Seriously, what’s with the cold war angst? It’s like we have to add “socialist” to our diminishing list of cuss words in American English: “Socialist you!” “Eat my Marx!” “You’re a Swede!” “Your mom got to go to college free!”
In the last few weeks of the 2008 election, McCain has had this (desperation) rhetoric, something to the effect of “Obama wants to spread your wealth around, I want you to keep your wealth!” This statement infuriates me; it beckons all of the righteous Holy Spirit level anger inside of me (I’m serious). Why is it that Christians, siding with the Republican Party are such strong advocates of keeping wealth for ourselves, isn’t that absolutely contrary to everything that’s in, uh, the bible?
1. Did you know that at the feasts in Jerusalem, people would bring their tithes of grain and livestock to be enjoyed together with all people, no matter how much they brought? 2. Did you know that Jesus called the rich young ruler to liquidate all assets and follow Him? 3. Did you know that in the early church people liquidated their real estate so that they could let the disciples redistribute it to widows and orphans? The cornerstone of the Republican Party has been lower taxes, guns, my rights, my rights, my rights. In MY faith, I have NO rights; my priority is helping others PERIOD.
I should interject and thank David for his comment re: giving to government vs. charity, which is a completely valid statement. I do realize that the giving in each of the three bible verses above are in the context of spiritual communities, and not the government (save, perhaps, the first one). So it begs the question, and I think there’s some wiggle room here, how applicable are these passages in scripture?
Well, Bruce’s comment (thank you Bruce) answers it pretty well, we’re not talking about charity, we’re talking about need. I am a small-business owner so I pay taxes through the nose, but I can’t (effing) get any (effing) healthcare because of an (effing) pre-existing condition that I was (effing) born with!! (Pardon my French). The issue of healthcare is not charity, it’s a need indeed baby! And I, as a socialist, would be happy to pay more taxes and be able to get healthcare as an (effing) healthy-non-smoking-non-drinking-non-meat-eating-29-year-old for less than $430 a month!!!! (Whew). And while I’m at it, I’d like my kids to be able to go to any college that want, for free.
What if the government, (Under president Gore) said 8 years ago: “That sub prime lending you’re doing sounds fishy, and boy it’s very, very profitable. I’m not going to disallow it, but I’m going to put a 50% tax on it use that money to, hmm, feed hungry kids.”
What if the president said “Hmm, Exxon, record profits because gas prices are going up but your expenses are not, I’m going to put a 50% tax on your oil revenue and I’m going to spend it on, hmmm, cheap, affordable solar power so everyone can heat their water with a roof-mounted solar heating unit (China’s got ‘em).”
To me, there are only two reasons Christians/Republicans are so vehemently opposed to Socialism. #1) Gorbachev has secretly rebuilt a Kalashnikov armed Soviet Army that will invade us as they spread Nuclear death among the Capitalist infidels, or #2) the reality that people are greedy and just don’t want to let go of their money. I guess #3 could be that Capitalism is superior (?) but look at how greed has corrupted the homeowners, bankers, brokers, regulators, and politicians… uh, look at your 401K!!
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Tim 6:10
"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Luke 16:13
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Matt 19:24
Friends, conservative and liberal, Christians and secular, I behoove you to defend (or deny) capitalism and attack (or exonerate) a progression toward a more Socialist state. I want to know, I’m curious, what’s with the cold war angst!?
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Why I’m a Christian AND a Democrat:
As a Christian, I am met with frequent queries as to the peculiar nature of my political ideology: am I just trying to be different for the sake of being different? Am I just young and naïve? Did I dab LSD on my tongue one too many times before watching “An Inconvenient Truth”? Am I really a Christian at all? I have decided to build this blog to 1. Explain/define my beliefs/dispel myths to my friends, 2. Be a voice to other “closet” liberal Christians, 3. Develop my opinions by getting feedback from you guys.
Let me clearly proclaim my thesis here: The ideology of the Democratic Party in 2008 more closely suits my faith.
The financial crisis of late embodies the reason why I believe this. In a nutshell, Greed powers free market capitalism-->Republicans champion free market capitalism (Christian Republicans too, oh my)-->I don’t like greed (neither does Jesus)-->the democratic party more closely embodies my faith-->I am a democrat-->Period. Argh, and I find myself watering down the above statement by inserting “free-market” above where I feel like myself (and Jesus) think that Capitalism on a whole is silly, but alas, I digress.
The bank bailout of late is designed to address precisely what happened in the 30s before the great depression and avoid it; kind of like a “learn from our mistakes” type of deal. What the government has done is, among many other things, buy chunks of the leading banks because they are “too big to fail*” (see note below on this one). When banks resisted this move, the fed wouldn’t have it, and forced the banks to comply in order to save them. Now, the banks have been partially “nationalized” (although I may argue that they have been “socialized” [gasp]), and all this was done because the federal government was forced to do so... In case italics are inadequate in expressing accented written words, I shall reattempt using caps. The federal government, Pioneered by Reagan into Free-Market-Regulation-Free Capitalism, Captianed by our very own George Dubya, bought huge portions of unable-to-regulate-themselves-banks because it WAS FORCED TO DO SO!
*Don’t we have anti-trust laws to prevent this?
I’ll skip the commentary about Bush’s embarrassingly failed presidency-which-will-go-down-in-history-as-the-presidency-of-the-twin-towers-and-of-the-twin-trillions (the trillion lost in Iraq and the other trillion on the banks due to his failed and inept policy) save this hyphenated parenthetical sentence that I simply could not bear to contain, for now. Sigh, I’ll stick to the title of this blog: why I’m a democrat.
