Hello hello, as usual it’s been a long time since I’ve posted; I’ve been touring and teaching and traveling and trying to find balance in my priorities. Thank you all who have taken the time to read my blog, especially those who have posted (my question is why do ppl who voice support of my views tell me outside of my blog post? [in other words WTF]). Despite all the happenings in my personal life, when it came to GM’s bankruptcy, I just couldn’t resist the need to write… I drove an American car for 10 years of my life… you may now shower me with your sympathy.
Now, I drove a Ford, so for any of you who drove a Beretta or a Prizm, I know I shouldn’t complain; I suppose my Ford is a shining, radiator fluid-bleeding beacon of American auto-engineering compared to GMs Clunkers. But, I have smacked my forehead the second time my Detroit transmission stopped shifting out of second; I have rolled up the windows on a Pontiac with my bare hands (I mean, using my hands to physically lift up the window); I have laboured hands-on-the-hood of a Saturn that gave up on going in reverse… I know the pain GM owners must feel. I’ll admit it: I’m a bitter, Prius driving, recovering American car driver.
Biases aside, I feel that the American People felt a vague sense of vindication when we all heard about GM’s mammoth financial problems and when Obama forced them into a structured bankruptcy. Diseased by debt and crippled by its dependence on increasingly larger and more powerful vehicles… how do you spell GM’s demise? EV1, or Electric Vehicle One.
Over a decade ago in 1996, GM released the vehicle, a battery powered pure electric vehicle: no exhaust, no hybrid system, it had a range of approx 160 miles, with sporty power to boot. I had the pleasure of riding one with my friend Adam who worked for a California efficiency agency in Sacramento shortly after we graduated from Davis. The car was quiet, impressive, environmental, and sexy… less than a year later GM scrapped the program: that car, every other EV1 in creation, all of GM’s R&D and advertising cash, and GM’s hopes for staying solvent in 2009 laid crunched up in a junkyard. Over a decade later GM files for bankruptcy.
(This is the fruit of capitalism)
Rather than doing the RIGHT thing: going after a vehicle that would be right for our society, for our environment, for our foreign policy, for those who fell in an unnecessary war, and mainly just asking the simple question “aren’t Hummers stupid?” GM did precisely what capitalism rewards the most, the most PROFITABLE thing: they built larger and stronger cars to get bigger profit margins and scrapped a program that could be giving GM Toyota Prius levels of profitability/notoriety today.
Toyota on the other hand took a loss on the Prius. The first generation looked like it was off an episode of Star Trek Deep Space 9, like they were trying their hardest to appeal to dweebs and engineers who bring up vectors as conversation topics with girls. It barely got better mileage than efficient combustion engine cars, and it had as much power as my cell phone on vibrate. Toyota lost money on every Prius sold, and how many of those 1st gens do you see on the road now? But, our chain smoking Japanese friends stuck with the car and now the Prius is one of the main reasons Toyota is the largest car manufacturer in the world. General Motors was too busy snorting up W’s SUV tax breaks and getting high off the lie that soccer moms needed to drive over granite boulders and flooded riverbeds to pick up cookie dough at the store.
In my opinion, the most alarming observation I’ve made is how GM’s behavior as a corporation is mirrored by our behavior as individuals. Just like debt and useless/harmful cars disabled GM, Americans are crippled by the complications of obesity and diabetes. GM needed the government to perform bankruptcy, Americans are committing themselves to gastric bypass or lipo suction surgery everyday. The rise of GM’s dis-ease over the last 50 years ascended in tandem with the disease of Americans. We are incapable of exercising and eating right on our own just like GM was incapable of managing debt and investing in healthy cars. GM’s failure is not just a symbol of capitalism’s great failure; it is a warning sign to our participation in it as individuals.
And that’s the issue. Honestly, I don’t think God really cares whether GM fails or not, He’s interested in the hearts of us as individuals and communities. My criticism of pure free-market capitalism because of its failure financially is only tertiary. My greater concern is that our system rewards consumption and the accumulation of wealth in us as Christians, as churches, and it has defiled us. I leave you with this simple question: If GM was an individual, and you met this person, would GM be a spiritually healthy child of God? Or would he be a decrepit, gangrene-infested, bed-riddened-by-obesity, Godless man on life-support? It would be hard to argue that he is not the latter, and that he is not the very first candidate to need the loving redemption of Christ... but GM has no soul to save. As a corporation he exists for one purpose: profit.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Green and Bling pt. I
For those Americans (and it’s only Americans) who believe that humans do not cause global warming you have a strong kinship with that .00001% of the population that needs to be told how to buckle your seatbelt in an airplane (Two metal things fit one way, when connected, a single mechanism releases it=Humans polluting, Earth warming). I just have a very brief commentary for you hundred-thousandths-club people. If you are a secularist, well, there’s a simple motive for your ignorance: money. For example, you own a coal factory… or you are fortunate enough to sit over a division of a large corporation called “Hummer”.
