Post by townhalleditor on Apr 26, 2013 11:37:27 GMT -5
Anyone who is a political junkie will tell speak one of two observations: This country is in a state of decay; this country is in a state of renewal. One of these will usually reveal your political affiliations. My observations of American society fall outside of those two observations.
My personal feelings about government is that it -- guided by the Constitution -- is the referee to keep the playing field of competition in this country fair and to keep the citizens safe from foreign and domestic threats.
Let me be clear, the purpose of government is not to guarantee success, only to guarantee you, like everyone around you, a fair shot at being successful. With that said, "liberalism" is growing by leaps and bounds. Many stalwart Republicans will blame this on Americans becoming lazy by a President who promoting slothness.
My opinion is that "liberalism" is growing because Republicans -- held hostage by the bloviating Christian right -- are abdicating their responsibilities as leaders, therefore, Republicanism is dying.
Note that I place liberalism in quotes. That is because I believe that those who are voting for liberal leaders, don't necessarily agree with the ideology, but they certainly don't support finger pointing, moral judgments from the right. Any conservative will tell you that government shouldn't even be in the business of making personal judgments about its citizens. It is this single point that both liberals and conservatives could and would come together on if there was not the pot-stirring from religion: all religions.
Here is my point: If Republicanism, infused by the teachings of the right, would exercise the action of faith and values, wouldn’t we see more action locally?
Nearly 85% of Americans profess religious faith, yet this nation hardly feels like a nation of goodwill.
In the past, when communities had to rely on each other because of necessity (there was no instant communication with state and federal government, neighbors gave generously to their communities. If a farmer was ill and could not get the crops in, neighbors helped. If a woman was widowed, neighbors helped. If you lost your job and the kids were hungry, the community helped. If you needed a job, neighbors helped. It isn't that way anymore.
With the advent of technology, people don't even know who lives next door to them. And as the connection to the community was cut, so too were the values that gave rise to conservative politics; the belief in smaller government and self-reliance.
When you have poor in need of help, widows in need of compassionate support, the infirmed in need of care; who do you call when help is needed. You can't call today's Republican party. They're too busy sitting behind their computer screens judging others who aren't like them.
As we are all taught, nature abhors a vacuum, so when local and state communities do not come together to help one another through their value system, that vacuum gets filled by government agencies that will help because people genuinely do want to help one another.
Can you imagine this last recession if there were no government, financial safety nets in place? We would have had millions of people homeless and starving. Apparently, that would have been fine with the Republican Party since they are griping and moaning about how much the budget for food stamps and unemployment went up over the last couple of years?
I sure didn't see their bottoms out in the street taking food to their unemployed neighbor or helping out with money. Oh that's right, they pay too much taxes to the Federal and State government who provide that support. Economically, it's probably less "taxing" to a Republican if he were to pay taxes into the federal government then spend his or her personal monies out of their own pocket to help the poor, unemployed and infirmed.
On the flip side, government agencies can grow to be too cumbersome, to bureaucratic, expending more on providing jobs than actual help to the community. I very much doubt if things were more local, we would have had the shooting in Colorado (the kid fell through the mental health system) or the bombing in Boston; the Feds dropped the ball.
When Americans hurry to run home to sit in front of their television and computer, what do you expect? Americans no longer support the community, they support a cookie-cutter Government by choice through abdicating personal responsibility to lead and provide example.
By Repubicans and other Americans giving up their beliefs in self-reliance and community responsibility, they've passed the buck off the Federal Government.
As anyone in management will tell, you need to stream line operations to make it more efficient. That's why you have the government involved in so many aspects of Americans telling them how they should and should not act. Everyone needs to be alike in order to manage them more efficiently. From taxes to healthcare, the government stepped in where citizens did not; in order to do the jobs that Americans won't do, they need to fund the programs through taxes.
I make this plea to Republicans and other conservatives alike. I believe in the idea of smaller governments. I believe in local accountability. I believe in the values set forth in our Constitution.
Stop using the government to police the private acts of her citizens: abortion and gay marriage shouldn't be a concern of the government; policing those acts calls for large government.
Breath real action and life into your faith and values and help your neighbor. Whether he is an immigrant in need of help assimilating into American society or a troubled teen in trouble, reach out your hand in acts of faith instead of reaching out to point a finger of how you believe life in American should be.
Live your belief, not the reality your party portrays. Imagine if all answered the call I am pleading for. We wouldn’t need a large government and perhaps the taxes we pay in to the Feds and the State would not have to be paid and could stay local to help others live the American dream.
