Sunday, November 16, 2014
On In-dependency
What accounts for the disparity between predictions by national polls about the midterm elections and what the actual outcome of the election was? Post-election media revisionism might suggest otherwise, but pollsters predicted a near-draw in the U.S. Senate. Instead, before the election, Democrats held 53 of 100 seats and, after the election, Republicans held 54 of 100 Senate seats. Were the polls, as reported by the national media, a means to influence the outcome of the election--a means to nudge voters toward a preferred party and platform? Were the polled Americans lying to the pollsters before the election--lying because they were fearful about expressing their true opinions except within the closed curtains of a voting booth? Or, did they abruptly reverse their opinions after they were polled but before they voted? In any case, this disparity does not bode well for independence. Independence is for those who are capable of independent inquiry and honest, firm, and independent opinions.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
On Prosperity in America
Prosperity was promised to Israel by God: "ye shall eat your bread to the full.....I will give you peace in the land.....none shall make you afraid.....ye shall chase your enemies.....(I will) make you fruitful....." (Leviticus 26)--if they would love their God and neighbors. If they would not, He warned: "ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.....your strength shall be spent in vain....."
Prosperity involved the possession of a land in God-given security. Without secure habitation, there would be no prosperity for Israel.
This promise of prosperity was a collective promise. The judges were enjoined to "do no unrighteousness in judgment" and the people were enjoined to make provision for the poor (Leviticus 19:10-18) who would be "always with" (Matthew 26:11) them because the grave threat to prosperity (and peace and freedom) was internal injustice--or, in other words, enforced inequality.
Of course, Israel's fall was about idols--about things of antiquity--only about anachronisms that are anything but modern?!? But what is idol worship if it is not contrived inequality? Worshipping idols, men lifted up something other than love of God and man--offering it as a substitute for God's judgment. What men lifted up was self-exalting; it abased others--especially those who could not forge or promote an image of their own. In other words, idol worship subjected men to the whimsical judgments of idols and idolaters and not to the egalitarian, loving judgment of God. By lifting idols and idolaters up, idol worship invited inequality. By prohibiting idol-worship, God prohibited injustice.
Prosperity itself can be a pernicious idol. It is a model for false judgment. Presumptuously, wealth is attributed to the attitudes or merits or exertions of its possessors (ie. Americans). Presumptuously, the poor (ie. poorer nations) are faulted as cause for their own poverty. When prosperity is idolized, respect for truth and law gives way to respect for persons and possessions: the rich are received as righteous oracles; the poor are shunned as sinners. This idolatry makes men insecure, possessive, unstable, vain, foolish, proud, and misanthropic. It is adverse to speech, law, truth, faith, justice, and humanity.
To advance the self-made person thesis and the self-made nation thesis, a huge body of folk wisdom--a redoubt for a religion of materialism--is grown up here in America. You've heard variants of this theme: "to be rich is to be righteous". Its corollary: to be poor (ie. a relatively poor nation) is to be perverse. According to this theme, wealth is goodness--however gotten. A prosperous end will justify any means; a poor end will nullify the ideals of the impoverished--however honorable. This Social Darwinism masquerades as a priest among us: blessing the bounteous and cursing the impecunious and their ideals. He offers communion to those who prey in the name of efficiency, productivity, and the holy planned economy. He brings to ignominy ideals that are insubstantial: and freedom and faith and truth and morality are insubstantial (they really can't be quantified) ideals. His pragmatism is pernicious to thought. In this way, the American intellect is made a reserve for the contemplation of how to get the green produce of a paper press--which press has "multiplied wealth" four-fold in almost as many years. In this way, the values that survive and ascend among us are the values that enrich us materially. And because we think riches evince righteousness, there is no principle that would cause us to part from mammon. But at some point, in an era of ever more frenetic and frenzied profiteering, the values that enrich are the very values that defraud. Then, to thrive is to deprive. For example, at some point, the torque