Lessons for America from Israel’s Monarchy

I believe that one of the most important sections on our website is our Introductions of the Books of the Bible. Actually, we hope that each is a little more than just an introduction. For each book (and each section), we attempt to offer information on the author, his purpose, major themes, theological teachings, and key verses. We include a brief survey of the book, historical background info, and a timeline of the people and events. Finally, we also discuss some interpretation challenges, present some hints to aid in properly interpreting the book, and attempt to answer some of the common questions that often puzzle readers.

Like many other sections on our website, our Bible Book Intros are still in progress. When we began the section, our original goal was to finish by the end of 2012. It didn’t take long for us to realize how short-sighted we were in setting this goal. We certainly underestimated the lack of available time due to other projects, the extra details the we would include in the intros, and the number of spin-off articles each intro would produce. That said, we are re-doubling our efforts to complete this section (but not setting a new deadline).

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve recently completed the Book of the Kings, originally one volume entitled Melakim (Hebrew for “kings”). The translators of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew OT in the second or third century BC) divided it into two books called the “Third and Fourth Book of Kingdoms” (Samuel was designated the “First and Second Book of Kingdoms”). Together, these four books provided a complete history of the transition and the monarchy of Israel. We followed the later division of First Kings and Second Kings.

In writing these, I couldn’t help but notice (as with the other historical books of the Bible) that, even though cultures continue to change, overall human nature remains basically the same. One aspect that particularly stands out is our failure to learn from our pasts. This includes both our personal and historical pasts. The Israelites who were living during the monarchy had the book of Moses that taught the lessons of the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Exodus, the desert wanderings and other events. They should have also been familiar with the conquest and the repeating cycles of the judges. Throughout their own period of the monarchy, there were people and leaders who were repentant and faithful to God’s Word and thus enjoyed periods of God’s covenant blessings while others suffered the curses for disobedience, yet their pattern of returning to destructive behavior never ceased.

Likewise, as a whole in modern day America, we often follow the same patterns even though we have much more historical data available, including hindsight of the events concerning the fate of the Israelites. We also have the lessons of Rome and their self-destruction caused by elimination of the middle class, breakdown of the traditional family, high taxation, and other moral and economic issues (most economic crisis are caused by moral crisis). We also have the lessons of the millions upon millions of people killed by communistic and socialistic regimes.

A few weeks ago, we witnessed the Greeks celebrating in the street after following their far-left politicians’ advice to vote down responsible economic measures. Like much of America, the people were celebrating the fact that they were going bankrupt, but didn’t care as long as someone else bails them out with no resulting consequences. On the plus side, some parts of Europe are now learning some lessons from history and are subsequently making some attempts to change. At the same time, America has become the dumping ground of centuries of failed European political and economic ideas (ironically in the name of progress and going “forward”). We now witness America rushing ahead toward moral and economic bankruptcy. In the past month the US Supreme Court has flushed what was left of the Constitution (we’ll have more to say on this in future posts), and like Greece, people party while going broke.

So, how can America be fixed? Most moral issues can be fixed by repentance and a return to the Biblical foundations on which our country was founded. Similarly, most economic problems can be greatly improved by restoring the Christian work ethic (Pr 21:25, Th 3:6-12, 1Tim 5:8). The American Revolution was a direct result of the First Great Awakening. Our country today is barely surviving on the remnants of the Second Great Awakening, and is fast becoming post-Christian America. This second national revival however, also led to the sending of numerous missionaries to foreign nations around the globe. Perhaps, some of these countries in which Christianity is exploding will return the favor by sending missionaries here. Given America’s current deteriorating condition, I believe we need a Third Great Awakening. Since only God can send revival, this will require repentance and prayer by His people (2Chr 7:14). Unfortunately, like Israel, we tend to turn to God only as a last resort, so things may need to get even worse before this happens. I pray that I am wrong and that the church will arise and fulfill her calling. In order to effectively change laws, we must first change hearts. We should continue working through political and social channels but ultimately, our hope must be in the Lord.

