Reformation
Principles You Can Take to the Ballot Box
I have been saying for many months that the most important election of our lives may take place on November 2. The present administration in the United States is dangerously veering this nation down a road of reckless spending, social experimentation and class warfare.
As both believers and citizens, we must cry out to God for his mercy and grace and exercise our incredible right to vote for a change of direction. That vote will take place on November 2nd. My cell phone and e-mail box are already filling up with messages asking my opinion on how to vote.
Here are the principles that guide my own votes, and also some recommendations for Washington voters on how to navigate the many Initiatives on the ballot this year.
If you are a Washington State resident, please forward this e-mail to those it might help.
First of all, the principles.
There are a number of things I take into consideration when deciding how to vote for a candidate.
1. World view – Which candidate has the clearest and most consistent Judeo-Christian worldview both on economic and social issues? I actually put this before a candidate’s professed faith. You can be a Christian in heart but have a secular world view in terms of policy positions. This was the problem with Jimmy Carter in 1976. He professed faith in Christ but did not have a biblical worldview. That’s one reason why he was a poor and ineffective president.
2. Personal faith – this does make a difference. One who believes in God and has made Jesus Christ the Lord of his or her life will generally make wiser and more noble decisions in the public arena. A person of genuine faith is likely to have greater integrity and honesty than the secular candidate who has lesser restraints on his actions and words (a lack of the fear of God).
3. Do they believe in individual freedom in economic issues and government restraints on morality? This is the biblical balance. A strict libertarian believes in individual freedom in all areas, including morality. A consistent progressive believes in government controls in all areas. The biblical Christian desires freedom for business and commerce which encourages personal responsibility and prosperity but also supports government restraints on sinful behavior (abortion, pornography, homosexual marriage etc.). God wants people to both have liberty to soar and to be protected from sin.
4. Who is supporting the candidate? Endorsements tell you a lot about the views of a candidate. If I am in doubt about a particular candidate, I will look at his or her backers for a signal as to their beliefs. This is especially helpful when looking at initiatives. Birds of a feather flock together.
5. Who do I trust to have a wise and fair view of the candidates in question? I have a friend named Mary McQueen who for many years managed the Washington State Supreme Court. Mary is an attorney who shares a common faith and desire for good and principled leaders. She personally knew every judge and prominent attorney in the state. In many judicial races, where there just didn’t seem to much be information on the candidates, I would give Mary a call because I trusted her personal knowledge of the people involved.
Trust is the basis of most of the great decisions of life–including voting.
These are the questions I ask myself about candidates. For initiatives and referendums, there’s another set of questions that I use to make wise voting decisions.
1. Will this issue grow the state or empower the individual? This is the crucial issue of 2010. We are involved in a great struggle between statists (the world view of secular progressives) and freedom- loving patriots (think the Tea Party movement and average faith-based American).
2. Is this activity something that God has assigned to the governmental domain (protecting citizens) or to the private or eccesiastical spheres (providing for human needs)?
3. Will this law raise taxes? I always say no to new taxes. Why? Because biblical tyranny begins when government takes more than ten to twenty percent of personal income. We are now approaching fifty to sixty percent in America, and some European nations are over the seventy per cent mark. We don’t need more taxes. We need better use of resources.
4. Is this initiative pro-freedom and entrepreneurship? Motivated-and-lower-taxed individuals create the jobs, not government bureaucracies.
5. Will this issue protect the God-given family and our precious children? The family, and its crucial role in nurturing the next generation of children, is the bedrock of any enlightened society.
6. Does the Bible deal directly with this issue (such as marriage and various crimes)? God’s ways always produce freedom and blessing when followed by a wise people.
7. Does this issue encourage good stewardship of the environment and natural resources while looking market forces and individual decisions for direction (not rabid environmentalism)?
8. Does this issue encourage or squelch religious faith?
I hope this set of guidelines helps you make some wise and critical votes on November 2.
For fellow Washingtonians: I have never seen such a complicated initiative ballot than the one we’ve received in 2010. After studying those issues myself, I came across some information from the Faith & Freedom Network, that is extremely helpful to me–especially on Initiatives 1100 and 1105.
Here’s where the issue of trust comes in. Matt Shea is a Spokane-area representative that I know and trust a great deal. He’s one of the shining lights in our current legislature. Matt has taken the time to give his perspective on the labyrinth of initiative issues. I agree with his assessment.
