And we want to raise the debt limit…again.

Sequestration should be “sauce for the gander”

Remember the old saying? “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.” Well, budget sequestration seems to be affecting mainstream America more than those who created it. Where are the effects on legislative and executive offices? Instead, The White House closes to tours, the National Parks trim hours, and who bears the physical and emotional expense? Visitor-taxpayers. Services are cut and who pays? Citizen-taxpayers. Executive and legislative branches point fingers at each other and play political football and theatre with the issues–all on the clock and on our dime. The list goes on and on, et al., and ad nauseam.

I think the ones who caused the sequester should be the ones who pay the most–they themselves, their offices, staff and budgets. The President should “sequester” himself and eat in, cut his excessive and expensive trips–the same with Congress. How about cross-the-board executive and legislative salary and expense reductions (double for the Senate!) until we get some kind of reasonable budget agreements and cuts approved? This is all so ridiculous! Washington is broken and taxpayers need to clean house and get some grown-ups in there. Until then, there should be a united outcry against this madness. Americans should “filabuster” Congress and the White House with their opinions and complaints. SPEAK UP, AMERICA! Spread the sauce around!

 

Unhappy New Year–Thanks to Congress

What a way to start 2013. Americans must wake up to the cowardice that is leading us. This first legislation of  the new year (“Fiscal Cliff”) is symptomatic of the lack of courage and concern to protect our future. Years ago, we used to play “kick the can” in the alley behind our home in St. Louis. That was a game. What Congress has done is no game. They are simply trying to frantically manipulate a fragile economy rather than courageously make the tough decisions we need. These political games must stop. A two-month breather will only play further havoc with the economy, because there is no political will to do the right thing, the sane thing, the responsible thing…fix the real problem, not the symptoms. Americans must wake up and stand for the truth rather than fall for the rhetoric. I, for one, will do everything in my power to continue to educate myself and those around me regarding responsible citizenship: standing for truth and exposing the lies of relativism, pragmatism, and expediency.

What’s the deal about the “debt ceiling?”

What is the debt ceiling?

In simplest terms, it is a cap on the amount of money the federal government can borrow to pay its bills–a credit limit for bill paying. Raising the debt ceiling does NOT authorize more spending. The spending has already been done. The bill has been paid, but the “bank” has only authorized a certain amount that can be borrowed to cover the bills. Eventually, when we reach the limit, nothing more can be paid. Oops! We have a big problem here.

As political science professor Steven Taylor blogged a year ago (http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/what-is-the-debt-ceiling):

Here’s the deal:  the spending has already been authorized—the bills are going to come due (bills like, for example, continuing military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya or keeping air traffic controllers in towers and stuff like that).  As such, we have to borrow to keep paying the bills.

If you didn’t pay attention to the above paragraph, please go read it again.

In other words:  raising the debt ceiling does not authorize mores spending–we have already done that.  Borrowing simply allows us to pay for the obligations that have already been made.  Voting on the debt ceiling is not voting on the budget.

This is a fact.  It may well be an ugly fact, but it remains a fact nonetheless.  Not raising the debt ceiling doesn’t make it go away.

Thanks to Prof. Taylor for making it simple. Many, if not most, people do not understand this situation. I know I do not fully understand it, but I think I have a handle on this part. The real problem is not with the debt ceiling but with the budgeting (although it is a symptomatic problem). The USA simply does not live within its means. That’s a leadership problem, not a debt ceiling problem.

Congressional debt ceiling votes have become a very political, as well as fiscal, hot potato. What was once a matter of practicality is now politicized into a campaign issue, albeit, not a very important one. Just like earmarks has become a dirty word, so debt ceiling has entered into those tabu ranks of the uninformed and “mad as h*** and I’m not gonna take it anymore” crowd. To all of those, do me a favor and just calm down and listen up. You are being manipulated when you need to be educated. Yes, we have such terrible fiscal issues that blow the minds of the economists and sometimes pad the pockets of politicians and their pet project managers, but we cannot let our judgment be impaired with the inflammatory rhetoric about them. (There is a difference between the legitimate constitutional earmarking process and the illegitimate “pork barrel spending” that happens, but that’s another subject.) There would be no need for credit limit (debt ceiling) increases if we balanced our budget!! Let’s don’t buy into another political “red herring,” if we had a balanced budget, debt ceilings would be a non-issue.

