Render Unto Caesar.

“Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”
– Jesus Christ

This is more in line of a Blog of the week then what was written about the seventeenth Amendment.

Recently I have had a conversation with someone about their political neutrality, saying it was silly to be politically neutral given today’s tough climate and the unfortunate need for Political Activism from all parties. They stated, later on, that they were not politically neutral because they served only one thing, and that was God, and thus was politically neutral in all things…they had their opinions…but not their loyalty…was the gist.

As with all things this got me thinking…about this phrase in the Bible, one of my favorites actually.

Now a while ago, which relates, I also had a conversation, well actually read a blog, stating that they were not of this world and only temporarily here and thus could not declare themselves of one particular political allegiance.

I sympathize and can see their point, I respect their wishes…and the last thing I want to do is for anyone to turn into me…nightmare…that would be horrific.

But, as I was thinking of this…it has occurred to me.

There are two separate worlds sure, an ‘Earthly’ World, and a ‘Divine’ World. A time for thought of the divine and not, and we must strive to reach our spiritual…balance.

But it is just as important to try to strive for a better life in this world. Because Evil takes many shapes and sizes, especially when it is attacking the Church or the synagogue or the Mosque or the Temple.

Evil is with us in this world, and while it is important to strive for the Divine, and to be more Godlike, that shall not shake off your duties in this world.

I happen to believe in the ‘Good Works’ that your spiritual betterment, whether it is to get to heaven, or to get a better shake in your next life, or whatever your individual beliefs are, is determined on how good a life you lead in this world.

And that includes the realm of politics.

Now if I were God…another scary thought…and I could sort of picture now the Almighty’s ‘smite’ finger getting very itchy… I would face palm…what are you doing? You let evil take root in this world.

We let corruption and greed and evil take root in this world and in our systems…are we to not fight, are we to not strive for a better world?

And yes that includes bringing more people to consider their spirtual and religious enlightenment, but a lot of the battle is also in the “Caesar” domain.

Especially when Caesar is trying to tear down the walls separating the two.

Now I have no idea, I do not have the answer, but I strongly urge you to consider getting involved, in any way you feel is better to help humanity.

Because Humanity and our country needs strong people, strong people who are striving to build a better world for the next generation.

The Seventeenth Amendment…the Most Dangerous.

Yay another shocking title!

Recently talk about this amendment has come up, a lot, in all the various communities I visit, and shows I watch. The Common Sense Movement on Facebook has talked about it, its been discussed on Freedom Watch on Fox business, it’s everywhere.

But yet, I, have not had a proper chance to debate it or its merits…of which there are none… so what to do?

For reasons like this I created this blog.

To rant and stuff.

Now most people would assume that I would consider the Sixteenth Amendment to be the worse…I do not…its this one…right here.

So it is probably important to get a refresher on the Seventeenth Amendment.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

The Seventeenth Amendment was adopted on April 8,1913, in the height of the Progressive era and the Woodrow Wilson Administration, in order to change the law where instead of the State Leglislators electing senators, the states would be.

And again most people would assume I would like this, it gives more power to the people right, shouldn’t that be a good thing? You trust the people right?

Well I do.

But that also comes with a healthy amount of suspicion when someone has too much power, power corrupts and should not be in the hands of any one group.

The Founders, I believe, recognized this. Our entire Government is set up, at the Federal Level, to distribute power so one side does not have so much.

This includes The People.

The Founders did not want a Democracy, which after all is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for Dinner, the Founders wanted a Republic, with Democratic leanings, but with safe guards built-in.

This was one of them. It took some power away from the people and put it in the hands of a higher branch. A branch that was designed to be more elitist and more exclusive than the House of Representatives.

But the main reason why it’s so bad is that while it gives power to the people, it takes it away from the States.

But who cares about them, right?

Well consider, your representative can speak for you, my people want health care its best for them!