BALLOT MEASURE ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Initiative Measure No. 1053 – Concerns tax and fee increases imposed by state government. This measure would restate existing statutory requirements that legislative actions raising taxes must be approved by two-thirds legislative majorities or receive voter approval, and that new or increased fees require majority legislative approval.
– Vote Yes. “All power is inherent in the people…” Washington Constitution Article 1, Section 1. The people decided to put another limitation and check on an out of control government. What’s more Republican than that?
Initiative Measure No. 1082 – Concerns industrial insurance. This measure would authorize employers to purchase private industrial insurance (a/k/a workers’ compensation) beginning July 1, 2012; direct the Legislature to enact conforming legislation by March 1, 2012; and eliminate the worker-paid share of medical-benefit premiums.
– Vote Yes. Washington is one of only four states that do not allow a private option. This measure would lower the L&I cost and provide much need relief to our struggling small business owners.
Initiative Measure No. 1098 – Concerns establishing a state income tax and reducing other taxes.
This measure would tax “adjusted gross income” above $200,000 (individuals) and 400,000 (joint-filers), reduce state property tax levies, reduce certain business and occupation taxes, and direct any increased revenues to education and health.
– Vote No. This violates the State Constitution Article 7, Section 1 which reads “All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax and shall be levied and collected for public purposes only. The word “property” as used herein shall mean and include everything, whether tangible or intangible, subject to ownership.” The State Supreme Court has correctly ruled on multiple occasions that income (defined here as the fruits of one’s labor) is property. That is consistent with the founding fathers view as well.
Initiative Measure No. 1100 – Concerns liquor (beer, wine and spirits). This measure would close state liquor stores; authorize sale, distribution, and importation of spirits by private parties; and repeal certain requirements that govern the business operations of beer and wine distributors and producers.
– Vote Yes. The role of government is to protect our God given unalienable rights to life, liberty, and property not run liquor stores. Like taxpayer funding of abortion clinics, it is also morally reprehensible to use tax payer dollars to distribute liquor.
Initiative Measure No. 1105 – Concerns liquor (beer, wine and spirits). This measure would close all state liquor stores and license private parties to sell or distribute spirits. It would revise laws concerning regulation, taxation and government revenues from distribution and sale of spirits.
– Vote No. This expands the size and scope of government through new mandates and licenses effectively trading one monopoly for another. It also proposes two tax increases.
Initiative Measure No. 1107 – Concerns reversing certain 2010 amendments to state tax laws.
This measure would end sales tax on candy; end temporary sales tax on some bottled water; end temporary excise taxes on carbonated beverages; and reduce tax rates for certain food processors.
– Vote Yes. Cuts taxes and eliminates a massive regulatory burden on businesses to figure out which items are “candy” and should be taxed.
Referendum Measure 52– Concerns authorizing and funding bonds for energy efficiency projects in school per EHB 2561 as passed by the Legislature. This bill would authorize bonds to finance construction and repair projects increasing energy efficiency in public schools and higher education buildings, and continue the sales tax on bottled water otherwise expiring in 2013.
– Vote No. This is deficit spending and dishonest. This would allow “projected energy savings” to be the asset against which to bond half a billion dollars at a total cost to tax payers of almost $1 billion.
Senate Joint Resolution 8225– The Legislature has proposed a constitutional amendment concerning the limitation on state debt. SJR 8225 would require the state to reduce the interest accounted for in calculating the constitutional debt limit, by the amount of federal payments scheduled to be received to offset that interest.
– Vote No. This is an accounting trick to allow the state to borrow more money above the current constitutional debt limit while our spending remains out-of-control.
Engrossed Substitute House Joint Resolution 4220– The legislature has proposed a constitutional amendment on denying bail for persons charged with certain criminal offenses. ESHJR 4220 would authorize courts to deny bail for offenses punishable by the possibility of life in prison, on clear and convincing evidence of a propensity for violence that would likely endanger persons.
– Vote Yes. This would restore the original understanding of when bail could be denied for “capital offenses.” Had this been in place it likely would have prevented the infamous Lakewood shooting.
Don’t forget to pray and don’t forget to vote on or before November 2. Edmund Burke wisely said that “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
That’s another principle you can take to the ballot box.
