Christianity, the Constitution, and Capitalism

As our nation stands at the political crossroads of the 2008 election and a looming economic crisis, it is a good time to examine the bedrock principles upon which our country was founded and gather from them guidance for the future.

The three pillars which have supported our country from the beginning are Christianity, capitalism, and the Constitution, with Christianity being the center pillar that strengthened the other two.

In order to govern men (we'll use "men" in the Biblical sense of "all mankind") the political structure must be based on an understanding of the true nature of man and govern accordingly. Only the Christian faith declares the true nature of man to be fallen in sin and in need of salvation.

The structure of society, primarily the family and government, was ordained by God to curb that fallen nature through the discipline, education, and the threat and imposition of punishment, ranging from the rebuke of a loving parent to the deadly force of lawful authority.

The founding fathers were devout men of different denominations who held in common the basic precepts of the Christian faith. In declaring our independence from Britain and in the writing of our Constitution, they incorporated the truths found in Christianity to form the more perfect union. They recognized that the natural rights of all men, regardless of race or creed, were granted by God and that it was the obligation and duty of government to protect those rights.

Understanding that the government is as weak and imperfect as the men who run it, they incorporated into the Constitution the means of restraining and dividing federal power, protected the citizenry by empowering them to choose and replace their elected officials, and ensured through the Bill of Rights that they would have the means to expose and overthrow the government if it became tyrannical and broke faith with the people it governed.

Our capitalistic free-market system of economics also owes it's success to the Christian world-view.

All men inherently try to get the most they can with the least expenditure of work possible. Capitalism takes advantage of these two weaknesses, greed and sloth, to create a competition based economy that rewards hard work and diligence and punishes laziness.

People who want more "stuff" and discipline themselves to work hard and provide more or better products and services are rewarded with capital, while persons who have less or no ambition and are not willing to expend themselves in hard labor are punished with lower wages and a lower standard of living. Since a free-market capitalistic economy is not a zero-sum game, there is ample economic opportunity for everyone who is willing to do the hard work necessary to succeed. This opportunity has encouraged millions of people to leave their homeland and emigrate to the United States, bringing with them their desire to work and flourish as individuals and families.

In short, capitalism is the perfect economic system for imperfect men.

As time has gone on, however, all three pillars of our nation have been attacked and eroded by liberalism and secularism.

The family, which has been the stabilizing force throughout human history, is being attacked by the nanny-state Federal government, abortionists, and gay rights activists. As "separation of church and state" and Marxism maliciously found it's way into our government structure, the government began infringing on our God-given rights and replaced individualism and industriousness with entitlement programs and restrictions on freedom of speech, religion, and the right to bear arms.

Government regulation, excessive taxation, and environmental socialism has burdened our free-market capitalism to the point that we now are a quasi-fascist state. Hard work, diligence and achievement are punished while over half our population (that either can't or won't provide for themselves), is now supported by the minority through government hand-outs.

A society that ignores and impugns truth cannot survive indefinitely. As communist Russia collapsed of it's own immorality, so too will America collapse as it continues to replace God with State and disregard the values that made this country the greatest enterprise in freedom and liberty known to man.

TownHall Column: Huck Finned by USA Today

This is a great column by Ken Connor on TownHall.com:

In his newfound role as "front-runner", Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is the subject of increased scrutiny by the media. For many in the secular media, Huckabee's prior role as a minister is of far greater concern than his prior role as governor of the State of Arkansas. (A preacher as President? Heaven help us!) Consequently, Huckabee has been the candidate among the Republican wannabes who has had to field most of the tough "God questions" during their debates.

Without a doubt, the intersection of faith and politics is one that requires careful navigation. This is particularly true in America, where our founding fathers worked hard to ensure that religious freedom was preserved for their descendants. For many, religious liberty is the "first right" and liberty of conscience has always been highly prized in these United States. The Framers of the Constitution refused to establish a national church. Conscience was deemed to be a private domain where government had no right to intrude.

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Surprise! Robertson Abandons Values, Endorses Giuliani

A lot of people were taken aback when Pat Robertson, the founder of the 700 Club and former presidential candidate, enthusiastically endorsed Rudy Giuliani for the republican presidential nomination.

Most people were surprised, some mortified, that a conservative evangelical like Robertson would support a liberal, pro-choice Republican such as Giuliani instead of a true conservative and former pastor like Mike Huckabee, or a supposedly conservative pro-life candidate like John McCain.

As a former pastor and one who has had close contact with dozens of pastors and ministers, I am not surprised at all, which is unfortunate.

As ministers like Robertson get older, especially in their last years, they tend to become a lot more liberal in their thinking and more willing to abandon their strict ideology and theology. What causes this is open to a lot of debate, but the trend for older pastors and ministers to adopt a more lenient view of important matters in their latter years is undeniable.

Robertson's endorsement of Giuliani so early is a huge disappointment to the conservative religious right, who feel that Robertson sold himself and the evangelical movement out. I agree with Robertson that in national security issues, Giuliani is a strong candidate, but can he really count on a pro-choice candidate to pick Supreme Court nominees like Scalia, Thomas, and Roberts?

The likelihood of Giuliani being able to nominate constitutional originalists to the Supreme Court is unlikely if he feels he has to bargain with a Democrat controlled Congress over other issues like the "war on terror", NSA matters, torture, and expansion of government entitlements. The Supreme Court will shift radically to the left during a Giuliani presidency, guaranteed.

I would prefer Giuliani as president over any of the Democrat candidates, but at this early stage, conservatives have few opportunities to keep the Republican party steering to the right, and Robertson just threw up a huge roadblock to that effort.