This is my reaction to the "Wealth Inequality In America" video that went viral. These are my thoughts as a young conservative living behind enemy lines in the Common Wealth of Massachusetts.
This is the original video that went viral getting over 4 million views in 10 days. The narrator claims that a little bit of socialism would be a good thing. I don't buy it.
It has been over one year since my last blog entry. It was knuckle head of the day Richard Langlois who acted as the catalyst that inspired me to write again. Langlois is the Superintendant of Schools in Saugus, Massachusetts, who unilaterally decided to cancel a 50 year town tradition the day before it occurred. Luckily he reconsidered his ridiculous decision and allowed Santa to hitch a ride on a fire truck to school. Since the 1960's Santa has been coming to the elementary schools around Christmas time to hand out coloring books to the kids. Langlois objects to this tradition because he claims Santa violates the separation of church and state. He did not consult the school committee to discuss this and figured it would be best to call the fire department the day before the event and cancel it. Even though this year the tradition stayed alive, Langlois believes it isn't right and intends to revisit this topic in future committee meetings so that next year he can ensure the event will be canceled. If you happen to disagree you can always leave Richard Langlois a message at (781) 231-5000 ext 117 to let him know how you feel.
I guess this is what Michelle Obama was talking about when she said,
"We're gunna have to change our traditions, our history, we're gunna have to move into a different place as a nation to provide the kind of future that we all want desperately for our children"
Everyone is talking about these newly installed naked body scanners found in air ports across the United States. I have heard some arguments that I believe are lacking in thought and are driven by a combination of fear and expediency. I figured it was time for me to share my opinion. Before I do I'll start with two arguments I have heard recently, "better safe than sorry" and my favorite "let's have one plane with naked scanners and one plane without any security and lets see what plane people decide to fly on, and good luck finding pilots". It's clear that most people form an opinion without thinking about what they are saying. Our opinions tend to be a conglomerate of cliche sayings and ideas found in the common vernacular that have been so far removed from independent thinking we can come up with them quickly yet completely absent of original thought. Both of these arguments assume that there is no other option on the table. Good thing "We the people" can think outside the box and use some common sense here. What are we giving up? What are we gaining? Is there a better proven way to achieve the same result?
Here is how I see it. We have .0001% of the population that tries to strap explosives to their crotch and get on a plane (that was a rough estimate). And we also have 99.999% of the population that has no interest in becoming a martyr through the suicide bombing of innocent people (another estimate). Yet the leaders of the TSA have devised a fool proof plan - Lets assume everyone is a terrorist and treat them equally so we can maintain our political correctness and keep the ACLU off our backs, Brilliant! Not really.
When people form opinions similar to the ones I mentioned in the first paragraph they could possibly be thinking. If so they would be thinking as a pragmatist. The pragmatist takes the path of least resistance, the easiest way out, the fastest way to yield results. Quality of the results and long term effects, however, is not taken into account. Is it too much to ask our government to come up with thoughtful solutions to these types of problems? No. It is not too much to ask, but it does require the government to do a good and thorough job and that is not pragmatic. It takes a lot of hard work and due diligence to achieve high quality results. It can't be done by people in empty suites who have been appointed to positions they are not qualified to fill by their political buddies.
So who's in charge of the TSA? John S. Pistole. And who is above him running the Department of Homeland Security? Janet Napolitano. And who's in charge of the company OSI Systems that made millions of dollars selling naked body scanners to the TSA? Deepak Chopra. I don't have enough info right now to draw any concrete conclusions, but someone made a quick buck out of this deal.
This week Katie Couric said, " last year 136 dangerous weapons were confiscated by the TSA, and that's worth a little discomfort." I wonder if 136 law abiding citizens are missing their swiss army knives? How many of those 136 were linked to potential terrorists threats with connections to radical groups? How many were average citizens who forgot to take their pocket knife out of their pack back?
