Raptor Pass

Just read an article on the New York Times about how Obama and Congress are planning to tackle “job creation.” So, I decided to post a message to them about the subject.

Dear President and Congress,

I read today that you are planning on “creating” jobs in the coming months. I ask of you to do one simple thing. Stop. You have been pushing stimulus plan after stimulus plan, regulation after regulation, and policy after policy down the throats of the job market for years (I’m including the years Bush was president, heck I’m sure it’s been going on since long before George W. Bush) and have done exactly the opposite of your stated goal. You have destroyed jobs, and plunged us into a depression. If you think otherwise, you are wrong, if you hear otherwise, they are lying.

Absolutely the only thing you can do to help the economy and the job market is this. Make life predictable for businesses.

Fix the tax system. And lock the rates in for the next ten years. Audit all the regulations you’ve passed and eliminate the ones that aren’t doing any good and just costing us money. Then stop making new regulations. Stop trying to “stimulate” the economy. It doesn’t work. You’ve proven it. Stimulus money is short-term, and can only create short-term jobs. We need the long term jobs created by real business.

I’m a web developer. In a couple years, once I have more experience, I really would like to start my own business. That would result in me outsourcing, or hiring, at least a graphic designer. I’d likely need a couple other positions as well. So, I’d be “creating” jobs. The thing is, if you people keep meddling in things so much that I have no idea how to make sure I’m following the law, well, I’m never going to start. I shouldn’t have to hire a lawyer and an accountant just to make sure I stay a law-abiding citizen. That would be far more than I could afford.

So, please, clean up the mess you made, and then get out of the way.

Right, everyone hates taxes. That’s a given. But want to know why people get really mad? It’s not because they have to pay the Government so it can do it’s work. It’s not because people are greedy. No, it’s because they can be as careful as possible in reporting their income, and still get a bill telling them that they got it wrong.

Case in point. I got a letter today saying I own $300+ dollars in taxes to Oregon. Apparently I reported my scholarship income wrong.

I remember that part of the process, I was unsure if I was answering TaxACT’s questions right, but I answered to the best of my ability. I’d have just used the IRS forms, but they’re even less understandable than TaxACT.

Does it actually make sense to tax scholarships? Especially scholarships coming from the Government? That’s the only kind I was ever able to get. I can understand taxing them if they are from other organizations. But when they are from the Government, they’re tax dollars from other people. If they need to be taxed, just keep some of them back, and not waste the time and money necessary to make me pay it back…

Also, why is our tax system so complex that I, with my very simple income, can’t understand how to report it correctly? I can’t imagine what it must be like for someone with their own business, or running a non-profit, or any other situation more complicated than mine.

Heck, there’s an entire industry based on helping people pay their taxes. If that isn’t a sign that things are broken, I don’t know what is.

So here’s what I’d like to see. A tax system that is so easy to understand and use, that anyone can pay their taxes in five minutes or less of work. Flat tax, fair tax, national sales tax, whatever. We just need something better than this.

First, go watch the video and read the interview at this link: http://www.black-and-right.com/2011/07/08/the-regretful-obama-voter-speaks/

In the video, she talks about how Obama lied about wanting a Single Payer Health Care System, as well as how the recession is mainly due to the Left’s policies. Oh, and I found her comment about the WHO report to be very interesting, I’ll have to look into it myself sometime soon.

A quote:

BOB: As a nurse, I’d really like to get into specifics of the health care bill and unions, but let me end with this: how have you been treated by your liberal friends now that you’ve achieved traitor status?

JODI: Liberals in general tend to use emotional weaponry as their tool, and that is exactly what I receive. When I try to present rational facts, I do not receive facts in return. I receive emotional verbal assaults designed to make me feel unkind and inhumane.

I have learned, the hard way, not to argue with most of them because they are not interested in facts/realities, they are only interested in pushing emotional buttons because they believe that is what wins the argument. I have to say, however, that I do have some people who are similar to the way I was, a liberal but not averse to facts/realities and they are truly waking up, like I did. As I have found facts and I push those facts onto them, they struggle to dispute them and are also transitioning a bit.