The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord... From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth — he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength... But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you. (Ps 33:10-22)

Ministry and Website Programming Updates

Spare time from my “other” job (the one that pays the bills) has been quite minimal over the past couple of years, but I'm finally seeing a small work decrease the past few weeks. The maritime port in South Jersey is under construction and the electrical design for the International Terminal in Virginia is getting close to completion. I still have the electrical substation, transmission, distribution, telecommunications and street lighting design for a few industrial cities in the Middle East, but they've been relatively quiet for the past few months. I'm hoping the trend continues and that I can even drop back to flex or even part-time withing the next couple of years. I can just hear many of my friends thinking, "yeah, we've heard that before", but I did turn down the offer of taking the lead for the substation, and electrical and telecom distribution for the downtown renovation of a city in the western US, something that I would never have done a few years ago.

That said, my primary goal is to be able to devote more time to our ministry. I have dozens and dozens of articles in various stages of completion, some from over ten years ago. I'd get to a certain point, get interrupted (job deadlines, questions from readers or class members, deciding to do additional research on a particular topic ect) and be off on another engineering or ministry project. I'm still planning new articles and series, but will attempt to place a priority on finishing existing ones.

Website Programming Update

Still, although we neglected our blog during this time, we were able to make excellent progress on many articles and series for our main website. We’ve completed two articles on the historicity of the Bible that includes a discussion of the sources and methods used in dating bible events, difficulties and challenges that are often encountered, and a look at the history and development of various calendar systems from Biblical times to our modern day. We should have these formatted and uploaded in the next few days and will continue work on other articles in this series. We’ve also made some headway on the series of articles related to the OT prophets overview that was loaded last fall.

By the grace of God, we were able to format and upload some articles during this busy time. We added Bible Genealogies to our Bible Genre Analysis section that explores some of the common literary types found in the Bible. In this latest entry, we examine the nature and purposes of genealogies in the Hebrew culture, along with some various interpretation challenges when encountering the genealogical records. Many people skip these lists when reading through the Bible, but they have some very important applications which we include in the discussion.

Finally, a good friend emailed us with a question that came up in their Bible study class, “Did Judas Go to Heaven or Hell?” In response, we wrote an article examining the most popular arguments for and against, reveal what we believe to be the key question in the matter, and provide reasons for our answer to the subject question.

We’d like to thank our readers for your patience during these times of heavy workload. The good (and bad) news is that Obamanomics is catching up to us again, so it appears we’ll have more time for writing this fall. Let us continue to pray for all those who are unable to find work in this economy or must work multiple jobs in an attempt to support their families.

ObamaCare Death Panels Coming in 2014

Buried deep within the over 2800 pages and 425,000 words that comprise the ObamaCare law, we find a provision for creating an Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). The IPAB creates an unelected board of 15 politically appointed "experts" whose primary objective is to "cut healthcare costs" from Medicare. Since by all credible estimates (including the Congressional Budget Office), ObamaCare will greatly increase healthcare costs, the panel's only means of cost control will be the rationing and denial of proven medical treatments to otherwise qualifying patients.

Thus, the decision on who lives and who dies is left in the hands of these 15 bureaucrats. Incredibly, there's very little that can be done to challenge this board if ObamaCare is not repealed. Establishment of the IPAB is a massive expansion of government control and a gross violation of the Separation of Powers. The panel's rulings are not subject to review by the courts and can only be overridden by a super-majority of congress, an extremely difficult task.

BHO's comrades in the media, such as the New York Times, and the liberal blogosphere continue to deny the existence of this death panel (or paint their opponents as being paranoid and/or of spreading falsehoods), hoping that most people will believe their coverup rather than reading this portion of the healthcare bill for themselves. The good news is that even many liberals that favor killing innocent babies are drawing the line in opposing the killing of seniors (seniors have the right to vote). Yet, we still have an uphill battle, so we urge all our readers to contact their senators and representatives to voice concern and disapproval on this pro-life issue.

For more information, see Truth in Action Ministries - The “Death Panel” Buried Deep Inside the Health Care Law, and The Weekly Standard - The Real Mediscare.

Fall 2011 Review

Our fall 2011 cartoon review includes Israel. OWS, Thanksgiving, the beginning of election season, and more.

Our toons have been archived at End-year 2011 Toon Review. Enjoy and continue praying for our nation.

Obamacare and the SuperCommittee

We haven't done a toon update in a few months, so we're uploading one tomorrow, but I wanted to load this separately while it was on my mind. Most of us remember all the promises made by BHO, his supporters and media apologists regarding this takeover of the health-care industry by the federal government. We were told of all the money that would be saved, both in premiums for individuals and in reduction of the national deficit. Those that currently had health coverage was promised that we would be able to keep our same policies and doctors.

