What Jesus Did Not Tell His Disciples to Do, but

Jesus did not tell his disciples to buy smokin’ hot cars, or huge mansions to impress the neighbors.

        But he did say the son of man has no place to lay his head and to travel lightly.          

Jesus did not tell his disciples to spread malicious gossip about others to make yourself appear better.

        But he did say a simple yes or no should suffice; your character should speak for itself.

Jesus did not tell his disciples to condemn those that are different that you.

        But he did tell them to ignore specks in others eyes and be aware of logs in their own.

Jesus did not tell his disciples to distort ideas to make you ideas appear better than they are.

        But he told them he was the truth, the life and way, and they should imitate him.

Jesus did not tell his disciples to be one issue political voters and resent taxes.  

        But he did say render unto Caesar what is Caesars and unto God what is God’s.

Jesus did not tell his disciples to act like self-righteous snobs.

        Micah tells us to act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

Jesus did not tell his disciples to party till they barf.

        But he did turn 180 gallons of water into wine and celebrate life with others.

Jesus did not tell his disciples to be bigots or self loathing.

        But he did tell us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Jesus did not tell his disciples to be greedy miserly money grapping materialists.

        Be he did said, “to who much is given much is required.”

Jesus did not tell his disciples life would be fair.

        Scripture tells us rain falls on the just and the unjust. We can be fair.

Jesus did not tell his disciples that the poor were poor because they were bad people.

        But he did tell us to take of our brother and sisters.

Jesus did not say the wealthy were wealthy because they were better and smarter people, nor did he say it was bad to be rich.

But he did say it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of needle than to bet into heaven and wealth was to shared.

Jesus did not tell his disciples that what goes around comes around.

        But he did say our riches will be in heaven.

Jesus did tell his disciples that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

        But he did tell about great rejoicing in heaven over the saving of a single soul.

Jesus never seemed to argue with the common folk, he just told them instructive stories about how to live.

        But did take on the stubborn legalists who condemned others for not acting the way they wanted.

Jesus did not tell his disciples to hate their enemies and badmouth and tell lies about their character.

        But he told them to feed his sheep as an act of love for him and for them.

Jesus did not tell his disciples that children should be seen and not heard or live in poverty.

        But he did say that to be part of his kingdom we should have childlike trust and care for them.

Jesus did not tell his disciples to lock people up in jail for their sins.

        Jesus told the sinners to go and sin no more and that he loved them.

Jesus did not tell his disciples that the end justifies the means and it was okay to lie about enemies.

        But he did tell them to be peacemakers, to be meek, merciful, pure in heart and righteous.

Jesus taught in the beatitudes that the blessing was in doing the action that was right, not just a reward for correct behavior. You are blessed when you are poor in spirit, hungering for righteousness, hated for standing up for your ethical beliefs. You don’t earn your blessings by doing certain things, you are blessed in the doing of loving things. We are able to love because we are loved.

Today, following in the footsteps of Jesus, or Mohammed, or Confusion, or Buddha, or Gandhi we ought to do the right thing just because it is the right thing.

Unconditional love that was taught by all the great religious leaders is just that, unconditional.

A Proposed Lobby Group

I have talked on these governmental and economic issues so long I’m beginning to bore even myself. But I feel it is still necessary to promote reasonable argument versus the mindless stuff that fills editorial pages and certain Facebook fanatics.

Here’s a new thought. Most of our problems center around the lobbyists the rich have created and thereby have taken control of the government. We could start our own lobby group.

The focus of the lobby group I propose would have only main agenda item: Election reform. I reject all the lamebrain whining stuff we get spammed about on politician spanking and their benefits. Let them have them, they are inconsequential in the larger picture.

What we do need is the end of lobbyist groups. Or, I want a lobby group that would destruct lobby groups.

There are approximately 18,000 lobbyists in Washington DC according to Lobbyists.info. They have 1200 clients and there are 1,700 lobbying firms. Now who do you suppose hires the vast majority of these lobbyists? They will happily sell you their information and even give you a free trial.