I currently live in Los Angeles county, which is running a deficit of nearly $1 billion, within the great state of California running a deficit of roughly $14 billion, looking for assistance from the federal government, which has a massive (understatement)… deficit of approx. $438 billion (just for this year); and they are looking for help from (irony here, pay attention) CHINA. If you’re not laughing here, you’re a republican. Here is my Mini sub-thesis: American Culture as a whole is deeply rooted in a pandemic, over arching, all encompassing “buy now pay later” mentality. That is, it is the way of the United States of America to consume as much as possible without facing the consequences until we are forced to do so (FORCED TO DO SO). You see it in our health care, how it’s focused on treatment rather than prevention, you see it in our governmental debt on every single level, and now, you see it in the bail out!! Government, to a large extent, sets an example to its people, and this republican led administration is setting a (understatement #2) bad example.
Republicans are doing this, somehow they feel like fighting for lower taxes and lower regulation is somehow Christian, but it's contrary to scripture and, regardless, it has all throughout history caused catastrophic social and civil problems! It boils my blood that Christians, CHRISTIANS, God’s people, followers of Christ, put Republicans into power (off of non-political moral issues like abortion and gay rights: more on this later); and these republicans champion this credit-card-governing mentality. This anger and disappointment in my brothers and sisters keeps me awake at night. We should be the first ones volunteering our wealth, our comfort, our time… for the sake of others! The Republican Party is founded on the principle of allowing people and governments to consume and consume until they are sick and vomiting and they have to binge on the medication they should have been taking gradually to prevent this! If you want to argue this, look at Wall Street and read a transcript of Greenspan’s confessional. We need a government that will regulate us, and prevent this disaster, like my God regulates me, and prevents me from disaster.
However, when I meet disaster in my spiritual life, there is grace, there is correction, and there is renewed strength. When our country meets disaster, there is Obama. After years of enduring inept leadership by way of botched and dishonest voting booths, party line supreme court rulings, vote persuasion via fear mongering, and a re-election via an opaque and dismal war, the American people will do the ultimate “bail out” using the constitution, we will vote democratic.
Let me clearly proclaim my thesis here: The ideology of the Democratic Party in 2008 more closely suits my faith.
The financial crisis of late embodies the reason why I believe this. In a nutshell, Greed powers free market capitalism-->Republicans champion free market capitalism (Christian Republicans too, oh my)-->I don’t like greed (neither does Jesus)-->the democratic party more closely embodies my faith-->I am a democrat-->Period. Argh, and I find myself watering down the above statement by inserting “free-market” above where I feel like myself (and Jesus) think that Capitalism on a whole is silly, but alas, I digress.
The bank bailout of late is designed to address precisely what happened in the 30s before the great depression and avoid it; kind of like a “learn from our mistakes” type of deal. What the government has done is, among many other things, buy chunks of the leading banks because they are “too big to fail*” (see note below on this one). When banks resisted this move, the fed wouldn’t have it, and forced the banks to comply in order to save them. Now, the banks have been partially “nationalized” (although I may argue that they have been “socialized” [gasp]), and all this was done because the federal government was forced to do so... In case italics are inadequate in expressing accented written words, I shall reattempt using caps. The federal government, Pioneered by Reagan into Free-Market-Regulation-Free Capitalism, Captianed by our very own George Dubya, bought huge portions of unable-to-regulate-themselves-banks because it WAS FORCED TO DO SO!
*Don’t we have anti-trust laws to prevent this?
I’ll skip the commentary about Bush’s embarrassingly failed presidency-which-will-go-down-in-history-as-the-presidency-of-the-twin-towers-and-of-the-twin-trillions (the trillion lost in Iraq and the other trillion on the banks due to his failed and inept policy) save this hyphenated parenthetical sentence that I simply could not bear to contain, for now. Sigh, I’ll stick to the title of this blog: why I’m a democrat.
I currently live in Los Angeles county, which is running a deficit of nearly $1 billion, within the great state of California running a deficit of roughly $14 billion, looking for assistance from the federal government, which has a massive (understatement)… deficit of approx. $438 billion (just for this year); and they are looking for help from (irony here, pay attention) CHINA. If you’re not laughing here, you’re a republican. Here is my Mini sub-thesis: American Culture as a whole is deeply rooted in a pandemic, over arching, all encompassing “buy now pay later” mentality. That is, it is the way of the United States of America to consume as much as possible without facing the consequences until we are forced to do so (FORCED TO DO SO). You see it in our health care, how it’s focused on treatment rather than prevention, you see it in our governmental debt on every single level, and now, you see it in the bail out!! Government, to a large extent, sets an example to its people, and this republican led administration is setting a (understatement #2) bad example.
Republicans are doing this, somehow they feel like fighting for lower taxes and lower regulation is somehow Christian, but it's contrary to scripture and, regardless, it has all throughout history caused catastrophic social and civil problems! It boils my blood that Christians, CHRISTIANS, God’s people, followers of Christ, put Republicans into power (off of non-political moral issues like abortion and gay rights: more on this later); and these republicans champion this credit-card-governing mentality. This anger and disappointment in my brothers and sisters keeps me awake at night. We should be the first ones volunteering our wealth, our comfort, our time… for the sake of others! The Republican Party is founded on the principle of allowing people and governments to consume and consume until they are sick and vomiting and they have to binge on the medication they should have been taking gradually to prevent this! If you want to argue this, look at Wall Street and read a transcript of Greenspan’s confessional. We need a government that will regulate us, and prevent this disaster, like my God regulates me, and prevents me from disaster.
However, when I meet disaster in my spiritual life, there is grace, there is correction, and there is renewed strength. When our country meets disaster, there is Obama. After years of enduring inept leadership by way of botched and dishonest voting booths, party line supreme court rulings, vote persuasion via fear mongering, and a re-election via an opaque and dismal war, the American people will do the ultimate “bail out” using the constitution, we will vote democratic.
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