The Blind-eyed Marriage of the Conservative Churches to the Excessive & Corrupt Business Practices

How supremely odd it is that conservative Christians--who have hammered and continue to hector the country on certain moral issues (which they find absolute)--have been so silent, so tongue-tied, on the massive corruption and greed that inhabits the world of business all around them.

Turning the Tables on Wall Street: America’s Temple or Torment? 
“Jesus Purifies the Temple” (John 2: 2:13-25) in an engraving
by the German Nazarene artist Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1860)

The failure of social conservative moral leadership to call into account the business practices and aggressive failures of the marketplace - to be fair and honest - is a significant contributor to the escalation of the imbalance of wealth (the 1% & the 99% ers) and the pervasive societal moral decay that comes with trying to keep up with the corporate Jones'.

The blind-eyed marriage of the church to the excessive and corrupt business practices of some corporations and the outright fraud found in so many of the slick practices of the marketplace and especially Wall Street have sold the birthright of many Evangelical Christians into a world of excessive debt, unbearable family financial pressures, and everyday stress producing anxiety created by (and compounded by) job insecurity. It is a world where loyalty and length of service are considered expendable by businesses in the search of greater profits and better bottomlines. Add in a high level of unemployment among these self-same Evangelicals and the staggering debt of their children, young Evangelicals, who have taken on student loans in quest of a step-up career.

All forms of benefits and delayed compensation are now being sucked back into their sources by a new kind of greed-Corporate Givers cum Corporate Takers.

When the church loses its prophetic role in calling the CEO/men of power to task, to account for their disrespect for the underprivileged and the planned, immoral conduct of business, the rampant dishonest practices, it loses the power to speak the truth. 

“Lazarus and Rich Man” (Luke 16:19-31) from a 10th Century fresco in
the Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila in Bulgaria (Reconstructed 1937-1946)

The Biblical story of the rich man and the beggar - the pauper who once was confined to scrounging the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table was eventually released from this mortal realm into paradise. His story illustrates this point.

The beggar, now in Paradise, could name his price for a drop of water to assuage the hellish torment of the eternally damned CEO named in the story. That wealthy man - upon dying - found himself suffering eternal torment in hell for his evil marketplace behavior. Now a torment-bound, abject beggar himself, he pleads for meager humanitarian aid from a higher place. He now pleads "give me just a drop of water!"

Wealth and the where-with-all to have one's way in the greater community do not substitute for character and compassion. Social conservatives would do well to remember this.

Conservative Evangelical Christians Must Divorce Themselves From Corporate Greed & Evil 

Conservative Christians must return to voting in their own best economic interests, and not get caught up in clever manipulation. Evangelicals must act in light of their own history of championing social reform: speak out, and vote in light of the full weight of moral conviction and principles encompassing more than a narrow list of hot button social issues managed by the conniving Svengali mavens on the extremes who inflict on Evangelicals untold pain and suffering via the mega-wealthy, TeaPartisan and Corporatist politics destroying family values and the family itself.

On the Reader:
More on Christian Values and Greed on the Gazette.

Original.

Michigan Republicans say Taxes are a Sin. But Taxing the Poor to Prop Up, Bail Out, Corporate Cronies Isn't?

Taking My Money for Taxes is a “SIN”: TeaPartisans must be squirming over Snyder’s Billion Dollar “SIN”; Taxing Working Folk to Prop Up, Bail Out, Corporate Cronies

HOW CAN MICHISSIPPI'S TEAPUBLICANS NOT SQUIRM & SUFFER HEARTBURN WHEN THEY CONDONE THE SAME KIND OF POLITICALLY MOTIVATED TAXING "SIN" THAT THE THEY ACCOST & ACCUSE THE DEMOCRATS OF DOING-COERCING HIGHER TAXES-TO THE DETRIMENT OF THE TAXPAYER?

When government removes money from consumers it is a taxing act that reduces money in the private economy, resources that would otherwise have been used to produce valuable private-sector demands for goods or services. Boss Rick Snyder and The Business Leaders for Michigan are instead forcing UNPRECEDENTED/HUGE NEW TAXES on working people and the poor; these new revenues are them used to produce governmental outputs which in the case of Snyder's slick re-distribution of Michiganders personal funds-via coerced taxation on previously tax-sheltered (from state personal income taxes) hard earned pensions (delayed compensation) and (carefully garnered and saved for senior years) annuity income- adds crassly and brazenly to the bottomlines of those who contributed directly and generously to the Nerd's 2008 campaign for governor. It's payback time!

What kind of specious "shared sacrifice" for business is this?

The private-sector outputs projected by the Snyder geeks may never be produced because resources available to the consumers are instead being used to produce a massive, billion dollar plus business welfare handout. One pension dollar has the ability to turn around to the tune of $6.49 in the state's marketplace. To intercept that taxpayers' personal income...to direct it onto business bottom lines by an overly generous partisan "gift" of a much lower business tax for a few, and no taxes at all for many second tier businesses is unjust and corrupting. Meanwhile, the large stockholder corporations, especially manufacturing concerns e.g. Auto Production, will take a new tax hit. How does that create more good pay jobs? Snyder's faulty scheme has the ability to take a big, big bite out of Michigan's necessary commercial cycles.