is too great to stay atop a twisted treadmill--as the failures at Sunbeam, Arthur Andersen, WorldCom, Countrywide and government sponsored enterprises will attest. Each of these failures represents a heavy human cost. But how many among us would have left stock options at any of these--in the heyday, before the crash, out of principle? Recognize that in the hands of crafty monetary administrators, our philosophic optimism and pragmatism may be nothing but a nose ring. But so long as we consider the nose ring an ornament, we will go, skipping to the sound of our self-assuring voices, in chains, to where the planners of our economy lead us. And for the sake of substance gotten, the rich will keep us skipping in tow. Perhaps Jesus preferred the poor because they are less compromising as to truth and principle--because they compromise out of necessity and not for the sake of abundance? In any case, the self-made thesis is nonsense as a stand alone: it denies God. Rarely, will the prosperous (ie. Americans) observe, more rarely, will they acknowledge that the causes of their prosperity were outside of themselves and outside of their control--that their prosperity is simply the stuff of God's generosity--of inheritance, of windfall, of vicinity. Without God-given gifts like a rich land and a constitutional rule of law and its attendant freedom and peace, the best attitudes and merits and exertions would have been as prosperous, even in America, as a lunar miner without air. In the easy air of America, the prosperous found their lodes and made their fortunes. But they clung to and counted their lodes. And forgot the Giver. And neglected the air of freedom. Some seem to think that their stash will save them without a supply of air. For their kin--now gasping--will they save the air? Which came first, the stash or the air supply? Of what use is the lode without the air? Will this idol, prosperity, save a suffocating world? Did idols save Israel?
History reveals Israel chose idolatry and injustice--that Israel put substance ahead of the spirit of God's love. Will America? Israel's institutionalized inequality caused dangerous divisions. It compromised peace. Ultimately, it dispossessed all Israel of its promised land.
Without prospective justice, there is no peace and there is no prosperity. Who can blame the oppressed of Israel for not gifting their allegiance to oppressors--for not rendering fidelity when it would yield servility--for vagrant, bewildering allegiances when their hope was vagrant--for not cherishing the prosperity that they could not partake of--for treachery against a increasingly treacherous, platitude-wielding legalism--for eventually, without prospect of equity, allying with the enemy of their enemy who would captivate their captors and overthrow the land of their oppression? When there is no prospect for progress in terms of justice (ie. when deceit displaces honesty), when there is no hope for amelioration, the oppressed, however magnanimous, will naturally thwart the peace and prosperity of their own people.
Prosperity involved the possession of a land in God-given security. Without secure habitation, there would be no prosperity for Israel.
This promise of prosperity was a collective promise. The judges were enjoined to "do no unrighteousness in judgment" and the people were enjoined to make provision for the poor (Leviticus 19:10-18) who would be "always with" (Matthew 26:11) them because the grave threat to prosperity (and peace and freedom) was internal injustice--or, in other words, enforced inequality.
Of course, Israel's fall was about idols--about things of antiquity--only about anachronisms that are anything but modern?!? But what is idol worship if it is not contrived inequality? Worshipping idols, men lifted up something other than love of God and man--offering it as a substitute for God's judgment. What men lifted up was self-exalting; it abased others--especially those who could not forge or promote an image of their own. In other words, idol worship subjected men to the whimsical judgments of idols and idolaters and not to the egalitarian, loving judgment of God. By lifting idols and idolaters up, idol worship invited inequality. By prohibiting idol-worship, God prohibited injustice.
Prosperity itself can be a pernicious idol. It is a model for false judgment. Presumptuously, wealth is attributed to the attitudes or merits or exertions of its possessors (ie. Americans). Presumptuously, the poor (ie. poorer nations) are faulted as cause for their own poverty. When prosperity is idolized, respect for truth and law gives way to respect for persons and possessions: the rich are received as righteous oracles; the poor are shunned as sinners. This idolatry makes men insecure, possessive, unstable, vain, foolish, proud, and misanthropic. It is adverse to speech, law, truth, faith, justice, and humanity.