But for Christians, you really have no excuse for ignoring this. The scriptures that point us toward environmental stewardship are few and far in between (unless you count the thousands of indirect quotes of God revealing himself to us via nature found in the Psalms and the book of Job). I will make my point for environmental stewardship by quoting a single verse.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” Genesis 1:26, NIV, italics added.
God has given us “rule” over all the Earth, thus according to this we can do whatever we want with it, right? No, God says in the same sentence that we are made in his likeness, thus we are to rule in his likeness. Does God rule us in a self-destructive way? Does God command us to live addictive and non-sustainable lives? No, God commands us to live modest lives sustained by Love, not consumption. Why do we need to wait for more than the 99.9999% of scientific agreement to get another (effing) 9 on the end?? Believers should be the first ones to lay down their rights for others and for this Earth we are to Christ-like-rule.
This single verse should be enough to galvanize the church into green living. We have taken 1 or 2 verses about abortion and homosexuality and blown them way out of proportion (and the effect is not only dis-unifying but hurts our credibility in the world). If the Faithful were pioneers of conservation and sustainable living, we would be effective organic saltshakers and fluorescent lights to the world.
But for Christians, you really have no excuse for ignoring this. The scriptures that point us toward environmental stewardship are few and far in between (unless you count the thousands of indirect quotes of God revealing himself to us via nature found in the Psalms and the book of Job). I will make my point for environmental stewardship by quoting a single verse.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” Genesis 1:26, NIV, italics added.
God has given us “rule” over all the Earth, thus according to this we can do whatever we want with it, right? No, God says in the same sentence that we are made in his likeness, thus we are to rule in his likeness. Does God rule us in a self-destructive way? Does God command us to live addictive and non-sustainable lives? No, God commands us to live modest lives sustained by Love, not consumption. Why do we need to wait for more than the 99.9999% of scientific agreement to get another (effing) 9 on the end?? Believers should be the first ones to lay down their rights for others and for this Earth we are to Christ-like-rule.
This single verse should be enough to galvanize the church into green living. We have taken 1 or 2 verses about abortion and homosexuality and blown them way out of proportion (and the effect is not only dis-unifying but hurts our credibility in the world). If the Faithful were pioneers of conservation and sustainable living, we would be effective organic saltshakers and fluorescent lights to the world.
Monday, March 16, 2009
The free market IS correcting itself… by nationalizing, stupid.
And by “stupid”, I don’t mean YOU are stupid if you don’t see the whole nationalizing thing, I’m merely riffing off Clinton’s 90s slogan: “It’s the economy, stupid”, hmm, maybe I should edit title, nah, blogs have to be linear the train has left the station, I’m already thinking about the second paragraph!
Panic on wall st about banks nationalizing of late is somewhat of a farce historically, don’t we think? If I could quote from TIME magazine’s Justin Fox:
“You could also say bank nationalization began in 1984 when regulators decided that Continental Illinois, then the nation's seventh largest bank, was too big to fail and put the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in charge of it. Or maybe the crucial moment came in 1933 when Congress decreed that small depositors should be protected from bank failures by the FDIC. Or in 1913 when Congress created the Federal Reserve System to halt banking panics and regulate the money supply…”
Fox goes on to trace the process of nationalizing banks all the way to 1791.
Still, economists and talking heads (on Fox news) are screaming socialism and using the other “S” word (ends with a “weden”) all over the media (Fox news). Wait, don’t capitalists claim that a pure free market will correct itself? Well, then, it IS correcting itself, by turning to a regulated hybrid-socialist model, silly (does “silly” sound nicer?). I don’t understand how one could make the argument that “let markets go, they will correct themselves” and then after this model fails to argue “allow it to correct itself by turning back to the same models that got us here”… that’s absurd! Talking heads across the world (Fox news), let the market correct itself, don’t bash Obama and Geithner for doing what your own model said it would do!
I have to suspect that the fear of allowing banks to nationalize must arise from some antiquated cold-war sentiment that once we socialize we can’t go back; as if once the government becomes 51% shareholder of Citibank the immortalized Lenin will come out of exile and begin his dictatorship over the United Soviet States of America with an iron fist… either that or conservative economists really, REALLY, revile the rancid aroma of Swedish meatballs. You know, there is such a thing as democratic-socialism, silly. Ooh, did anyone see the new “Blorg” coffee table at Ikea, oops, digressing!