The Meaning of Uncertainty
Def: uncertainty – n. 1. The quality or state of being uncertain, 2. Doubt, 3. Stresses lack of faith in the truth, reality, fairness, or reliability of something or someone.
Many have been saying it, including Democratic party leader and fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe, who recently announced on Hannity that “U.S. corporations are sitting on three trillion dollars that could be used to rev up the American economy, but they are holding it back because of uncertainty in the nation.”
Uncertainty.
I’ve heard that word dozens of times in the past few months. Banks are uncertain. Lending institutions are uncertain. Businesses are uncertain.
Uncertain of what?
Even the people that control the money supply, the Federal Reserve, are concerned about uncertainty. The following article is from Marketwatch on September 1, 2010: (I will bold the dreaded word for impact.)
“Political uncertainty about taxes and the costs of hiring workers is holding back the U.S. economy, a Federal Reserve official said Wednesday.”
“‘What is restraining the economy is not a shortage of current liquidity; rather, it is uncertainty, high household debt burdens and a lack of confidence in future income growth,’ said Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, during speech in Houston. A copy of his remarks was made available in Washington.”
“Fisher repeated a theme he’s hit before: Businesses are reluctant to hire and to expand because they aren’t sure about tax and regulatory rules. Politicians are acting ‘in a capricious manner that makes long-term planning, including expanding payrolls, difficult, if not impossible,’ Fisher said.”
“Some business owners have said that they aren’t hiring because of uncertainty about what will happen with taxes as well as about health insurance, credit availability and the cost of energy.”
“As long as political uncertainty is the main obstacle to growth, Fisher said the Fed shouldn’t create more money to stimulate the economy. ‘Further accommodation might be pushing on a string,’ he said — and in the worst case, it could ignite inflation,’ he added.”
Obviously “uncertainty” is a big problem.
When I think of the word “uncertainty” I usually think of things that are completely out of my control–like the weather. I’m uncertain whether we’re going to have rain or sunshine today. Or I’m uncertain about who will win the football game on Sunday. Used this way, it’s normal to talk about “uncertainty” because nobody is ultimately responsible.
Uncertainty usually mans we don’t have any control over what is about to happen.
But is that what we’re talking about when we use the word “uncertainty” to describe the American current economic climate? I don’t think so.
Here’s the meaning of uncertainty in 2010:
Will socialism succeed in America?
Or worded another way, will the Obama Administration succeed in fundamentally changing the American nation from a free, self-governing people into a bloated and bankrupt European style social democracy? The entire world is waiting for an answer to that question. It may just determine the direction of history in the coming years.
All of the uncertainty relates to changing America’s freedom-oriented economy to a controlled one. Vast amounts of government spending and stimulus, the threat of increasing taxes to fund the welfare state, and the increased costs of health care via a government managed system will fundamentally alter the United States of America.
Entrepreneurs and businesses are looking at these changes and holding their breath–and money. If these trends are not reversed, they may not survive and cannot expand. They also can’t create jobs because they will not be affordable. If socialism succeeds in America, then the entire game changes.
Let’s state an obvious truth after twenty months of observation. Barack Obama is a socialist–plain and simple. He believes the Federal Government should “manage” the economy of the United States and “redistribute” vast amounts of money from the wealthier parts of society to various interest groups.
Twenty months of taking over banks, financial institutions, car companies, and the health system of America (Obamacare) , plus appointing “czars” over every area of America life clearly reveal the goal of the present administration.
They don’t like “America”– the land of the free. They want to radically change it from a faith-and-freedom based nation to a secular-based socialistic state.
“Yes We Can” means the triumph of social democracy. Barack Obama and his appointees do not believe in freedom. They believe in controlling your life.
Yes, there have been other presidents with controlling, socialistic tendencies. Woodrow Wilson was cut from the same cloth and desired a “League of Nations” that would control the world. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal policies created the devouring federal monster we face today.
But President Obama is different from Wilson and Roosevelt in a number of ways.
First, he does not love and respect the heritage and exceptional principles that created the United States of America. As Dinesh D’Souza points out in his hard hitting new book The Roots of Obama’s Rage, Barack Obama’s roots (via his father) in Islam and Marxism give him a very jaded, colonial view of the nation that he leads. He does not believe in our past and wants to change our future.