But that might not be in the best interests of the states, the states would go, hey wait a minute! That’s not good for us, it will bankrupt us, and it will cause economic or social strife, or it’s just not very good for the people we represent either.

That is the key, distributed power, everyone needs to have a voice.

Even an abstract political entity.

But yet it remains one of the great Catch 22s of our times.

I mean what are we going to do? Not vote? Especially for a Candidate that might change this insanity?

No we have to vote and we have to get people in there who can change the Government back to its proper place.

This amendment needs to be repealed and we need to restore the power to elect Senators back to its Constitutional limits, where the States can decide who are the best people to go out and represent their interests. This is extremely important in that it once again allows each state to be an equal partner in how all will be governed. After Jan 20, 2011 the 40 percent of us which consider ourselves to be conservatives, need to write, phone, tweet, or otherwise communicate with our elected representatives, to make sure this issue is given serious consideration.

The Choice to be Gay.

Its funny, I thought about this blog right around the time that I did my DADT Blog , but with the elections and everything else going out it was not the right time.

Recently though I have been wanting to go back and thinking about this blog and what do you know, DADT has entered the news again, and gay issues…a bunch of Lesbians staged a kiss in with the pope…and I did a debate with someone on the merits of DADT…when all they had to do was read this blog! *mad* 😛

Now this is…seemingly…one of the fundamental and most entrenched debates of our times. Whether or not being Gay is an actual choice or you are forced to be Gay.

Where the people who think it’s a choice are usually called bigoted and evil…wow.

The debate centers around whether there is a genetic, or an environmental cause that effects your behavior and makes you be gay, or that it’s a choice.

And what you get is no it isn’t, yes it is, no it isn’t, yes it is, no it isn’t.

And on and on it goes because of people’s fundamental beliefs, it is fundamental where you stand on the debate and it is a fundamental issue on where you stand.

But no one ever goes any deeper, all we are is stuck in this…first gear.

Oh we do not have any choice but to be gay so you need to tolerate us and make special rights and allow us to be married no matter what and you are evil if you disagree!

No you are not, it’s a choice, it is sin, and you do not have to choose sin.

And I think people know where I stand on this issue if you have read this blog, or you should…or you will.

Because there is a deeper level to this fundamental issue.

And this issue is that no one ever considers the choice that ‘straight’ people make with sex in their every day lives.

Which is the point I think. That is the main fundamental point with all of this because it’s all about genetics.

But yet people, regular people, make choices between sex all the time…sex and something else.

Nope I can’t babe, I am watching the Patriots game.

Nope I am writing a blog babe give me ten minutes.

Nope I am too tired.

Nope dear I am chatting with my girl friends and knitting, go do your blogging! Had to get the girls in there. 😉

And in fact, something else that is lost in this debate, is the fact that Churches and Religious Orders have, like the military, have strict rules governing the affairs of people regarding sex and relationships.

That, if you want…if you CHOOSE… you must abstain from sex to gain a certain position in your church or your community.

In fact, abstinence is a big thing in Schools. That I had a health teacher in the back of his rooms was loads of pictures once again saying, don’t have sex, don’t do it, chose who you do it with sparingly, and wait until you are married.

And that as a society, in many religions and orders and people making this suggestion, you have to wait until you are married. Or should.

Once again you can make the choice not to do something.

Which at the end of the day is all that a lot of religious people are asking. That they do not care about your feelings and if you are predisposed into it or that you are forced into it, as long as you do not do it, as long as you do not sin, we as the church will leave you alone.

That they do not have to tolerate the behavior, but we will love the sinner. And many people I know do this.

So, regardless whether someone can choose to be gay or not, whether they are doomed for that for their lives, it is clear that you can have the choice to not have Sex because Heteroes do it all the time.

But the main issue is, are we prepared, as a society, to pass along to our kids and the rest of people … are we prepared to teach that sex is not a choice?

Lessons Learned From the Election.

I wanted to give this a while to sink in, a while to analyze it from all sides and to talk to people. I think a week is enough don’t you?