To speak in real terms, the answer is greed. I don’t really believe that free market capitalists and republicans truly have (more than an sub-conscious) fear of either of the suspicions stated above; the true answer is that the consuming love of money guides our legislation; Christianity a bystander to the political process was pulled in to get votes.
Search your hearts, Faithful, find me a compelling scriptural argument for the following model: “Make as much money as you want, hurting as many people as necessary in the process, and keep it all for yourself.” Of course, one could argue: “well, I don’t hurt people, and I will give on my own volition,” but I’m speaking of a model for a secular government. Capitalism is run by the masses, not by the church, therefore people will be hurt (and are hurting) and people do keep $$ for themselves (look at our bank’s current lending practice). After searching my heart and searching scripture, I’m ready to make this statement:
Capitalism is counter-biblical.
I won’t nearly go so far as to propose a preposterous statement such as “Socialism is biblical” because that’s a farce. The word of God is not a political document. However, and it’s my desire to argue here, that Socialism promotes the fruits that scripture has called us to: Love for the needy, Generosity, Graciousness, trying to do Good even when it fails, trying to Give even when you are taken advantage of… to name a few. Capitalism promotes the self, and that is counter-biblical.
Despite the fact that the new testament clearly points to a more socialist type of rule, the paradoxical reason that Capitalism prevails under the democratic rule of a mainly Christian population is simple: The richest 2% of the population wants to get richer, they want to control legislation and lobby government to enable them to do so. But how can they do such a thing as only 2% of the population? They have created an infuriating and insidious lie that they are partnered with the church, and have used hot-buttoned non-political issues like abortion and gay-marriage to perpetuate their wealth. (Obama, please tax away).
I believe, although it grieves me, with my eyes wide open, that 99 out of 100 of the richest Americans will be in Hell by the time I’m sipping rootbear floats with Peter chatting about why we hiccup. The Godless wealthy have manipulated politics to their own means and have put their fingers into all constituencies to further their greed. Christians around America, be bold, stop this madness.
If you are still skeptical ask yourself this one question, I will paraphrase from Rick Warren’s sentiment: Is it true that the public sector, the private sector AND the church (all three) are needed to serve justice to the “widows and orphans”? That is, can’t government do what business and the church cannot do, can’t the church do what the other two can’t and so on? If we are truly called to look after the widows and orphans in their distress, as James describes as “PURE RELIGION”, shouldn’t we call on any and all means necessary? Shouldn’t we call on the government to reach the masses in the way that no one else can? Shouldn’t we call on the private sector for its creativity and immense resources? And shouldn’t we call our own lazy, fat, and decaying churches to be the grass-roots human contact that Jesus Christ was to the people?!?!?
Whew, my heart rate is up and my blood pressure is currently at double-quarter-pounder-with-cheese-supersized rates, which means I wrote a good blog☺ Ok, you know it, I know it, I probably said some pretty heretical impassioned stuff on this one. Please, please share your own thoughts. Oh, and btw, I’ve been off for a long time (I know) due to touring and wifing etc. sorry about that and thanks so much for reading.
Oh, here are all the sites from my blog:
Justin Fox on “Nationalizing Banks: What's All the Fuss?”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1881992,00.html
Ikea.com (“Blorg” is not an actual piece of furniture, it just sounds funny… and swedish)
Tax cuts to the wealthy under the bush administration
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/30/americans-income-doubled-bush/
Some fruits of the spirit
Galatians 5:19-26
The difficulty the wealthy have of entering heaven
Matthew 19:24
Rickwarren.com, his work with the peace plan project is inspiring:
http://www.thepeaceplan.com/
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
-James 1:27
The number of calories in a double quarter pounder with cheese: 740
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutrition_facts.html
Panic on wall st about banks nationalizing of late is somewhat of a farce historically, don’t we think? If I could quote from TIME magazine’s Justin Fox:
“You could also say bank nationalization began in 1984 when regulators decided that Continental Illinois, then the nation's seventh largest bank, was too big to fail and put the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in charge of it. Or maybe the crucial moment came in 1933 when Congress decreed that small depositors should be protected from bank failures by the FDIC. Or in 1913 when Congress created the Federal Reserve System to halt banking panics and regulate the money supply…”
Fox goes on to trace the process of nationalizing banks all the way to 1791.
Still, economists and talking heads (on Fox news) are screaming socialism and using the other “S” word (ends with a “weden”) all over the media (Fox news). Wait, don’t capitalists claim that a pure free market will correct itself? Well, then, it IS correcting itself, by turning to a regulated hybrid-socialist model, silly (does “silly” sound nicer?). I don’t understand how one could make the argument that “let markets go, they will correct themselves” and then after this model fails to argue “allow it to correct itself by turning back to the same models that got us here”… that’s absurd! Talking heads across the world (Fox news), let the market correct itself, don’t bash Obama and Geithner for doing what your own model said it would do!