Conclusion
There is a better way to handle airport security that does not involve naked pictures or invasive groping of law abiding citizens. For example the Israeli method. It just happens to be more politically correct and easier to treat EVERYONE as a terrorist. Government is being lazy. The side effects of government laziness, in this case are citizens losing some of their freedoms. Not to mention the radiation exposure to frequent fliers. That's why I'm ticked off.
In order to further examine this topic and properly answer the question, "What political view ought a Christian have? conservative or liberal?" Here is a chart I have put together that covers the basic core elements of both perspectives. Again this is just a starting point and it is an over simplification of the two belief systems. There are many variations and combinations of the two. My hope is that this will spark some good debate. And cause some authentic thinking.
conservative
liberal
God given rights
state given rights
pro life
pro abortion
traditional marriage
same sex marriage
tax less
tax more
spend less
spend more
fewer programs
more programs
These are some of the polarizing issues that tend to draw a clear line in the sand. From a Christian perspective I attempted to rank them in order of importance. The value of an unborn child's life is a big game changer that trumps most other issues in order of magnitude. While I hear "love thy neighbor" used as an argument to justify giving well fare to the poor by way of taxing the rich, isn't advocating for your neighbors right to be born an even greater act of love?
Have you ever assumed all Christians would be politically conservative? Recently I have discovered this is not true. To be clear I am not talking about being Republican or Democrat. When you hone in on specific parties or people within parties it is easy to become distracted from the topic at hand. I'm talking about ideology. What political view ought a Christian have? conservative or liberal? Even if they are realistically unattainable on this earth, what is the best ideology to take on as a Christian? Allow me to define "Christian". I'm not speaking of cultural Christians or non-practicing Christians. I am talking specifically about devout followers of Jesus Christ who have a biblical perspective and are motivated to "go and make disciples" as well as read their Bible and pray each day. I have recently encountered two examples of liberal voting Christians and it has truly fascinated me. I'm not sure if everyone else in the pew just appears to go with the conservative flow. Are these two examples flukes of nature?
Example 1
Back in 2008 I had a conversation with a Christian friend who supported a presidential candidate with very liberal views. He explained that his candidate supports lots of government, lots of charity to the poor, inner city and third world countries. And as a Christian with a missionary perspective, these are good things to achieve. Therefore he would be supporting a liberal presidential candidate. I was blown away. I could not believe my ears. I had never known such a devout Christian to lean so far to the left politically. And the guy he voted for wasn't just slightly left of center. To me this was puzzling. (Side note: even the opposing candidate was on the liberal side of many issues, but wouldn't it be rational to go with the lesser of two evils?)
Example 2
Recently a friend posted on facebook "you can be a Christian and a Liberal..... it's allowed". Even though every bone in my body told me "leave it alone Nate, your about to open a can of worms" I couldn't resist. I posted back, "So as long as your giving to people it doesn't matter how much debt you accumulate in the process? Is that what your saying? Is that a tenant of the Christian faith? Help me understand that from a biblical perspective." Needless to say my questions were viewed as combative at first. And in hind site I admit I didn't express my curiosity in any sort of tactful way. My friend defended his stance and a couple other people chimed in to defend him as well. And to their credit some good thoughts and interesting arguments to support the liberal voting Christian were made. I however am not convinced or persuaded that it is righteous or pious to take on a liberal perspective as a Christian.
