Tag government

Ruling in Righteousness

Allen Frederick 3 Comments

 

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan” (Prov 29:2Open Link in New Window, NKJV).

 

 

Writing the Declaration of Independence 1776 c...

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Political correctness is the liberal buzz word of the day. It would appear we must be sensitive to every special interest group or ideology, no matter how that group or ideology might negatively impact our lives or violate ethical or moral laws; more importantly God‘s laws. When God created the earth, he did not care what people thought of his policies. His policy was THE way!

 

 

God laid down rules in the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve to follow. As long as they followed these rules, they would reign over every living creature. These laws were representing the Creator in all aspects. God‘s government was being expressed through his Nature and Nature’s Laws. He was and is the ultimate righteous ruler.

In the founding of this great nation, our founding fathers recognized this divine rule of God when they penned these words:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,…

In addition these words have formed the foundation of our form of Government and recognized the importance of God-given rights to all individuals, the Declaration of Independence states

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men…

Our founders recognized God’s granted authority, and held to the position that it was God who granted freedom to all people and that government should defend those rights granted to the people by God, not pass laws that limit the freedom of the people. The Declaration of Independence then lists all the usurpations of the King over the free citizens of the not yet formed United States. It is this foundation that birthed the United States of America and later led to the writing of the Constitution. Until recently the Constitution was defended and upheld as the final authority and the supreme law of the land.

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Why Not Let Free Markets Determine Energy Policy?

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

Since Adam’s Smith’s famous metaphor of the “Invisible Hand,” economists in the classical liberal tradition have known that decentralized, competitive capitalism harnesses the self-interest of ambitious and talented individuals. Rather than using their powers to dominate others, extraordinary individuals in a free-market setting stay up worrying at night about how to please their customers.

In contrast, the government bureaucrat doesn’t have the same incentive structure.

A sophisticated critic might agree that in general, markets outperform government agencies. However, the critic could argue that this general presumption fails when it comes to energy markets, because of the threat of climate change. Here—the argument goes—capitalism’s normally efficient outcome is perverted, because businesses and consumers aren’t taking into account the impact of their actions on future generations.

Even if we accept the basic premise of “market failure,” we must balance it against the undeniable prevalence of “government failure. For example, if a cap-and-trade program ever went through, it would not be a textbook plan devised by academics. On the contrary, it would contain all sorts of loopholes and handouts of permits to favor politically connected groups.

When it comes to mundane items like restaurant meals and iPods, most people recognize the tremendous superiority of the free market versus government bureaucrats. Yet this conclusion doesn’t magically flip when we switch to the crucial area of energy. But it should because energy is so vital to our standard of living, we need to remove government interference and free entrepreneurs to serve consumers in this sector as well. Read the full story at:

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How To Tank an Economy: Let Me Count the Ways

Allen Frederick 1 Comment

Despite efforts to spin reality, there are 5 signature Obama policies which have hampered economic recovery. According to the Heritage Foundation they are as follows:

Amplify’d from blog.heritage.org
  • Stimulus package—The nearly $1 trillion boondoggle failed to stimulate, as we all now know, but made government grow beyond its means. Most of the stimulus bill was filled with the usual government pork or repeating failed policies of the past such as “shovel-ready” projects. Very few provisions were pro-growth and worked to encourage companies to create new, permanent jobs. Some provisions, such as increased unemployment benefits, unfortunately increase the duration of unemployment. The bottom line is that the stimulus bill was based on the flawed economic assumption that governments can spend their way back to prosperity and growth. The government stimulus bill did not create jobs; instead it filled job creators with fears of future tax hikes or more borrowing, and thus future artificially high interest rates.
  • Obamacare—It took the Administration and the Democratic-held Congress a year and half to ram this piece of legislation down the throat of the American people, time that could have been spent fixing the employment picture. Worse yet, Obamacare imposes vast and expansive new regulations and made labor costs uncertain. Many businesses have said that they are not going to hire permanent workers until they understand exactly how much Obamacare is going to cost their business and raise employment expenses. Other businesses are not sure how the new Obamacare regulations impacts their bottom line, which means they are going to sit tight instead of expanding.
  • Frank-Dodd Financial Bill—The heavy-handed Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill not only placed needless burdens on small as well as large financial institutions,  but has deterred investment by imposing ill-defined restrictions on those who want to invest in the economy.  And it did so without addressing the real causes of the financial crisis.
  • Environmental Protection Agency regulation—Unable to get Congress to pass Cap and Trade, with its skyrocketing electric rates, the Obama EPA is skinning the cat another way—mandating costly regulation. The EPA is implementing a lineup of electric-industry regulations, including the already in-force, but-as-yet-unspecified new CO2 rules, that promise higher rates, less reliability, and a sketchy future business environment.  It’s no great surprise that firms haven’t turned up the throttle on hiring and expansion.
  • Regulatory Assault on Employers—The Administration’s enforcement agencies view employers as lawbreakers who need to be brought in line. Within the Department of Labor the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Wage and Hour Division (WHD) have ramped up enforcement spending while cutting back programs that help employers understand and comply with the law. Obama’s Solicitor of Labor emphasizes the Labor Department’s focus on litigation against employers. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is twisting the law into pretzels to facilitate union organizing, going so far as to file charges against Boeing for creating jobs in a non-union state. Obama’s message to employers has been clear: “We suspect you are breaking the law and we will get you.” Small wonder they are not hiring.

Read more at blog.heritage.org
 
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How to Restore a Nation

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

Christian wallpaper Proverbs 14:34
2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
but when the wicked rule, the people groan. Prov 29:2 (RSV)

I do not know about you but I hear a lot of groaning going on. Could it be a reflection of leadership?
I think so! Out with the wicked in with the righteous. What say you?

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The Rise or Fall of the United States: You Decide the Future

Allen Frederick 1 Comment

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people" (Proverbs 14:34, NIV)

Arnold Toynbee, the renowned British historian, made the following observation about Western society:

1. There’s a decline in honesty, and absence
of common purpose in the Western world.

2. Material success and gross national product are
aims of Western peoples and governments.

3. Nations rise or fall in relation to the moral unity
of the family and the moral purpose of the state–
both in decline in the West.

Even though Toynbee was pessimistic about the West, he believed if leaders of government would appeal to the ideals of the people and not just to their pocketbooks, there could be hope for an ethical revolution.

I would clarify the above by stating that if the government was preserving the God given rights of the individual our founding father’s fought for rather than enslaving the population by onerous government taxation and regulation, and expected the individual, exercising their God given rights and freedoms to excell, our nation would rise to even greater heights.

The down-turn in our society started when the federal government decided it could choose what was best for the individual and started a steady intrustion into individual’s rights and responsibilities, replacing them with laws and regulations, entitlements, and permissions granted by the state. The ever growing central government has led to the degradation of the population. Rather than raising up mature men and women of valor, the state with it’s ever expanding entitlements is making dependents of us all. Let us once again declare our independence from tyranical government and once again cry out for liberty and justice for all.
True, we need an ethical revolution, but much more we need a spiritual revolution. Without a spiritual return to the laws of nature and of Nature’s God we really can not expect a return to ethics. John Adams so wisely stated:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Unless we turn to God and acknowledge his rightful place in our hearts, and as the One who made our nation possible, and rebuild our nation’s moral foundation based on his directives, neither an ethical nor a spiritual revolution is likely to happen, and America will no longer be the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Just another view from the nest. What say you?

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