These soon-to-be-forgone customer/demand dollars being taken from the worker, the retiree, the poor, the schools and our children, especially those supported on welfare, is a political folly; a costly blow to the very corporate and business lobbyists who tell the public this upward redistribution they rammed through the TeaPublican Super-Majority Legislature, is the answer to Michigan's recovery. It's a lie.

Taking taxpayers hard earned wages and savings to outright "gift" those precious, limited dollars to Snyder's overpaid CEO cronies-how is that just and right?

WHEN THE TEAPUBLICAN'S NERDONOMICS PRODUCES INCOME RE-DISTRIBUTION WHICH IS UPWARD... IT ISN'T CONSIDERED A RE-DISTRIBUTION? IT'S NOT LABELED "A TAKING"?

Sez Who?

DELUSION & GREED ARE THE MOST PALTRY OF PUBLIC POLICY MOTIVATORS!
WHAT KIND OF FUNNY HERB IS IN THE TEAPARTISAN'S CUP OF TEA?

LOCOWEED DELUSION & GREED MAKE FOR DISASTROUS PUBLIC POLICY


Original.

Prof. Gary Wolfram of the Michigan View Let’s His Little Light Shine On Greed

Response to Gary Wolfram in "The Gift of Liberty"  re-posted in the Michigan View on Christmas Day, first appeared on December 23, 2011.

Thank You, Thank You, Professor Gary - Just Don't tell Scrooge or Father Bob Sirico about the truism you just penned - this statement which you planted in your Greed-minded Christmas essay. And you think you have a right to expand insight on the Christian Christmas Message!

Wolfram writes:

"Christmas is a time to be grateful and to make every effort to help the family of mankind. This means private charity, giving of our own time, treasure, and talent to others. It does not mean asking our government to engage in what Frederic Bastiat called 'legalized plunder'...."

That is so revealing and true. "LEGALIZED PLUNDER" via bill writing and legislation in Lansing. Taking from some people to give to others - perfectly describes this TERRIBLE YEAR plundered by the Teapartisan "LEGISLATION OF THIEVES".

Whew, Prof. You surly hit the THE NAIL ON THE HEAD: 'LEGALIZED PLUNDER" that's a most accurate and also tradgic, so fitting, a descriptor; identifying the DESTRUCTIVE WORK of the  Class of 2011 Lansing Teapublicans - SO WILLFULLY BLIND, SO SELF-DELUDED, SO AGGRESSIVELY DESTRUCTIVE!

Prof. Gary must have hurriedly put on his hair shirt, inside out and backwards.

What a revelation: "LEGALIZED PLUNDER." What an apt term for the rapid disintegration of civic core values and precedents gutting established state laws and citizen privileges during this "blitz" of TeaPublican aggression. It is our common purpose and unity as citizens that has bound our great state into a unified society for all its history! It was that spirit, that willingness to be craftsmen and labors, working mothers, and sacrificial businesses that salvaged America from the Nazis.

Wofram:

"It's a time to recognize our good fortune in living in a system based on market capitalism and limited government. As Ludwig von Mises pointed out nine decades ago: this is the only system that can produce WEALTH FOR ALL."

How clever an academic device! Just put Ludwig in the manger at Bethlehem,encourage the idea that von Mises is to become the object of our Christmas adoration!

Freedom to Deny Freedom
When Rad Right advocates, Prof. Gary among them, cry for more "freedom." Think of what such "freedom" may actually involve: They want freedom to use government for their own ends unhindered and they want government out of their ideological projects.

Keep firmly in mind the fact that:

"[T]he individual freedoms destroyed by the increase in national authority have been in the main freedom to deny black Americans their elementary rights as citizens, the freedom to work little children in the mills...the starvation wages...the freedom to pollute the environment--all freedoms that, one supposes, a civilized society can really do without."
--Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., in "The Cycles of American History"

Wolfram's "The Gift of Liberty" is right up there with Marvin Olasky's tortuous babble:

"Olasky's most famous book is The Tragedy of American Compassion, which in 1992 Newt Gingrich distributed to incoming Republican representatives of the104th Congress. The book, an overview of poverty-fighting in America from colonial times to the 1990s, argues that private individuals and organizations, particularly Christian churches, have a responsibility to care for the poor, and contends that challenging personal and spiritual help, common until the 1930s, was more effective than the government welfare programs of recent decades. Olasky argues that GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS ARE INEFFECTIVE because they are disconnected from the poor, while private charity has the power to change lives because it allows for a personal connection between giver and recipient."

"The book eventually helped to define "compassionate conservatism" in relation to welfare and social policy. In 1995, Olasky became an occasional advisor toTexas gubernatorial candidate George W. Bush. Bush made faith-based programs a major component of his 2000 presidential campaign, and Olasky's academic work helped form the basis for Bush's "compassionate conservatism."

Source: Marvin Olasky entry in Wikipedia

Being so Greedy to the core - how long before Prof. Gary swears off the church; accosting it for coercing its members-with the threat of eternal punishment-should they fail-to contribute their tithes and personal assets so the Chruch can provide for all the immense needs roiling up in Michigan due to the evacuation of disposable income via billions in CORPORATE AND BUSINESS WELFARE, economic activity/turnaround money needed to operate thriving businesses and good government here in Michigan.

