President Biden continues to show his contempt for law by trying to override State pro-life laws. Executive orders do not have the force of law and do not take precedence over State and federal laws. The Constitution gives the States authority over anything not delegated to the federal government and abortion and heath care are not included in those things delegated to the federal government. In addition, the Constitution does not authorize the President to override any laws by executive order. Congress is delegated with making laws and the Supreme Court is delegated with insuring that they do not conflict with the guidelines set down in the Constitution. The President’s sole legislative power is to approve or veto legislation passed by Congress. The President is responsible for appointing the directors of the federal departments and overseeing and managing them. He is to see that they carry out the laws passed by Congress but does not have the authority to authorize them to violate those laws. President Biden authorized the postal service to deliver abortion drugs to residents of States that prohibit abortions and authorized the Veteran’s hospitals to perform abortions in States that prohibit them in violation of the laws of those States.
Third Sunday of Epiphany-Feb 22
Luke 10:29-37 Get To Know Our Neighbors-One of the greatest problems to spreading the Gospel in America is the lack of contact between Christians and non-Christians. Even in settled neighborhoods where people own their homes, there is often little contact beyond polite waves over the fence and unfortunately, Christians are caught up in it as well. The best way to start is have members visit their neighbors to get to know them. Visiting one a week is not taxing but in five weeks will enable them to get to know the five families around them. We need to make deliberate efforts to spend time with our neighbors and get to know them. Visit them and take them cookies or a cake or invite them over for a backyard Bar B Q to allow time to get to know them. Do they go to church, if so where? Do they have family nearby to help in times of need? Are there needs the church family can help with? We will not know unless we get to know them. Others may have needs and not know who to turn to. Establishing contact enables you to help them find solutions to their needs. Many may not have needs when you visit, but as you maintain contact with the neighbors through periodic visits, the neighbors may experience situations they cannot handle and may turn to you for help. Since many families are isolated today and have no family nearby, a sickness, loss of job, or even death may require more resources than they can muster and provide an opportunity for the church to show Christ’s love. As Christ points out, our neighbors include more than just those who live around us. They are people we interact with every day at school, at work, and as we shop. We often see them but rarely take the time to get to know them.
Sanctity of Life-GC-A
The first bills passed by a new Congress indicate their top priorities. Democrats in the last 3-4 Congresses have chosen to start their sessions by passing legislation that would open all elections in the country to widespread fraud by repealing all safeguards to protect the elections against fraud. They didn’t become law because Republicans opposed them. The Republicans opened the new Congress this month by passing a bill that would bar killing babies that are born alive. We aren’t talking about babies in the womb that you can lie and say they aren’t babies and people will believe it if they don’t know any better and aren’t allowed to see the ultrasounds. These are babies that are born and seen by doctors and nurses. They are breathing on their own. To kill them is cold-blooded murder. Republicans passed the bill after California enacted legislation to allow doctors to kill a baby up to 28 days after it is born. The bill won’t get enacted into law because the Senate won’t pass it and President Biden will not sign it, but it puts legislators on record. Liberal congressmen showed just how determined they are to kill babies. They condemned the bill as extreme and stated that Americans do not support it. The fact is that the majority of Americans oppose abortion and are overwhelmingly against killing live babies after they are born. If the American people were to vote on the bill, they would pass it without question. If the Congressmen who voted against the bill get reelected in the next election, it will mean either Americans no longer have any backbone to stand up for what they believe, or they are so greedy, they will sell their children in return for government handouts. The only other reason would be that the elections are fixed so the people don’t get to express their will.
Government Finances-II-L
No one talks about who is holding the loans of our government. We can only print so much money without fueling inflation. President Obama kept a lid on inflation by borrowing heavily, but that can only be controlled so long. President Trump cut taxes so the economy began to bounce back but if we don’t control the debt, it will drain all our resources. President Biden has resumed the massive spending extensive government giveaways fueling inflation. Liberal politicians continue to push massive spending bills. When we reached our debt limit, liberal politicians pushed to increase the debt limit. It is easy to vote to do it but ignores the fact that we will reach the point where we can’t pay the interest, let alone the principle on the loans. They waited until the deadline where we risked a government shutdown if it wasn’t passed, and blackmailed conservatives into passing it to avoid a government shutdown. That is not how to run a government. The government should seek to find reasonable solutions, not blackmail its opponents to accept unreasonable ones. Another danger is that our creditors call in the loans. If we have a hard time paying the interest, we definitely can’t pay the principle. China is one of the biggest holders of American debt and can easily use that to get preferential trade agreements and shape American policies in the Far East. The worst part is that China is getting overextended as well and selling the loans to the Arabs. That leaves us vulnerable to manipulation by the Arabs. They know that if they suddenly call in those loans, China would have to call in theirs, and we could not pay them, leaving us open to blackmail or worse yet they could simply shut off the funds which would cause our economy to collapse. Once it does, they can simply walk in and take over. Everyone needs to contact their Congressman (whether Democrat or Republican) and demand they cut spending and try to get the debt under control and in the next election, elect Congressmen committed to balancing the budget.
