Idiologues

When he was running for president in 2012, Mitt Romney reminded me of “Church Lady,” the Dana Carvey character from the TV show Saturday Night Live.  Every time someone would say something Mr. Romney did not like he would get a plastic smile on his face, and I found myself waiting for him to say, “Well, isn’t that spea-cial.”  He seldom disputed things he disagreed with.  He would just sit there with that lame smile on his face.

I did not like Mitt Romney’s record as a corporate raider.  I felt working Americans would see him as the guy who signed the pink slips.  He pointed to Romney Care as his greatest accomplishment as the Governor of Massachusetts, and as an example of how he got big things done while working with a legislature that was predominantly Democratic.  The point of this post is that our leaders must work together in the people’s best interest.  I thought, however, that Mr. Romney went too far with Romney Care.

I voted for Mitt Romney anyway.  Please, put away the rotten eggs, and spoiled vegetables.  Don’t throw them at me.  I feel bad enough already.

The truth is that my vote for Romney was really a vote against Barack Obama.  As with most of our presidential elections, I voted for the candidate I thought was the lesser of two evils.  Honestly, I would have voted for Mickey Mouse rather than Mr. Obama. I felt that way then, and I still feel that way.

Mitt Romney was a corporate weasel.  You could not tell for sure where he stood about anything.  Barack Obama, however, was a progressive, secular-humanist ideologue.  He strangled the economy with regulations, taxes, and give-away trade agreements.  He screwed up health care, and he paved the way for Iran to go nuclear.  He allowed the Bush tax cuts to expire.  He prosecuted employers and business people for their sincerely-held religious beliefs and turned political correctness into an art form.  He used the EPA like an attack dog to destroy mining, oil production, farming and ranching (to name a few).

In the interest of clarity, let’s define some terms as they are used in this post.  An ideologue is, “an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology.” Synonyms include, “crusader, fanatic, militant, partisan, true believer, and zealot.” An ideology is, “the integrated assertions, theories and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program.” *

In 2020, I hope we can avoid electing a president who is so afraid of saying something controversial that he or she will not take a stand about anything.  We need a president, senators, and congressional representatives who know what they believe and are honest with us about it.  We need leaders with a strong sense of right and wrong, and who are willing to be criticized for advocating for what they believe.

Conversely, we must try to avoid electing ideologues.  We need to break the gridlock in Washington D.C.  The people’s business is not getting done.  We do not need leaders who are afraid of finding common ground because they might alienate their “base.”  This calls for flexibility on the part of the electorate, as well.

I pray that we all can learn to move toward one another, rather than against one another.  There are things that we cannot compromise on, but there are many things we can unite around.  If we keep on doing what we are doing, we are going to pull our house down on our heads.

* https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideologue

Christ's Crucifiction was Predicted 1,000 years in Advance

King David ruled Judea and Israel circa 1010 to 970 B.C. (1)  He was a poet and a prophet, inspired by the Holy Spirit to write at least 73 of the 150 Psalms. (2)  The Apostle Peter testified that the Holy Spirit inspired David. (Acts 1:16) (3)

In the 22^nd Psalm, David wrote the last words that Jesus Christ spoke from the cross.  He also gave a vivid and detailed description of the death Jesus would endure to pay the price for our sins; 1,000 years after Psalm 22 was written.

Psalm 22

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
“He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”

I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.

For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.

(Psalm 22: 1,7-8,14-18 NKJV) (4)

Imagine pain so severe that one would feel like He could count His bones!  What a Savior we have in Christ our Lord.  He alone is great and worthy to be praised.

(1)  https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/king-david

(2)  Rydelnik, Michael, and Vanlaningham, Michael, et al. The Moody Bible Commentary, The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, 2014.

(3)  Ibid.

(4)  https://biblehub.com/nkjv/psalms/22.htm

The U.S. National Debt

According to the Treasury Department the United States’ national debt, as of May 27 , 2020, was $25,683,672,542,543.70. (1)  To put it in more readable terms, that is close to 26 trillion dollars.

People have a difficult time understanding how much money 26 trillion dollars really is.  I know I do.  I’m “retired and on a fixed income.”  I worry about spending more than five dollars for a bag of plastic fishing worms.