Of course, only those drinking the Obama Kool-aid actually believed any of the claims about the policy. Most reputable economists predict that ObamaCare will greatly increase the deficit at a time when the feds are already broke.

On a personal note, we finally received our insurance options for the coming year. The policy we had previously carried was discontinued due to increased costs brought on by Obamacare. The policy that we were forced to settle on featured a higher monthly premium, much higher deductibles instead of a low co-pay, and less coverage. I have not yet verified whether or not our doctor will accept the new policy. I have a request for BHO and his comrades. Please stop helping us. We can't afford it.

So, now the issue of whether the feds can force us into the program will be decided by the "un-biased" Supreme Court. Why doesn't this make us feel any more confident?

Another subject related to the fed's out of control spending is that of the creation of a so-called Super Committee to come up with some budget cuts. In picking the toons for the Fall update, I had to wade through hundreds portraying the committee as being a deadlocked failure. I chose to exclude all other than the one below because I consider this to be the biggest non-story of the year. Only those who believed the promises from BHO regarding Obamacare would be naive enough to believe anything good could come from this idea. By including such members as John Kerry and Patty Murray, Harry Reid guaranteed that the committee would either be deadlocked, or deliver a "partisan solution" that would consist primarily of tax increases and defense cuts.

Many people complain about the gridlock in congress, but I actually prefer it to the alternative. Compromise would normally be preferred, but there are so many Socialists and Marxists currently masquerading as Democrats (or we should say Democrats of a generation ago), that the situation can only be fixed by an election purge. We must vote for candidates who will stand up for the constitution and traditional values, not for candidates who will compromise with those attempting to destroy our country.

August 2011 Review

While we’re praying for rain and a break from the over 100-degrees days of heat in Dallas, here’s a review of selected events for August.

These toons, including a tribute to the fallen Navy Seals, media hypocrisy, and a focus on the economy and jobs, have been archived at August 2011 Toon Review.

July 2011 Review

I’m getting a little break in schedule at work, so here’s a brief review of major events from July.

Our toons this month include the economy, jobs, debt deal and more. See the archive at July 2011 Toon Review. Enjoy and continue praying for our nation.

June 2011 Review

As the month of June comes to an end, we offer this review of some of the month's events. Enjoy.

The first is actually a holdover from May that didn’t make it into our 2011 Memorial Day Tribute.

Moving to June, the tolerance police continue to run wild, insisting on tolerance for everything except Christianity.

Our toons this month include the Fast and Furious, the economy, and others. See June 2011 Toon Review for the archive. Enjoy and God Bless.

Ray Stevens Adopts the Obama Budget Plan

Balancing the family budget is very easy. Just follow the fed's example.

April 2011 Toons

Here’s a collection of cartoons from the latter part of April. Enjoy.

See the archive at April 2011 Toon Review. God bless.

Toon Update March 2011

After getting busy and not posting for a few weeks, I often do an update on what we’ve missed. In this case, we’ll use the “a picture is worth a thousand words” strategy. It’s also a lot more fun. It would be even more fun if not so true. Hope you enjoy.

See the archive at March 2011 Toon Review. This month focuses primarily on the UN and foreign policy.

Candles, Marxists, and the Word of Truth

As we witness the riots and unrest in Egypt, it brought to mind an incredible untold story (at least by our secular media) during the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Most of us remember the usual talking heads focusing on the surface themes of politics and economics, while denying that Ronald Reagan had anything to do with the event. Yet, as with most stories, the important underlying causes were ignored by the media.

It is true that political and economic conditions had reached critical mass in Eastern Europe and Asia by the late 1980s, but this emergency situation was the direct result of the moral and spiritual crises created by communism’s Marxist worldview. If we are open to the truth about this atheistic worldview, we can easily see that it must inevitably lead to this outcome.

A primary tenet of Marxism is the supposition that God only exists in the imagination of the economically downtrodden; that He is subjectively created as a wishful fantasy to remedy a person’s misery or unhappiness. Thus, while American liberals generally view religion as the root of all evil, a true Marxist would view religion as the imaginary, but ineffective solution to evil, with the primary evil being an unequal distribution of wealth. If one could build an alternative system (under government control); a new world order in which all persons were monetarily equal (except the ruling elite, of course), then there would be no further need for religion. After all, why would someone cling to fanciful thoughts of a joyful hereafter when they could have a utopian paradise in their present life on earth? We, of course, see this "government is the solution to all our problems" theory promoted by many today.