The liberals who think facts do not matter, I have learned, are not people I can have a rational dialogue with so I no longer try. They think I am a mean and unkind person, and that has to be okay with me. To each his own.

Exactly. I’ve seen this happen many many times. The instant a Leftist starts losing the debate based on facts, which doesn’t take long, they bring out emotional rhetoric.

About the only thing she gets wrong is her assertion that my opposition to abortion and any kind of marriage other than one man one woman, is not based on facts. On both issues I base my beliefs on scientific research for non-Christians, and what the Bible says for Christians.

So, to my Conservative friends who like to debate with the Left, send that link to them next time. To my friends who are Leftist, take some time and think about this. Is “Leftistism/Liberalism” really what you believe? Or do you believe in true Freedom and Equality?

P.S. The title of this post is in reference to the fact that the Left has stolen the word “Liberal”. Being Liberal implies being for freedom, which today’s “Liberals” most definitely are not for. Thus, Jodi is a true “Liberal” because she is for freedom.

I’ve heard parts of what is in this article, The True Story of the Financial Crisis, before. But seldom from a source that had the qualifications of Peter J. Wallison.

The two takeaways:

1. Leftist ideology caused the financial meltdown.
2. The people who were supposed to figure out why the meltdown happened covered up the true reasons because they did not fit their ideology.

So, remember this article as you vote in elections.

The Intro

Now, I am mainly aiming this question at fellow Christians who support Leftist politicians and policies, but I left that adjective off the noun in the title because I believe non-Christians could have the answer as well. So, here is the question:

What sinful policies and actions do people on the Right support and promote? I’m asking about things that are not debatable. Some could try to argue that the Rights opposition to Obamacare or economically devastating “Green” policies, is sinful, but some could argue the exact opposite just as easily.

Here’s some examples from the Left of the kind of sins I’m thinking of:

Abortion

Abortion is one of the most in your face, obvious, sins around. Anyone who has a basic understanding of what life is knows that it is murder. Yes, there are people out there who say otherwise, but they are either incredibly stupid, deceiving themselves, being deceived, or willingly complicit in murder. And Abortion could be considered the single most important policy for Leftist politicians to support and spread. For example: One of Obama’s first actions as President was to get rid of the Mexico City policy that kept Federal funds from funding foreign organizations that promote abortion. The Democrats risked shutting down the Government over defunding Planned Parenthood.

Promotion of the Homosexual Lifestyle

I could, and probably eventually should, write a whole article on this subject. But for now, God specifically condemns homosexual sex, even though it is covered by the prohibition against sex outside of marriage. Which means that there is not other option but to call the homosexual lifestyle sinful.

The Left supports this sin with fervor. Just look at the news of Catholic adoption agencies having to shut down because the Government is forcing them to support this sin by helping homosexual couples adopt.

To be fair, I have seen some on the Right support this as well. Fortunately, they are few in number.

The Sexualization of Everything

This one is hard to describe, but as far as I can tell, the promotion of sexualizing everything largely comes from the Left. They teach our kids that sex outside of marriage is good as long as you protect yourself. They promote women and little girls dressing like prostitutes. They make movies that encourage extra-marital affairs. If a school tries to teach that abstinence is the best protection, they scream bloody murder and block it in the courts. I believe that no-fault divorce came from Leftist politicians. They call pictures and videos of people having sex free speech.

Now, I am sure some support of this sin has come from politicians who are otherwise Rightist, but I seldom see Leftist politicians oppose it. But I have Rightist politicians generally oppose it, or at least pay lip service to opposing it.

The Outro

So, as you can see, I generally lean toward the right side of things, and I haven’t been able to think of any sins that the Right generally supports and promotes. That said, I figure I might be missing something. Perhaps my bias has blinded me to something painfully obvious. I know it is really hard to get past bias to see the other side. For the past few years I’ve been trying to wrap my head around why Leftists believe some of the things they do. I’ve not been very successful.

So, Leftist, please, enlighten me.

