Jim Terry
Blind faith
By Jim Terry
I once posed the following question to a group of Christians during a discussion on tithing: How can you believe that God can forgive your sins and save you from eternal damnation, but not trust that same God to provide for your needs by refusing to give what God demands in the way of tithing? Yet, many Christians do not tithe nor do they give in any abundance to their local church. The reasons given are manifold. I don't intend to enter into a theological discussion here. It is, really, a matter of faith.
When it comes to faith, many Americans, particularly liberals, place their faith in government. Why would they place their faith in a government to take care of their needs when that government has bungled, lied, mishandled and wasted their resources and is run by some of the least respected people on earth? It makes no sense. The record of mismanagement, deception, waste and blunder in our federal government is a long record. Yet, Americans continue to place their trust in people they overwhelmingly despise-the Washington politicians who never cease to promise a life on the Big Rock Candy Mountain.
The Gallup organization has conducted a survey since 1976 asking this question: "Please tell me how you would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in these different fields- very high, high, average, low, or very low."
The most recent survey that included members of congress was in November 2012. The highest rated profession was nursing with 85 percent of respondents rating nurses at high to very high in honesty and ethics. Car salespeople came in the lowest at 8 percent.
In fact, four of the top five rated professions in the survey were health related professions: nurses; pharmacists, at 75 percent; medical doctors at 70 percent; and dentists at 62 percent. Engineers were tied with doctors at 70 percent.
The politicians who run the federal government, members of congress and senators, were looked at by the survey respondents slightly above car sales people in honesty and ethics at 10 percent and 14 percent respectively. Conversely, 54 percent of respondents rated members of congress low to very low in honesty and ethics, while 45 percent of survey respondents said senators rated low to very low in those categories.
President Woodrow Wilson, a liberal Democrat, promised that the tax rate on personal incomes would never exceed 3 percent of adjusted gross income, and that it would only be assessed on adjusted gross incomes above $10,000 a year. (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/10/17/debt-and-destruction/) And how did that promise work out? Check the IRS tax tables for that 3 per cent tax rate.
A pamphlet titled Security in your old age published in 1937 by the Social Security Board in Washington, D.C. was addressed: To Employees of Industrial and Business Establishments- Factories-Shops-Mines-Mills-Stores-Offices and other places of business. It described the benefits of the newly passed Social Security Act of 1936.
The pamphlet states, "...beginning in 1949, twelve years from now, you and your employer will each pay 3 cents on each dollar you earn, up to $3,000 a year. That is the most you will ever pay."
Once again, Washington, controlled by liberal Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, lied to the American people. Not only has the amount promised that would be "the most you will ever pay" more than doubled, but the social security system has been vandalized by Washington politicians creating an almost bankrupt program. To add insult to the injury, social security recipients now must pay taxes on their benefits.
Lyndon Johnson, another liberal Democrat, told congress in January 1964 when he unveiled his great society massive welfare program that it would "strike at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty." He further stated, "Our aim is not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it."
In Johnson's last year as president, 1968, the U.S. poverty rate was 12.8 percent; in 2012 America's poverty rate was above 16 percent.
"Since the beginning of the War on Poverty, government has spent $16.7 trillion (in inflation-adjusted 2008 dollars) on means-tested welfare. In comparison, all the military wars in U.S. history have cost a total of $6.4 trillion (also in inflation-adjusted 2008 dollars)." (http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/229326/losing-war/robert-rector)
Another liberal Democrat president and his party have forced upon the American people a socialist program, ObamaCommucare, through promises which the American people now know are more political lies. ObamaCommucare is a product which one of its authors, Senator Max Baucus, described as a "train wreck." And it is. If Chrysler or Ford announced a new model car was a lemon, Americans would not buy it.
These four illustrations are but a few of how corrupt the government "of the people, by the people and for the people" is when it comes to its treatment of those people. But, they are monumental society changing illustrations.
Almost one hundred years after Woodrow Wilson promised that Americans would never pay more than a 3 percent income tax rate, the ethical strength of our politicians in Washington has not increased. And the question persists, "Why do Americans place their faith in a government, run by one of the most despised professions on earth, with such a long and miserable track record, to care for the most important aspect of their being-their health?
Senator Daniel P. Moynihan (D-NY) once explained, "Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from life what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government agencies to do good."
In the end, for Americans it is a matter of faith; albeit, a blind faith.