To advance the self-made person thesis and the self-made nation thesis, a huge body of folk wisdom--a redoubt for a religion of materialism--is grown up here in America. You've heard variants of this theme: "to be rich is to be righteous". Its corollary: to be poor (ie. a relatively poor nation) is to be perverse. According to this theme, wealth is goodness--however gotten. A prosperous end will justify any means; a poor end will nullify the ideals of the impoverished--however honorable. This Social Darwinism masquerades as a priest among us: blessing the bounteous and cursing the impecunious and their ideals. He offers communion to those who prey in the name of efficiency, productivity, and the holy planned economy. He brings to ignominy ideals that are insubstantial: and freedom and faith and truth and morality are insubstantial (they really can't be quantified) ideals. His pragmatism is pernicious to thought. In this way, the American intellect is made a reserve for the contemplation of how to get the green produce of a paper press--which press has "multiplied wealth" four-fold in almost as many years. In this way, the values that survive and ascend among us are the values that enrich us materially. And because we think riches evince righteousness, there is no principle that would cause us to part from mammon. But at some point, in an era of ever more frenetic and frenzied profiteering, the values that enrich are the very values that defraud. Then, to thrive is to deprive. For example, at some point, the torque is too great to stay atop a twisted treadmill--as the failures at Sunbeam, Arthur Andersen, WorldCom, Countrywide and government sponsored enterprises will attest. Each of these failures represents a heavy human cost. But how many among us would have left stock options at any of these--in the heyday, before the crash, out of principle? Recognize that in the hands of crafty monetary administrators, our philosophic optimism and pragmatism may be nothing but a nose ring. But so long as we consider the nose ring an ornament, we will go, skipping to the sound of our self-assuring voices, in chains, to where the planners of our economy lead us. And for the sake of substance gotten, the rich will keep us skipping in tow. Perhaps Jesus preferred the poor because they are less compromising as to truth and principle--because they compromise out of necessity and not for the sake of abundance? In any case, the self-made thesis is nonsense as a stand alone: it denies God. Rarely, will the prosperous (ie. Americans) observe, more rarely, will they acknowledge that the causes of their prosperity were outside of themselves and outside of their control--that their prosperity is simply the stuff of God's generosity--of inheritance, of windfall, of vicinity. Without God-given gifts like a rich land and a constitutional rule of law and its attendant freedom and peace, the best attitudes and merits and exertions would have been as prosperous, even in America, as a lunar miner without air. In the easy air of America, the prosperous found their lodes and made their fortunes. But they clung to and counted their lodes. And forgot the Giver. And neglected the air of freedom. Some seem to think that their stash will save them without a supply of air. For their kin--now gasping--will they save the air? Which came first, the stash or the air supply? Of what use is the lode without the air? Will this idol, prosperity, save a suffocating world? Did idols save Israel?
History reveals Israel chose idolatry and injustice--that Israel put substance ahead of the spirit of God's love. Will America? Israel's institutionalized inequality caused dangerous divisions. It compromised peace. Ultimately, it dispossessed all Israel of its promised land.
Without prospective justice, there is no peace and there is no prosperity. Who can blame the oppressed of Israel for not gifting their allegiance to oppressors--for not rendering fidelity when it would yield servility--for vagrant, bewildering allegiances when their hope was vagrant--for not cherishing the prosperity that they could not partake of--for treachery against a increasingly treacherous, platitude-wielding legalism--for eventually, without prospect of equity, allying with the enemy of their enemy who would captivate their captors and overthrow the land of their oppression? When there is no prospect for progress in terms of justice (ie. when deceit displaces honesty), when there is no hope for amelioration, the oppressed, however magnanimous, will naturally thwart the peace and prosperity of their own people.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Wide and Deep
During the Civil War, in a great act by one of America's greatest leaders, Abraham Lincoln set apart a day for national prayer proclaiming "it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.....And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!....It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
The Civil War continued. Many of its bloodiest battles followed. Years passed. Still, Lincoln prayed, acknowledging God's justice in the startling duration and the depths of the nation's suffering: "Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
Thankfully, it did not require slash for lash to exorcise American slavery. The extent and intensity of the nation's suffering was not matched to the nature and severity of its sins--because God is merciful.
