Many republicans will support John McCain next Tuesday because they hope he will continue to elect justices to the court who will overturn Roe v. Wade. While abortion is a very important issue in our day that must be eliminated, there is plenty of evidence that people like John McCain and most republicans in general aren’t going to cause it to happen. The New American has published a good article, Would McCain Change the Court? that examines the history of justices that have been appointed by republicans over the years. Looking at the history of Republican appointed justices shouldn’t give much hope. Combine that with the fact that McCain is a self professed maverick that likes to make a deal with the left (compromise), and I don’t see why anyone thinks McCain will help. Palin is definitely to the right of McCain on this issue but I don’t see her fighting her boss on this one.
Monthly Archive for October, 2008
While Obama definitely wants to lead us down a road to when the government will take all our guns, I would like to point to an article, John McCain’s Gun Control Problem, at the Gun Owners of America that explains that McCain hasn’t practiced a good gun agenda either. A couple of quotes that are important to consider:
“We owe it to our children to be responsible by keeping our guns locked up,” McCain told viewers.
Economist and author John Lott, Jr., noted, “No mention was ever made by McCain about using guns for self-defense or that gunlocks might make it difficult to stop intruders who break into your home. And research indicates that McCain’s push for gunlocks is far more likely to lead to more deaths than it saves.”
And then they use a new angle to fight our freedoms:
Pro-gun allies in Congress who were holding off gun show legislation — which would at best register gun owners and at worst close down the shows entirely — were angered when McCain teamed up with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and introduced a “compromise” bill to give the issue momentum.
“There is a lot of frustration. He has got his own agenda,” one Republican Senator told Roll Call.
After September 11, 2001, McKelvey and McCain, now joined by Lieberman, had a new angle to push gun control.
“Terrorists are exploiting the gun show loophole,” AGS ads hyped. McCain and Lieberman hit the airwaves again in a series of radio and TV spots, thanks to McKelvey’s multi-million dollar investment.
And they end with:
John McCain tried running for president in 2000 as an anti-gunner. This year it appears he is seeking to “come home” to the pro-gun community, but the wounds are deep and memories long.
Lew Rockwell has written an interesting article for the latest edition of The American Conservative on not voting. While I’m not sure that I agree at the moment (there is still a week), he does make some interesting points:
we do have the freedom not to vote. No one has yet drafted us into the voting booth. I suggest that we exercise this right not to participate. It is one of the few rights we have left. Nonparticipation sends a message that we no longer believe in the racket they have cooked up for us, and we want no part of it.
I have to agree that it is basically a racket that we participate in. Why else is it harder in most states for 3rd parties to get on the ballot than for the two main parties. Is there a two party system in the constitution (the answer is no)? He continues with:
You might say that this is ineffective. But what effect does voting have? It gives them what they need most: a mandate. Nonparticipation helps deny that to them. It makes them, just on the margin, a bit more fearful that they are ruling us without our consent. This is all to the good. The government should fear the people. Not voting is a good beginning toward instilling that fear.
This year especially there is no lesser of two evils. There is socialism or fascism. The true American spirit should guide every voter to have no part of either.
In 1944 an agreement was reached at Bretton Woods that established the US Dollar as the reserve currency for the world. The dollar was used to back the other currencies of the world. The value of other currencies throughout the world were pegged to a certain dollar value, and the value of the dollar was defined as equal to 1/35th of an ounce of gold. In this way the world was on a gold standard and money throughout the world had true value (not fiat value) in that it was convertible to gold (by foreign governments – US citizens were not allowed to own gold).
The US government failed to meet it’s obligations and continued to print more money than it had gold to back it. If you say the dollar is exchangeable for a set amount of gold then you can’t print more unless you have more gold (otherwise you are lying – being immoral in your economics). The government was inflating the money supply and stealing from the American public in the form of deceptive taxes as I pointed out in my last post. But the rest of the world did not yet have the same problem as the American public. Those foreign governments could easily exchange every $35 for an ounce of gold from the US treasury.
Nixon ended this in 1971 when he took the dollar off the gold standard (watch the video at the end of this post). One day the US government said the dollar was equal to and exchangeable for 1/35th of an ounce of gold and the next day that promise was no longer made. That change of contract is an example of the worthlessness of the word of any government and part of the reason why the dollar is so removed from any real value today.
In 2006 Ron Paul spoke before the House of Representatives on the end of the dollar. He explained in a much more complete way the whole process of the changes in the value of the dollar from WW2 until today. He ends his talk with a statement that is slowly coming true today:
The economic law that honest exchange demands only things of real value as currency cannot be repealed. The chaos that one day will ensue from our 35-year experiment with worldwide fiat money will require a return to money of real value. We will know that day is approaching when oil-producing countries demand gold, or its equivalent, for their oil rather than dollars or Euros. The sooner the better.