Wolfram Echoes Ayn Rand's rants: The Virtue of Selfishness. Altruism /Generosity is a Randian "sin." Only pure self-interest is redemptive/commercially worthy of the "marketplace." Or as Milton Friedman so often proclaimed: "GREED IS GOOD."

Prof. Gary's "Freedoms": Wolfram's Freedoms to pursue things that are not in the best interest of mankind, they fester toward the death of community. Prof. Gary's ruminations are loosely akin to the elements in King Herod's slaughter of the innocents, the darkside of the Christmas story.

Prof. Gary: Turning out collegiate minds in whom the milk of human kindness is "freeze dried" holds no benefit for those who are in need or out of work. Such graduates have been trained to be unfit for community service. Wolfram's army of Hayekian Stormtroopers hold no promise for a better tomorrow. Just follow the carnage inflicted on mankind by just one of his most infamous protege the Bloody-handed mercenary, Erik Prince.

Original Response to Original essay by Gary Wolfram.

The Last ‘Normal’ Michigan Christmas Before Michissippi’s Inevitable Economic Collapse/Consumer Demand Implosion

Misanthropic Bean-Counter Herr Snyder & His Marauding Michissippian Münchausen Cronies - corporate shills and hatchet men - have done-this-state-in for a moldy bowl of Corporate welfare and unfair advantage ranging into the BILLIONS of taxpayer monies siphoned off to themselves.

The natural and moral birthright of hardworking men and women has been devoured by the A.L.E.C./Mackinac Center's HIGHROLLER HOGS; pursuing unjust profits and corrupt advantage. A pox on their achievements! Michigan holds the sad infamy of being "driven to the poor house" with its own GOP/TeaPublican Know Nothings having a heavy foot on the accelerator!

Many of us wondered why that humongous pink HOG was left to wallow at the Capitol Grounds for weeks last year. Now we know. It was a prophetic and chilling PR symbol that the HOGS with the BIG BUCKS had come to Lansing to devoir the assets and living-wage jobs of Michigan's Middle Class, and trample under cloven huff the poor, the veteran, and disadvantaged-whom they blame as "self-depriving" and "undeserving."

The BIG LIE as told by Nerd Rick Snyder is that he was compelled to re-invent our GREAT STATE.
The Nunce Snyder and henchmen were/and are not entitled to control of such an enormous task. This State is not the TeaPublicans to, reconnoiter, dismantle, and re-make. They have no authority to such power over our lives and quality of living; legislatively plundering our property rights and sacred freedoms in any manner that superbly pleases Herr Snyder and his ruthless handlers-a very cleverly, behind-the-scenes imperial cabal led by his very own transition team leader, Doug Rothwell, President & CEO, BUSINESS LEADERS FOR MICHIGAN.

Alexis Charles Henri Maurice Clerel, le Comte de Tocqueville: The Warning & the Democratic Citizens' Pledge: 

"Never invest any number of my fellow creatures with UNLIMITED AUTHORITY"

"If it be admitted that a man, possessing ABSOLUTE POWER, may misuse that that power by wronging his adversaries, why should A MAJORITY not be liable to the same reproach?"

"Men are not apt to change their character by agglomeration; nor does their patience in the presence of obstacles increase with the consciousness of their strength. And for these reasons I can never willingly invest any number of my fellow creatures with that UNLIMITED AUTHORITY which I should refuse to any one of them." 

-- Sage advice from Alexis de Tocqueville

THE LAST WORD: Herr Snyder has become trapped in Machiavellianism: Politics that is amoral and that acts by any means, however unscrupulous. Such acts Snyder et. al. believes can justifiably be used in achieving political/corporate power/anti-majoritian power and in the enactment of unjust laws over and against their rivals, adversaries, and opponents to achieve Snyder and company's own goals and objectives.

Now, Christmas 2011 soon becomes a faint "Christmas Past" for Michissippi: A state enslaved to untoward TeaPublican power and rampant corporate/business GREED. God help us all!


Original.

Charles Koch & High Rollers Who Bought Michissippi’s TeaPublican Legislature’s 2011 Anti-Public School Rampage

Top Individual Donors to Michigan's Republican Party Related PACs

• Snyder, Richard & Sue (Self-supporting for Campaign)    $5,943,702
• DeVos, Richard, Sr. & Helen (FL) (Rich)    $1,199,904
• Lynas, Robert & Joyce     $1,007,000
• Perry, Bob (TX)    $1,000,000
• KOCH, DAVID (NY)    $988,604
• Singer, Paul (NY)     $783,400
• Cohen, Steven (CT)     $482,604
• Jandernoa, Michael & Susan     $416,655
• Weiser, Ron & Eileen     $418,247
• Johnson, Ruth (Self-supporting SOS Campaign)     $354,834
• Mills, Ted     $339,500
• Meijer, Frederick & Lena    $339,000
• DeVos, Richard, Jr. & Elisabeth (Dick & Betsy)     $334,754
• Moroun, M.J. & Nora     $333,225
• Nicholson, James & Ann     $302,704

Source: Michigan Campaign Finance Network - Citizen's Guide (2010)


Original.