The point is it is the rich and very rich that employ most of the lobby groups in order to have more influence upon our elected officials that we ordinary folk. They willing write the majority of the bills that pass before congress. Guess who benefits from that.

Steven Benen writing in the Washington Monthly wrote the following: What I find interesting, though, is the realization that plenty of far-right voters were sold a bill of goods. In 2010, conservatives flocked to GOP candidates who ran as "insurgents" and "outsiders," with no use for the entrenched establishment and their corrupt power structure.  Now those same candidates are hiring corporate lobbyists and turning over bill-writing responsibilities to them. Is this what the anti-establishment Tea Party crowd had in mind?

Now I think we have about a snowballs chance in hell of getting legislation to outlaw lobbying, but it certainly seems worth a try.

Anybody interested?

Smoke and Mirrors Politics

In my opinion one of the tools politicians use is to emphasize small but highly emotional issues so they don’t have to address the big issues of the day.

For instance I read the other day the claim that President Obama was going to “enact the DREAM Act by executive order to give amnesty to 20 million illegal immigrants.  This is the FactCheck.org clarification: No. But the administration adopted a policy of giving "particular care" before deporting students, military veterans and others deemed to be low risk, while concentrating on felons, gang members and threats to national security. The claim is very strange part of this scare tactic is that there are no 20 million illegal immigrants in the country, I think there are about 13 million. Also it was stated that many were criminals. What the act was about was allowing certain illegal immigrants who came to the country as children and who now in college or the military to gain legal status to qualify for citizenship. There is more to the story but you can do your own research.

Another example I hear frequently is about all the welfare recipient abuses that take place in this country and that they should be punished, and we should throw out the system. Are there abuses, of course, just as there are abuses by bankers, lawyers, clergy, teachers and everyone else and those issues should be addressed and corrected as best we can. That frequently means we need to hire additional government workers for oversight. Welfare systems are in place for a good reason. To help and protect those who are in need in this country, some because they know no other way of living and some by tragic circumstance. In the long run these programs save the country money as they seek to make these individuals productive members of society. Fix the system.

A real favorite is condemning the amount of “Pork spending” the government has. John McCain seemed to use that bit in every other sentences. But the fact is “pork” or “pork barrel” spending amounts to 1% of the national budget. It is the pet projects of legislators often without public hearings. They are often called “earmarks” bits added to legislation bills by congressman. Though perhaps unethical, they are small potatoes in a large marketplace.

Now we come to congressional salaries and benefits. The salary for a congressman (senator or representative) is $174,000. The Speaker of the House gets $225,500, minority and majority leaders get $193,000. They do pay social security but have generous retirement packages based upon length of service; 2 to 3 times better than others folk in our society at their salary level. Considering the work and its importance to the country their salaries do not seem out of line. The President gets $400,000 and the Vice President gets $230,700. Compared to corporation CEO’s they are ridiculously underpaid.

All of the above get a lot of press but are pretty small issues compared to the big budget issues and concerns of our government. Following are a couple of pie charts to help us get a bigger picture. Obviously charts reflect can be done in various ways, but these will suffice to give us a general picture.

Clearly the big pieces of our spending are: health care, defense, and pensions/social security.

I’ve written several times on the health care situation in our country [i.e. July 26 A Healthcare System to Bankrupt a country; was the latest.] This is a big issue where even minimal study shows that government based systems do a better and cheaper job for their citizens, despite all the rhetoric you hear from special interest groups that are reaping the benefits of our system. But it is unsustainable. This is a big issue that need serious discussion.

Defense issues are also important. It was one of the primary issues in forming the republic or of any societal system; to protect it citizens. But we can go completely whacko in how we go about it. We need to serious consider if we can afford to the world’s police if when it seems so necessary. There are other means to deal these issues. Eisenhower said it best, “beware of the military industrial complex,” because it is so subject to corruption. Need a modern example look to Vice President Cheney and Halliburton.  (see July 16, 2002 issue of the Los Angeles Times.) The United States fought successfully in congress approved national wars: WWI & WWII, but our undeclared wars have been unsuccessful and absurdly expensive.

