Excuses, Excuses

 “I could never be a _______ because I once heard about a really stupid _______.”

    This kind of statement is all too common on social media.  It has been said about almost every possible group.  I have heard it said about Republicans, Democrats, pro-lifers, pro-choicers, Christians, Atheists, and everything in-between.

But those aren’t arguments, they’re excuses.

And it is unfair to everyone.

    Sure, it’s funny to point at the Republican that didn’t know that Tehran is the capitol of Iran.  Or the Democrat who thought the island of Guam would capsize if we sent too many Marines there.  But it isn’t really fair to say that these people represent all Republicans or all Democrats.

And the same is true for Christianity.

    I admit that sometimes Christians say really dumb things.  There are some Christian leaders who make me cringe almost every time they open their mouths.

But that seems to be true of people from any large group.

    I have heard people with Masters and Doctorate degrees say dumb things but that doesn’t mean that education is stupid.  We shouldn’t give up on education because we once met an educated person that did, or said, something dumb.

    Just because someone in Hollywood made a bad movie (and there have been some really awful ones) is no reason to give up on movies forever.

    Just because we saw a stupid driver on the highway (and there are plenty) is no reason to give up on driving. 

    Our opinions about education, politics, morality, religion, or anything else, should be built on the truth and on the merits of their arguments, not simply on whether or not we once heard one of “those people” say something stupid.

    If you want an excuse to stay away from a political party, or church, or anything else, that’s up to you. But don’t say that it’s because a few people said, or did, something dumb.

Don’t judge an entire group by the actions of a few.

Because that would just be stupid.

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A Biblical Mandate for Whistleblowers?

    With stories about Edward Snowden and Bradley/Chelsea Manning in the news, many of us are unsure whether these whistle-blowers are patriots, or traitors, or something in between.  As a veteran I am immediately suspicious of secret information that is leaked to the press because I worry that men and women in uniform (as well as those involved in covert operations) might be put in danger.  I understand that for military operations to be successful, many things must be kept secret.  I also understand that there are many times that it is in the best interests of a nation that others do not know exactly how much we know or how we know it.  If we have insiders, spies, or double agents feeding us information from the halls of foreign governments, we probably don’t want those governments to know.  

    On the other hand, secrecy can go too far.  There are things that governments and militaries should not be doing.  Even in war, there are things that go too far and which violate our conscience.  In government, at least in the government of a free and open society, we expect a certain amount of openness on the part of those in authority.  That openness is a large part of what separates a free society from a dictatorship or other authoritarian government.

So where is the line?

    When do we decide that government has “gone too far?”  But, that is exactly the problem.   If the line was clear, many decent people would not have found themselves on the wrong side of it.  Particularly in times of war, but also in times of peace, it can be easy to become so focused on what we are doing that we drift over the line.  I believe that police officers sincerely want to enforce the law, but sometimes their thirst for justice can compel them to go too far.  We have all read stories about the abuses of various law enforcement agencies but I am certain that few of those involved ever intended to become bullies who violated the rights of others.

    And that is exactly why we need, and should encourage, whistle-blowers to step forward. 

    Throughout scripture the followers of God are encouraged to pursue what is good and true and to reject lies and evil.  Ephesians 5:11-13 says,

¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³ But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 

    I am still uncertain as to whether Snowden and Manning are heroes or traitors, but I am leaning toward heroes.  I am concerned that they were overzealous in the kind, and in the amount, of information that they released as well as how they released it.  I’m not sure that WikiLeaks was the best choice.  But on the other hand, some of the things that these men had to say needed to be said.  I think the citizens of the United States needed to know the extent of the NSA’s spying and how little oversight it has.  I think the world needed to know that torture was being perpetrated by agents of the American government.  As a free people, and as followers of God, it is up to us to make sure that our government does not use its power to abuse others and to commit evil.

    As citizens, as patriots, and as the followers of God, we must be prepared to take the risk that these men did.  We may take the risk of exposing too much or in the wrong places, but our government needs to know that we have the will to do it.

On the day we fear to expose evil, evil wins.

Don't Be Insane - Do Something

What will make this year different from last year?

You.

It has often been said that the definition of insanity is continually doing the same thing and hoping that we will get different results.  Corporations make things that they’ve always sold but fewer people are buying and just hope that it will come back in style.  Our government does it when they spend more money on programs that didn't work the first four times.  Churches do it when attendance is shrinking and all that anyone wants to do is remember the good old days and hope that things will change without actually changing anything.

And as individuals, we it too.  We hope that we will make more money this year, or will be more productive this year, or lose weight, or be more spiritual, or spend more time with people we care about, or a million other things, but our “plan” is to do the same things we did last year and hope that we get a different result.

This is insanity.

In a few months, many of us will complain that this year is too much like last year.  And it will be entirely our fault.  If we want a different result, we must do something different.

We can change the world, but we must first change ourselves.  This is my challenge: Spread your wings.  Try something you haven't tried before. Do things you haven't done before.  Be bold. Take risks (even small ones).

Choose one thing.

What is it that makes you angry?

Hunger?  Poverty?  Children without families?  Human trafficking? Politicians?

Pick one.

And then DO something about it.