Know the truth and you will be set free to see the political mudslinging for what it is: cheap rhetoric that plays on people’s emotions, and election year hype to cover up the “slinger’s” lack of character, integrity, and qualifications. Feel free to apply this to any campaign you like. I’ll apply it to the Missouri campaign for U.S. Senate.

FIRE THE SENATE!

It has been nearly 1000 days since the U.S. Senate and Harry Reid have approved a budget. Shame on them. This is unforgivable and unconscionable with the economy in this kind of shape. It is truly the “Do-Nothing Senate.” Get the facts, then get out the vote to remove the cowards who are truly derelict in their duty. We need leaders, patriots, and statesmen who are courageous and steadfast to make the tough choices that are right, virtuous, and self-sacrificing. Whether Republican or Democrat, their days need to be numbered.

Click here:  DoNothingSenate

Send Washington A Message

I am so tired of the budgetary standoff going on in Washington. I am sending House and Senate members a message:

CUT SPENDING BEFORE RAISING TAXES

• Americans have complained about the size of government for decades. We have a bloated bureaucracy. We have so much waste in programs and subsidies. We have a huge lack of local and regional oversight. Government is the biggest employer in the country–that is a travesty because government produces NOTHING!
• It is grossly UNFAIR and unAmerican to expect a small group of citizen taxpayers to pay extra taxes simply because they have more resources…especially when tax money is being squandered on super-sized government! Genuine economic justice gives equal protection under law. Where is equality when one small group is singled out like this?
• We need leaders who are willing to face the facts and make the tough decisions. Americans are overtaxed and underprotected. Government needs to keep to its Constitutional responsibilities and release the private sector to be the economic stimulus it is designed to be. Government will NEVER be big enough to oversee America’s economy, nor should it be, because when it gets that big, America will cease to be America.

When you do not manage well the money you have, you should not be given more! Congress needs to get its financial house in order before asking for more.

Democrat or Republican, I will not vote for a Senator, Representative, or President who believes differently.

Pie, anyone?

It seems like the prevailing thought today, and one that is certainly promulgated by the current administration in Washington, is that the so-called “economic pie” is fixed, and that there is just so much wealth in the world that when one group gets it, it is taken away from the others, therefore, wealth can only be accumulated at the expense of others. There isn’t a more socialistic view than this, and it couldn’t be more wrong. In a moral free enterprise system, wealth creates more wealth. Typically, accumulated assets are either spent or invested thus creating more jobs, goods and services and more capital investment, improvements, expansion and economic growth. The pie gets bigger! What government needs to do is to find ways to stimulate the growth of the pie, not how to redistribute its pieces. In most kitchen cupboards, you will find 8,9, or 10-inch pie pans. Who’s to say that we can’t have 11, 12, or even 13-inch pans? With today’s economic crisis, we need some good old Yankee ingenuity to get baking again…and making the pans bigger! America is in economic troubles, as well as the rest of the world economies. But America does not have to buy into the troubles that have plagued Europe and follow their path of failed socialized economic policies. America has always had a better idea, indeed exceptional ones. Our citizens and leaders must come together in the same entrepreneurial spirit and face this crisis with stern optimism.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) spoke this week at the Heritage Foundation about saving the American idea. Here is a principled Congressman who thinks and then acts accordingly. May God increase his tribe in Congress! Here are some of his comments regarding economic “class warfare” in America:

…the President is barnstorming swing states, pushing a divisive message that pits one group of Americans against another on the basis of class.