During the election and in the aftermath, especially in the immediate aftermath…though events after has only proved it out… I can pick out three principal lessons from the election.

First of all, congratulations to the Tea Parties, and the Republican Party, it was a good win for the GOP, and just might work out well for the country. (ed, note: If the Tea Party members keep their souls.)

I want to talk about the collective implications of the victory for the Republicans. They are, for the most part, against Obama and his administrations attempt to dangerously grow Government right now. And thus the good guys, I hate the saying ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ but it seems to apply.

The Republicans winning, as a collective, will at the least slow down the process and may…fingers crossed…reverse it.

That they can begin the process of getting Government off our backs.

However, based on some of the comments by John Boehner and…others…you almost get the feeling that they still believe that Government is the answer to our problems, no matter how slow. That as a party they have not learned.

However, the message is mixed. Many Republicans have given messages indicating that they do get it and will work with us. And that they were not given a mandate, just a ‘second chance’.

Secondly I have realized something fundamental…profound even. Has this election really changed anything?

I mean sure it might have, we have gotten a lot more liberty candidates in their or those I believe will do so, and it has begun the process.

But no matter the results has it really changed anything? Has it changed what we are trying to do, what you believe, what you are trying to do?

If you did not get the results you want, sure it might dishearten you. It might drive you to depression.

And the data and the analysis may change you after the fact and give you a fresh perspective.

But has it changed you? Has it altered the way you think? Has it made you more or less eager to help the cause of liberty? Or exactly the same?

And has it really changed things in Washington? I mean in the fundamentally transformation kind of way?

After all based on some of the rhetoric out of the GOP they still believe Government is the answer, and they are not too eager about their chances of repealing Obamacare, and even then they said they may ‘replace it’.

(Story)

But they will not betray their new-found principles so who knows? Maybe things have changed but we will have to wait for weeks and months in the future and even years?

And about the candidates who lost I hope this does not change anything nor their commitment to liberty and I hope they stay ‘politically active’ and continue to get the message out.

Candidates like Christine O’Donnell and several others.

Has this changed their zeal to go out there that they started by running to change things for the better?

Again we will have to see but I hope this has not changed anything.

And finally, perhaps I think the greatest of all lessons is a lesson in team sports.

Someone made a comment that I read, that I happen to agree with, that this was the ‘Superbowl of Politics’.

In that vein it is very easy, I found, and find, to get caught up in a team mentality. An us versus them thing.

I was talking to someone, on Facebook, about the elections, just sort of randomly brought them up….I do not know what I was thinking honest. :P…. and she was not pleased about the Democrats getting ‘killed’ in the Senate, now keep in mind it was still very early in the night. And she had to turn Fox News off because of its bias.

Well needless to say that I was happy about the Democrat losses but this began the process of me examining why I was so happy.

You see I really did not want to get into a conflict with anyone, especially this person, but i did not want to get into it. I sort of wanted to stick my head in the sand and hum politics wise most of the night. Just watch the results come in.

But I should have known better…me and politics, its like red and a bull.

But in doing so, in spending minutes wondering how I could convey my thoughts and opinions in the most non combative way possible I realized a couple of things.

First of all, the point I made, is that the Democrats were hardly getting killed, just look at Christine O’Donnell, she was getting trashed at that point. Though I did not know if she actually lost yet.

Second of all, in thinking about it later, especially after I had a chance to think I came to the conclusion that I was doing the right thing, for all the wrong reasons.

You see, even though politics is a team sport we must get out of that mind-set. Especially in today’s climate.

We must get out of this idea where all Republicans are good and all Democrats are evil. Or the idea of vice versa.

We must get out of the idea of punishing our political enemies. After all they passed health care! They are taking away our rights and our freedoms! It is they who are the enemy!!!

Nope, we have a lot of enemies but lets not get swept up in the tide of the parties.