If hunger and poverty bother you, volunteer at a food pantry or buy five bucks worth of extra groceries when you go shopping.  I once took a group of Cub Scouts to the grocery store for a program called “Scouting for food.”  We stood in front of the store (with permission) and asked patrons to buy one extra can of something to feed the hungry. 

One – extra – can. 

In three hours we packed a minivan full of food.

If politics bothers you, do something about it.  How often have you written (or called, or emailed, or faxed) your Congressman?  Shared your feelings with your city council representative?  Protested?  Voted?  Heck, if you have the time, why not run for office?  Get out and do something you haven’t done.  

If children without families, or children in foster care, or abused children make you angry, then do something about it.  Why not be trained as a foster parent?  Even if you don’t want to be a full time parent, there is always a need for licensed foster parents to provide respite (which could be as little as a day or as long as a few weeks, but it’s up to you) for others who need a break.  You could take in college-aged, former foster kids on holidays when they get kicked out of their university dorm-rooms.  If you are retired and past the age or parenting why not volunteer as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)?  With a little bit of training, you would meet children involved in the legal system and speak for them in legal proceedings.  Instead of complaining, do something.

If you wanted to be more spiritual or grow closer to God, did you think that's going to happen all by itself?  The Bible won’t soak into your head if you leave it under your pillow any more than your history book did when you tried it in High School.  Join a Bible Study.  Commit to praying or reading the Bible more than you did last year.  Commit to pray, or read, or listen to an audio Bible, for five minutes a day.  

Doing the same things you did last year and hoping this year will be different is insane.

Don’t be insane.

Do something.

You can change the world.

You can make the world a better place.

Maybe not for everyone, but for someone.

Pain: Now or Later?

    A number of years ago there was a television commercial that encouraged regular oil changes.  In it, a mechanic pointed to a car behind him that was having the engine overhauled and noted that failing to get regular oil changes can cause serious engine damage.  At the end of the commercial the mechanic said, “You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.”

    With the Administration and Congress once again at odds over raising our nation’s debt ceiling I keep wondering why no one in Washington seems to understand why doing so only makes the problem worse.  I understand that we can’t just suddenly stop doing everything that we’re doing.  Calling an abrupt halt to projects that are already in progress would do great damage to the economy.  I understand that.  But Congress isn’t just continuing projects they’ve already started; they are creating new ones and expanding others so that our debt problem gets worse instead of better.

    Whenever anyone suggests making cuts to existing spending, particularly to welfare, Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security, there is an outcry because it is easy to see how people will be hurt when cuts are made to these programs.  A similar claim is made whenever cuts are suggested to our spending on national defense.  No matter what cuts are suggested, we are told that those cuts will cause someone pain. 

    The problem with pain, as it relates to our spending, is that it is very much like that oil change commercial.  A little pain now will almost certainly save us from much greater pain later.  Why?  Because right now our nation spends about $3.5 trillion per year but takes in only $2.5 trillion in taxes.  Obviously, you can’t, in the long-term, spend more than you earn, everyone who has ever balanced a checkbook knows that, but Washington has been doing it (more or less continuously) for more than sixty years.   So far we’ve accumulated a national debt of $17 trillion dollars… and, as bad as that sounds, that’s the good news.

    We hear that our national debt is $17 trillion dollars but we are not told that this does not include the money that we “borrowed” from Social Security and Medicaid.  Every one of us has paid into Social Security for our retirement.  While all of the Baby Boomers were working, the surpluses from these deposits were immense… but they were never saved in any kind of “savings account” or “lockbox.”  Instead, to cover the growing deficits our elected representatives… spent them.  Because we borrowed the money from ourselves, this spending isn’t really considered part of the national debt, but when the Baby Boomers retire they will, naturally, expect to collect from the system they paid into.  How much do we owe them?  At present, our borrowing from Social Security and Medicare amounts to an additional $85 to 95 trillion and our expected payments for the national prescription drug benefit add another $20 trillion.  All together that comes to an astounding $125 trillion in debt.  (That works out to over a million dollars in debt for every U.S. household!)

    Here is where things get ugly.  If we assume that over the next forty years, everyone who is currently working will retire, then we will have to repay most, if not all, of that debt over that same forty year period.  I know the math is more complicated than that, but this oversimplification will get us close enough to see the problem.  If we think of this as paying down a mortgage, we have forty years to pay back $125 trillion in debt with an annual “income” of $3 trillion. 

Do you see the problem?

In order to repay $125 trillion in 40 years, our annual payments will exceed our current income.

    If we start right now, and we could somehow stretch those payments out for a hundred years, we would still have to repay $1.25 trillion per year.  That would seem reasonable, but if we first balance the budget (so as to stop borrowing even more money while we were paying off our debt), we would still have to cut our current spending by fifty percent!

    Worse, none of this is theoretical.  This is money that we have already spent and which must be repaid.  Because we borrowed most of it from retirement plan, failing to pay it back will mean that Social Security checks don’t go out and retirees’ medical bills don’t get paid.  We complain that making small cuts causes pain, but how much pain will there be if we default and those checks don’t go out at all?

As the man said in the commercial, “You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.” 

Either way, there will be pain.  The longer we put it off, the worse it will be.

Our only choice is whether we want to experience pain now or worse pain later.