© Jim Terry
October 30, 2013
I once posed the following question to a group of Christians during a discussion on tithing: How can you believe that God can forgive your sins and save you from eternal damnation, but not trust that same God to provide for your needs by refusing to give what God demands in the way of tithing? Yet, many Christians do not tithe nor do they give in any abundance to their local church. The reasons given are manifold. I don't intend to enter into a theological discussion here. It is, really, a matter of faith.
When it comes to faith, many Americans, particularly liberals, place their faith in government. Why would they place their faith in a government to take care of their needs when that government has bungled, lied, mishandled and wasted their resources and is run by some of the least respected people on earth? It makes no sense. The record of mismanagement, deception, waste and blunder in our federal government is a long record. Yet, Americans continue to place their trust in people they overwhelmingly despise-the Washington politicians who never cease to promise a life on the Big Rock Candy Mountain.
The Gallup organization has conducted a survey since 1976 asking this question: "Please tell me how you would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in these different fields- very high, high, average, low, or very low."
The most recent survey that included members of congress was in November 2012. The highest rated profession was nursing with 85 percent of respondents rating nurses at high to very high in honesty and ethics. Car salespeople came in the lowest at 8 percent.
In fact, four of the top five rated professions in the survey were health related professions: nurses; pharmacists, at 75 percent; medical doctors at 70 percent; and dentists at 62 percent. Engineers were tied with doctors at 70 percent.
The politicians who run the federal government, members of congress and senators, were looked at by the survey respondents slightly above car sales people in honesty and ethics at 10 percent and 14 percent respectively. Conversely, 54 percent of respondents rated members of congress low to very low in honesty and ethics, while 45 percent of survey respondents said senators rated low to very low in those categories.
President Woodrow Wilson, a liberal Democrat, promised that the tax rate on personal incomes would never exceed 3 percent of adjusted gross income, and that it would only be assessed on adjusted gross incomes above $10,000 a year. (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/10/17/debt-and-destruction/) And how did that promise work out? Check the IRS tax tables for that 3 per cent tax rate.
A pamphlet titled Security in your old age published in 1937 by the Social Security Board in Washington, D.C. was addressed: To Employees of Industrial and Business Establishments- Factories-Shops-Mines-Mills-Stores-Offices and other places of business. It described the benefits of the newly passed Social Security Act of 1936.
The pamphlet states, "...beginning in 1949, twelve years from now, you and your employer will each pay 3 cents on each dollar you earn, up to $3,000 a year. That is the most you will ever pay."
Once again, Washington, controlled by liberal Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, lied to the American people. Not only has the amount promised that would be "the most you will ever pay" more than doubled, but the social security system has been vandalized by Washington politicians creating an almost bankrupt program. To add insult to the injury, social security recipients now must pay taxes on their benefits.
Lyndon Johnson, another liberal Democrat, told congress in January 1964 when he unveiled his great society massive welfare program that it would "strike at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty." He further stated, "Our aim is not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it."
In Johnson's last year as president, 1968, the U.S. poverty rate was 12.8 percent; in 2012 America's poverty rate was above 16 percent.
"Since the beginning of the War on Poverty, government has spent $16.7 trillion (in inflation-adjusted 2008 dollars) on means-tested welfare. In comparison, all the military wars in U.S. history have cost a total of $6.4 trillion (also in inflation-adjusted 2008 dollars)." (http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/229326/losing-war/robert-rector)
Another liberal Democrat president and his party have forced upon the American people a socialist program, ObamaCommucare, through promises which the American people now know are more political lies. ObamaCommucare is a product which one of its authors, Senator Max Baucus, described as a "train wreck." And it is. If Chrysler or Ford announced a new model car was a lemon, Americans would not buy it.
These four illustrations are but a few of how corrupt the government "of the people, by the people and for the people" is when it comes to its treatment of those people. But, they are monumental society changing illustrations.
Almost one hundred years after Woodrow Wilson promised that Americans would never pay more than a 3 percent income tax rate, the ethical strength of our politicians in Washington has not increased. And the question persists, "Why do Americans place their faith in a government, run by one of the most despised professions on earth, with such a long and miserable track record, to care for the most important aspect of their being-their health?
Senator Daniel P. Moynihan (D-NY) once explained, "Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from life what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government agencies to do good."
In the end, for Americans it is a matter of faith; albeit, a blind faith.
© Jim Terry
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