The Internet is replete with examples of how much a trillion dollars is: how much it would weigh, how long it would take to count it, how far the bills would stretch if placed end to end, and so on.  Put another way, the U.S. public debt is now over three times greater than the cost of all our wars combined. (2)  It helps me to put it in quantifiable terms.  In the United States, 1,000 times 1,000 is one million.  One billion equals one thousand million, and one trillion equals one thousand billion.

Apparently, our elected representatives in Washington D.C. don’t have a clue about how much money they are spending.  One would hope that if they understood the damage they are doing, they would quit doing it.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, wants to add trillions more onto the debt.  Coronavirus relief is a noble cause.  What we need is a spending bill that will meet the peoples’ urgent needs.  We do not need is a bill that adds Mrs. Pelosi’s pet social programs onto the Corona Virus relief.  Various Democrats are advocating for universal Medicare, free college tuition, and a guaranteed minimum income for everybody.  They cannot specifically say where they intend to get the money to pay for it.  They talk about raising taxes on the “rich” and raising corporate taxes.  Listen up, average American.  When they do that your jobs go to workers in other countries.

President Trump wants to build new airports, roads, bridges, and who knows what else. Republicans spend big on national defense.  We need a strong national defense, but we need some idea about how we are going to fund it.  The Republicans favor tax cuts to increase revenue by growing the economy.  They failed to anticipate the COVID-19 pandemic, which erased recent growth in our economy and the economies of many other nations.  Thus, we are left with the additional deficit created by the tax cuts, and the anticipated additional revenue has not materialized.

Basic money management rules say:

1.    Never borrow money unless you know you can repay it, and you have a sound plan for doing so.

2.    Never spend the money from an expected financial windfall until you have it in your pocket.

What does the federal government do when it runs out of money?  They borrow it.  When the federal government can’t pay for what they have borrowed, they just print more money.  Average American, when that happens your money is worth less, and it takes more of it to buy a loaf of bread, a package of plastic worms, a pair of shoes, or a gallon of gas.

The gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure of the economic activity in a country, state, province, etc.  It is also referred to as the size of the economy.  The nominal GDP is the size of the economy before it is adjusted for inflation.  After adjustment for inflation, it is called the real GDP.  The following is stated in terms of the United States’  nominal GDP:

In 2018, our GDP was $20.58 trillion, and it was $21.44 trillion in 2019.  The source projects that the GDP of the United States will be $22.32 trillion in 2020. (3)  It is not known if the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was anticipated in the 2020 figure. The point is that our national debt now exceeds our GDP.  A lot of people worry about that.

Will the United States of America get to the point that we must default on our national debt?  Will we end up owing so much to foreign countries that they will be able to manipulate our government?  The currencies of the world are valued in relation to the U.S. dollar.  What happens if the dollar loses so much worth that it must be revalued?  Will we precipitate a world economic crisis?  Will there be a one-world currency?

Good luck finding candidates, Republican or Democrat, who care about or understand the long-term consequences of our obscene national debt.  Even if a candidate says they are for a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, things have gotten so bad that it would probably create an economic crisis if one were passed.  The way that new money is circulated into the U.S. economy is that the federal government and member banks (among others) borrow it from the Federal Reserve.  Some have called that a “debt based economy.”  The national debt is never going to go away as long as debt is the mechanism for adding new currency to the pool of money available.

The best we can hope for is that somebody will make the national debt an issue in the 2020 general election, and that good people will be elected who will work to get the debt back to less than a trillion dollars.  Inform yourself.  Then, write your senators, congressmen, and the president.  Write your candidates.  Call them on the phone.  Let somebody know you think this is important.

The Holy Bible says that, “the borrower is  servant to the lender.”  Who will America end up serving?  Pray it is not the Antichrist and a one-world economic system.  Look up!  Jesus is coming soon.


(1) https://treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/pd_debttothepenny.htm

(2)  https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/c/costs-major-us-wars.html

(3) https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/

Jesus was, is, and Always will be Lord

There are numerous passages in the Old Testament that speak of the Messiah, and His coming to establish His kingdom on earth.  Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, and that these passages speak of Him. (Hebrews 1:5)  The Second Psalm is prophetic, and it predicts Jesus’ Second Coming, when He will establish His kingdom and rule it for 1,000 years.

Psalm 2

Why do the nations conspire

and the peoples plot in vain? 
The kings of the earth rise up

and the rulers band together

against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,

 “Let us break their chains

and throw off their shackles.”

The One enthroned in heaven laughs;

the Lord scoffs at them.

