As a reminder: This is the final part of a series based on my recent illness ramblings. Start with #1 for the context.
Note #4: We are NOT ready as a people to make good decision about the future!
If the future is up in the air in the next four years, we should take stock (carefully) of where we are as a nation. Assuming that we are willing to reject a vision of the future in which the government rules over our personal and national economies, where will we go from there? My sense is that we are NOT ready to make either the commitments or the changes necessary to change our country back into a land where freedom and responsibility can and will dwell together. Here are a few of the fault lines where we are apt to fail:
- We too often take a simplistic view of the change that needs to happen. Many want to “go back to the Constitution”. I would love this, but we have to be ready to bear the responsibility that our government bears now. We are not ready for this. Not even close. If we had freedom, as the Constitution allows, we would need to care for our aging parents, take responsibility for the education of our children, save ample money for our retirement, avoid personal debt, and dial back our standard of living (most are living in a fantasy land now).
- Freedom means that we must bear responsibility for our fellow citizen. Today, that is forced on us in a costly manner by our government. If this money were given back to us, we should use it to help those in need. We should do this, first, simply by tithing. This might be all that is needed. Today, tithing would fix most problems. We will not now. If not now, when?
- We are not ready to radically rebalance the power between Washington and our state and local authorities. Right now, the root of so many problems in not in the politics of Washington, but in the power of Washington. We need a Washington that only handles truly federal issues. The rest of the issues and the bulk of our tax dollars need to be spent by state and local governments which are closer to us and more accountable to us. Today, I fear, we will only rearrange the furniture when we need to buy a new home. This would mean taking up our cross and serving each other locally in government. Washington has taken on these responsibilities because we have not wanted to pay the price, the heavy price, of true freedom.
- Our biblical moorings have been so washed away that we will not know where to go to find a solid foundation on which to build.
So, I am not too hopeful about the future. God is gracious.
Tags: Constitution, Freedom
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The problem with this country is BOTH the Democrats and Republicans. Anyone who seriously thinks that one side isn’t corrupt or slaves to Corporate America hasn’t done an adequate job of paying attention. To the Republicans: The GW administration will go down in History as one of the worst administrations. They eroded your constitutional rights, expanded the power of the wealthy elite, invaded countries under false pretenses, destroyed diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, and spent money like it was going out of style. To the Democrats: Obama is a dud. He promised much and has turned out to be another corporate lackey. He made deals with big pharma to ensure you could not get your medication cheaper elsewhere, he flip flopped on military tribunals, he refuses to fix health care properly through nationalization or single payer, he populates his inner circle with more Wall Street insiders, he spends money on bailouts and useless stimulus packages.
Republicans want want failure, they want things like the insurance companies to continue to rake in billions and to keep the unwealthy at a disadvantage. The infrastructures portion was what we needed to get us going in advancing our country to come into the present but the old conservatives who want to go back to the “simpler times” (ie. slavery, and racial discrimination via lower education). Our country and everyday people need help due to bad financial policy and they are just not getting it. Who is getting it? Big business. God bless America.
Thanks for the advice. Will put it to work. Tom
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