So, for Marxism to work, it must “kill God”, at least in the sense of replacing His memory in the minds of the people with reliance on the government. We’ve seen from history however, that any attempt to eradicate God is always doomed to failure. Just to give a few examples, at the beginning of the fourth century, Roman emperor Diocletian began possibly the most intense empire-wide persecution in an attempt to eradicate Christianity. Yet within a few years, Constantine took the throne and later made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. In the eighteenth century, the French philosopher Voltaire declared that within a hundred years, there would not be a single Bible left on earth. The house where he lived is now a distribution center for Bibles printed in many different languages. Finally, in 1966, the New York Times declared that “God is dead”, but as Ravi Zacharias so aptly noted, the Times was “dancing on an empty grave”.

Another major reason that Marxist socialism is destined to always fail is that it is based on the false assumption that man’s nature is inherently good; that putting man into a better environment will solve all his problems (one glance at the Garden of Eden experience disproves this presumption). It assumes that enough people will be willing to work hard while others are idle, and yet share everything equally. On the other hand, the Free Enterprise system thrives because it is consistent with man’s fallen nature, rightly assuming that most folks won’t work without reward. One of my former pastors, Dr Harold O’Chester from Austin, used to say that he could tell how a person would vote based upon the answer to one question, “Do you believe man is inherently good or evil?” As Adrian Rogers once said,

You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the industrious out of it. You don't multiply wealth by dividing it. Government cannot give anything to anybody that it doesn't first take from somebody else. Whenever somebody receives something without working for it, somebody else has to work for it without receiving. The worst thing that can happen to a nation is for half of the people to get the idea they don't have to work because somebody else will work for them, and the other half to get the idea that it does no good to work because they don't get to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Perhaps the best account of the Soviet collapse is recorded in a book by Barbara von der Heydt entitled Candles behind the Wall: Heroes of the Peaceful Revolution That Shattered Communism. Ms von der Heydt had worked with the first displaced Eastern European refugees in 1989, and much of her account is based on personal interviews with everyday people involved in the struggle against those who were attempting to obliterate any traces of the Faith. She recounts the stories of individuals whose grass roots movements eventually challenged the very core of communism. We recommend everyone read this book who has the opportunity, but we’ll paraphrase a couple of examples here.

One of the stories that stood out to me was the account of Uwe Holmer, an East German pastor who, along with his wife, managed a Christian organization for the mentally and physically disabled. In 1989, Dictator Erich Honecker resigned due to health issues. Honecker was so hated that even his own daughter refused to take him in. Yet, the Holmers finally provided the former tyrant and his wife with shelter even though the pastor’s family was terribly persecuted during his reign. When asked why, Pastor Holmer replied

The Lord has charged us to follow him and to take in all those who are burdened ... to follow his commandment to love our enemies; and to live by the prayer he taught us in these words, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” ... We want to live by Christ’s example.

Ms von der Heydt also provides us the inside story on the tense situation outside the Russian parliament in August of 1991. The Soviets had recently lost control of Eastern Europe, so while Michael Gorbachev was in the Crimea, the totalitarian communist party seized control of the government. They dispersed tanks and their troops and surrounded the Russian parliament, trapping Boris Yeltsin and the legislators inside. The world watched anxiously as thousands of freedom-seeking civilians formed a human barricade around the building.

According to Ms Von Der Heydt, it was at this point that Iven Kharlanov and Anatoly Rudenko of the Bible society in Moscow called other Bible societies around the world asking for prayer before coming up with a brave but dangerous plan. They contacted other Christians and drove a truck full of New Testaments to the scene, arriving just as the military was about to storm the building.

Christians took the Bibles and began handing them out to the soldiers quoting Exodus 20:13, “thou shall not kill”. At the same time, others began going tank to tank, handing out the Scriptures and quoting the verse. Ms Von Der Heydt specifically mentions one woman, Shirinai Dossova, walking over to one of the tanks and banging on its side with her bare knuckles until the mystified driver finally opened the hatch. She held the Bible out to him and declared, "It says in this book that you shouldn't kill. Are you going to kill us?" The young soldier was obviously baffled, but nervously took the Bible while saying, "We not intending to kill anybody."