He rebukes them in His anger

and terrifies them in His wrath, saying,

 “I have installed my King

on Zion, my holy mountain.”

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my Son;

today I have become your Father.

Ask me,

and I will make the nations your inheritance,

the ends of the earth your possession.

You will break them with a rod of iron;

you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

Therefore, you kings, be wise;

be warned, you rulers of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear

and celebrate His rule with trembling.

Kiss his Son, or He will be angry

and your way will lead to your destruction,

for His wrath can flare up in a moment.

Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.

(Psalm2:1-12 NIV) *

* https://biblehub.com/niv/psalms/2.htm

Immigration, the Border Wall, Sanctuary Cities, the Rule of Law, and Refugees

People are fond of the idea that the United States of America is “a nation of immigrants.”  My mother’s paternal grandparents came from the British Isles.  My paternal grandparents were naturalized citizens who immigrated here from northern Europe.  My father had to repeat the first grade because he could not speak English when he started school.  In those days, they didn’t have kindergarten, or English as a second language programs.  The teachers went to his family’s home, and they told my grandparents that if they didn’t speak English in the home, their boys would not be able to progress in school.

Please do not misunderstand.  Immigrants sometimes face difficult adjustments, but assimilation was always something that my father’s family sought after.  I still have my grandfather’s naturalization papers, which were a source of pride to the family.  My dad’s people were proud of who they were, but they came to America wanting to become Americans.  My dad was raised with “old world” values, and he did his best to raise his children accordingly.  We became “Americanized” anyway.  We are aware of our ethnic and cultural heritage, but our personal identity is not based on it.

My own family’s history has influenced how I view the issues of immigration, the border wall, sanctuary cities, and the status of the so-called “U.S. Persons” who live in the United States but are not citizens.  I confess to a conservative, “rule of law” point of view, but please believe that, in Christ, there can be no hatred.  Jesus loved everyone enough to die for us all.  As a Christian, I can do no less.

A useful tool for understanding how people view election issues is a probability distribution that shows the extremes of each perspective on the ends, and the central tendency in the middle.  I like it because, in many cases it shows that most of us fall somewhere around the arithmetic average.  Americans are a quarrelsome bunch, but I hope we are reasonable enough not to become as polarized as the news media would have us believe.  The example following resembles a normal probability distribution:

Percentages under the curve

(https://www.statisticshowto.com/tables/z-table/#What)

If we say that people whose views are liberal fall to the left of the center line, and people whose views are conservative fall to the right of the center line, we might speculate that about (68%) of Americans could be described as “left or right of center.”  About 14% of us might be seen as “hard left” and 14% as “hard right.”  That leaves about 2% of the population holding “extreme leftist” views and 2% who may be “right wing extremists.”  The extremists are sometimes described as a “lunatic fringe,” but they make the most noise.  Therefore, they often get the most attention.

The figure above resembles Chebyshev’s Theorem.  Accordingly, although there may be variance from issue to issue in the 2020 general election,  most populations are well described by the curve shown.  Ask yourself, “Where do I fall on the curve?”

Along the spectrum of public opinion about immigration, there seems to be broad based support for “legal” immigration.  Some on the far left favor open immigration, allowing in almost anybody who wants to come to the United States.  Such was the case when my grandparents and great-grandparents immigrated.  It is safe to say, however, that a majority of Americans do not want open immigration today.  A few on the far right want to shut down legal immigration and illegal migration entirely.  Stopping legal immigration would not serve the needs of the country well.  I think most of us simply want a just immigration policy that works.

There appears to be strong opposition to disregarding our immigration laws and rules by allowing people to migrate into the country illegally.  However, there is general agreement that those laws and rules need to be reformed.  Our politicians promise reform, but little has been done since 1986, when the Simpson-Mazzolli Act granted amnesty to about 3 million persons who were residing in the U.S. illegally.  Amnesty encouraged ever greater illegal migration.

Personally, I am in general agreement with President Trump’s stated policy of allowing controlled immigration by people who have skills the country needs and who want to become Americans.  I think, however, that safeguards need to be in place that ensure there will be no discrimination due to race, ethnicity, national origin, or gender.  Those safeguards should include a limited opportunity for those who are unskilled and under-educated to immigrate.