This just won’t work in America. Class is not a fixed designation in this country. We are an upwardly mobile society with a lot of movement between income groups.

The Treasury Department’s latest study on income mobility in America found that during the ten-year period starting in 1996, roughly half of the taxpayers who started in the bottom 20 percent had moved up to a higher income group by 2005.

Meanwhile, half of all taxpayers ended up in a different income group at the end of ten years. Many moved up, and some moved down, but economic growth resulted in rising incomes for most people over this period.

Another recent survey of over 500 successful entrepreneurs found that 93 percent came from middle-class or lower-class backgrounds. The majority were the first in their families to launch a business.

Their stories are the American story: Millions of immigrants fled from the closed societies of the Old World to the security of equal rights in this land of upward mobility.

Telling Americans they are stuck in their current station in life, that they are victims of circumstances beyond their control, and that government’s role is to help them cope with it – well, that’s not who we are. That’s not what we do.

Our Founding Fathers rejected this mentality. In societies marked by class structure, an elite class made up of rich and powerful patrons supplies the needs of a large client underclass that toils, but cannot own. The unfairness of closed societies is the kindling for class warfare, where the interests of “capital” and “labor” are perpetually in conflict. What one class wins, the other loses.

The legacy of this tradition can still be seen in Europe today: Top-heavy welfare states have replaced the traditional aristocracies, and masses of the long-term unemployed are locked into the new lower class.

The United States was destined to break out of this bleak history. Our future would not be staked on traditional class structures, but on civic solidarity. Gone would be the struggle of class against class.

Instead, Americans would work, compete, and co-operate in an open market, climb the ladder of opportunity, and keep the fruits of their efforts.

Self-government and the rule of law would secure our equal, God-given rights. Our political and economic systems – rooted in freedom and responsibility – would reward, and thus cultivate, traditional virtues.

Given that the President’s policies have moved us closer to the European model, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that his class-based rhetoric has followed suit.

We shouldn’t be surprised… but we have every right to be disappointed. Instead of appealing to the hope and optimism that were hallmarks of his first campaign, he has launched his second campaign by preying on the emotions of fear, envy, and resentment.

This has the potential to be just as damaging as his misguided policies. Sowing social unrest and class resentment makes America weaker, not stronger. Pitting one group against another only distracts us from the true sources of inequity in this country – corporate welfare that enriches the powerful, and empty promises that betray the powerless.

…These actions starkly highlight the difference between the two parties that lies at the heart of the matter:  Whether we are a nation that still believes in equality of opportunity, or whether we are moving away from that, and towards an insistence on equality of outcome.

If you believe in the former, you follow the American Idea that justice is done when we level the playing field at the starting line, and rewards are proportionate to merit and effort.

If you believe in the latter kind of equality, you think most differences in wealth and rewards are matters of luck or exploitation, and that few really deserve what they have.

That’s the moral basis of class warfare – a false morality that confuses fairness with redistribution, and promotes class envy instead of social mobility.

I’d like to introduce President Obama to the Ronald Reagan he isn’t so eager to quote – the man who said, “Since when do we in America believe that our society is made up of two diametrically opposed classes – one rich, one poor – both in a permanent state of conflict and neither able to get ahead except at the expense of the other? Since when do we in America accept this alien and discredited theory of social and class warfare? Since when do we in America endorse the politics of envy and division?”

President Reagan was absolutely right. Instead of policies that make it harder for Americans to rise, let’s lower the hurdles to upward mobility.

That’s what the American Idea is all about. You know, in the midst of all the joys and sorrows of our everyday lives, I think we sometimes forget why America was considered such an exceptional nation at its Founding, and why it remains so.

To me, the results of the Founders’ exceptional vision can be summed up in a single sentence: Throughout human history, the American Idea has done more to help the poor than any other economic system ever designed.

Americans, guided by our ideals, have sacrificed everything to combat tyranny and brutal dictators; we’ve expanded opportunity, opened markets, and inspired others to resist oppression; we’ve exported innovation and imagination; and we’ve welcomed immigrants seeking a fresh start.

