that man is his own sovereign and is answerable to no higher power than himself. While no one (except atheists) may actually articulate their thinking in this manner, it still remains that this is what drives almost all human efforts to solve any problem from a secular approach. The truth of a Divine Creator unto whom we are all answerable is never brought into the equation in this type of mindset.

This creates a dynamic in any effort to answer present or future needs that demands some type of source to fund the solution. Since the man-made entities have no way to generate an inexhaustible supply, there naturally has to be a source from which to derive the resources to make the solution possible. It is here where governments can take a particularly dangerous turn in how it looks upon the population it is responsible to govern.

Government, by its very nature, is unable to "produce" anything. It is not the role of government to take natural resources and turn them into goods or services. Government cannot function in the marketplace. Government is essentially a consumer, needing a continual supply of resources to carry out its assigned duties. It has to look to the citizenry and the marketplace as its source. This is where taxes, fees, and tariffs come into the picture.

Every dollar that is required to fund a government-run entity -- no matter what shape, size, or ultimate purpose that entity takes in real life must come from someone in the citizenry. All government salaries, benefits, and other financial demands required to carry out any governmental function is paid for by money raised through taxes, fees, or tariffs. Thus, whatever benefits the government may supply to one person or group of people is supplied by someone else who either paid the government through a tax, a fee, or tariff. There is never a free ride from the government... someone pays for it ultimately.

Now, when you understand that fact you can see the problem facing our government today. They have taken on too many projects to which they promise salvation. This has presented the problem of not having enough money to pay for it all. So, two things are being done to answer the problem of the lack of money -- raise taxes and print more money. Both of these solutions have dangerous ultimate outcomes for our nation.

Obviously, the problem of raising taxes should be self-evident. The more money the government takes out of people's hands in the private sector and marketplace, the less money is available to purchase things in the marketplace and invest in businesses. This in turn reduces the amount of money available to businesses to expand their productivity and to pay their workers. This can lead to layoffs and increasing unemployment. It then can lead to an ever-increasing demand for the government to provide assistance to the unemployed, the struggling businesses, and this leads to a need for more money on behalf of the government. See the madness of this cycle?

Printing more money has its own set of problems. Ever since our nation went off the gold standard our money has been essentially worthless. The gold standard insured that our government could not print more dollars than what we had gold on hand to back it. This insured that the dollar would always have measurable value. But, it also limited the ability of the government to spend money due to the fact that they could not spend more than they could legally back with either gold or silver.

Removing our currency from the gold standard created fiat money, or money that has no real value. The more fiat money is printed by the government and then pumps into the marketplace, the less "value" the money has as a tool in the marketplace. The ultimate end of this is inflation. Prices have to go up because it takes more money to pay for everything due to the falling value of the dollar. This is an over-simplified description of how all this works.

Our government is spending more, printing more, and requiring more money than can be understood or imagined by the average American. Our government is going deeper in debt every day at a rate that is almost incomprehensible. The problem that all this is creating is that somewhere, sometime or another, they will have to begin to actually pay for everything. That is when the other shoe will drop and every American will pay dearly for it.

My friends, government is not equipped to be the "be all", "do all" for all our problems. Health care is not a function that the government needs to take on; it is best handled in the marketplace. Bailing out failing businesses is not a function of government, the normal rhythm of the marketplace will take care of the health of businesses. Government involvement in any area of business generally will get in the way and hinder productivity and success, rather than facilitate it.

Just understand, by its very nature, the government will eventually be controlling every decision being made concerning a person's health care if what is being considered actually becomes law. It will have to in order to control costs. The bottom line on every decision of a government run health care system is going to be "how much will this cost" and "is this a wise expenditure or investment into this person's health". A person's ability to produce will be a major part of deciding whether or not they should get proper care to bring them back to health. If they are too old, too handicapped, too weak to be able to enter the work force to contribute to the tax base funding the government, they will be denied care. It is inevitable.

There will not be enough money to pay for everything. Prices will have to go up, due to the inflationary nature of our devalued, worthless dollar. Government inefficiency will eat up a lot of money that would otherwise be used to provide actual care. Fraud and abuse will become rampant in any health care system the government provides... just look at Medicare and that becomes self-evident.

I normally am not a doom and gloomer. I attempt to take a positive approach to everything. I firmly believe that if we, as individuals, turn to God and look to Him for answers He will answer. The problem I see in our nation right now, though, is one that God may be slow to take any action on in response to our cries, and here is why I feel this way. We voted for this. Plain and simple, we chose these people who are coming up with all these decisions and put them into power.

It is very incongruent, and even dysfunctional, to vote for a politician expecting him or her to do something about our nation’s problems and then ask God to move to do something about our mess when things don't seem to be going in the right direction. God knew who should have been put into office, on every level of our government. But, His people should have asked Him who He wanted and then be willing to vote that way regardless of whether it was a person who was in the "right" political party or not.

I can be very sure in stating that God would not have anyone who calls Jesus as their Lord to vote for anyone who stands for the killing of the unborn. I can be pretty confident that God would have His hand of blessing upon a leader who understands that government should be limited in its role and let the creativity of it population be unhindered in providing private sector answers to the problems of our nation. I also think that God would find it easier to guide a leader in Congress or the White House who understands the nature of our enemies and will take a bold and uncompromising stand against any and all those who threaten our security and prosperity.

God warned Israel when they were clamoring for a king that they would live to regret it. He described the nature of the king as they desired it and even after being told in detail how the king would eventually turn them all into his servants and use them for his own selfish purposes they still wanted a king. They wanted to be like all the other nations around them, and that is exactly what they got. God let them have what they wanted and they paid a terrible price for their lack of wisdom.

I think we have made the same mistake in this nation. However, what is particularly distressing is that way too many of God's people voted for what we now have and some even think that what is going on in our government is good. For those who now see this is not what they thought they were going to get, it is a little too late to fall on their knees and beg God to do something about it. What we have is as a result of the majority's choice. We will have to live with it until November 2010 when we will have an opportunity to walk out our repentance. I trust that between now and then an understanding of just how much damage is being done to the very fabric of our nation enters into the hearts and minds of the majority of people and we can begin to seek God as to how to get things back on track.