I have been posed the question of "What are you thoughts on the American government?" Honestly, there is not a more loaded question in existence. Thinking a comment to be an inadequate space for my response, I chose to answer it today. This is my humble attempt.
The American government is, quite frankly, the biggest mess I've ever seen. I honestly don't see that mess being cleaned up anytime soon either. Even the "good guys" are so entrenched in bureaucracy and self-interest, that intelligent ideas can hardly permeate our government's powerful shell. There are so many levels of our government's problem that it's not like cleaning house, it's more like every deep sea oil tanker in the world dumping it's contents into the ocean. With problems this pervasive, a simple and quick fix is not in sight. I want to be crystal clear. Our country is embracing socialism in drastic ways, abandoning the Law of God, and is in unheard of amounts of debt. Solutions are simply not being pursued and politics has devolved to "You godless heathen!, "You racists!", "You pot smoking hippies!", and "You religious radicals!" It's like our country is run by elementary age children. Honestly, it's THAT bad.
Also, I want to explain my opinion on Barack Obama. I may be lynched for this, but I don't hate the man. Yes! Honest to goodness! Barack Obama is many things but evil is not one of them. Our President happens to be a charismatic and articulate man. I am appalled at how the Tea Partiers treat our president! God commands us to respect our government and that is simply not happening. He is not the Devil's pawn on earth. He's simply a charismatic man who has things wrong. All the legislation and policies he pushes for? They're all logical outcomes of his philosophy. We need to understand where he is coming from. In short, I respect my president and choose to politely disagree with him.
Contrary to the belief of the Tea Party (who I refuse to be a part of), Barack Obama is NOT the major source of our problems. Indeed, the final source of our problems is not even Congress (though they contribute heavily). Our problem is this: The citizens of the United States of America.
The State does not exist within a vacuum. The people of this country and their mindset defines the State. No matter how much the State would wish to believe otherwise, the people of a country define their State. The attitude of our country as a whole towards the current issues is uneducated and flat out wrong. The banks are big and evil, thus more regulation. People want more jobs, so they get angry when the government isn't bailing people out. Then they get angry if the bailouts don't work! They're angry about the fact that we are at war by the simply principle that is IS war.
This is the attitude that pervades our politics. Politicians are in the business of tickling people's ears and this is what they want to hear. More bailouts, more money, more benefits, and more regulation! The government bows to the whim of the people. We have the Bush Era and then in a matter of about a year, we get Barack Obama. The country's mindset is fickle! This fickle do-what-is-best-for-me-right-now attitude permeates the current political landscape. The Tea Party Patriots are simply a reaction to this continued unproductive and petty system that sits on Capital Hill. The Tea Party (whose love of American I do not doubt), is not tilting at windmills per se for the windmills are indeed real, but they are accomplishing the same end. In essence, they are accomplishing the same thing because they are battling man's innate nature. I take a pessimistic view of the State and Politics because of my understanding of human nature. Humans will always pick the selfish, the easy, and the popular. It is his sinful nature to do so. So, ultimately, The State will simply experience greater entropy. No amount of reform with ever redeem it. For me, the way to change the State is to change the people. We must connect with human beings on a personal level because they will define their government. If individuals are touched by the Gospel and their concept of reality changes, this will naturally work itself into the State. Instead of legislating morality, how about God writes it on their hearts?
This is a jumble of ideas that still need to be developed further and it in no way encompasses all my views of the big picture of individual policies. I just hope you found it interesting. I also hope that this partially answers your question Josiah. Thanks for asking and feel free to ask more questions because I will gladly answer them with a mass of text!
God Bless,
Stanley
Concerning the recovery of our nation, I think the solution is simple and would fix our problems quite quickly. But the time it takes our government to go that direction, is like you said not going to get cleaned up anytime soon, because there are many politicians who are stubborn and want their power.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you on the source of our problems. It is not the people, because we are not a democracy.
That is true, America, despite what the popular belief is, is not a democracy. But you have a lot of good points that people should take note of. Thank you very much, I'm looking forward to the next post!
ReplyDeleteWhat are your thoughts about environmentalists and their movement?
Thanks for commenting Cody! I'm glad you are thinking about what I have to say. I have to agree with you that America is not a democracy, but it IS a democratic republic. The representation is there and the people elect there representatives. Ultimately, the government is BY the people and FOR the people. They DO define their government. Change the hearts and minds of the American People and the government will change. Christianity is the foundation of Western Liberty.
ReplyDeleteYour welcome, I like the idea of spreading good thought and discussion. I may start a blog myself. We are a democratic republic, but there's one thing that's missing, the Constitution. Therefore it would be more appropriate to call our form of government a constitutional republic. So in your view, you believe that the key to the reformation of our nation is the people, voting, democracy. That's true and I wouldn't stop you from trying to change the hearts of the nation. But we should be thinking about the Constitution as well. You're right, the people do define our government. We also need to consider the fact that most of our politicians are not Christians. I'm sure God is not pleased with the fact that this once faithful nation has so few fellow believers guiding it.
ReplyDeleteThank you!You have made many things clear.You have said what I have wanted to say about the government. Out of curiosity what do you think about evolution?
ReplyDelete