I support actions that will limit illegal migration into the country.  The United States of America cannot be a nation ruled by law if people are allowed to violate our immigration laws and policies.  I am especially opposed to allowing noncitizens to vote, obtain American drivers’ licenses, hold elected public office, or receive public assistance.  I oppose federal funding for cities who refuse to cooperate with federal and state immigration laws and policies.  Sanctuary cities undermine the rule of law, thus eroding the very foundation of the country.

During “die Hitlerzeit” in Germany, the United States refused to admit Jewish refugees. The excuse was that they would bring communism with them.  Things are usually done for more than one reason, and Antisemitism was doubtlessly involved.  In retrospect, there was little risk to admitting the Jewish refugees.  People died in concentration camps whose lives could have been saved.  We must never let that happen again.

Today, we face infiltration by terrorist groups who want to destroy us.  Consequently, we must do what we can to keep terrorists from exploiting the refugee crisis in the Middle East (and our porous borders) to infiltrate the United States.  Hopefully, ways can be found to safely admit the victims of the turmoil in the Middle East while keeping out the terrorists.  Until that time, strictly scrutinizing refugees from failed states is prudent.

I support efforts to make all our borders seaports, airports, and other points of entry more secure.  President Trump has worked to create a wall along our border with Mexico.  It has been shown to be effective enough to justify its cost. Continued strengthening of border security will help to suppress illegal activities like migration, drug trafficking, human trafficking for illegal servitude and sexual exploitation, and the illegal arms trade.  The Democrats and others want to rely exclusively on technology to interdict illegal migration, which has not been cost effective.  Technology should be used to supplement other security measures.

President Trump has been able to motivate the Mexican government to work harder to stop illegal immigrants from entering our country.  All due credit should be given to him for doing something his predecessors were unable to accomplish.

I think that physical barriers and technological surveillance should both be used when effective outcomes can be proved.  We should also pass and enforce laws that take away the incentives that motivate people to migrate into the United States illegally.  We need to find ways to help improve life for potential illegal migrants in their native countries instead.

Some people who benefit economically from exploiting migrants for cheap labor favor unrestricted immigration.  Politics makes strange bedfellows, as the saying goes.  These normally conservative businesspeople, farmers, and building contractors end up supporting Democrats who, in turn, favor open immigration because it increases the number of Democratic voters.

Some Americans are alarmed by the results of poorly managed legal immigration and the social and financial problems caused by illegal migration.  They are often demeaned unfairly as racist “haters.”  If you share their legitimate concerns about immigration and related problems, you may want to vote for President Trump and the Republican candidates who say they will support him.

My prayer is that We the People will elect a president, senators and congressional representatives who are not so locked into ideology that they cannot work together to craft immigration laws that make sense.  Everybody is harmed by bad law, whether they are a citizen or an immigrant.

Memorial Day 2020

In honor of those who have passed us the torch of freedom:

Excelsior

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

The shades of night were falling fast,

As through an Alpine village passed

A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,

A banner with the strange device,

Excelsior!

His brow was sad; his eye beneath,

Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,

And like a silver clarion rung

The accents of that unknown tongue,

Excelsior!

In happy homes he saw the light

Of household fires gleam warm and bright;

Above, the spectral glaciers shone,

And from his lips escaped a groan,

Excelsior!

"Try not the Pass!" the old man said;

"Dark lowers the tempest overhead,

The roaring torrent is deep and wide!"

And loud that clarion voice replied,

Excelsior!

"Oh stay," the maiden said, "and rest

Thy weary head upon this breast! "

A tear stood in his bright blue eye,

But still he answered, with a sigh,

Excelsior!

"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch!

Beware the awful avalanche!"

This was the peasant's last Good-night,

A voice replied, far up the height,

Excelsior!

At break of day, as heavenward

The pious monks of Saint Bernard

Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,

A voice cried through the startled air,

Excelsior!

A traveler, by the faithful hound,

Half-buried in the snow was found,

Still grasping in his hand of ice

That banner with the strange device,

Excelsior!

There in the twilight cold and gray,

Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,

And from the sky, serene and far,

A voice fell like a falling star,

Excelsior! *

* https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44631/excelsior-56d223cb4e6fa

A Benediction

A benediction is often an invocation of divine blessing, usually given at the end of a service or message. (1)

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 

(Hebrews 13: 20-21 NASB) *

May God bless each of you.



(1) Reader’s Digest Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary, First Edition, (Pleasantville, New York; The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc. 1987), p.168.


* https://biblehub.com/nasb/hebrews/13.htm