And I failed at communicating this message despite having several opportunities to do so throughout the end of the night…there is that bull thing again.

It is about the individual. The players and not the team who can move the ball towards the goal post that we want, the best talent and composition on the field to achieve that.

While realizing some members of the team might not be so willing to play ball. And while realizing this is the beginning, so we need to make sure that these people are who we think they are.

So congratulations to Jim Demint, Michelle Bachman, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Mark Kirk, Pat Toomy, John Boehner, and Joe Manchin.

Congratulations, but we will be watching you.

The Hunt for a Job.

Bit more philosophical a topic then what the title suggests.

I have had limited experience in working or what it is like to find a job. I do, nothing can change that, but I feel I do have some piece of information that I can share that provides some insight on what is going on.

You see, the first time I was looking for a job, probably my first interview actually, something interesting happened.

It was a small innocuous thing but as I consider going out, looking for a job, and what the repercussions, and the joys and the set backs will be, and considering just what it might be like it gives me great pause.

The interviewer asked me a question…more of a statement actually…about having to join their employers union.

At the time it made me uncomfortable…but after years of growth and experience it would be down right unsettling if it were asked today.

You see Government…and hell lets just say it…some of their business interests, allies, and ‘cronies’ have all come out and banded together to take away freedom and choice in all areas of our society.

From health care, to jobs, to the market, to housing, to your education almost everything is being forced onto a Government roll of some sort.

With Housing it is in the area of ninety-eight percent of all loans are owned by them, either directly or indirectly.

In school…need I say more?

In health care they just passed a law that will force more and more people into a Government system when companies cannot meet the standards. Or it will force companies to adopt standards that will be defacto Government Run.

So jobs is just another piece of the puzzle. Government and people proposing laws to have forced unionization of companies, etc.

That to work you have to join a union, or to work you have to join a company and then you have to join their unions.

Now call me stupid but maybe I can represent myself?

Also call me stupid I have already spent enough time looking for a company that matches my objectives and tastes to work at a company then to turn around and be forced to spend money on dues that I cannot always be sure of their intentions, or that they truthfully represent my values or have my best interest at heart.

You see my quandary.

I value freedom of choice, in almost everything I do. Its going to be hard trying to find it, and thus make the hunt even more harder, as I go out into the world.

Morality.

I was going to write about this in the lead up to 8.28, forgot about it, put it to other blogs, and now remembered it.

My Dad has a saying that he got from some book that he read once, “A society can only have the morals that it can afford.”

I disagree with this vehemently. In many cases, I can see some parcel of truth in it but I radically disagree with it because a society must have a moral foundation or it’s not a society, that there are some lines you must not cross, as a people, or you risk losing your identity and changing.

But yet…well I can see the pearls of wisdom in it, I can see where it might be necessary.

How to reconcile the two? I have always thought about this…and I hope I have come up with at least a partial answer.

The answer lies in Universal Morality…though everyone has their own unique perspective.

But there is a Universal Morality.

That there is a difference between good and evil and they are two ends of an extreme. They are absolutes, you violate them at your peril, and you are usually striving for one end of the spectrum or the other.

Like it is immoral to steal, to kill, or to torture. These are three of the more accepted bits of morality out there, and where most people do not feel like violating them and most of us can agree.

But yet we do kill, we do torture, and I have even heard it is ok to steal. Why, and how?

The answer is the morality is not fluid, but the situations usually are.

Tough moral choices are only tough moral choices because they are a choice between two goods, or two evils.

For example, I hate torture, I am not sure we should be torturing the terrorists, and some of the torture methods of the Inquisition truly boggle the mind.

But yet…we have to chose what is the greatest immorality.

What is the greatest immorality?

You have a situation, you have captured some Terrorists, and you have pretty good intel that…a nuke is about to go off in a major metropolitan area.

What to do? Do you let people…millions of people die…or do you torture the bad guy and go all Jack Bauer on them in the hope you can get some information to stop them?

