The Voice of the Martyrs ministry says that, 6 November 2022, is an International Day of Prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being persecuted and martyred around the world. Please join me in prayer for persecuted Christians who are being beaten, disowned by family, dispossessed, expelled from their communities, interrogated, arrested, imprisoned and killed for attending church, owning a Bible, and witnessing for their Lord and ours.
Thank you.
According to some opinion polls a majority of American voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. On 21 August 2022, Julia Mueller reported in The Hill website that:
“Nearly three-quarters of voters in a new poll said they believed things in the U.S. were headed in the wrong direction. An NBC News poll revealed just 21 percent of voters feel the nation is headed in the right direction, while 74 percent think the opposite.”[1]
However, the polls also indicate that there is a fairly even split between voters who intend to vote for Democratic or Republican candidates. On the CNN website, 13 October 2022, Jennifer Agista wrote:
“Despite more than two-thirds of Americans saying the country is going in the wrong direction, Democrats have surged into the lead on the generic congressional ballot and President Biden’s approval rating has ticked upward as the party makes gains among independent voters and women following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, a new poll released on Thursday indicates.
The Wall Street Journal survey shows that 47% of registered voters would support a Democratic candidate for Congress if the midterm elections were held today. Another 44% said they would support the Republican candidate, while the remaining 9% said they were unsure of their choice or refused to answer.
The same poll showed Republicans with 46%
support among registered voters in March, while Democrats had 41% support and
13% of voters said they were unsure.
Among likely voters nationwide, the race is a tight split, with 50% backing the Democratic candidate and 47% behind the Republican. But in competitive congressional districts, Democratic support among likely voters dips and preferences tilt toward the Republicans: 48% of likely voters in that group prefer the Republican candidate, 43% the Democrat.”[2]
It was reported on Fox News last night that there has been a shift toward favoring Republican candidates among White, suburban women – a demographic that voted for President Biden in the last national election. The pundits believed that this shift might tip the scales in favor of Republican candidates.
With a large number of voters still undecided,
the results of the election seem to be impossible for the average person to
predict. Some commentators point to
voter disapproval of President Biden’s performance in office as a possible
predictor of a big Republican victory.
Our recent past has shown us that the results of close elections are prone to dispute. The Democrats thought Al Gore defeated George W. Bush, and accused the Republicans and the courts of colluding to deny Vice President Gore the victory. More recently, Donald Trump and others disputed the results of the last Presidential Election, accusing the Democrats of manipulating the vote. The only way we can be sure that the results of multiple close elections across the United States are not disputed after the upcoming Midterms is for the results to be decisive in favor of one candidate or the other. Disputed elections are divisive and harmful to the country.
It will not be enough for the Republicans to win a one or two seat majority in the US Senate and House of Representatives. In order to be able to accomplish anything after taking office, they will need enough votes to pass legislation over President Biden’s veto. This calls for everyone who wants a U-turn in the direction our government is taking us to get out and vote. We need a “veto proof” majority to begin to correct the damage the Democrats have done, since 20 January 2021.
If the Republicans win any kind of majority in the House and Senate, they must learn to set aside their disagreements and work together. Too many times in the past, the voters have given the Republicans a victory only to see them squander it. If they blow it again they will torpedo any chance for a Republican to be elected president in 2024.
I was not able to find out who said it first,
but there is a saying that goes, “The man who falls over the same rock twice,
deserves to break his neck.” After the
debacle the Democrats have created since 20 January 2021, I just cannot
understand why anyone would vote for a Democrat, regardless of their political
leanings. Let us all hope and pray that
our fellow citizens will not fall over that rock again.
Anyone who has taken a recent road trip that involved traveling on our Interstate highways can attest to their state of disrepair and need for expansion to accommodate increased traffic. A large number of our bridges are in such bad condition that they are dangerous. I had the misfortune to change planes at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport two years ago. I won’t do that again. In many places, our electrical grid is a jury-rigged patchwork that cannot meet the existing demand for electric power, let alone the additional demand that will come from charging electric cars.
In short, we can agree that our infrastructure needs repair, rebuilding, and maintenance. The problem is that we don’t have the money to pay for it without inflationary spending and creating debt.
When he was in office President Donald Trump attempted to convince Congress to provide $200 Billion to improve our infrastructure. The intent was to stimulate up to $1.5 Trillion in combined spending to include money provided by state, local, tribal, and private sectors. He wanted to reduce regulatory barriers and streamline permitting, thus reducing the cost of infrastructure improvement – especially in rural areas. Trump’s plan intended to provide grants in aid to train the skilled labor force needed for infrastructure improvement.[1] I understood President Trump’s public statements to mean that his focus was on projects that would maintain, repair, expand and modernize physical infrastructure like airports, roads, bridges, and railways. The idea I got from his statements was that infrastructure improvement would stimulate growth in the domestic economy.
Following their win in the 2020 election, the Democrats used infrastructure improvement as a foil promote spending trillions of dollars under the umbrella of infrastructure – some of which was unrelated to physical infrastructure. Following a compromise with Republicans, a pared down version of H.R.3684 – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act became Public Law 117-58 on 15 November 2021. To read it, please go to: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/actions It is a lengthy document, and I cannot do it justice by attempting to summarize it here. According to a statement on the Internet from the White House (Biden Administration) [2] the new law includes provisions for:
The estimated long-term cost of Public Law 117-58 (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law), as amended, is $1.2 Trillion. [3]
In fairness, neither of these summaries of proposed infrastructure improvements is all-inclusive. That said, there are some observations I would like voters to consider when choosing candidates to vote for on November 8th.
The bill for either program of infrastructure improvement listed above is over a trillion dollars. President Trump’s plan differs in that it proposes passing down the lion’s share of the spending to the state and local level. The resultant inflation from either plan will be more harmful to the country than our dilapidated infrastructure. Unless the government can come up with a realistic and workable way to pay for infrastructure improvement in cash, as the expenses occur, we must not go forward with it.
Better minds than mine are available to devise such methods of payment. What comes to my mind are user paid fees and taxes. “Paying as you go” would slow down the rate of infrastructure improvement, but it would also ease the impact of its accompanying inflationary spending.
Therefore, the government must scrap both plans and start over. Public Law 117-58 should be repealed. Programs, spending, and revenue sources for infrastructure improvement extant before Public Law 117-58 should be taken into consideration in determining what more is needed. Additional programs should be limited to physical infrastructure projects that are necessary for public safety and to support the return of manufacturing to the United States – creating jobs.
The biggest infrastructure concern we have, in my opinion, is “hardening” the electric grid, military weaponry and vehicles, and all computer-related technology against Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) damage, which may come from an enemy attack or from natural phenomena like solar activity. Presently, an EMP event could result in disabling air, sea, and ground transportation. Our people would soon run out of food, water, and medicine. Trash and garbage would pile up in the streets. Sewer systems would stop working. We would lose most of our communication systems. (No smart-phones kids.) There would be no electric power. The multiplied effects would pit over 300 million people against each other in competition to get their basic survival needs met. Millions could die in the chaos. The result would be a complete breakdown of the social order.
Reducing the risks associated with an EMP event is the only infrastructure-related problem that directly and immediately affects our ability to survive as an organized society. It is, therefore, the only infrastructure problem that justifies deficit spending – right now!
Their heads buried in the sand, our elected
representatives have virtually ignored the risk of an EMP event in their
planning for infrastructure improvement.
It is GROSS NEGLIGENCE!
[2]
https://www.whitehouse.gov/bipartisan-infrastructure-law/
(Note: Norton Safe Search has not tested this site.)