LaPlante condemns a Democratic Congress member for the assertion that TeaPublican proposed “reforms” (gutting of Social Security) are “heartless and un-Christian”

In Response to John R. LaPlante in the Michigan View on Dec 9, 2011 in "God is on my side: Democratic Pols".

Reading the LaPlante lament :

"One member of the Democratic caucus in the U.S. House called proposed reforms to Social Security and other entitlements as "'heartless and un-Christian'" 

Let's take a deeper look at John's protest.

When we do, we see that LaPlante follows up that complaint against the Democratic defender of Social Security with his cute qualifier:

"To quote a reader of National Review Online, ' I'M STILL TRYING TO FIND THE PASSAGE WHERE JESUS TELLS HIS FOLLOWERS TO TAKE AS MUCH AS THEY CAN FROM OTHERS, SO THAT THEY CAN HAVE MORE TO GIVE TO THE POOR'"

In using this quote LaPlante opens the door to the New Testament passage concerning Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler. The National Review Maven cited by LaPlante uses hyperbole, as is common to his genre, and seeks to make an extreme interpretation into a truth by qualifying his recollection (or non-recollection) of the intent expressed by Christ in his ministry.

In this New Testiment account a rich young man asked specifically what God expected of him in light of his previous moral life and his accumulated riches, this is what occurred and what Jesus required:

Matthew 19:16-24:

"16 Then someone came to him and said, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" 17 And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." 18 He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19 Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 20 The young man said to him, "I have kept all these; what do I still lack?" 21 JESUS SAID TO HIM, "IF YOU WISH TO BE PERFECT, GO, SELL YOUR POSSESSIONS, AND GIVE THE MONEY TO THE POOR, AND YOU WILL HAVE TREASURE IN HEAVEN; THEN COME, FOLLOW ME." 22 When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

There is the direct answer: Jesus required the young enquirer to give up wealth to achieve eternal life. LaPant's National Review Maven wants to frame the story thus: Did Christ ever tell his followers to "take as much as they can from others?" The Maven may or may not know his Bible.

Jesus set a test. If you want to have "eternal life" rich young person (whom Christ knew had many possessions) then you must sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor.

If the National Review Maven is going to hide behind his exaggerated assertion and miss the true impact of this scriptural account, then the Maven should not make a statement such as this one, where he made an attempt to postulate that Jesus had nothing applicable to say about wealth and poverty, thus coyly feeling himself of all obligations to such as in the lawful benevolence of the American Social Covenant with its citizens to operate and protect poor and others of retirement age via a system of contributions and taxation that require only a small fraction of what Christ demanded of the Rich Young Ruler.

LaPlant may want to refresh and edify himself as to the core of the American Creed by going to: Jim Wallis, "Praying for Peace and Looking for Jesus at #OccupyWallStreet."

And as a chaser John should perhaps contemplate the message of The Rev. J. Carl Gregg, of Broadview Church; Chesapeake Beach, Maryland:

"It is often said that the best way to preach a sermon is with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other hand. This past week, I found myself unable to read these hard sayings from Jesus without thinking about the Occupy Wall Street protests that are cropping up across our nation. As I have read and listened to various commentators and pundits in regard to the protests, two quotes, in particular, have stood out to me. Together these quotes serve as both an interesting juxtaposition and as commentary on one another.

"The first quote is from John Kenneth Galbraith, a well-known economist who died a few years ago. He says that we humans too often 'search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.' This quote is perhaps particularly relevant given the resurgence of interest of late in Ayn Rand's philosophy of selfishness among some prominent politicians. The most bizarre aspect from my perspective is that many of these Ayn Rand-toting politicians are regular church attenders who experience no cognitive dissonance between their politics of selfishness and the way of Jesus.

"The second quote is more ironic, as one would expect from comedic satirist Stephen Colbert, who quips, 'IF THIS IS GOING TO BE A CHRISTIAN NATION THAT DOESN'T HELP THE POOR, EITHER WE HAVE TO PRETEND THAT JESUS WAS JUST AS SELFISH AS WE ARE, OR WE'VE GOT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HE COMMANDED US TO LOVE THE POOR AND SERVE THE NEEDY WITHOUT CONDITION AND THEN ADMIT THAT WE JUST DON'T WANT TO DO IT.'

"Although evolutionary biologists and neuroscientists are increasingly finding genetic and evolutionary impulses toward compassion, it is also true that selfishness is, in a sense, "natural" and part of our evolutionary inheritance. We are all born as egocentric infants, but in the face of evolutionary impulses to protect ourselves and those who share the largest number of genes, the way of Jesus calls us to expand our love of selfbeyond merely our immediate tribe to include the love of God and all our neighbors. Indeed, Jesus teaches that The Second Greatest Commandment is to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18 / Matthew 22:39-40 and parallels)." 

(emphasis added)

Source: Rev Carl Gregg in his sermon “Jesus, #OccupyWallSt, and the Rich Young Ruler” October 2, 2011.

Original.

The President Joins Teddy’s Spirited Charge Up Greed Mt.

President Obama has joined the charge up the slopes of massive greed and elitist's gated power mountain.