Finally we come to social security and Medicare, the safety net of our society. It was clear following the great depression we had to have such programs developed to save the nation from every having to go through those terrible times again. A country as wealthy as ours should be able to have and sustain such as safety net as all other developed countries have. And we can but it needs continual reform and a willingness for have to share their wealth with the have nots. In humility we should affirm the old Quaker saying, “There but for the grace of God go I.” But we are far too willing to boast of our accomplishments if we have been successful and to condemn those who have not fared as well as we have. The TV program “Undercover Bosses” underscores our willingness to share and help if we are aware of the work and the needs of others.

The main point of all this is to keep things in perspective. In my years in the church we faced the same things. Great arguments would take place over the color of carpet and paint, what the pastor should were during worship and elsewhere, whether memorials should have plaques or not, heating and cooling issues and the like. But when it came to what the mission of the church and our church was folk tend to sit mute. When asked why the Bible says about various issues folk look sideways at each other and shrug. We in the church can get all excited about passing temporal issues and forget the eternal.

We us pray the congress can get its act in order and its priorities straight.

To Restore a little Hope

I have written some rather heavy and perhaps depressing articles that follow this. So perhaps the following link can help raise one's spirit. It's exceptional. If only politician could learn from these Alaskans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=EUEZkwJulBY    

Are We Doomed: a response to the presidential and speaker of the house addresses

If you listened to the President’s Message and the Speaker of the House, Boehner’s messages the other night and if you have any knowledge of macroeconomics, there is one logical conclusion ~ we’re doomed!

I think both men worked toward compromise but Boehner fell to the pressure of his constituents that demand nothing less than their own ideological demands. The same is true of our president dealing with the strident demands of the right. The problem with those demands is that they are extremely dangerous to the economics of our country.

The mantra of the extreme right has become all too clear: no new taxes on anyone, in fact we need to lower them; a balanced budget, and getting rid of the deficit. They can sound pretty good but they are incompetent ideas.

First, why on earth do they keep refusing to up the taxes of the extremely rich; most of whom have tax lawyers that keep them from paying anything or if they do at a pittance of the rate of others. How can they possibly still buy into supply side economics which has proved not to work for 35 years. It’s is like the chicken who starved to death sitting on an ear of corn. We live in an era of regressive taxes.

A balanced budget also sounds good and is essential in microeconomics. You can’t do it personally unless you’re Donald Trump who could be a declared a country, or if you’re the wealthy who uses others taxes to subsidize their own businesses. Increased spending during recessions or depressions is a proven means by which government can increase the vitality of the country and you have to over spend to do that. Look at the chart below to see how far in debt the country went during the New Deal to bring the country back to economic well being. This is Keynesian or demand side economics and it works.

 chart A

    

  chart B   

  chart C

  

The above graph Chart A, shows where were in terms of national debt when the great depression came in 1929, when the wealth was held by about the same small percentage of people we have now (less that 2%) and how it went up during the New Deal to get the country going economically again.

Charts B and C also help demonstrate what is going on but brings it up to modern times and show administrations influence. [I had a little problem getting these imported.]

Of course one needs to work on decreasing debt during times of economic well being (all politicians seems to forget that part).

Furthermore the Republicans never seem to take responsibility for their own contributions to the high debt we have. Without the vast overspending of the Reagan Bush years we would not have this problem.

Now back to being doomed. Neither the proposals of the President or the Speaker of the House will not bring us back to prosperity as they do too little to stimulate and sagging economy. The bailouts were necessary but did not go far enough for real stimulation of the economy. And we desperately need to invest in those technologies and programs that will get this country back on its feet in international competition. The President knew that and campaigned on those principles but is now forced back to whatever he can salvage and keep our economy from failing. We do not need to go back to the levels of the New Deal in terms of government expenditures, but we need to recapture that economic understanding.