Arguments For The Liberal Voting Christian
XYZ Republican is corrupt and greedy
Taxes are biblical and we should submit to that
Republican XYZ cut taxes and spent more, Democrats raise taxes and spend more which is a better model and I'd rather spend money we have than money we don't
The national debt is not Democrat XYZ's fault
The national debt is previous Republican XYZ's fault
Republicans are fiscally irresponsible, except for this one guy XYZ who I like
Christians can't even agree on theology or denomination, how can they agree on politics
You can be Christian and conservative, moderate or liberal
Political views have nothing to do with salvation
Jesus isn't a politician
Republican & Democrat labels will not exist in heaven
God judges the heart, motives and actions directly taken by the individual
As long as you voted according to your conscience, that's what matters
As long as you have reasons to back up your decision, that's what matters
You have no place questioning differing political views of other Christians
You can't win with politics, you get criticized for voting liberal and for voting conservative
I vote for who can help the most people, Democrat or Republican
Democrats care more about the people and where the money is going
Republican's decided to go to war
I vote the way I feel is best
I have underlined in red what I believe are the most notable points. However I still do not think they are good arguments to support a liberal voting Christian. Notice that "conservatism" was never directly attacked only republicans in general. I am seeking a well thought out answer to the following question. What political view ought a Christian have? Please explain and give real life examples as well as examples from scripture. For the sake of the argument, simply opting out and not voting is not an option. Imagine someone has a gun to your head and your forced to pick conservative or liberal what do you pick and why? Maybe a good place to start would be outlining the liberal agenda and comparing that with the conservative agenda and see how both line up with Biblical truths.
I am still recovering from discovering the election results in Massachusetts. I hope to share my thoughts on the midterm elections in MA compared to the rest of the country and what it all means in the future. In the mean time I have been heavily researching the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. I am fascinated with middle eastern culture and learning about the complexities of the conflict. From what I have gathered so far each person tends to have a bias one way or the other (including myself). After all lets not forget we happen to be caught in the middle of the longest war in American history that is currently taking place in Afghanistan. I plan on learning as much as I can about the arguments of both sides and come to a logical opinion concerning the matter. So far I have read "Son of Hamas" by Mosab Hassan Yousef, and I have watched "Islam: What the West Needs to Know". Next I plan on reading "Zionism: The Real Enemy of The Jews" by Alan Hart, "What is A Jew" by Rabbi Morris Kertzer, "The Koran" translated by HM. A. S. Abdel Haleem. Here is a clip I stumbled across about how Islam is spreading to other westernized parts of the world. Is tolerance America's Trojan horse?
Over the past week I have endorsed specific candidates running for office in Massachusetts. I would like to explain my thinking process. Judging from my choices it may seem as though I am a republican. This is not true. I have always been an un-enrolled voter. I don't get excited about the word "Republican". I get excited about the idea of preserving the constitution, interpreting the words of the constitution accurately and being responsible with tax dollars. While the ideals of the "Democratic" party sound warm and fuzzy and seem like a good thing to stand for, when I look deeper I see that their liberal methods are not fair or logical and actually serve to take away freedom from the people, stifle economic growth and give way too much power and control to the government. In politics I have learned it is better to vote for the lesser of 2 evils than to ignore both sides of a wounded system. The bottom line is that government is spending more money than ever before and taking over private businesses. The worst result of the past 2 years has been Obama Care. We need to de-fund and repeal the health care bill as priority number 1. Next we need to stop wasteful government spending and let the free market handle the economy. The candidates I have picked are certainly the best choice to get our country back on track. No matter what your opinion may be please remember to vote.
Due to long lines at polling places it has been decided that republicans will be voting on Tuesday and Democrats will be voting on Wednesday.
Have you ever assumed all Christians would be politically conservative? Recently I have discovered this is not true. To be clear I am not talking about being Republican or Democrat. When you hone in on specific parties or people within parties it is easy to become distracted from the topic at hand. I'm talking about ideology. What political view ought a Christian have? conservative or liberal? Even if they are realistically unattainable on this earth, what is the best ideology to take on as a Christian? Allow me to define "Christian". I'm not speaking of cultural Christians or non-practicing Christians. I am talking specifically about devout followers of Jesus Christ who have a biblical perspective and are motivated to "go and make disciples" as well as read their Bible and pray each day. I have recently encountered two examples of liberal voting Christians and it has truly fascinated me. I'm not sure if everyone else in the pew just appears to go with the conservative flow. Are these two examples flukes of nature?