I just came across this thread on Hacker News. One of the comments asked the usual questions about why God doesn’t just make everything perfect. Now, for me, the answers are obvious. I’ve spent lots of time thinking about them, and I grew up hearing the answers in church. The commentor, apparently, has never hear the answers before. Thus I replied to them. And, since they are common questions, I thought I’d crosspost over here. Feel free to expand on the questions and answers in the comments, and if something isn’t clear, ask.

Without further ado, here’s my post:

Those questions have been answered many times over the years. Do a bit of searching and I bet you find some answers that are better than my take. But here’s my take anyway.

>If god is almighty and sees the future, how come he didn’t think of that on damn tree in the middle of paradise?

He made that tree. So, I’d say He thought of it. He made it for the precise purpose of giving mankind the ability to choose. If we didn’t have the ability ability to choose God, then our serving Him would be pointless, since we’d essentially be mindless drones. God wanted people to have the ability to love Him of their own free will.

>If god is perfect, how come he failed at making man perfect too?

Adam and Eve were perfect. Then they chose not to be perfect.

>If god is almighty and the enemy of Satan, how come he doesn’t just kill Satan?

Because Satan still serves a purpose. I’m not entirely sure of all of it, but the main purpose seems to be to provide an obvious choice for us. God or Satan, who do you want to serve?

>If god is good and almighty how come there are so much innocents suffering in the world? Probable answer: because he tests people. But if he sees the future it’s needless.

Testing is part of it. But testing is for our benefit, not His. Like you said, He knows the future, so He already knows what we will do.

The larger part is that humans can make choices, see my first answer. And thus, humans make choices that hurt others. The airplane mechanic who missed the problem that cause random flight to crash made the choice not to be thorough. The criminal chose to rob that bank and shoot the teller.

So, bad things happen to good people because good and bad people make bad choices.

As for natural disasters, they happen because humanities choices effect more than just humanity. The entire world was perfect before Adam sinned. When he sinned, the entire world broke.

Abortion is one of the most evil things. Next time someone you know supports abortion, tell them the story of Melissa Ohden. Then ask if they can still believe that she wasn’t human when she was aborted.

I’ll keep it short and sweet, I hope. Today is voting day! And, according to many opinions I have read, the GOP is going to win big. I tend to agree with them, but it doesn’t really make me happy.

Obama was voted into office because people were tired of Bush and his policies. Obama then took the worst parts of Bush’s policies and increased them a thousandfold. Big spending, big government, bad leadership in the wars, etc. Americans are rightfully ticked off by that, and today’s votes will reflect that.

So, if the GOP wins, why won’t I be happy? Because the GOP is as much of the problem as the Democrats. If the GOP wins big, they’ll curtail the worst of Obama’s policies, but they won’t be able to do much more than that since Obama will just veto anything good. They’ll then use that as an excuse to start compromising and return to the way it was under Bush. Any Tea Party candidates who don’t go along with it will simply be marginalized and ignored.

So, I am a bit cynical about this, and hopefully I’m wrong. But, here’s why I’m cynical:

Washington D.C. is full of ‘The Establishment’ and ‘Special Interests.’ My definition of ‘The Establishment’ is the network of good old boys and girls who have been in power for a while, they work together to maker sure that they stay in power. My definition of ‘Special Interests’ are the lobbyists and various groups who give money to ‘The Establishment’ in order to get favors. Until both of these power bloc’s are broken, we will see no real change in our Federal Government.

Thus, for the 2012 elections, we need to be planning tactics to break them. I have a few ideas. I’m not political genius, so, I’m pretty much guessing, but hopefully there’s something good in them.

First, break ‘The Establishment’ by instituting term limits on congressmen. If we keep kicking them out of Washington, then the networks of good old boys and girls will be much harder to form. We also will have a better chance of keeping congressmen who are idealistic in power. Those are type of people will will try to make real changes. Not to mention eliminating the need to pander to the powerful people back home in order to get reelected.