No one likes to kill, but if someone invades your house, who do you choose, your family or that random person when you cannot be sure of their intentions?

This does not make killing and torturing any less immoral, it does not mean that those things suddenly become ok, but the alternative is a lot more ghastly to imagine, and thus worth the consequences.

On the individual.

Or stealing, one of my favorite examples because I have never done it.

Your family is starving, dyeing, do you steal? My knee jerk reaction is no, to rely on charity, and help, and starve in order to not commit that vile crime.

But I have to wonder….

What is the greatest immorality?

Discrimination, Bias,/ Bigotry, Rascism.

First let us define the terms:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/discrimination
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bias
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bigotry
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racism

And those links are part of the problem, in more ways than one. *sigh*.

Even though its been several weeks since Juan Williams got fired, I was still busy with the elections. The elections are over now so here it is…and the Juan Williams story gave me fire in my belly in order to write this and it’s a classic example of the many distinctions.

You see, half of these things are not evil at all, and do not have much of a relation to the other things, and in fact we do them all the time.

You see we have gotten far too…IDK Politically correct?… recently when everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off based on someones personal opinion and someones beliefs.

Now if they were racist and bigoted then yeah that would be bad.

But looking at the Juan Williams story…well I do not think that is what he was doing.

We discriminate all the time.

Use our knee jerk reactions based on experience or inexperience and make instant opinions on them. We discriminate, in food, and when someone comes up wearing certain gear, maybe of a certain race, IDK.

But we do it ok, and for the most part its ok.

We are biased to liking certain things, certain people, types of people, hair color, eye color, we are biased to put everyone based on groups and define them based on groups.

Especially in politics. Libertarian, Conservative, Liberal, what have you.

And its ok as long as you can move past this and learn from them.

Because we are discriminatory, the human race is very discriminatory. And its a good thing for the most part. Something with teeth is likely to eat you, someone with a gun or a bomb strapped to his chest will likely blow you up.

And certain issues and pictures cause reactions in us. Whether alarm, or oh my God I am going to eat that.

It’s ok as long as you can move past this.

There was a study done in a book that I read last year in High School called Blink, the Power of Thinking without Thinking.

In it indicated that people used certain snap judgements based on race without thinking.

The power is moving beyond that.

My favorite two examples are the gay issue, and the Muslim issue.

Christians are hardly…pro gay…they do not allow gay marriage and many of them do not even allow openly gay people in their denominations.

They draw the line, they discriminate. I discriminate, there are biases that I have. I try not to, I try not to deal with generalizations with them or anything else, but sometimes the thought does occur to me.

But yet I have gay friends, a Christian friend I know has a very good gay friend. We have moved onto it and actually got to know the individual people.

Same with the Muslim, someone comes up in Muslim garb…yikes suicide bomber, and then he sits down next to you on the flight and you are like getting a bit nervous.

But then he opens his mouth and then starts discussing things with you, by the end you are at ease and have moved on. You have gotten past your bias and discrimination and learned about the person.

Now bigotry is different. Bigotry is… in my mind anyways…pure evil.

It is an intolerance that is so deep, that is so engrained that no matter the evidence you can never get along with them… or if you do it does not change your mind. That you are friends with them but they still have something that is fundamentally wrong with who they are because of what they are or who they have aligned with.

Bigotry is stubborn and its…there, unyielding and unchanging. It’s an attitude that no matter what there is still that part of them…not even any individual exceptions…no room for that. That there is something wrong with them and you are better for it.

Which brings us to racism.

The only difference here I think is that Rascism is like bigotry, but you have the power to put that bigotry into action based on someones race.

That you keep them segregated, that you believe them to be different and less so you have to keep them away to preserve the purity of your order.

We need discrimination. We need to discriminate within ourselves and our groups, and on individuals.

Unite yes.

But discriminate heavily, friends and enemies, as long as you do not become a bigot, or a racist.