Our hope doesn’t have to be in government in order to see what government is doing each day to increase its power and continually put the public into greater dependence on it. We cannot stand idly by and allow those in Washington to continue to ruin this nation. A vote for those who continue these policies is a vote for those who would destroy our nation. I will not stand by and let it happen. The path we continue to be on may be judgement for a wholesale rejection of righteousness in every area of life. We must seek to act righteously in every are of life and repent of our lack thereof.
Inflation is a hidden and intentionally deceptive form of taxation. Governments love to be off the gold standard and use fiat currencies that allow them to inflate without controls (especially when all the other governments are also on fiat currencies).
Inflation of the money supply is what the Fed does. When the government needs more money it sells assets to the Fed (usually government securities). The Fed “invents” the money to pay for these. It doesn’t need to print new money because the transaction just increases the amount of money the government has in the bank (and it can use to pay people with).
Because of this new money in the system, all of your money is worth less – increased supply of money raises prices (that’s why housing prices have risen so high after cash was pushed into the housing market through easy loans).
You have now been taxed twice. The government takes a high percentage of your money out of your paycheck. It may give a little back on April 15. It has also taken more of your income by making what you have left worth less. This is a hidden, deceptive tax. The Fed does not protect from inflation, it causes it.
In this election as in past elections many people of principle get into disagreements about whether it is right to vote for the “lesser of two evil” choices for an office like the President. Many Christians will say things like “Pray as if everything depends on God, but act as if everything depends on you.” This gets interpreted as pray that God will bring the best outcome from my point of view and act to get that same desired end. The problem with this reasoning relates to “my point of view” and the acts that follow.
The outcome is always in God’s hands. This is clear to anyone with even the most limited view of God’s providence. God has also given us His Word which tells us how to act and which speaks to all of life. We are to do the right thing always and I don’t see where this includes “doing whatever it takes to get the desired end.” Even if the end were right (assuming that eliminating one evil at the expense of many others can ever be right), that doesn’t mean that you can throw out the rest of your principles.
Just because a candidate is pro-life doesn’t mean he is the right choice (is he moral in other areas?). There should be other factors in consideration. Anyone can win that God wants to win and the candidates God doesn’t want to win won’t no matter how many Christians vote for him “because he can win.” I am going to vote for Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party. I admit that he probably won’t win which many will be too quick to point out (it won’t be my vote causing him not to win). Too many will say that I am wasting my vote. It may not seem unprofitable to many, but I cannot give my approval to either Barack Obama or John McCain – neither of these are good candidates.
Joe Biden wants to take the pensions of failed corporate executives. The idea is that since their companies failed they should be held accountable by government because we don’t believe in a free market (probably because we’ve never seen one). This supposed desire for accountability (or votes) may sound great, but let’s get serious about it and hold responsible the true causes of the current crisis. This would include anyone who is involved in the counterfeiting of money like Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke (printing money that you don’t have is counterfeiting). It would also include Senators like Joe Biden and John McCain who for years have allowed the Fed to steal from the people through inflation (inflating the money supply makes the dollar worth less and affects most those who are on fixed incomes like retirees).
Of course Joe Biden isn’t serious, he’s just hoping to buy votes. The failures in government like Biden always assume that their policies are good. They know that they never need to look at themselves as a possible cause of any problem. Blaiming the current crisis on deregulation or a few “corrupt” businessmen is a scam. And who is corrupt anyway?
Democrats in the house are now talking about socializing 401(k) plans. The plan that is being put forward would stop tax breaks on your 401(k) and would begin “redirecting those tax breaks to a new system of guaranteed retirement accounts to which all workers would be obliged to contribute.” I assume these guaranteed retirement accounts would never fail just like social security is never going to fail? Too many people in Congress and the Presidency like the socialist democrats and the socialist republicans don’t have a clue. They are either ignorant or liars for thinking that we have some kind of “free market” that is failing the nation. We haven’t had anything close to a free market for at lease 100 years. The government regulates basically everything (think banking, money, housing, the stock market, oil production, oil exploration, gas prices, gas taxes, property taxes, licensing of plumbers, etc.), and then we pretend to have a free market. Those in Washington are using this current crisis which they caused to get more power to themselves. Until the American public is willing to wake up and quit believing the lies we are told daily by most of the republicans and democrats in Washington, things will continue to get worse. Some Christians believe that it is inevitable that things get worse based on their theology. They must remember that their theology doesn’t also teach that they are to be the cause – does it?
Note: I first heard about this on Rush Limbaugh today.
The important fact to remember when considering the current economic crisis is to remember that people like Ron Paul, who hold to austrian economics, predicted it. They pointed out years ago that what Greenspan was doing would cause such a crisis eventually.
Recent Comments