Review these his towering speech, presented-via Robert Reich - as follows:

"The President's speech today in Osawatomie, Kansas (12/8/11) - where Teddy Roosevelt gave his "New Nationalism" speech in 1910 - is the most important economic speech of his presidency in terms of connecting the dots, laying out the reasons behind our economic and political crises, and asserting a willingness to take on the powerful and the privileged that have gamed the system to their advantage."

(break)

"Some background: In 1909, Herbert Croly, a young political philosopher and journalist, argued in his best-selling The Promise of American Life that the large American corporation should be regulated by the nation and directed toward national goals. "THE CONSTRUCTIVE IDEA BEHIND A POLICY OF THE RECOGNITION OF THE SEMI-MONOPOLISTIC CORPORATION IS, OF COURSE, THE IDEA THAT THEY CAN BE CONVERTED INTO ECONOMIC AGENTS...FOR THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC INTEREST," Croly wrote. Teddy Roosevelt's New Nationalism embraced Croly's idea"

President Obama in his Speech to the Nation:

"For...(The New Deal), Roosevelt was called a radical, a socialist, even a communist. But today, we are a richer nation and a stronger democracy because of what he fought for in his last campaign: an eight hour work day and a minimum wage for women; insurance for the unemployed, the elderly, and those with disabilities; political reform and a progressive income tax.

"Today, over one hundred years later, our economy has gone through another transformation. Over the last few decades, huge advances in technology have allowed businesses to do more with less, and made it easier for them to set up shop and hire workers anywhere in the world. And many of you know firsthand the painful disruptions this has caused for a lot of Americans.

"Factories where people thought they would retire suddenly picked up and went overseas, where the workers were cheaper. Steel mills that needed 1,000 employees are now able to do the same work with 100, so that layoffs were too often permanent, not just a temporary part of the business cycle. These changes didn't just affect blue-collar workers. If you were a bank teller or a phone operator or a travel agent, you saw many in your profession replaced by ATMs or the internet. Today, even higher-skilled jobs like accountants and middle management can be outsourced to countries like China and India. And if you're someone whose job can be done cheaper by a computer or someone in another country, you don't have a lot of leverage with your employer when it comes to asking for better wages and benefits - especially since fewer Americans today are part of a union.

---

"Now, just as there was in Teddy Roosevelt's time, there's been a certain crowd in Washington for the last few decades who respond to this economic challenge with the same old tune. "The market will take care of everything," they tell us. If only we cut more regulations and cut more taxes - especially for the wealthy - our economy will grow stronger. Sure, there will be winners and losers. But if the winners do really well, jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everyone else. And even if prosperity doesn't trickle down, they argue, that's the price of liberty."

---

"It's a simple theory - one that speaks to our rugged individualism and healthy skepticism of too much government. It fits well on a bumper sticker. HERE'S THE PROBLEM: IT DOESN'T WORK. IT'S NEVER WORKED. IT DIDN'T WORK WHEN IT WAS TRIED IN THE DECADE BEFORE THE GREAT DEPRESSION. IT'S NOT WHAT LED TO THE INCREDIBLE POST-WAR BOOM OF THE 50S AND 60S. AND IT DIDN'T WORK WHEN WE TRIED IT DURING THE LAST DECADE."

President Obama expands on this:

"...(T)his isn't just another political debate. This is the defining issue of our time. THIS IS A MAKE OR BREAK MOMENT FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS, AND ALL THOSE WHO ARE FIGHTING TO GET INTO THE MIDDLE CLASS. At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, and secure their retirement."

This speech will occupy the minds of those who were/are privileged to hear or read it for a long time.

It's time to occupy our own courage and meet eye to eye the hoary mass of obstructionism and fawning deference to the imperial 1%ers - whose days of plunder will include sunset- a massive revolt-the very kind that scares rad-right word-monger Frank Lunz ; who says he's "SCARED TO DEATH" of the power and ability of the 99%ers who literally occupy every part of America.

Our President expands:

"Now, in the midst of this debate, there are some who seem to be suffering from a kind of COLLECTIVE AMNESIA. After all that's happened, after the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, they want to return to the same practices that got us into this mess. In fact, they want to go back to the same policies that have stacked the deck against middle-class Americans for too many years. Their philosophy is simple: we are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules."

President Obama's memorable concluding summation:

"Well, I'm here to say they are wrong. I'm here to reaffirm my deep conviction that we are greater together than we are on our own. I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, and when everyone plays by the same rules. Those aren't Democratic or Republican values; 1% values or 99% values. They're American values, and we have to reclaim them."

"In 1910, Teddy Roosevelt came here, to Osawatomie, and laid out his vision for what he called a New Nationalism.

'Our country,' he said, '...means nothing unless it means the triumph of a real democracy...of an economic system under which each man shall be guaranteed the opportunity to show the best that there is in him.'"
(random emphasis added)

Well said, and Timely.


Original.

Michael Moore Stands with Teddy Roosevelt In Pursuit of A More Moral American Elite & Opposed to Rampant Greed

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy long ago went way out on a limb to justify and scrub the history of America's Robber Barons, attempting to make them our nation's entrepreneurial "saints."

