Tuesday, November 25, 2008

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

When we look out our windows, we see surroundings that have been familiar to us for many years. Sure there are some new buildings -- businesses have come and gone, the Las Vegas Strip has torn down some old hotels and added many new ones -- but it's still the same dry, brown Nevada desert where only sagebrush and cactus can grow and is crazy hot in the summer and mildly cool in the winter. The overall landscape and vistas haven't changed; they're the same as they were forty years ago when we were growing up. Sometimes it's nice to be surrounded by familiar things, especially when the rest of the world is becoming unrecognizable.

Now change isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some things need to be changed. That's why there are term limits to some political offices -- to force us to tune in to our politicians every once in a while and realize that we can't vote blindly for the same person again. And some people get too used to the political scenery and keep voting for the same person over and over, never really looking close to the ground and seeing the weeds that person is leaving behind. So sometimes change can be good.

Some changes, though, are nonsensical and mind-boggling. We're seeing some of those around us right now.

When we were growing up, our dad was very adamant that he would have little to no debt and that he would have a strong savings account. He never thought that the government would intervene in his personal economic woes, nor did it occur to him that he should ask for their help -- and back in the good ole days, the government would have never stepped in to provide that help. He mowed his own yard, fixed his own appliances, and made sure his car was serviced on time. He did all that because he knew that he was personally responsible for his family, his belongings, and our future.

Joe the Plumber became popular during this election cycle because he had the nerve to ask Senator Obama a question about increasing taxes. We are now finding out that his simple question encouraged several government offices to do background checks on Joe. A regular U.S. citizen asked a question of an elected official (someone who is supposed to be representing Americans) and his background and personal life were scrutinized beyond belief. Joe the Plumber's life received more scrutiny than Barack Obama's did. Would anyone have even cared about Joe the Plumber fifty years ago?

It's nice to be able to look out the window and see familiar sites, because when we turn on the news and the internet the sites we see are so unfamiliar -- even frightening. People are being attacked for their beliefs, churches are being vandalized, and Christians spit on because they voted yes on Prop 8. Supposedly, voting yes on Prop 8 was a hateful act, yet it doesn't hold a candle to the hate acts being perpetrated by the opposition -- the very people who want us to love everyone and be politically correct. "You go first" is our reply to the demonstrators.

Voltaire is attributed with having said, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. ..." What happened to that world? Free speech is becoming a distant memory -- that's not a good change.

We're only one generation removed from growing up with a father who took responsibility for himself and his family. As we watch bailout after bailout be approved, we no longer recognize the country in which we were raised. Fiscal responsibility to fiscal irresponsibility is another change that we don't like.

Isaiah 5:20 states: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil." This is a change that we are experiencing now. Too bad.

Below is a link to an article that we completely agree with and wish we would have written:

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/clinging-to-my-guns-salt-and-light-bulbs/

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