As our leaders and people have strayed from the true and righteous judgment of God--preferring vanity, false hope, oppressive peace, and deceit--what will it take to exorcise the spirit of perverse judgment that condemns what is true and righteous and consigns it to the corners of our society and speech?
The Civil War continued. Many of its bloodiest battles followed. Years passed. Still, Lincoln prayed, acknowledging God's justice in the startling duration and the depths of the nation's suffering: "Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
Thankfully, it did not require slash for lash to exorcise American slavery. The extent and intensity of the nation's suffering was not matched to the nature and severity of its sins--because God is merciful.
As our leaders and people have strayed from the true and righteous judgment of God--preferring vanity, false hope, oppressive peace, and deceit--what will it take to exorcise the spirit of perverse judgment that condemns what is true and righteous and consigns it to the corners of our society and speech?
Friday, November 7, 2014
They're Coming To America
Is it time for Americans to consider EFL classes (English as a Former Language or, in other words, Spanish classes)? The President has announced his intention to naturalize tens of millions of illegal immigrants with or without Congressional approval--to naturalize persons who value our constitutional republic so much that they came here and come here without invitation and without the rights of a citizen.
It is altogether fitting and proper that a God-fearing, freedom-loving, ingenuous, merciful, family-oriented, hard-working, and contrite people should possess America. Such a people will remember to thank God for the inheritance He gives them here--to rejoice in the boon that He has given them and not to undervalue or undermine it: they will cherish the Constitution that made America (ie. more than money)--conserve faith and freedom--establish a just peace--and not put gain and self above love for God and others. From God's perspective, this better state might be best accomplished by importation--by bringing people that already have those qualities into America. From His perspective, perhaps it is easier, at the present, to import these human qualities than it is to inculcate them? Already, God has tried gentle inculcation in America. Perhaps if they are less secure in themselves, perhaps if alien role models are introduced, some of the "natives" (former imports) will amend their ways? Perhaps abjectivity will bring objectivity?
Inadvertently, perhaps those who seek political gain through illegal immigration are fulfilling God's will for the repopulation of America and their own eventual displacement? Perhaps what the President "heard" from the two-thirds of American voters who did not vote in the mid-term election was not apathy or disdain for politics--as if politics don't matter a bit--but God's will for the repopulation of America or their wish for new, imported neighbors?
It is altogether just that this repopulation should arise from the corruption of the current inhabitants--that it should issue from breaches of laws by a lawless but legalistic people. God is just. But He prefers to show mercy to the merciful and penitent.
It is altogether just that a flawed public welfare system that has captivated so many minorities will probably be broken by this influx. This will reveal the bankruptcy of keeping brothers from any economic failure and all economic success for the sake of their votes. We will then realize--if we don't now--that when the law is not executed faithfully and justly, returns on labor and investment become uncertain; which destroys incentive; which burdens welfare rolls; which ultimately imperils all social contracts including promises to welfare recipients.
To many Americans--whose jobs may go to someone with like skills but less demands, whose schools may exceed capacity, whose checks from Social Security may cease--this development seems ominous. But we will not fear if we are true to our national motto (in God we trust): we are assured that "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).
In the short-term, some stand to gain by depressing wages and bankrupting government. But they are not the poor and the immigrants--in spite of all the demagoguery.
The political impasse over immigration seems so God-ordained. If He spoke to us now, perhaps He would say: "If you don't love your neighbor (as I do), find a new neighborhood; if you want stark change (not the constitutional republic that is America), you can be removed; if your resources are too scarce to be shared, I will give them to people who consider them plenteous--people who will be generous; if you prefer lawless license, let's try anarchy." Also, it is as if God has written a letter of emancipation to our brothers and sisters elsewhere--an offer to possess the land that they covet--a letter like the one that follows:
To My Dear Children of Developing Countries--of Central and South America Especially:
Give the United States your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to the United States:
I lift my lamp to them through my son, Barack Hussein Obama, beside the golden door.