Ms Von Der Heydt also reported that very few of the soldiers refused the Bibles. Some tucked them in a pocket or bag, but others, who probably had never seen one but perhaps may have been wanting one, began reading right away.

Of course, we know from history that the attack on the parliament building was averted and the coup collapsed. Yet to this day, secular historians still puzzle in amazement as to why the almost certain attack failed to transpire. But now, as Paul Harvey would say, we know the rest of the story. It was the Hand and the Word of God.

Bring Back the Ditch

As the November election draws nearer, most people’s top concern remains the economy. Indeed, other than the spiritual condition of our nation, its economy ranks as one of the most important problems facing our country. Our weak economy even poses a serious threat to our national security. For this reason, we’ll be posting several articles over the next couple of months pertaining to the Biblical view of economics.

In this post, I’d like to address a few myths that have been circulating the past couple of years. Let first examine the rhetoric surrounding the battle over extending the Bush tax-cuts. With unemployment continuing to climb, businesses are very hesitant to hire workers because of the huge tax increases that they will incur should the extensions fail to pass by the end of this year. Mr Obama and his liberal friends continue to oppose extending the tax cuts to those who create the most jobs, continually insisting that the “rich” need to pay their fair share. The latest data released by the IRS however, reveals that the top 1% of earners already pay 40% of all federal income taxes, and the top 5% pay 60%. Almost half of all wage earners pay no tax at all, and many receive "refunds" as earned income credit. We'll discuss the topics of redistribution of wealth and charity in an upcoming post.

A second argument is that we can’t afford to extend the tax cuts because it would drive up the deficit, citing the Bush administration as an example. This argument is also false, since tax revenues actually went up about 40% after the tax cuts were enacted. How can this be? Due to the lower tax rates, businesses hired more workers and paid out more in salaries, thus the increased workforce paid more total taxes even at the lower rates. Similarly, liberals always want to raise federal revenue by increasing taxes on large corporations, but the feds lose money because the workforce shrinks. The deficits during the Bush years were due to increased spending, not decreased taxation. Mr Bush was not exactly a fiscal conservative, although he would certainly be considered one when compared to the current administration. Mr Obama and company have incurred more debt in his brief time that all other presidents combined.

Mr Obama frequently blames the slow economy on former President Bush, and his lapdogs in the media dutifully and gladly echo these accusations. His favorite line is that the Republicans drove the economy into a ditch and he’s working hard to get it out. Never mind that many top economists have maintained that we would already be out of this crisis had the government not felt obligated to fix it. Unfortunately, socialists trust in the government rather than free enterprise to grow the economy.

Another common claim is that Mr Bush took eight years to get us into this mess, so it is argued that we should allow Mr Obama a similar amount of time to repair the damage. After all, he’s only in his second year in office. This assumes that Mr Bush actually caused the recession, and it also ignores that fact that the Democrats took control of congress in January of 2007. Thus, Mr Obama, Ms Pelosi and Mr Reid have controlled the purse strings for almost four years (only congress can pass legislation authorizing spending). Many indicators of the economic downturn can be directly traced to the takeover by the socialist Democratic Party (see the attached charts for a couple of examples).

For the sake of argument however, let’s assume that Mr Bush and the Republicans drove us into a ditch by the time that they lost control of congress (January 2007). Revisiting Mr Bush’s ditch, we find the National unemployment rate at 4.5% (December 2006), an average GDP growth of 3.4% (2006), and an average annual deficit of about $105 billion (during Republican controlled congress, 1994-2006). The DJIA was almost 13,000 and the federal debt was about 65% of the GDP.

In contrast, looking at Mr Obama’s highway, we see an unemployment rate that has more than doubled at 9.6% (~17% including those who have given up looking for work), a GDP finally inching up to 2% and an annual deficit of about $1.5 trillion. In addition, the national debt is approaching $14 trillion at a rate of about 3.5 billion dollars a day, and has now exceeded 90% of the GDP.