D’Souza summarizes the Obama worldview this way:
“We are today living out the script for America and the world that was dreamt up not by Obama but by Obama’s father. How do I know this? Because Obama says so himself. Reflect for a moment on the title of his book: it’s not Dream of My Father, but rather, Dreams from My Father. In other words, Obama is not writing a book about his father’s dreams; he is writing a book about the dreams that he got from his father.”
“Think about what this means. The most powerful country in the world is being governed according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950’s—a polygamist who abandoned his wives, drank himself into stupors, and bounced around on two iron legs (after his real legs had to be amputated because of a car crash caused by his drunk driving). This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anti-colonial ambitions, is now setting the nation’s agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams into his son. The son is the one who is making it happen, but the son is, as he candidly admits, only living out his father’s dream. The invisible father provides the inspiration, and the son dutifully gets the job done. America today is being governed by a ghost.”
Secondly, our current president does not appear to understand nor appreciate our unique Christian foundations which made America a light to the world for over two centuries. Barack Obama says he is a Christian, but his “conversion” came through an Afro-centric, America-bashing pastor–Rev. Jeremiah Wright–who was the founder of a quasi-Christian cult. Obama’s “faith” seems to be more of a political calculation than a heart-felt conviction.
Exhibit A is that Barack Obama is far more comfortable with secularism and Islam than he is with the claims of Christ. That’s why the vast majority of his policies on abortion, sexuality, marriage, economics, and foreign policy are largely pro-secular, pro-Muslim, and anti-Christian. He even canceled the National Day of Prayer activities at the White House and while welcoming Muslim gatherings and prayer sessions.
And finally, Barack Obama does not share a deep and abiding faith in human liberty and freedom. He believes that political elites know best how to control and guide the economies and social structures of nations. This can only be accomplished through massive government spending, redistribution of wealth, higher taxes and increased regulations.
He is doing everything is his power to establish socialism in America as he sees it practiced in Europe.
That political fact has created uncertainty in 2010.
Will socialism succeed in America?
Good question.
The Heritage Foundation looks at it this way:
“The stakes couldn’t be higher for our nation at this moment. In the coming months, Americans will help choose which direction our nation’s future will take. Will the federal government continue to spend more, tax more, control more, and defend our liberties less? Or will we choose a new and bolder direction that returns power to the people? All indications are that we are approaching one of those pivotal moments in our political history, a tipping point. It will be a test of our national character. “
I agree.
Maybe the November 2 elections–and much prayer beforehand–will help us answer that vexing question of uncertainty.
Glenn Beck & 8-28: Pointing Us the Right Direction
Some friends attended the August 28 rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. spear-headed by talk-show host Glenn Beck. Most estimates pegged the crowd at 250,000 to 300,000 people. That’s an incredible turnout for a hot summer day. My friends came away amazed, excited, and encouraged that God is indeed at work in our nation.
I wasn’t able to be there due to attending a reunion in Montana. But from Big Sky Country I interceded for our nation on 8-28 from a golden wheat field in the morning and joined a prayer group at night in one of the farm houses that dot the landscape.
I believe August 28, 2010 was a special day for re-directing America.
Unfortunately, many members of the main-stream media missed it. The once illustrious New York Times–the paper that famously says it gives you “All The News That’s Fit to Print”–buried the story on page fifteen though Glenn Beck lives and does radio and TV from their fair city. Apparently this type of gathering was not “fitting” to their their secular progressive agenda. To its credit, the Washington Post put the story on its front page, but CNN labeled the rally “Conservative” and highlighted the large number of white people in attendance.
When was the last time you saw an environmental rally called a “Liberal” rally? And last time I checked, the United States was 65% made up of Caucasians–so they usually predominate at all rallies.
Obviously, the “Conservative” and “white” labels were deliberately used to create the impression that the people who attended 8-28 were “out of the mainstream” “fringe” and “extreme.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The 8-28 Rally was grassroots America awakening to a time of desperate need. It represented the true mainstream American.
I believe that libertarian Mormon Glenn Beck heard a word from God and obeyed him in calling for the 8-28 rally. He’s not Billy Graham, and he’s not the prophet Jeremiah. He’s not even an evangelical Christian. But he’s a concerned citizen with a respected voice that is pointing the way forward to liberty and renewal.
That’s a desperately important message because the current course of America is backwards–toward tyranny, poverty and mediocrity.
Now–after the rally–it’s time for the leaders of the American Church–pastors, teachers, evangelists and prophetic voices–to flesh out that direction for our people and nation and guide us back into the favor and blessing of God.