A Wall Street Journal columnist Cites a Mackinac Center scholar's Book, Daniel Henninger, in his piece "Bring Back the Robber Barons" (1991)  highlighted in The Wall Street Journal a book entitled "The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America," by Dr. Burton Folsom Jr.

Folsom, a senior fellow in economic education for the Mackinac Center, attempts, as the Mackinac Center states, to dispel the "Myth of the Robber Barons explodes the misperception [SIC] that the great competitors of the 19th century made their gains unjustly..."

Father Bob Sirico (house priest for Erik Prince, and his mother, Father Bob's generous benefactor - Elsa Prince, Betsy (Prince) DeVos' mother, is a clever tartuffian, who now travels the country and the world with his message of divine blessing as expressed in the moral uprightness of massive wealth clothed in arcane Latin terms; often in league with Hillsdale's Dr. Gary Wolfram and the sub-basement writing staff at Mackinac's propaganda mill-all long encouraged and paid by millions from the mega-wealthy with an aggressive legislative list e.g. Right-to-Work (for Less) and all other manner of tax abatements and advantages for themselves.

There's an historical parallel, deja vu , in this moment of crisis, which has inspired the local, state, national, and international Occupy Movement:

"WE STAND AT ARMAGEDDON & BATTLE FOR THE LORD': Engage the fight against 'the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy."

-- Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt

That quote and more history of America's founding principals come from "The American Creed: A Biography of the Declaration of Independence" written by Forrest Church:

"In the early twenty century, radicals on the Christian Left were as critical of society as were Christians on the Right. The liberal social gospel arose in response to another aspect of modernism, the impact of industrialization on American society. Vast new capital emerged, undisciplined by government regulation. Max Weber wrote, "In the United States, the pursuit of wealth stripped of its religious and ethical meaning, tends to become associated with purely mundane passions, which often actually give it a character of sport." In these games one side almost always won. With the overwhelming preponderance of new capital filling the endless pockets of a few robber barons, lacking any government gesture in the direction of equity, the proliferation of goods no longer appeared to serve the common good. BY 1900 THE RICHEST ONE PERCENT OF AMERICANS POSSESSED MORE PROPERTY THAN ALL OTHER CITIZENS COMBINED. OUTRAGE AT THIS INEQUITY PROVOKED A POWERFUL, AND IN MANY WAYS REDEMPTIVE, SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS RESPONSE.

"When Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed, 'WE STAND AT ARMAGEDDON AND BATTLE FOR THE LORD,' it was not inspire his troops to storm San Juan Hill but to launch his reform platform as a Bull Moose candidate for president in 1912. Roosevelt was morally more eloquent in exercising his missionary zeal at home than abroad . Wary of the dangers posed by monopoly capitalism, he pledged the nation's sacred honor to dash 'the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy.' With his square deal anticipating his cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. Theodore raised the platform of American social justice.

"Though a Republican, and by no means an enemy of American Business, Roosevelt developed a repugnance for amassing of great wealth. He was aware of overdevelopment, championing the conservation of natural resources...As personally upright as any American President, he described his political platform as fundamentally an ethical movement.

"At a time when American corporations were poised to take over the country-directing national policy with many fewer restrictions than they operate under today-Roosevelt systematically attacked 'the swollen fortunes' and 'entrenched privilege' of the 'malefactors of great wealth.'

"The Robber Barons threatened to hijack the nation's soul. Curbing monopolies alone was not enough, however. Spiraling inequities of wealth imperiled social peace as well as social justice...By 1912 he was advocating campaign reform and was among the first to propose both an income tax and an inheritance tax. For Roosevelt, a more equitable tax code had as much to with morals as with economics. Vast fortunes not only threatened the integrity of the social compact but also weakened the more fiber of families enthralled by their possession. AT A TIME WHEN THE AMERICAN CREED WAS IN DANGER OF BEING REPLACED BY THE GOD OF MAMMON, ROOSEVLET WAS THE FIRST PRESIDENT TO MARSHAL THE FULL FORCE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO EMPOWER HIS MORAL VISION...."

(break)

" 'God gave me my money,' John D. Rockefeller once said. By him and others of his tiny class, massive charitable tithes were offered as a demonstration of this fact. But religious critics didn't view Rockefeller and his cohorts quite as generously. When the untrammeled power of wealth began to supplant (and subvert) government power and undermine social stability (as it does so well today), social prophets opened their Bibles and read a different message."
[emphasis added]

Source: This analysis is drawn from the book "The American Creed; A Biography of the Declaration of Independence" by Forrest Church. See also Church's address "The American Creed".

Michael Moore is but one voice, there are a host of writers and religious leaders who are again calling America back to the "HIGHER GROUND" so well embodied in our DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE and THE AMERICAN CREED that flows from it.


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Occupy America: Finding a Way to Free Citizens of the 99% from the “Mastery of the Ignoble elite.”

The hand-cranked memographers failure at the mighty propaganda mill - Mackinac Center for Public Policy - to do "the right thing" has caused it to lose all claim to pro-active philosophy, a sustainable fairness and renewal direction for Michigan.

This is profoundly sad and frightening.