As if this wasn't enough, we also have the vast amount of eroding wealth under the Dem's watch. According to the Wall Street Journal, total residential real estate values lost $4 trillion from the beginning of the Dem takeover through March 2009 (WSJ-8-20-09), and net worth of US households dropped 18% or over $11 trillion in 2008 alone, the biggest loss since the Federal Reserve began tracking shortly after WWII (WSJ3-13-09). An estimated 20% (about $2 trillion) vanished from our retirement plans from August 2007 to October 2008 (WSJ 8-20-09). In 2009, the first year of Mr Obama's administration, the federal government ran a budget deficit for every month of the year, the first time this has happened in almost 30 years of record keeping. In fact, as of May 2010, the government's record deficit string had reached 19 consecutive months (Reuters 5-12-2010). We could also mention the many large institutions that failed or was "bailed out" by the government, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who contributed heavily to the Dems, most notably House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd.

Facing the facts, it’s no wonder that the Dems and their media friends are talking about everything except the issues. A study released earlier this week by the Wesleyan Media Project at Weslayan University found that both Repubs and Dems ran negative ads at about the same rate, but the majority of Republican ads focused on the issues while the majority of Democratic ads were personal attacks, often involving events or quotes (many from anonymous sources) from up to 30 years ago. It’s also worth mentioning that any ad that mentioned the facts about a Dem’s voting record is considered a negative or attack ad.

Rather than take responsibility for their failures, the liberal Democrats continue to blame everyone but themselves. The latest strategy appears to be blaming the potential voters. The American people are told that we’re just too dumb to realize and appreciate all that the Dems have done for us. According to the liberals, if we were better informed, we would realize that runaway spending and entitlements, higher taxes, government takeovers of private industry, and flushing the constitution is all done for our benefit.

Mr Obama, Mr Biden, John Kerry (D-Ma) and others have complained that the lack of their popularity is due to the fact that voters are not paying attention. While idealism can sound good for awhile, sooner or later, one must live in reality. The truth is, the inattentive voter is what got Mr Obama elected in the first place. Rather than checking his record, many were caught up in the media's worship and in “making history”. Now that Mr Obama’s disastrous policies have gotten the voter’s attention however, most folks are realizing that they were a lot better off in the Bush ditch than on the Obama superhighway. When comparing the results of Mr Obama’s socialism, many are longing to “Bring back the Ditch”.

Update: A special thank you to our friend Doug Ross for linking to this article.

Economics, Evolution and the Great Depression

At a recent press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the economic recovery “is going to take an enormous amount of time.” When I read this statement, I couldn’t help but make a couple of comparisons and observations.

In 1859, English naturalist Charles Darwin claimed that something could come from nothing, life from non-life, personality from non-personality, and man from non-man. He also imagined that a series of pure random processes would result in continuously increased complexity. Now, Mr Darwin didn’t allow the fact that his theories contradicted the laws of physics, the laws of reason, and the laws of science dissuade him. He simply announced that it was possible if the process was given enough time, namely billions of years.

Likewise, the Obama administration believes that higher taxes, runaway government spending (leading to higher inflation), re-distribution of wealth, and other job-killing policies will produce economic growth if given enough time. To his credit, Mr Gibbs did not theorize that it would take billions of years, but when asked to clarify what he meant, he said, “it’s going to take several years.”

Fortunately, we can reasonably hope that, unlike macro-evolution, free enterprise can eventually overcome these devastating policies. Unfortunately, judging by past history, the more a liberal government interjects itself in an attempt to fix the problem, the longer the problem lasts. Mr Obama, Ms Pelosi, Mr Reid and associates urge us to look to the future, but their ideology is firmly rooted in the past, from the “manufactured crisis” design of German philosopher GWF Hegel (18-19th century) to the economic concepts of 19th century German philosopher Karl Marx. Even Cuban dictator Fidel Castro recently admitted that socialism is an absolute failure as an economic system. Yet Mr Obama and friends persist in pushing these disastrous policies.

Mr Obama, Ms Pelosi, and Mr Reid constantly proclaim that the stimulus and other measures have saved two, three and even five million jobs (whatever number happens to pop into their heads at the moment). While these numbers can’t be verified (a primary reason why they continually float them), we can certainly look at some historical examples.

