Archive for the 'COGOP News & Events' Category

I am not an economist, and I am not a political science major. In fact, I’ve never even stepped foot into a university for the purpose of learning. However, it doesn’t take those three facts, or even any given one of three, to figure out something that Wall Street and Washington D.C. cannot — why our economy has failed.

My view is a little different than the rest of the world’s, so bear with me through this. It’s a viewpoint I think every one of you, my readers, needs to see.

In the 1930s our nation faced a Great Depression. For whatever reason, Wall Street panicked, our dollar was severely devalued and millions of people’s investments were turned to rubble. It sounds a lot like what we’re going through now, right?

In a sense, yes, but the end won’t be the same. The Depression ended thanks to (I’m not sure if “thanks” is the right word but I’m sticking with it) World War II and the economy it brought forth. People were put to work in a united effort to see the United States come through the war on top, and it succeeded.

Today’s economic recession won’t end in similar fashion. Instead of putting people to work, we’ve outsourced jobs to China, and in our infinite wisdom have created computers that have surpassed the human race in technical proficiency, and thus can perform the job of a human much more quickly and efficiently. And about the war? Debate it all you want to, but the fact of the matter is the folks of America aren’t necessarily united on this one, and we kinda started the one in Iraq.

The federal government and big business have not helped the average citizen one iota — which is ironic because it is the collective purchasing power of the average citizens who drive what businesses can and cannot do. It is the voice of the average citizen who should drive what the government does.

For all intents and purposes, the government has failed the people. In the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 — otherwise known as the big financial bailout — Congress, and ultimately President Bush, authorized up to $700 billion dollars to buy distressed assets and attempt to restore confidence in a credit market — a credit market that, in my humble opinion, would be just fine if it didn’t lend to people who couldn’t afford to pay it back. What Congress did was basically take a chunk of your and my hard-earned money (money we will need even more so during this economic slowdown) and give it to companies that apparently need it, a step toward nationalization and a leap away from free enterprise.

If that doesn’t upset you, consider the recent auto industry bailout. The Big Three will not finance you for a new or pre-owned vehicle if your credit history is shot, yet they as companies are in the same situation and they expect to use OUR MONEY to rescue them. Of course, the government came to the rescue once again.

As an average citizen myself, it seems odd to me how the United States can seemingly create funny money out of thin air, inject it into our financial markets and expect that to somehow stave off an economic crisis that will by all accounts (including that of our next President) get worse in 2009.

Hearkening back to the Great Depression, our dollar becomes devalued, stock prices plummet and people panic. Only this time, people are doing so by saving their money. What is the government doing? You guessed it, spending our tax money in order to restore confidence in an economic system so we can ONLY SPEND MORE MONEY.

Personally, I lost faith in America’s political system when the afore-mentioned bailout bill was passed. You had better believe I wrote my senators and representatives encouraging them to let the free market run its course and not interfere with the boom and bust cycle. The bailout showed me that Democrats and Republicans proved they are one and the same — I shall from here on out refer to them collectively as Republicrats — by putting big business interests above that of the common man, the very people who elected them to the position that, in turn, should be a platform for them to represent their constituents and not their own self-interests.

Read this and read it over again if you need to: YOU ARE A SLAVE TO THE GOVERNMENT. As long as you subscribe to the two-party political song and dance that runs our nation, you are a slave that will never, ever emancipate yourself from the power- and money-hungry mindset of the slave drivers who run our nation.

So that’s the economy and the political side of things. Now here’s where my views begin to become even more unpopular than I’m sure they are already.

Let me preface this portion by stating clearly that I am a Christian and I believe the Bible to be the Word of God, that was inspired by God and written by men under that same inspiration.

That having been said, I believe America is on a crash course with the same destiny that doomed the nation of Israel and led to their captivity by Babylon.