Government finances-II-K
The two most prominent systems that most people are familiar with are Communism and Democracy. First, all the so-called Communist governments you have ever known, Russia, China, Cuba, etc. were never Communist, where everyone is equal and the people elect their leaders, but there is no private ownership, the group holds everything in common. Leaders are chosen by the people from the people and are accountable to them. They were Socialist dictatorships, where the government owns everything. They portrayed themselves as Communist nations to make themselves look respectable. Hippies in the 1970’s fell for the deception and supported the North Vietnamese, backed by the Chinese, who were trying to overrun South Vietnam, because they believed they were Communist nations. They opposed the Americans who were trying to help the South Vietnamese defend themselves, because the media portrayed the Americans as the aggressors who were trying to take over Vietnam. The Hippies finally forced America to withdraw from Vietnam, which allowed the North Vietnamese to take over South Vietnam. Most kids I went to school with listened to the media and had no idea what was really going on in Vietnam. Second, America is not a Democracy where the people rule directly, it is a Republic, where the people elect representatives. Direct rule is impossible with the population we have so we elect representatives to rule for us. It is important to watch to make sure they represent us fairly and replace them if they don’t.
Government finances-II-J
Most people think of politics as a system of power and control but don’t realize that at the basic level, it is tied to economic systems. Increases or decreases in government spending, regulations, and taxes effect the economy. The bigger the change, the bigger the effect. Inflation is caused when there is a lot of available money and very few goods available. President Biden authorized massive spending programs and authorized the printing of massive amounts of money. In addition, he authorized several large stimulus programs making a lot of additional money available. On the other hand, he has increased taxes and government regulations on businesses to slow inflation by reducing the amount of money available. However, the increased taxes caused businesses to cut back on production due to increased production costs. That reduced the amount of goods available further fueling inflation. The result is the massive inflation we now see. When I was in school, we had to take a course in basic economics but increasing liberal policies have dropped the course from most schools. As a result, few people today know how to make a budget or balance a check book and it is hurting our families and ultimately our country. Many are easily misled by our media which supports the radical socialist agenda. While I deal extensively with the economic systems in my book, “Truly in the World, But Not of it-part-B” under “economics” and under “government”, I will provide a brief overview so that you will know what I mean when I talk about democracy and Socialism.
Legislation-H-C
Democrats voted to add 80 billion dollars to the IRS to add 87,000 new IRS agents as part of their Inflation Reduction Act. It was buried in the massive bill so nobody would notice. Increased government spending has to be supported with increased taxes, or it just adds to our debt. The implication is that the increased agents will crack down on tax fraud and net increased revenue. That is doubtful since President Obama hired thousands of new FBI agents who spent a great deal of time trying to dig up dirt on his political opponents to influence the election and insure his reelection and IRS agents were diverted from seeking tax fraud during the 2016 election to investigate conservative organizations that were applying for non-profit status, in order to threaten them not to speak out against government abuses. Coupled with the media censorship of conservative organizations, it prevented voters from hearing from organizations dealing with the problems our society faces, in order to influence voters to vote for their programs. As a result, all they heard from was politicians who seem to be out of touch with the problems we face. Given President Biden’s record, it isn’t hard to estimate what the new agents will be doing. Republicans just pushed through a bill to cut IRS spending to prevent them from hiring the new agents. It will not have any practical effect since it would have to passed by the liberal Senate and signed by President Biden, and that probably won’t happen, however it will force liberal politicians to justify their stand. Unlike the budget bill, the issue will be out in the open. If voters are smart, they will pay attention to who votes for the bill and who votes against it, and vote accordingly in the next election..