I have to suspect that the fear of allowing banks to nationalize must arise from some antiquated cold-war sentiment that once we socialize we can’t go back; as if once the government becomes 51% shareholder of Citibank the immortalized Lenin will come out of exile and begin his dictatorship over the United Soviet States of America with an iron fist… either that or conservative economists really, REALLY, revile the rancid aroma of Swedish meatballs. You know, there is such a thing as democratic-socialism, silly. Ooh, did anyone see the new “Blorg” coffee table at Ikea, oops, digressing!
To speak in real terms, the answer is greed. I don’t really believe that free market capitalists and republicans truly have (more than an sub-conscious) fear of either of the suspicions stated above; the true answer is that the consuming love of money guides our legislation; Christianity a bystander to the political process was pulled in to get votes.
Search your hearts, Faithful, find me a compelling scriptural argument for the following model: “Make as much money as you want, hurting as many people as necessary in the process, and keep it all for yourself.” Of course, one could argue: “well, I don’t hurt people, and I will give on my own volition,” but I’m speaking of a model for a secular government. Capitalism is run by the masses, not by the church, therefore people will be hurt (and are hurting) and people do keep $$ for themselves (look at our bank’s current lending practice). After searching my heart and searching scripture, I’m ready to make this statement:
Capitalism is counter-biblical.
I won’t nearly go so far as to propose a preposterous statement such as “Socialism is biblical” because that’s a farce. The word of God is not a political document. However, and it’s my desire to argue here, that Socialism promotes the fruits that scripture has called us to: Love for the needy, Generosity, Graciousness, trying to do Good even when it fails, trying to Give even when you are taken advantage of… to name a few. Capitalism promotes the self, and that is counter-biblical.
Despite the fact that the new testament clearly points to a more socialist type of rule, the paradoxical reason that Capitalism prevails under the democratic rule of a mainly Christian population is simple: The richest 2% of the population wants to get richer, they want to control legislation and lobby government to enable them to do so. But how can they do such a thing as only 2% of the population? They have created an infuriating and insidious lie that they are partnered with the church, and have used hot-buttoned non-political issues like abortion and gay-marriage to perpetuate their wealth. (Obama, please tax away).
I believe, although it grieves me, with my eyes wide open, that 99 out of 100 of the richest Americans will be in Hell by the time I’m sipping rootbear floats with Peter chatting about why we hiccup. The Godless wealthy have manipulated politics to their own means and have put their fingers into all constituencies to further their greed. Christians around America, be bold, stop this madness.
If you are still skeptical ask yourself this one question, I will paraphrase from Rick Warren’s sentiment: Is it true that the public sector, the private sector AND the church (all three) are needed to serve justice to the “widows and orphans”? That is, can’t government do what business and the church cannot do, can’t the church do what the other two can’t and so on? If we are truly called to look after the widows and orphans in their distress, as James describes as “PURE RELIGION”, shouldn’t we call on any and all means necessary? Shouldn’t we call on the government to reach the masses in the way that no one else can? Shouldn’t we call on the private sector for its creativity and immense resources? And shouldn’t we call our own lazy, fat, and decaying churches to be the grass-roots human contact that Jesus Christ was to the people?!?!?
Whew, my heart rate is up and my blood pressure is currently at double-quarter-pounder-with-cheese-supersized rates, which means I wrote a good blog☺ Ok, you know it, I know it, I probably said some pretty heretical impassioned stuff on this one. Please, please share your own thoughts. Oh, and btw, I’ve been off for a long time (I know) due to touring and wifing etc. sorry about that and thanks so much for reading.
Oh, here are all the sites from my blog:
Justin Fox on “Nationalizing Banks: What's All the Fuss?”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1881992,00.html
Ikea.com (“Blorg” is not an actual piece of furniture, it just sounds funny… and swedish)
Tax cuts to the wealthy under the bush administration
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/30/americans-income-doubled-bush/
Some fruits of the spirit
Galatians 5:19-26
The difficulty the wealthy have of entering heaven
Matthew 19:24
Rickwarren.com, his work with the peace plan project is inspiring:
http://www.thepeaceplan.com/
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
-James 1:27
The number of calories in a double quarter pounder with cheese: 740
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutrition_facts.html
Saturday, November 1, 2008
(Why I’m a Christian AND a Democrat Part II): Why Socialism isn’t that bad
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!?
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!?
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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