Here in America – unlike most places on earth – all citizens have the right to rise.

(Congressman Ryan’s address can be seen and read in toto at:
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/10/26/video-rep-paul-ryan-on-saving-the-american-idea)

As we once again approach our historic Thanksgiving holidays, we need to be reminded that God is the source of our wealth and the wisdom to create it (Deuteronomy 8:18). He is to be thanked as the Founder of the feast. With regard to our economic concerns, I believe if we humble ourselves in repentance and prayerfully seek His face, He will hear our prayers and heal our land. Our Founding Fathers understood this and, seeking Divine Providence, formulated the American way based on the Biblical way. Doing it God’s way, there will be enough pie for everyone.

April 15

You do know that April 15 has been postponed to April 18, right? (It would have been interesting to see if a government shutdown would have included the IRS–but I suppose they just might be considered “essential” personnel!) Anyway…April 15, 2011 is a Friday, so why the change? Silly me for asking–it’s Emancipation Day on the 16th…well, at least in D.C. Thank you, Abraham Lincoln! Of course, I am looking for that great Emancipation Day when the IRS is abolished and there are no more income taxes. Hallelujah! It could happen! But wait, there is an even better “Emancipation Day” coming when everything will be made right. We will be completely freed from all things bad, sinful, tempting, and unjust. FREE AT LAST! On that great day, the Day of the Lord, all things will become new:

2 Peter 3:10-13 — But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Sounds awesome and terrifying, eh? Yes, but sin and all of its effects will be eradicated and we will not only be free of sin’s penalty and power, but from sin’s very presence. Granted, there are more “sinful” things than the IRS, slavery being one of them, but the greatest slavery on earth still occurs in every nation of the world. Apart from Jesus, all mankind is a slave to sin. Thanks be to God we are free at last awaiting that greatest Emancipation Day! I suppose I can put up with unjust taxes until then.

We must shrink government now

Our founding fathers would choke if they saw how big government is today–especially compared to private sector jobs. Consider this excerpt from today’s Wall Street Journal:

“Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). …It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined.”

No wonder we are in such a debt struggle in this country! Just what does the government produce? Government jobs just don’t stimulate or grow the economy! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. We must shrink government now! The American economy depends on it.

Defund Planned Parenthood NOW!

“Family Planning” goes only one way at PP, and your tax dollars help it along. Look at this Youtube report:

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30–A series of new undercover phone calls reveals that contrary to the claims of Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards and other supporters of the nation’s largest abortion chain, the organization does not provide mammograms for women. (Youtube caption)

Ephesians 5:11 – “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them…”

The Sexualization of America and the World

After giving some thought to my recent trip to the U.N. with a contingent of the St. Louis Teen Eagles, I wanted to make a few comments regarding the coarsening of our society on its trek to becoming more like its disintegrating European counterpart. The socialization (vis-à-vis sexualization) of Europe is not only well documented but also well promoted not only in the European Union (EU) but also in the United Nations. The Obama administration’s delegation, in lock step with the EU, has led the battle charge against traditional Christian values which uphold the sanctity of life and family. America’s largest and most influential education union, the National Education Association (NEA) graphically declared that sex and sexuality education are needed worldwide in preschool through college to solve the world’s population and gender stereotyping ills. (Of course, the new definition of gender expands the traditional view of male and female to at least six genders…adding LGBT orientations.) Smaller aid-dependent countries decried the harassment of their funder nations regarding the push for all of these changes. Many pro-abortion, anti-traditional family NGO’s (Non Governmental Organizations) plus many U.N. agencies like the UNFPA, regularly and forcefully encourage these intimidating changes while countering, blocking, and even shouting down alternative views. There were at least two occasions when our Teen Eagle team made early exits from conferences because of objectionable material being presented. What a statement was made as we left those venues! Parents, not culture or government, are responsible for their children’s education. They inculcate values and morés. Certainly communities and cultures reflect the values promoted by families, which has sorrowfully become an indictment on the family in our nation and our world. We need a revival of the spirit of family as well as a personal renewal of the spiritual values that have made America the exceptional nation that it is. America does not need to follow Europe… they are heading the wrong direction! European-style socialism is not working culturally, economically, or spiritually. America must STOP and remember from whence it came. America must repent of falling short of God’s standard, and then repeat its former works and retake its former stand and position as a light to the nations–a city set upon a hill.

