Or: Thoughts on Life in America as We Enter 2010
I am involved in a different discussion groups. Someone was wondering why people are so upset about the health care reform bill… and so I responded. I thought, hey, this is important to me, and so I decided to post this on my blog as well. A different perspective, I hope… that will help others to consider where America is headed in the coming years.
———————
I believe that if the Health Care bill passes the damage done to our country could be irreparable, unless 2010 allows election of people who can reverse the damage. I worked for 20 years in biomedical and then medical device industry. Currently I am an independent contractor with no health insurance – but I would prefer no health insurance to Obama-surance.
I agree that there are problems with health care – but there are other problems that feed into it. For example, Americans are “sue happy”. This means they sue for everything, including crazy bogus stuff that should never have been allowed in our courts. So much of health costs today are related to this. The insurance that physicians have to pay is outrageous. I agree, some cases are factual, but the majority of this stuff is just plain “butt covering.” In fact, when documenting medical devices, I’ve had to put in the most ridiculous text, all to protect ourselves from somebody who is not working with their head screwed on straight.
Taxes imposed by the health bill will kill our country. Small business will go out of business and big businesses will be negatively impacted. I lived overseas for 25 years. When I returned to the US I was stunned to see how so many people here in the US seem to think the government needs to take care of “we the people” instead of “we the people” taking care of each other.
There needs to be a huge shift in mentality for things to really change. The bottom line can no longer be the almighty dollar. We need to re-evaluate what a reasonable profit is – and this includes the executives who collect huge salaries at the expense of a company.
I am watching the country of my birth move from a truly free and democratic society to one that is riddled with political correctness and laws the seem to point, not towards socialism but communism. I never dreamed I’d see the day when we are giving up our rights so quickly. We are letting the government mandate everything from the TV waves and light bulbs, to our medical care. I have some friends from communist China who moved to Canada. I did not tell them I was against what is happening here. They asked what some of the laws that have been passed will do. I told them – they were horrified. They said, this is terrible, why are the Americans giving up their freedom?
What this country needed, and still needs, is not “change” but a return to our original standards and the constitution. I remember when I was in school learning that it is important to read our Constitution with the understanding of “original intent”. This is no longer the case.
Separation of church and state NEVER meant that I cannot say “In God we trust.” It never meant a county or town can’t have a manger scene on the lawn. It has always meant though, that while we can have the manger scene, I won’t force YOU to have a manger scene. Now it means we can have everything except the manger scene.
What does this have to do with the discussion? Don’t we understand and learn from the past? Look at what happened to the “intellectuals” in China and Communist Russia. The Medical Device industry and other hi-tech industries will suffer more and more as each and every discovery is weighed and judged by a party line that focuses on expediency rather than sanctity of life.
When I worked in China I was horrified to see how cheap life is there. I could tell you stories…. I have friends from Russia who have told me about the way life used to be, I have friends from China who tell me how life is there… and now, here we are in America, deceived by smooth speaking politicians and a political correctness that will correct us out of our freedom and the life that so many valuable men and women have given their life to preserve.
—————-
I ended my post there. But for those of you, my friends and colleagues who know me well, I’d like to add this. In truth, I believe the only hope for America is that those who call themselves Christians really be Christians. We need to pray for our country as never before and beg God for His mercy on our country. America is no longer a Christian country. I remember reading Corrie Ten Boom’s account of her experience in the Holocost. She once asked her father, “Pappa, why are Christians turning the Jews in to the Nazis?” He responded, “Corrie, just because a mouse is in a cookie jar does not make it a cookie.”
As I look at what is going on here in the US, I am convinced that the the cookie jar is filled with mice, and the tragedy is, most of the mice think of themselves as cookies. There still are cookies in the cookie jar… I am so thankful for that. May this coming year be one where God’s people seek His face as never before. Maranatha…
Thank you, Debbie for putting that issue into words for us. Our prayer is for our country and for our churches to be True representatives of our Father in Heaven (great “cookies”) for Him.
Ever since the late 60′s with the “me generation” things have just been continually going from bad to worse (not like they weren’t bad before). Now it’s more like the “me myself and I” generation. Maybe it would be better to call it now the “me, myself, I and my lawyer” generation.
But what did Paul say? “Why not rather be wronged?”. While he is talking about believers going against one another in court, the same could apply to non-believers.
And what did Jesus say? “If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also”.
It’s sad to say that believers are falling into this same trap of demanding rights. While right now we do have rights from the state these are not to be taken for granted.
Even what John Kennedy said has been forgotten (maybe more like ignored??): “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”.
And from the ever faithful Wikipedia (oy, I think I just choked): I see that Kennedy also said: “…the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.”
People now mock God, like we read in 2 Peter.
So is it any surprise to see these things happening? Sad maybe, but not surprising.
But praise God, there are still many “cookies” waiting for His return. “Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus”. Please come soon.
Great summary, Debbie. I think about this all the time.
I believe it was John Adams that wrote that the free republic the founders envisioned was premised upon a Christian (which is to say, a Judeo-Christian) citizenry, that it would work for no other.
I think that was and is absolutely correct. The reason is that large scope of freedom only works when people have a sense of inner responsibility, an intrinsic control on their own behavior anchored in an eternal and transcendent moral code that includes a sense of accountability to an eternal judge.
When intrinsic control of behavior erodes, man becomes essentially hedonistic and the only controls possible are necessarily extrinsic. In such a culture, where the transcendent God and is dethroned, someone or something must step in to fill the vacuum, for all humans are hard-wired to worship something–that is, to look to something beyond themselves as the definer and executor of the Good. So, naturally the Sword, that is, whoever or whateve has the civil authority in a society steps in to fill that vacuum, and assume the role of God.
Consequently, Ibelieve attempts to “return to the founding principles” are doomed unless there is also a return the the spiritual principles that undergirded them. The bad examples of avarice and conniving practiced by people identifying with conservative politics (which provide fodder for the Left) are those who have the logical faculties to see the fallacies of leftist economic utopias, but for whom the greatest good is simply personal wealth in this world.
In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that much of western Christendom, particularly in N America, has absorbed the materialism and consumerism of the unbelievers to such an extent that it has in great measure, lost its saltness. Living for Christ ineveritably brings us into direct conflict with the god of this world, and that inevitably brings tribulation, discrimination, and puts everything at risk. If our treasure is anywhere but in heaven, our abilty to shine brightly for Him and be living examples of what eternal fellowship with God looks like will be compromised.