With Love,
Your Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost
It is altogether fitting and proper that a God-fearing, freedom-loving, ingenuous, merciful, family-oriented, hard-working, and contrite people should possess America. Such a people will remember to thank God for the inheritance He gives them here--to rejoice in the boon that He has given them and not to undervalue or undermine it: they will cherish the Constitution that made America (ie. more than money)--conserve faith and freedom--establish a just peace--and not put gain and self above love for God and others. From God's perspective, this better state might be best accomplished by importation--by bringing people that already have those qualities into America. From His perspective, perhaps it is easier, at the present, to import these human qualities than it is to inculcate them? Already, God has tried gentle inculcation in America. Perhaps if they are less secure in themselves, perhaps if alien role models are introduced, some of the "natives" (former imports) will amend their ways? Perhaps abjectivity will bring objectivity?
Inadvertently, perhaps those who seek political gain through illegal immigration are fulfilling God's will for the repopulation of America and their own eventual displacement? Perhaps what the President "heard" from the two-thirds of American voters who did not vote in the mid-term election was not apathy or disdain for politics--as if politics don't matter a bit--but God's will for the repopulation of America or their wish for new, imported neighbors?
It is altogether just that this repopulation should arise from the corruption of the current inhabitants--that it should issue from breaches of laws by a lawless but legalistic people. God is just. But He prefers to show mercy to the merciful and penitent.
It is altogether just that a flawed public welfare system that has captivated so many minorities will probably be broken by this influx. This will reveal the bankruptcy of keeping brothers from any economic failure and all economic success for the sake of their votes. We will then realize--if we don't now--that when the law is not executed faithfully and justly, returns on labor and investment become uncertain; which destroys incentive; which burdens welfare rolls; which ultimately imperils all social contracts including promises to welfare recipients.
To many Americans--whose jobs may go to someone with like skills but less demands, whose schools may exceed capacity, whose checks from Social Security may cease--this development seems ominous. But we will not fear if we are true to our national motto (in God we trust): we are assured that "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).
In the short-term, some stand to gain by depressing wages and bankrupting government. But they are not the poor and the immigrants--in spite of all the demagoguery.
The political impasse over immigration seems so God-ordained. If He spoke to us now, perhaps He would say: "If you don't love your neighbor (as I do), find a new neighborhood; if you want stark change (not the constitutional republic that is America), you can be removed; if your resources are too scarce to be shared, I will give them to people who consider them plenteous--people who will be generous; if you prefer lawless license, let's try anarchy." Also, it is as if God has written a letter of emancipation to our brothers and sisters elsewhere--an offer to possess the land that they covet--a letter like the one that follows:
To My Dear Children of Developing Countries--of Central and South America Especially:
Give the United States your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to the United States:
I lift my lamp to them through my son, Barack Hussein Obama, beside the golden door.
With Love,
Your Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
The 1980s Are Now Calling to Ask for Their Foreign Policy Back
Russia recently built a banned cruise missile--in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Then, Vladimir Putin announced his intent to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea. Deployment to Crimea will place Russian tactical nuclear weapons on soil it just seized within 300 miles of Istanbul and Ankara. But the U.S. Administration doesn't seem concerned. In fact, the US appears to be dismantling its NATO nuclear deterrent in Europe and outsourcing NATO policy to Germany. Is this, Russia's nuclear saber-rattling in Crimea and support of wannabe nuclear Iran, just a regional threat or the stuff of a NATO split? Will our NATO ally, Turkey, finally join the U.S. fight against ISIS? Vladimir Putin just met with Turkey's Erdogan: a pipeline that would have conveyed its gas to Europe will be rerouted to Turkey; trade (ie. the services necessary to construct a nuclear power plant in Turkey) between Moscow and Turkey is growing while the rest of NATO sanctions Russia.
Will the 1940s be calling to ask for their foreign policy back? Will the 1910s? Will the 1860s?
Will the 1940s be calling to ask for their foreign policy back? Will the 1910s? Will the 1860s?
Inevitable Apprehension
God bless Julia Ward Howe, author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic:
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on."