Second Sunday of Epiphany-Jan 15
When we read the Gospels, we often see the teachings and miss what Jesus does. If we read them closely, we will notice that He met needs as He went along. He healed the blind man, the crippled man, and the leper. He also fed the people. He did it primarily because He cared about them, but He also did it because He knew those needs distracted those people from hearing what He had to say. Until He broke down the barrier, they could not concentrate on what He was saying. By meeting the need, He not only broke down the barrier, He also built a bridge to that person. Those people passed many people as they traveled but those people were only nameless faces, soon forgotten. Jesus was someone they would not soon forget. He wasn’t a nameless face, He was the one that healed them or fed them. He was the one who cared when no one else did. We have become accustomed to the government providing all those services, but we forget that Christians met those needs first and only later did the government become involved. Now we have all but given up our ministry to the government and people worship the government instead of God. The prevailing feeling among many Christians today, as well as non-Christians is “The government is my shepherd, I shall not want, It maketh me lie down in a nice house, and It provideth me with good food.” Christ modeled the way we should live, unfortunately, all we like sheep have gone astray.
Economics-Government Finances-H-B
Social Security-Liberals in Congress have an interesting view of the world when it comes to Social Security. Originally, very few elderly lived long after retirement. Most worked until they died or became disabled. With a large number of workers paying into it, and few drawing on it, it amassed a large surplus. Workers felt they could rest assured that the money would be there for them when they retired. Social Security is in trouble of going broke because liberals raided it to pay for their welfare programs. Had that money remained on deposit gathering interest, we would not be facing the question of it becoming insolvent. Liberals did not take into account changes going on in our society. More working women meant less children. That meant more money pouring in, but it also meant fewer future workers to pay into the system. They also pushed abortion which has killed one out of every three babies conceived. Improving health has meant Seniors live longer and many are retiring at the earliest age of retirement which means they are not paying in as long but are drawing benefits longer. Without the funds from the surplus, retired Seniors are drawing benefits currently being paid in by workers. With fewer workers paying in and a growing number of retirees drawing longer, it has created the mess we now face. Liberals could help the situation by restoring the funds they took, but they feel it is more important to bribe people to vote for them with huge giveaways then to repay what they took from Seniors. Liberals feel the solution is to raise the limit on income taxed and use the increase revenue to raise benefits for those who are receiving the lowest benefits. That sounds good on paper but looks terrible when you examine the facts. There are very few at the top and the small amount raised will not be much help for the large number of people at the bottom so it is really only a token gesture. Since the new money received would go right back out, it also would not extend the life of Social Security. Conservatives would rather raise the lower age of retirement. They did it a couple times but liberals discontinued it. However, it makes sense because many people are still healthy when they retire and able to work up to 20-30 years after retirement due to improved health. My parents had a printing business and both worked for 20 years after retirement. The only reason they had to stop was because they were attacked by thieves who left them homebound. Before the attack, they were still very healthy and probably could have worked for quite a while longer. By delaying retirement, workers would pay into Social Security longer. Since the rate of death increases with age, the number of Seniors declines with age. That means that a large number of people would continue paying in, but fewer people would be drawing out and would not be drawing out as long. Those whose health did not allow them to work up to the new age of retirement could still get Social Security disability like those currently under 62.
Economics-III-C-A
Canada just passed a law banning home ownership by foreigners. They feel that foreigners are taking advantage of low housing prices due to the pandemic and are buying up houses as an investment. The United States has an even bigger problem which politicians are reluctant to address. China is buying up a lot of businesses and farmland which poses a threat to our security. First, they are appropriating the business secrets from the electronic, manufacturing, and technical companies they buy up. In addition, they are moving the headquarters of the companies and much of their manufacturing plants to China resulting in mass layoffs in the U.S. and loss of tax money. The businesses and farmland they buy up gives them leverage in our economy and drains money from our economy to support their economy. Wesaw during the early days of the pandemic how dangerous it is to depend on China. A great deal of our medicines and medical equipment are made in China and when the pandemic broke out, China supplied their people first and we had to wait a long time before we got the life-saving equipment we needed. President Trump provided help to American companies by lowering corporate taxes and reducing regulations, as well as helping them begin producing what we needed but we were playing catchup and lost critical time that cost lives. President Biden has returned to supporting Chinese companies by giving them favorable trade allowances and hurting American companies because he has raised corporate taxes and increased government regulations, making it very hard for them to compete.