It is the Mackinac Center incessant pounding of the legislature with proto-lobbying and the hectoring of the public to achieve their privatization and for-profit goals (while destroying and undermining the necessary order of Michigan and the everyday lives of its working people) that is creating ugly Michissippi - a newly decimated state pushed to be run over by TeaPublicans "gone wild" under the tutelage and direction of the Koch Bros., Amway, big oil, American Legislative Exchange Council put-and-take legislation and other mega corporations. These have put their demands well before the needs of Michigan's struggling populace.

The Mackinac Center is not conservative. The Mackinac Center is not moral. The Mackinac Center has lost all sense of religious mores. The Mackinac Center is a blight on traditional conservatism as led by Michigan's own Dean of Conservatism, the late Russell Kirk. The 'ignoble' mega-wealthy who back and propel Mackinac Center are not worthy of statesmanship and honor. They and their goals are ignoble.

Read this assessment of Russell Kirk's impact as relates to TRUE CONSERVATISM:

"First among the concerns of modern conservatives is the regeneration of spirit and character, by which Kirk means the renewal of religious ideals, the one sure foundation for a life worth living.

"Kirk cautions that political Christianity, in which God is a means to an end, will not suffice. Rather, spiritual renewal must be done for its own sake.

"The conservative is also concerned, as Kirk has mentioned before, with the PROBLEM OF LEADERSHIP, which has two aspects: the preservation of reverence, order, discipline, and class and the cleansing of our system of education, so that it can become liberal in the best sense of that word.

Stated Kirk "ONLY JUST LEADERSHIP CAN REDEEM SOCIETY FROM THE MASTERY OF THE IGNOBLE ELITE."
(emphasis added)

Excerpted from "Russell Kirk: The Conservative Mind".

America Faces Coming Judgment for Its Unbridled Worship of Pagan Mammonism

The Mackinac Center stands squarely with the Godless paganism of Ayn Rand, Friedman, Greenspan and others who exult the individual above the community and the congregation of the righteous, and still too, the common good, must be seen for what it actually is, a pagan libertarianism: Mammon whose fixation on "freedom" has degenerated into a raid on the foundations of our Republic; its banking and investment services, and yes, upon the distinctly religious basis given American life by the Framers of the Constitution.

Occupy America with righteousness and restore probity to the government and its institutions; stand with those who demand that business abide by moral standards. Too many of the "smartest men in the room" would have us believe that in America, if something has the force of law - a proposal is made into legal statues it bears the impress of morality, not so. All that is called 'legal' is not all moral. Legal is not necessarily 'moral.'

Americans suffer under many laws and corporate designer regulations that are anything but moral and righteous; beneficial to the common welfare.

Join Kirk's fight against twisted ideology and the corruption of real conservatism by the greedy usurpers mentioned above. Be genuinely 'Conservative.'
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It is said that mankind faces judgment by God in the afterlife. Nations, however, receive their judgment and punishment in this life. America stands to face harsh judgment from God in the here-and-now. Repent.

Will repentance now be too late to save our fair land?

For more on the 1% follow the "Mega-Wealthy" and "Wealthy Elites" tags on the Gazette.

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Hank Payne’s Utter Failure to Occupy the Moral High Ground vs. Michael Moore’s Progress Thereunto

Henry Payne's gnawing away on Michael Moore with shabby grievances is very small on his part.

Payne's real arguments made on the Detroit/Mackinac News and Michigan View, center against Moore and the Occupy Movement and with the power and the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, and several vicars of Christ - its popes.

Hank is on thin ice and at risk as a credible moral voice and/or guide.

Early in the anti-poor legislative blitz mounted by the Michigan TeaPublican super majorities in Lansing the Detroit News, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Mackinac Center (aided and abetted by the cynical Detroit News pinchpennies Nolan, Frank, Dr. Gary, Hank, and the peanut gallery of hand-cranked memographers of corporate pap and propaganda at the mighty Mackinac Center mischief mill) simply ignored the sharp criticism directed by the Michigan Conference of Catholic Bishops against Rick Snyder and crew as they took down and compounded the absolute plight of the poor in Michigan.

SEE: Letter from the Michigan Catholic Conference Calling for Greater Attention to Poor and Unemployed in the Michigan State Budget to Governor Rick Snyder and Michigan Legislative Leaders on April 11, 2011 begins:

"We, the Roman Catholic Bishops of the seven Dioceses in Michigan, take this opportunity as proposals are being advanced by our legislators to craft the state budget, to call on you, our executive and legislative leaders, to carry out your responsibilities with greater attention to the needs of the poor, the unemployed and other vulnerable persons who make up a large part of the citizens of Michigan."