Ms. Howe looked beyond the bloody Civil War and saw the coming of Christ as promised by the Bible--with "fateful lightning". She saw His triumph--His reign characterized by justice and peace. She recognized that there is no such thing as holiness without the freedom to choose it--a freedom He expects us to uphold and defend for ourselves and others.
When compared to this Shepherd, Jesus Christ, all other shepherds seem contemptible--mere man pleasers and demagogic self-promoters. As anciently, those who love unjust authority will deny Him or seek to disgrace Him or displace Him or delay Him--they will consider His coming to be disruptive to their dominion over others. His coming will be characterized by apprehension: some will see--apprehend--His glory and truth and purpose; and some will experience terror and horror. When He comes, He will exalt the poor and the meek and the afflicted: they will inherit the earth. Those who await Him--those who trust Him--are His people. He has promised "they shall not be ashamed that wait for me" (Isaiah 49:23).
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on."
Ms. Howe looked beyond the bloody Civil War and saw the coming of Christ as promised by the Bible--with "fateful lightning". She saw His triumph--His reign characterized by justice and peace. She recognized that there is no such thing as holiness without the freedom to choose it--a freedom He expects us to uphold and defend for ourselves and others.
When compared to this Shepherd, Jesus Christ, all other shepherds seem contemptible--mere man pleasers and demagogic self-promoters. As anciently, those who love unjust authority will deny Him or seek to disgrace Him or displace Him or delay Him--they will consider His coming to be disruptive to their dominion over others. His coming will be characterized by apprehension: some will see--apprehend--His glory and truth and purpose; and some will experience terror and horror. When He comes, He will exalt the poor and the meek and the afflicted: they will inherit the earth. Those who await Him--those who trust Him--are His people. He has promised "they shall not be ashamed that wait for me" (Isaiah 49:23).
Monday, November 3, 2014
A Free Country?
Perhaps you have encountered a similar problem. I was unable to access videos on the Fox News website on the night before the midterm election. Should I look to a free country for my news?
The Criminalization of Political Expression
"personal life is being de-moralized" while "political life is being hyper-moralized", asserts David Brooks of the New York Times. Policy prescriptions of opposing ideologues are already so irreconcilable, according to article commentator MFW, that they are dismissed as "akin to trying to paint a room in a house that is burning down". Political-moral certitude has contributed to a "criminalization of politics" according to George Will: conservative expression has been suppressed--examples of this appear in paramilitary raids on conservatives in Wisconsin and in abuses against conservatives by the IRS.
The hyper-moralization of politics, the criminalization of political expression in America is evident in and is traceable to its fount in the case of Catherine Engelbrecht. In 2010, Catherine Engelbrecht sought IRS tax-exempt status for the organization True the Vote, a non-profit election integrity organization. Soon thereafter, the Federal Bureau of Investigations Domestic Terrorism Unit visited the to-be non-profit. The FBI informed Engelbrecht it was investigating a person who had attended the to-be non-profit's meetings. It was only after six similar and intimidating visits that the FBI relented. Next, the Engelbrechts were subjected by the IRS to an audit of business tax returns followed by an audit of their personal tax returns. Then, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) abruptly audited their business. And they were subjected to an examination by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The BATF and OSHA found no violations. But their visits resulted in fines of about $20,000. Meanwhile, the IRS inquired into Catherine Engelbrecht's personal correspondence and beliefs, public communications, and the whereabouts of her activities and assets.
In the context of the IRS scandal, this story has been heard by Congress. In the context of the IRS scandal, it has been reported in conservative media. But it is a story with implications much broader than even the IRS scandal. It deserves its own scandal headline and investigation. This is a story of tyranny--of criminal collusion across federal agencies to stifle speech and assembly--by the executive branch of the federal government and complicit Democratic legislators.
The public servants at the IRS have yet to serve the public the truth about the IRS scandal (never mind the colluding public servants at the FBI / Justice Department, the BATF, and OSHA). Instead, they have been complicit accessories in a criminal cover-up--putting their politics and livelihoods ahead of our freedom and ultimately theirs.