There is good reason why the public is confused. The politicians basically use sound bites rather than reasoned discussion and the news, is more interested in making money for itself through sensational reporting rather than clearing up ideas and concepts for the public. You have to work to understand what is going on in our economy.

For many, they still have not felt the real pressure of a failing economy, but they will if we don’t change directions. The poor and disenfranchised have little voice. And the rich, the very rich, have done an excellent job of selling a system by which they control most of the wealth of the country.

We need an educated populace in order for a democracy to work and we are poorly educated at the present time in these matters.

Also, I have only talked economics in this article as it seems we, have as our accusers have said, are a materialistic country whose values are basically economic values. If we truly brought our religious values into play it would change the nature of the debate a good deal. I am not talking about the histrionics of the radically conservative churches who preach a negative religion intolerance and beating up on those they consider greater sinners, but the basic teachings of all major religions that we are our brother and sisters keepers, and that the common good should outweigh the individual good. That justice, mercy, fair play, and love of neighbor should be what guides us rather than bottom lines and “What’s in this for me and mine?”

I know this is only a little blog read by a few people, but I encourage my few readers to look at what I say and see if it is reasonable and helpful and then to speak up to others.

If we truly want to do some good we need to overhaul the medical provider system of this country which is the major culprit of unbalanced economy and quit fighting wars that we can't win by the means we take. These are the real issues that need our attention and have solutions that are evident.

25th Anniversary Picture

A Healthcare System to Bankrupt a Country

The following chart I find most interesting. It tells where we have been and where we are likely going in terms of cost of government. It is impossible to miss where the bulk of the increases in government are: Medicare and Medicaid. Or, in other words the cost of medical care in this country is growing so fast it is and will dominate government expenditures if allowed to continue in its present form. This is the result of a profit based medical system. The costs are alarming and the safety net they were intended to create appears to be doomed. We will lose our ability to give basic health care for the members of our society. Proponets of the current profit based system tell us that this is the best system in the world, but that is untrue, no study would back up that belief. Scare tactics of creeping socialism seek to plant fear into the population. Every developed country in the world has recognized the need to change to government based health care systems to stem these costs. The hand writing is on the wall, we must change or we will drag the entire country down for the benefit of a few. When Congressman Boehner claims that the recent efforts to begin to change our current system of health care were not needed or wanted by the voters he does not speak for me or countless others. This is too important of an issue to wrap in partisan politics and misleading information.
Federal Outlays by Category, 1950 to 2075
(As a percentage of GDP)
Fiscal Year	Social Security		Medicare		Medicaid		Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid Combined		All Other Spending, Excluding Interest Expense		Interest Expense		Total
1950	0.3		n.a.		n.a.		0.3		13.5		1.8		15.6
1960	2.2		n.a.		n.a.		2.2		14.2		1.3		17.7
1962	2.5		n.a.		*		2.5		15.1		1.2		18.8
1970	2.9		0.7		0.3		3.9		12.8		1.4		19.3
1980	4.3		1.2		0.5		6.0		13.7		1.9		21.6
1990	4.3		1.9		0.7		6.9		11.7		3.2		21.8
2000	4.2		2.2		1.2		7.6		8.5		2.3		18.4
2010	4.4		2.7		1.8		8.8		7.6		0.8		17.2
2020	5.4		3.6		2.3		11.3		7.1		-0.5		17.9
2030	6.2		4.9		2.8		13.9		7.1		-0.2		20.8
2040	6.2		6.0		3.4		15.5		7.1		1.1		23.8
2050	6.0		6.7		3.9		16.7		7.1		3.1		26.9
2060	6.1		7.7		4.3		18.1		7.1		5.8		31.0
2070	6.2		8.9		4.9		20.0		7.1		9.4		36.5
2075	6.2		9.6		5.3		21.1		7.1		11.5		39.7
Source: Congressional Budget Office.
* = less than 0.05 percent.