Ralph Reed and the Bible

 http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/10/18/christian-leader-says-when-government-helps-the-poor-liberties-are-taken-away/

Ralph Reed says what an awful lot of evangelicals believe, but in a more direct way. The evangelical church is often suspicious that the government can or should assist the poor--because that is their responsibility. Yet, the poor still exist, and the church in the west is wealthier (and more immovable) than one might think it should be in light of Christ's admonitions.

Increasingly, it seems that the evangelical and fundamentalist church groups are more and more suspicious of the "other", and more justified by their theology with bunkering and not sharing with the same until the "other" comes to Jesus.

 I found this one of the major faults of my own worship experience while an evangelical. I was confronted by how the folks and the churches I worshiped with and at were only willing to serve on their own terms, and in within their own safe spaces.

They avoided the places where sinners actually frequented, and often seemed to shrink from anything which would dirty their hands, metaphorically speaking. The phrase "avoiding the appearance of evil" was used to justify being separate from the world. But Christ had told us to be IN the world, but not OF it. That proved to be a difficult thing for most believers to find the truth of, or understand the nuances within.

I was no hero in this regard. I failed to do what I knew I needed to do, but felt justified by being "right". I increasingly felt as though the world was against me, and that their unwillingness to choose Jesus was the reason they suffered. I would often say that Jesus was the answer to every question.

Now, don't get me wrong. I still believe Christ is my savior. I believe in the gospel.

But I don't believe that I should create  a world view around that truth which obstructs or obfuscates. I believe that I am tasked with much more than that. But, I also believe that it is not about me anymore.

The less I believe that it is about me, or my spiritual performance, personally, the more I have felt that I was able to love and serve God in Christ. I am learning to be humble and quiet in the presence of God, and that I should seek the needy where they are, not on my own terms. For God is with me everywhere, every moment, even in the mundane and dingy places of life.

What the 99 percent need...

is increased wages.


No plan on either side of the aisle addresses an increasingly significant core issue of our economic downturn, wage depression. When the average middle class male makes 1,500 less per year now than he made in 1973, we have problems.

Nothing, apart from regulation and health care reform, can restore the take home pay which has been lost. No business will suddenly decide to pay their employees 20% more after a deal is done. So where must we recoup the lost income? We must find a way to lower the cost of benefits so that people are taking home more money.

We also need to see the cost of health care return to the levels they were at pre-2000. People don't spend money if they have less and less discretionary spending. The CEOs and magnates don't understand that because they don't live that way.

Meanwhile, the stability factor our or state and national economy, public workers and their consistent wages and benefits... and therefore stable tax base... have been diminished and eradicated.

So we're operating with less of a foundation than before. The base is gone, the middle-class is non-existent.

The big businesses are making stable profits due to our strained increased productivity and the deregulation and decreased taxation of the Bush era. But they are not willing to relinquish anything that was granted to them, or open their coffers and hire new employees.

All the talk about small businesses is smoke and mirrors. They're of no concern to the plutocrats. If more small businesses fail our nation will become more and more controlled by fewer and fewer entities, like in the food industry. The "Wal-Martization" of our economy helps no small business. Instead, like what that company did to Rubbermaid the year after they were considered the best-run business in USA, they'll be forced by the massive corporate machines to outsource, reduce quality, and lower costs to the point where there is nothing left of what the previous company was--except for the name.

I like some things about Herman Cain,  but he should know that a 9% sales tax would further stunt our economic growth, even with a lower income tax. Sales tax is regressive because the middle class and below spend a larger percentage of their income on goods and services. So they'll pay a higher percentage price for that plan... which will mean that they will be more hard pressed and afraid to spend each dollar they earn.

Somewhat like the impact of Walker's budget bill on my income at the lowest end of the state income spectrum... it means I lost 16% of my total income. Meanwhile, a professor or a state official might see a 5% loss of income. With sales tax, the rich often don't have to pay it--not unlike the way they've got loopholes for corporate taxes right now. A large percentage of companies pay zero corporate taxes.

We need to create a regulation system which makes it very hard to outsource, which restores fiscal sanity to utilities, energy, and health care. We need for the middle class to be paid for their sacrifices, and for their debts... increasingly created by shrinking incomes and promises of future prosperity, should be forgiven.

The year of Jubilee is NOW.