Economic Liberty

You know, if America goes the way of a socialistic system, there will be no such thing as a Black Friday or  Cyber Monday. Although you run the risk of materialism in all its expressions, capitalism is still the best system all the way around–because of choices, choices, and more choices. Government will do its duty when it protects the choices (freedom) of the American people. And Americans will do their duty when they make responsible choices in their elected officials as well as their purchases.

Don’t Forget Thanksgiving

It is a bit disconcerting when businesses move directly from Halloween to Christmas promotions and virtually skip over one of America’s most important holidays–Thanksgiving. Costumes, candy and gifts are big sellers for non-grocery retailers and about all Thanksgiving has going for it, commercially, is groceries. A retailer would have to be committed to the holiday itself and not just the profitability of it.  The history of Thanksgiving–its origin, purpose, and Presidential proclamations certainly warrant more than a casual mention in the history books and by school teachers. American students need to know the truth of it, and certainly not some “sanitized” version. Of course, it is very difficult to secularize Thanksgiving, although it has been and continues to be tried. Forgetting Thanksgiving is tantamount to forgetting God as well as avoiding a significant part of American history. When our family made a move in the summer of 1961, I distinctly remember my new third grade public school teacher leading us in a prayer before our lunch period every day. When I started fourth grade, the prayers went missing and never returned. At that time, I was not aware that in the summer of 1962, corporately thanking God for our food was banned from the public schools. Now, fifty years later, we may hear of a “pardon” for a turkey, but no proclamation of thanks to God for his benevolent provision and protection–in government nor government run schools. All I ask for is an acknowledgment of In God We Trust whether in schools or in the retail stores of our land. It is God who has blessed our land and I believe we are currently living on the blessings given to our forefathers. If retailers really believed that God is their provider, they would see the profitability in promoting a day of thanksgiving to Him and His all-wise providence.

Significant Admission: HHS agrees benefits decrease/costs increase with Obamacare

Well, here is an admission of guilt:  For many companies, the new health care regulations will  result in a significant benefit decrease, or a significant cost increase. How does Health and Human Services agree? By approving waivers certifying significant consequences for enrollees of 111 companies (many of them unions) as of November 1. Here is the HHS list:  http://www.hhs.gov/ociio/regulations/approved_applications_for_waiver.html These waivers alone affect nearly 1.2 million participants in the programs with significant increases/decreases — not to mention countless companies who did not yet file or whose benefits or costs are not significant enough. Here are the “significant” waiver qualifiers in HHS’s own words:  http://www.hhs.gov/ociio/regulations/patient/ociio_2010-1_20100903_508.pdf It certainly doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that bureaucrats have made a bigger mess out of an already big mess and they are not even sure of the future consequences of their regulations. Speaker Pelosi’s comments on “passing it to find out what’s in it” not only applies to American citizens, but to legislators and bureaucrats alike–another significant admission. My response to this farce?  Ditch it all and start over.  Hopefully the lame ducks will be put out of their misery by Obamacare proponents sobered by the elections. And what do we do in the mean time? Watch and pray–let your voice be heard in Heaven and in Washington D.C.

Voting is a responsibility, not just a right

David Barton gives us a Biblical basis for our voting responsibilities in America. Take a few minutes to think on Matthew 6:33:  Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. As believers, when we focus on righteousness first, economic stability follows. Take 10 minutes and watch this video…you will be glad you did.