Nationally syndicated writer Larry Elder, in his Listen, dummies: Obama's stimulus 'clearly helped' article, contrasts the approach of Ronald Reagan to that of Franklin Roosevelt:

President Reagan, in the early '80s, inherited an economy with 13.5 percent inflation, 21 percent prime interest rates, and an unemployment rate that reached 10.8 percent. He addressed this by doing the opposite of what Obama has done. Reagan sharply lowered taxes, dropping the top marginal rate from 70 percent to 28 percent. He slowed the rate of domestic spending. And he continued the deregulation policies of President Carter. Interest rates fell, inflation declined and unemployment, after nearly two years, started dropping.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, during the Great Depression, continued the tax-hiking policies of his predecessor. Federal spending soared. The result? Unemployment during the Depression reached 25 percent and remained stuck in the teens until World War II. The subsequent destruction of foreign economies, which America helped rebuild, sparked a domestic boom. The dismantling of ill-advised worldwide trade barriers also helped.

FDR's secretary of Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, who served from 1934 to 1945, wrote in 1939: “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. ... I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started ... and an enormous debt to boot!”

We’ll have more on the Great Depression in upcoming posts, but we’ll offer one more piece of the puzzle here. FDR is widely credited with leading a government intervention that lifted the country out of this depression, but let’s look at the facts.

Even after the stock market crash of October 1929, at no time during the following twelve months did unemployment reach double digits. Two months after the crash, unemployment peaked at about 9 percent, and then began trending downward over the next six months, finally reaching 6.3 percent by June 1930. At this point, the federal government decided to step in to fix the imaginary crisis and proceeded to create a real crisis.

So, if history teaches us anything about economics, it is that the federal government should get out of the way and allow the free enterprise system to work.

I Want Your Money Trailer

This movie trailer was sent by our good friend Larry from the great state of Arizona. The film maker explains:

Set against the backdrop of today's headline - 67% of Americans don't approve of Obama's economic policies, the film takes a provocative look at our deeply depressed economy using the words and actions of Presidents Reagan and Obama and shows the marked contrast between Reaganomics and Obamanomics. The film contrasts two views of the role that the federal government should play in our daily lives using the words and actions of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Two versions of the American dream now stand in sharp contrast. One views the money you earned as yours and best allocated by you; the other believes that the elite in Washington know how to best allocate your wealth. One champions the traditional American dream, which has played out millions of times through generations of Americans, of improving one's lot in life and even daring to dream and build big. The other holds that there is no end to the "good" the government can do by taking and spending other peoples' money in an ever-burgeoning list of programs. The documentary film I Want Your Money exposes the high cost in lost freedom and in lost opportunity to support a Leviathan-like bureaucratic state.

July 2010 – A Review

Once again, I got snowed under (if I can use this expression in July) on a couple of engineering projects, so here’s a brief rundown of a few happenings in the past few weeks.

Even with congressional approval at an all-time low of 11%, it appears big national money and voter amnesia may still win out this fall, as both John McCain and Harry Reid have now taken leads in their respective states of Arizona and Nevada.

In the “sacrifice is only for the common folks” department, John Kerry, who repeatedly voted to raise taxes in Congress, has moored his new multi-million dollar yacht in Newport, RI to avoid a six-figure state tax that he (along with Ted Kennedy) helped increase on the other citizens of Massachusetts. Mr Kerry’s chief of staff claimed that the Senator is only berthing his yacht in Rhode Island due to maintenance considerations rather than to avoid paying the tax.

Similarly, Al Gore, after calling for his subjects to decrease their carbon footprints while he maintains his mansion in Tennessee, has now purchased a nine million dollar ocean-view manor in Santa Barbara. The Italian-style house has six fireplaces, five bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Doesn’t it seem just like yesterday when he was declaring that the California coast would soon be under 20 feet of water due to global warming? Due to Mr Gore recent massage scandal, he’s been keeping a low profile on the climate change issue, but Mr Kerry appears to have picked up the baton. Last week, he told a town hall meeting that the Arctic would be ice-free in 5-10 years. On the bright side, this will give him some additional ocean on which to sail his yacht.

Our final entry in this department, which could also be called “do as I say, not as I do”, is FLOTUS Michelle Obama taping all those commercials urging people to come on down to the Gulf Coast to spend their vacation and money, before jetting off with BHO for a Maine vacation. Meanwhile, their family dog was flying in on his own private jet. As Publius’ Forum notes:

As the rest of us toil on the unemployment line, as millions of Americans find their retirement accounts dwindling, their hours at work cut, and their pay scale trimmed, King Barack and Queen Michelle are flying their little doggie, Bo, on his own special jet airplane for his own little vacation adventure.