Here’s where the 8-28 rally pointed and how we must go forward.
HONOR – this was one of the rally’s great themes. Beck used the occasion to greatly thank the American troops who’ve been laying down their lives for freedom, both at home and around the world.
It’s time for the spiritual leaders of this nation to teach and preach the importance of courageously fighting evil during our time.
CHARACTER – The 8-28 rally took place on the same day that Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the same location–the Lincoln Memorial. Some of Dr. King’s most famous words were prominent at the Beck event–that we should be “judged not by the color of our skin, but by the content of out character.” Glenn Beck exhorted America to “self-regulation”–what used to be called “self government”–which is at the heart of successful societies.
Self-regulated people do not seek entitlements or allow themselves to become slaves to a growing welfare state. They agree with the words of James Madison who said: ” We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments.”
It’s time for our spiritual leaders to equip God’s people to live lives of holiness, self-control, and to speak out against the sins of our day that are destroying our families and our children.
PRAYER – The 8-28 Rally didn’t focus on prayer as Washington For Jesus did in 1980, but prayers to God were uttered, expressing our need to turn to Him. Returning to God begins with prayer as humble intercession is the doorway to friendship with our Creator. God made us to be dependent beings on Him. One of our great sins of our affluent time period is the spirit of independence which brazenly reveals itself in prayerlessness.
It’s time for our spiritual leaders to lead the way back in prayer! We must fast and pray, make prayer a prominent feature in our corporate life, and learn once again that “what a person is on their knees before God, that’s what they are–nothing more.” (Robert Murray McCheyne). A growing prayer revival is the most certain means to national reformation.
REPENTANCE – This vital area was not taught in detail at 8-28, but it was implied by the very gathering itself. Glenn Beck said “We need to return to God.” That’s the basic definition of repentance–a U-turnaway from self-centered living into a God-centered lifestyle that serves and blesses others. Repentance is change from a me-orientation to a God-and-others outlook. It’s having the necessary humility to admit where we’ve gone wrong and to change directions.
It’s time for the spiritual leaders in our churches to call their congregations, cities and towns, to repent before God. We need to learn once again to hate sin and love righteousness. This was the greatness of past American revivals: the pastors of the nation led the people in repentance and faith. It is needed once again.
UNITY – This was one of the crowning achievements of the 8-28 gathering numbering hundreds of thousands in Washington, D.C. . They dropped their petty differences, theologies, races, and issues, and came together in heartfelt unity to call the nation back to God. When times are desperate, you shouldn’t care whether a Mormon, a Quaker, or even dumb donkey calls you to attention. What’s important is agreeing on the truth of the message. I’ve read some people who take issue with Glenn Beck’s Mormonism or possible motivations. I don’t care. His message is from God.
Jerry Falwell got this right during the days of the Moral Majority, which, at the least, retarded the pace of cultural decline in America during the 1980s. Dr. Falwell, a strong fundamentalist, didn’t care who joined the coalition to improve American morality. All hands were needed on deck. When the ships going down, it doesn’t matter who mans the bailing cans. The 8-28 rally ended with hundreds of different leaders uniting in prayer and common commitment.
It’s time for the spiritual leaders of America to call for sacrificial unity among people of good will. United we can stand tall once again. Divided, we will collapse as a nation and civilization.
VALUES OR WORLDVIEW – At the center of the 8-28 rally was the recognition that our nation was built upon Judeo-Christian foundations that are the secret to liberty and prosperity. In fact, the American Revolution was a quantum leap in applying Christian maxims to governing institutions. A decidedly Christian worldview is the genius of the United States of America. That worldview shows great toleration to people of all faiths and those of no faith.
But you can’t have America without Christian beliefs. This is why the people gathered on 8-28. Our current leaders are trying to dismantle the Christian foundations in this nation and replace it with a godless secularism. That is the wrong direction. We must turn back to faith in God and put his principles back to work in all aspects of our culture. America can’t exist without a Christian worldview.
The spiritual leaders of the US must teach the Christian worldview to their people and the nation. We must once again believe that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
Glenn Beck and the 8-28 rally are pointing us the right direction. Honor, character, prayer, repentance, unity and Christian values.
Spiritual leaders of the USA: Rise to your duty and lead us all the way home! May your pulpits once again be aflame with righteousness for the glory of God.