To break the ‘Special Interests’, one option is to elect congressmen who won’t pander to them. the ‘Special Interests’ keep power by influencing congressmen with their money. If the congressmen stop giving favors out for money, and instead focus on what their voters need, then the ‘Special Interests’ will have to try to influence the voters. Which is how it should be.

Anyway, those are just some ideas. How viable, or effective, or good, they are, I don’t know. What do you think? What are your ideas?

For some more reading, check out this link. It’s long, but he makes some good points about some of what I’ve been thinking for a long time now. I don’t necessarily agree with everything, but it’s still worth a read.

What do we do with home-schoolers?
Pastor Stein sees the Public Schools artifically inflating their graduation rates by having deadbeat parents “say” they will homeschool their kids. His response? Have the Government Regulate homeschooling.

Render the Home-Schools unto Caesar? A Critique of Pastor Stein’s State-Worship
Joel McDurmon disagrees with Pastor Stein, and is very critical of him.

McDurmon’s personal critisism of Stein should be ignored unless you know Pastor Stein personally. His critique of what Stein says is spot on, though.

But then, that’s the original issue, isn’t it?—the Public school’s drop-out rate. These kids were already drop-out material. The only reason they avoided actually sagging the drop-out statistics even further is because, allegedly, of the Public school unethically unloading them as fraudulent “home school” kids. No problems here! No drop-outs on our books! Please note two things:

1) These kids were already drop-outs as public-schooled kids. Their failure is the Public School’s failure. Their failure is the State’s failure.

2) Many of the flunkies would have ended up on social welfare programs anyway, however they were schooled. The only thing that has been improved here, then, is the Public School’s drop-out statistic.

Think about it for a bit, part of the reason the schools are using this loophole, is because they have failed to teach the kids. The schools are regulated by the Government. So, how can you expect that extending that regulation to homeschools will help?

Anyway, that’s not what I really wanted to emphazise. See this quote from McDurmon:

People worship God on Sunday, speak of God and family—then willingly herd their children into largely pagan asylums all day for five days a week. In these prisons of Statist corruption and vice, children are desensitized to everything about God and family. Christian parents willingly render their children to Caesar.

This is something that has puzzled me for a long time. Why do Christian parents send their kids to public schools? Public schools are some of the most profoundly un-Christian environments around. They teach things that directly contradict the Bible. They teach kids that it’s ok to have sex outside of marriage. They teach that it’s ok to lust after the same sex. They teach that your kids should keep their faith private and out of public life. They teach history in a way that ignores, and/or lies about, and/or minimizes Christianities influence.

I’ve heard parents say that they want their kids to be lights in the school for Christ. My response in my mind to that is very rude. How is it possible to believe that kids with little life experience, who are barely making their faith their own, to resist the un-Christian influence of the Public School system?

Think about it, how do you strengthen your faith? By spending time in God’s Word, and by fellowshipping with fellow believers. Kids going to public schools spend most of their time fellowshipping with unbelievers, and sleeping. That is not healthy.

So, I believe that Christian parents should only send their kids to school if they can’t homeschool them. And public schools should be the absolute last choice. It should be Christian schools first, then private schools, then any other options, then public schools.

A good perspective that rather eloquently explains why the Republican Party has been, and is still the best choice for Christians. I’ve quoted a few of the best paragraphs below.

Why Republican: A Christian Examination of History and Conservativism

The liberty of the soul, for each man to choose God or to reject Him, is of primary importance to us. By painful historical failure, we have learned that forced conversion and external obedience are worse than useless. We will compel only when we must.

It is the Republican Party that best represents those values. The Republican Party recognizes that the government cannot replace the family or the church. At its best, the Party refuses to use law to do what parents and bishops ought to do.

Of course, the Republican Party also knows that if life, choice, and property are not safe, then freedom of conscience is a charade.

As a result, the Republican Party, alone of the two great parties, works to protect the unborn. The Republican Party refuses to put into law the covetousness of most of us that would take what is not our own. The Republican Party best represents those who do not wish to enslave our children to our own choices through running up massive debt.

In this critical moment of our history, it is the Republican Party that supports the bedrock of culture, the family, against unwise innovation.