Now, Ms Obama is planning a five day trip to Spain during the first week of August for a "private visit in the company of old friends", reserving about 30 rooms at a five-star hotel on Costa del Sol. This will precede another a ten day vacation at Martha’s Vineyard.

Changing subjects, remember the op-ed that Rep Bart Stupak wrote in the Washington Post back in March on why he withdrew his demand for federal funding of abortions to be taken out of healthcare as a condition for his vote:

Therefore, I and other pro-life Democrats struck an agreement with President Obama to issue an executive order that would ensure all Hyde Amendment protections would apply to the health-care reform bill. No, an executive order is not as strong as the statutory language we fought for at the start. We received, however, an “ironclad” commitment from the president that no taxpayer dollars will be used to pay for abortions.

As we’ve seen this month, both Pennsylvania and Maryland received federal tax dollars to pay for abortions under the new health care law. At least Mr Stupak still has his airport grant money.

Finally, Mr Obama is now officially in campaign mode for the 2010 elections and the strategy continues to be “blame Bush and claim things could be worse”. He repeatedly claims that the economy would be much worse without his policies, and paints those of his opponents as “job killers”. He counts on the media to continue to cover up the facts, such as the two million new jobs created the final year that the Republicans controlled congress, and that the “Bush recession” only began after Ms Pelosi, Mr Reid and their fellow Dems took control of congress. The next few months will tell whether or not this strategy will work.

Tax Day 2010 Thoughts

I just finished paying my taxes on time, so I guess that disqualifies me for the next opening in Mr Obama’s administration. I resisted the impulse to enter “two million” under the number of dependents, a very conservative estimate of the number of people receiving entitlements from working people’s tax dollars. This is not a knock on all who are receiving government aid. I realize there are many who would rather be working than caught up in the administration’s "De-industrialization of America" plan.

Speaking of the Obama administration, the Bidens just released their tax return, showing that they gave 1.44% ($4820) out of their $333,000 income to charity last year. By comparison, independent reports place the average family's donations at 3.1%, and according to IRS statistics, those making over $200,000 give an average of $20,500 to charity.

Actually, 2009 was a big increase in the Vice-President’s charitable giving. The previous year, he gave only 0.69% ($1885 out of $269,256), but even this was above his track record. After Mr Obama picked him as a running mate, Mr Biden eventually released his tax returns from the previous decade (1998 – 2007). During this period, the Bidens gave only $120 - $995 per year on incomes ranging from $210,432 - $321,379, which amounts to 0.06% - 0.31% of their income (in 1999, he gave a whopping $120 on an income of almost $211,000). So, on a total income of about $2.5 million, the Bidens contributed less than $3700 to charity. In contrast, Sarah Palin gave more in 2006 alone (on about half the income) than Joe Biden gave in a decade. In case anyone is wondering, John McCain gave an average of about 28% of his income to charity in 2006-7.

The reason I mention Mr Biden’s charitable giving (or lack of) is due to a couple of statements he made in the fall of 2008 in an attempt to justify the raising of taxes on the rest of us. Many of us remember Mr Biden’s claim that those who are not willing to pay higher taxes were being unpatriotic. Later that day, instead of backing off his idiotic statement, he claimed paying higher taxes was not only a patriot duty, but a religious one as well. He told a labor union group, “Catholic social doctrine as I was taught it is, you take care of people who need the help the most.” (I find it interesting that he's made no mention of what Catholic social doctrine says about murdering unborn babies, but that’s another story.) I heartily agree that we all have a moral obligation to do what we can to help those who can’t help themselves, but this should be the voluntary role of the Church and individuals, not the government. In the end, Mr Biden appears to support charitable giving, as long as he can pick the pockets of others to do so.

Turning to another tax subject, it was also reported in the past few days that about 47% of US households pay no taxes. At the same, a recent poll reports that about 47% of the respondents approve of the job that the Obama administration is doing. Naah… must be just a coincidence…right?

I’d also like to plug an article over on Big Government, collecting a Top Ten List of Anti-tax Quotations . Finally, I’d like to add one that a hero of mine, the late great Adrian Rogers, offered in 1984 from his message “God’s Way to Health, Wealth and Wisdom”.

“Friend, you cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. And what one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government can’t give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody. And when half of the people get the idea they don’t have to work because the other half’s going to take care of them, and when the other half get the idea it does no good to work because somebody’s going to get what I work for. That, dear friend, is about the end of any nation.”