Ultimately, we would not need political parties and would live the life that Thomas Jefferson wrote about if all looked upon their neighbor as their brother keeping them safe and whole.
My personal feelings about government is that it -- guided by the Constitution -- is the referee to keep the playing field of competition in this country fair and to keep the citizens safe from foreign and domestic threats.
Let me be clear, the purpose of government is not to guarantee success, only to guarantee you, like everyone around you, a fair shot at being successful. With that said, "liberalism" is growing by leaps and bounds. Many stalwart Republicans will blame this on Americans becoming lazy by a President who promoting slothness.
My opinion is that "liberalism" is growing because Republicans -- held hostage by the bloviating Christian right -- are abdicating their responsibilities as leaders, therefore, Republicanism is dying.
Note that I place liberalism in quotes. That is because I believe that those who are voting for liberal leaders, don't necessarily agree with the ideology, but they certainly don't support finger pointing, moral judgments from the right. Any conservative will tell you that government shouldn't even be in the business of making personal judgments about its citizens. It is this single point that both liberals and conservatives could and would come together on if there was not the pot-stirring from religion: all religions.
Here is my point: If Republicanism, infused by the teachings of the right, would exercise the action of faith and values, wouldn’t we see more action locally?
Nearly 85% of Americans profess religious faith, yet this nation hardly feels like a nation of goodwill.
In the past, when communities had to rely on each other because of necessity (there was no instant communication with state and federal government, neighbors gave generously to their communities. If a farmer was ill and could not get the crops in, neighbors helped. If a woman was widowed, neighbors helped. If you lost your job and the kids were hungry, the community helped. If you needed a job, neighbors helped. It isn't that way anymore.
With the advent of technology, people don't even know who lives next door to them. And as the connection to the community was cut, so too were the values that gave rise to conservative politics; the belief in smaller government and self-reliance.
When you have poor in need of help, widows in need of compassionate support, the infirmed in need of care; who do you call when help is needed. You can't call today's Republican party. They're too busy sitting behind their computer screens judging others who aren't like them.
As we are all taught, nature abhors a vacuum, so when local and state communities do not come together to help one another through their value system, that vacuum gets filled by government agencies that will help because people genuinely do want to help one another.
Can you imagine this last recession if there were no government, financial safety nets in place? We would have had millions of people homeless and starving. Apparently, that would have been fine with the Republican Party since they are griping and moaning about how much the budget for food stamps and unemployment went up over the last couple of years?
I sure didn't see their bottoms out in the street taking food to their unemployed neighbor or helping out with money. Oh that's right, they pay too much taxes to the Federal and State government who provide that support. Economically, it's probably less "taxing" to a Republican if he were to pay taxes into the federal government then spend his or her personal monies out of their own pocket to help the poor, unemployed and infirmed.
On the flip side, government agencies can grow to be too cumbersome, to bureaucratic, expending more on providing jobs than actual help to the community. I very much doubt if things were more local, we would have had the shooting in Colorado (the kid fell through the mental health system) or the bombing in Boston; the Feds dropped the ball.
When Americans hurry to run home to sit in front of their television and computer, what do you expect? Americans no longer support the community, they support a cookie-cutter Government by choice through abdicating personal responsibility to lead and provide example.
By Repubicans and other Americans giving up their beliefs in self-reliance and community responsibility, they've passed the buck off the Federal Government.
As anyone in management will tell, you need to stream line operations to make it more efficient. That's why you have the government involved in so many aspects of Americans telling them how they should and should not act. Everyone needs to be alike in order to manage them more efficiently. From taxes to healthcare, the government stepped in where citizens did not; in order to do the jobs that Americans won't do, they need to fund the programs through taxes.
I make this plea to Republicans and other conservatives alike. I believe in the idea of smaller governments. I believe in local accountability. I believe in the values set forth in our Constitution.
Stop using the government to police the private acts of her citizens: abortion and gay marriage shouldn't be a concern of the government; policing those acts calls for large government.
Breath real action and life into your faith and values and help your neighbor. Whether he is an immigrant in need of help assimilating into American society or a troubled teen in trouble, reach out your hand in acts of faith instead of reaching out to point a finger of how you believe life in American should be.
Live your belief, not the reality your party portrays. Imagine if all answered the call I am pleading for. We wouldn’t need a large government and perhaps the taxes we pay in to the Feds and the State would not have to be paid and could stay local to help others live the American dream.
Ultimately, we would not need political parties and would live the life that Thomas Jefferson wrote about if all looked upon their neighbor as their brother keeping them safe and whole.
