My, How Cumbersome!
Terry Dashner……………….Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013
His name is John Stossel. You might know him as co-anchor of ABC’s 20/20. He has written a really good book entitled, Give Me A Break How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media… (Perennial Currents 2004).
The reason I’m commenting on his book is because it strikes a nerve with mea raw nerve at that. I love my nation. I think Government is, by and large, composed of good men and women who really do work for the common good. I believe most leaders are honest and pretty sharp; however, the system they serve is broken. The Government has become so large and cumbersome that it impedes progress. Stossel’s book supports my reasoning. Let me share some of his insights.
“Last year, the Agriculture Department paid subsidies of almost $200 million to make sure some sheep and goat ranchers made a profit. Why? Because in 1954, nine years after World War II, congressmen argued it was crucial to ‘national security’ that America have enough wool to make soldiers’ uniforms. Today most military uniforms aren’t even made of wool, but no matter, the Agriculture Department still gives the farmers handouts.”
I think the United States would have surplus monies if it would trim back its leviathan Government and stop wasting money. For example, “At the Pentagon, the accounting discrepancies total $2 trillion. ‘They may have it. They just don’t know where it is,’ David Walker, head of the General Accounting Office, told me. How can they not find that much money? Walker says the Pentagon has bought things with it, but doesn’t know what. ‘They don’t know that they have it,’ he says. ‘They may buy it again.’
“No private company could get away keeping its books that way. The investors would be all over it. It would go bankrupt. The managers might go to jail. When I said that to Walker, he answered, ‘We’re not a private company.’”
Stossel says, “There you have it. Government doesn’t have to follow the same rules. When they lose money, they just demand we give them more. And we do.” Why do we do that? Why haven’t we demanded fiscal responsibility of our Government? The Republicans blame the Democrats for spending. The Democrats blame the Republicans, and nothing significant ever gets done. We still see fraud and waste in spending. Will it ever change?
I believe that Government is essential to any society. I believe that laws should be enacted and enforced for the common good; however, I believe Government can get too big and too powerful. When our Government was first formed, it gave us basic services and taxed us a fraction of what we are taxed today. After the Stock Market crash of 1929, our Government started expanding to help the common man get back to work. Good idea, but we are still paying the bill. The Government kept growing until it became unmanageable.
Thanks to the great Reformers named Martin Luther and John Calvin, America was built on Capitalism. The free market is the foundation on which America has prospered for over 200 years. The free market continues to fuel America today, but it is ever in danger of being doused by big Government and its controls. Government services can be good, but Government can’t change and flex in short notice like Capitalism can. Competition among American merchants is good for everyone involved. But Government services can’t flex and move like free markets can. Government services are too fat, and too slow to adapt to changing markets; therefore, Government should govern and let business do what it does bestdo business. What say you?
Give Stossel’s book a read, and then write your Representative, telling her she needs to be advised. Americans are demanding a shaping up and trimming down of their Government. Pastor T. dash.
About the Author
Pastors a small church in Broken Arrow, OK. Retired police officer. United States Navy veteran. Father of three grown children.
No one could possibly assuage a grieving mother who has lost a son. All the effects of time, prayer, supportive family and friends will have its way as it does with anyone who has lost. Should this grief be cast into an arena or public forum to become a free for all, a battle of opinion, a slugging fest between the right and the left?
Death may not be dignified in any light but the way it is perceived, handled and finally dealt with can be under certain circumstances even less dignified. The cause Cindy Sheehan has undertaken may or may not be worthy depending on who you ask. I choose not to ask anyone but rather I would ask a question of a different sort. It is not a question of the Presidents moment of accountability but of her son’s accountability. I would ask this question to her or anyone who might dare to question his moment of accountability. He did have one, let us examine it.
In August of 2003 Casey Sheehan re-enlisted in the United States Army. He was fully informed that his unit would be deployed in the Iraq theatre at some time in the future. Casey belonged to the 1st Calvary where he plied his skills as a Humvee mechanic. On April 4th of 2005 Casey was killed in a place called Sadr City in Iraq. He was twenty four years of age. Indeed a Hero of the highest order and a young man that according to all accounts would make any mother or any American proud of him.
In every state in this country there is a general consensus about when a person reaches the age of accountability. That consensus has found its way to the legislative annuls of every state in the form of various laws that credential it as the will of the people. Federal law too has been formed on the basis of this general consensus. Although the laws vary from state to state they all seem to fall into a very close and familiar expression of what is the age of accountability. For instance in most states the age limits for mandatory enrollment in a public or private school is up to age sixteen. The age at which a person can buy and consume alcohol goes between eighteen and twenty one in most states. Most states also will hold young people accountable for serious crimes somewhere between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. The US Military has similar age restrictions for anyone volunteering for duty. What does all this mean?
At some point in his life Casey Sheehan believed he had reached the age of accountability. Exactly when that moment came for Casey may only be known by him. But even if he shared it with his mother or others it was still his moment, his passage to manhood or to any other place he perceived it to be. It is not a moment that any mother can alter nor do they have a right to. When Casey signed on the line not once but twice, it was his moment of accountability. Perhaps he was never braver even in battle than he was in that moment. By the time he re-enlisted he knew a great deal about the military and what to expect, but at the moment he put his signature on the line for the first time there were only a world of unknowns, he faced them alone, he became accountable.
Without raising a single word about our Presidents honesty, a single word about Casey’s reasons or fears, it would still be undignified and less than honorable to cast aspersions on that moment. The moment when a young man made the decision of a man should not be diminished by the outcome of that decision. As far as President Bush being given a moment of accountability I would tread lightly in this area. He is accountable to all of us in this country, but if that weren’t enough both he and all of us in this country are accountable to a much higher power.
Those of us that put our trust in God do so in the midst of a world where life and death are all around us. We see children starving, hospitals full to capacity, wars we don’t always understand, crime and injustice on every hand, but we continue to have faith in God. Life did not come with a promise or a contract. We may die young or wish we could die because we feel so old but we believe he holds our hand throughout the journey long or short. This is more than faith it is trust and loyalty and it is the proof that no matter what we may endure we have shown ourselves to be accountable. May we always do so, and in the end will be found in good company along with other good men and good soldiers like Casey Sheehan.
About the Author
Rev Bresciani is from New Orleans La and the author of…Hook line and Sinker or What Has Your Church Been Teaching You, PublishAmerica 2005 and…An American Prophet and His Message, Questions and Answers on the Second Coming of Christ, Xulon Press 2005. His website is,
http://americanprophet.org