Because justice has been subverted, pathetic travesties proceed in our courts. The House of Representatives, Catherine Engelbrecht, and others seek civil redress for criminal and unconstitutional acts--acts that caused damages that cannot be quantified and may include the mis-election of a President. The supreme justice authorities and tax authorities in the United States were directly involved in critically stifling speech and assembly.
Under this license to criminalize political expression, how many obscure and undetected abuses have arisen? For example, are banks which were nationalized by the bank bailout extending and refusing credit and prosecuting creditors based on political expression? Parenthetically, on the day of the mid-term election, I received a summons from Zions Bank related to an unsecured line of credit. Perhaps Zions doesn't know my assets were dissipated by an unconstitutional eminent domain taking? Also, for example, are public schools preying on children whose parents express conservative political opinions? Parenthetically, the Miller family just got three D grades at Ogden schools: one for a second grader; one for a Middle School student--in a class her academic counselor transferred her out of at the beginning of the term, and one for a 10th grader in mathematics--a subject that he has always excelled in (ie. at a charter school). Parenthetically, the public high school that awarded him this grade is ranked at the bottom of the state. These are not children disadvantaged because they come from single parent households or children disadvantaged by their lack of familiarity with the English language, are they disadvantaged by their household beliefs?
The hyper-moralization of politics, the criminalization of political expression in America is evident in and is traceable to its fount in the case of Catherine Engelbrecht. In 2010, Catherine Engelbrecht sought IRS tax-exempt status for the organization True the Vote, a non-profit election integrity organization. Soon thereafter, the Federal Bureau of Investigations Domestic Terrorism Unit visited the to-be non-profit. The FBI informed Engelbrecht it was investigating a person who had attended the to-be non-profit's meetings. It was only after six similar and intimidating visits that the FBI relented. Next, the Engelbrechts were subjected by the IRS to an audit of business tax returns followed by an audit of their personal tax returns. Then, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) abruptly audited their business. And they were subjected to an examination by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The BATF and OSHA found no violations. But their visits resulted in fines of about $20,000. Meanwhile, the IRS inquired into Catherine Engelbrecht's personal correspondence and beliefs, public communications, and the whereabouts of her activities and assets.
In the context of the IRS scandal, this story has been heard by Congress. In the context of the IRS scandal, it has been reported in conservative media. But it is a story with implications much broader than even the IRS scandal. It deserves its own scandal headline and investigation. This is a story of tyranny--of criminal collusion across federal agencies to stifle speech and assembly--by the executive branch of the federal government and complicit Democratic legislators.
The public servants at the IRS have yet to serve the public the truth about the IRS scandal (never mind the colluding public servants at the FBI / Justice Department, the BATF, and OSHA). Instead, they have been complicit accessories in a criminal cover-up--putting their politics and livelihoods ahead of our freedom and ultimately theirs.
Because justice has been subverted, pathetic travesties proceed in our courts. The House of Representatives, Catherine Engelbrecht, and others seek civil redress for criminal and unconstitutional acts--acts that caused damages that cannot be quantified and may include the mis-election of a President. The supreme justice authorities and tax authorities in the United States were directly involved in critically stifling speech and assembly.
Under this license to criminalize political expression, how many obscure and undetected abuses have arisen? For example, are banks which were nationalized by the bank bailout extending and refusing credit and prosecuting creditors based on political expression? Parenthetically, on the day of the mid-term election, I received a summons from Zions Bank related to an unsecured line of credit. Perhaps Zions doesn't know my assets were dissipated by an unconstitutional eminent domain taking? Also, for example, are public schools preying on children whose parents express conservative political opinions? Parenthetically, the Miller family just got three D grades at Ogden schools: one for a second grader; one for a Middle School student--in a class her academic counselor transferred her out of at the beginning of the term, and one for a 10th grader in mathematics--a subject that he has always excelled in (ie. at a charter school). Parenthetically, the public high school that awarded him this grade is ranked at the bottom of the state. These are not children disadvantaged because they come from single parent households or children disadvantaged by their lack of familiarity with the English language, are they disadvantaged by their household beliefs?
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