The similarities between both nations are remarkable. America and Israel pre-captivity:

ON THE UPSWING
- Were blessed mightily by the hand of God Himself at the time of their birthing.
- Were God-fearing nations that had the Lord first and foremost in their minds.
- Were given great freedoms and great liberties, yet a set of guidelines which how to govern their nations.
- Grew exponentially in knowledge, wealth, and political power.

ON THE DOWNSWING
- Seemed to forget the very One who got them to the place they were.
- Encouraged physical, mental and spiritual idolatry of gods, ideas and personalities.
- Fell fast and hard when God allowed them to make decisions contrary to His teachings.
- People cried out for hope blankly realizing that it wasn’t a ruler or even spiritual leader that could save them.

There are many more, but I am sure you get the idea.

I will echo the sentiments of George Mason, who is best known as the Father of the Bill of Rights, as he said: “As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, so they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins by national calamities.”

Sins? What do I mean by sins? America has sinned by accepting lifestyles and choices that are largely contrary to God’s word. In my opinion, he is not directly punishing us but similar to Israel in the Old Testament, we are beginning to feel Him remove His hand of protection over our nation.

I may sound like a prophet of doom and gloom, writing my own book of Lamentations, but there is a hope that our nation can turn itself around, and it’s not in any government or figurehead, but rather it begins with one decision we can make.

You see, the writer of the 33rd Psalm plainly stated “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” This was written during a time in which Israel collectively feared God and were prospering under His guidance. The writer had obviously seen what happened when the nation strayed from His teachings.

A nation is defined as “a large body of people associated with a particular territory.” Nation, meaning as many individuals we make up one body. However, there would be no nation if there were no individuals.

Which means we are all left to make our own decisions about our lives. When to wake up, what to eat today, where to go after work for some after-hours fun — but the most important decision, and the one in which hope is ultimately offered, is one that doesn’t impact our current life nearly as much as where we’re going afterward.

Here’s the long and short of it. Whether you want to believe this or not, it’s still documented historically that a man named Jesus Christ lived on this earth for 33 years teaching people the ways of the Lord, healing the sick, and preaching a message of love, peace, and unity.

However, the most thing He brought to the table was an offer of eternal life. Not in and of our physical bodies, but spiritually. The only catch is that we must sacrifice our personal wants and desires, and trade those in for a lifestyle emulating that of Jesus Christ himself.

John 3:16 is readily quoted by many a believer — This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

But as much as we quote that, we kinda fail to look at the next two verses which put it in an even greater context (I put the bold in here for emphasis):

“God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”

That’s just it. Jesus came to help. Those who make the decision to serve Him have that help and a hope in something greater than anything we can ever imagine.

I was sent a link to a video of noted atheist Penn Jillette describing an encounter with a Christian fan who handed him a Bible. Watch this the entire way through before reading further.

It really spoke to me personally when Penn says he doesn’t respect any Christian who doesn’t care enough to try and proselytize…saying that if one really believes there’s a hell and they don’t do everything they can to stop someone from going, how much do you really have to hate someone to do that???

THAT is the kind of stance I take on faith in Christ, and it’s the whole reasoning behind potentially the longest article I’ve posted on my website to date. I believe God has given us a gift freely through Jesus Christ, and I want as many people possible to share the joy and hope that only Jesus can bring on this earth, and enjoy the everlasting life that John 3:16 speaks about.

So how does this all tie into the government and the heavy points I weighed on above?

The world around us may be crumbling. Our economy is failing, people are failing us left and right…there is civil unrest in the world, wars and rumors of wars. But the only constant and the only Hope is the message of Jesus and the cross.

When all of us from all walks of life and belief systems point to the cross as what unites us, believe in the One that hung from it two thousand years ago and pledge to honor His commands, then our focus will shift to that message, the joy and hope it brings and the necessity to share it with those around us.

And it’s then, and only then, that we will see the solution to the problems facing America right before our eyes.

The choice lies ultimately with, individually, you and only you. And the more that make the decision to simply believe Christ, the more we will begin to see our neighborhoods, cities, all the way up to the nation turn again to the ultimate source of Hope and sustenance.