Michael Moores' Rich Catholic Heritage Stands Opposed to Hank Payne & Cadre's Thinly Varnished Parsimony & Bitter, Ascorbic Civic Cynicism
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The American Conference of Catholic Bishops has enunciated a Set of Principles partially annotated from Wikipedia as below:

1.) Sanctity of human life and dignity of the person -

2.) Call to family, community, and participation - According to the Book of Genesis, the Lord God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone". The Catholic Church teaches that man is now not only a sacred but also a social animal and that families are the first and most basic units of a society. It advocates a complementarian view of marriage, and family life, religious leadership. FULL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT TAKES PLACE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS. The family-based on marriage(between a man and a woman)-is the first and fundamental unit of society and is a sanctuary for the creation and nurturing of children. Together families form communities, communities a state and together all across the world each human is part of the human family. HOW THESE COMMUNITIES ORGANIZE THEMSELVES POLITICALLY, ECONOMICALLY AND SOCIALLY IS THUS OF THE HIGHEST IMPORTANCE. EACH INSTITUTION MUST BE JUDGED BY HOW MUCH IT ENHANCES, OR IS A DETRIMENT TO, THE LIFE AND DIGNITY OF HUMAN PERSONS.

CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING OPPOSES COLLECTIVIST APPROACHES SUCH AS COMMUNISM BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT ALSO REJECTS UNRESTRICTED LAISSEZ-FAIRE POLICIES AND THE NOTION THAT A FREE MARKET AUTOMATICALLY PRODUCES SOCIAL JUSTICE. THE STATE HAS A POSITIVE MORAL ROLE TO PLAY AS NO SOCIETY WILL ACHIEVE A JUST AND EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES WITH A TOTALLY FREE MARKET. ALL PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND CULTURAL LIFE OF SOCIETY and, under the principle of subsidiarity, state functions should be carried out at the lowest level that is practical.

3.) Rights and responsibilities -

4.) Preferential Option for the poor and vulnerable - Jesus taught that on the Day of Judgement God will ask what each of us did to help the poor and needy: "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." This is reflected in the Church's canon law, which states, "THE CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL ARE ALSO OBLIGED TO PROMOTE SOCIAL JUSTICE and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor from their own resources."

Through our words, prayers and deeds we must show solidarity with, and compassion for, the poor. WHEN INSTITUTING PUBLIC POLICY WE MUST ALWAYS KEEP THE "PREFERENTIAL OPTION FOR THE POOR" AT THE FOREFRONT OF OUR MINDS.

The moral test of any society is "how it treats its most vulnerable members. THE POOR HAVE THE MOST URGENT MORAL CLAIM ON THE CONSCIENCE OF THE NATION. WE ARE CALLED TO LOOK AT PUBLIC POLICY DECISIONS IN TERMS OF HOW THEY AFFECT THE POOR."

Pope Benedict XVI has taught that "love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind, is as essential as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel". THIS PREFERENTIAL OPTION FOR THE POOR AND VULNERABLE INCLUDES ALL WHO ARE MARGINALIZED IN OUR NATION AND BEYOND-UNBORN CHILDREN, PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, THE ELDERLY AND TERMINALLY ILL, AND VICTIMS OF INJUSTICE AND OPPRESSION.

5.) Dignity of work - Society must pursue economic justice and the economy must serve people, not the other way around. Employers must not "look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but ... respect in every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character." Employers contribute to the common good through the services or products they provide and by creating jobs that uphold the dignity and rights of workers.

Workers have a right to work, to earn a living wage, and to form trade unions to protect their interests. All workers have a right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, and to safe working conditions. Workers also have responsibilities-to provide a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, to treat employers and co-workers with respect, and to carry out their work in ways that contribute to the common good. Workers must "fully and faithfully" perform the work they have agreed to do.

In 1933, the Catholic Worker Movement was founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. It was committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the marginalized and poorest in Society. Today over 185 Catholic Worker communities continue to protest injustice, war, racism, and violence of all forms.

6.) Solidarity - "Solidarity is undoubtedly a Christian virtue. It seeks to go beyond itself to total gratuity, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It leads to a new vision of the unity of humankind, a reflection of God's triune intimate life...." It is a unity that binds members of a group together.

All the peoples of the world belong to one human family. We must be our brother's keeper, though we may be separated by distance, language or culture. Jesus teaches that we must each love our neighbors as ourselves and in the parable of the Good Samaritan we see that our compassion should extend to all people.[ SOLIDARITY INCLUDES THE SCRIPTURAL CALL TO WELCOME THE STRANGER AMONG US-INCLUDING IMMIGRANTS SEEKING WORK, A SAFE HOME, EDUCATION FOR THEIR CHILDREN, AND A DECENT LIFE FOR THEIR FAMILIES.

7.) Complementarianism - "God gives man and woman an equal personal dignity" but also that the harmony of society "depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out."

8.) Charity - "In a culture without truth, there is a fatal risk of losing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word "love" is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite. Truth frees charity from the constraints of an emotionalism that deprives it of relational and social content, and of a fideism that deprives it of human and universal breathing-space. In the truth, charity reflects the personal yet public dimension of faith in God and the Bible.

9.) Subsidiarity -

10.) Distributism - DISTRIBUTISM HOLDS THAT SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC STRUCTURES SHOULD PROMOTE WIDE OWNERSHIP OF CORPORATIONS AND IS THE BASIS FOR ANTI-TRUST LAWS AND ECONOMIC COOPERATIVES INCLUDING CREDIT UNIONS. Rerum Novarum, Quadragesimo Anno and Centesimus Annus are Catholic Social Teaching documents which advocate economic distributism.


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What progress for good and the public commons have you to offer, Hank?

Have you new material that can substitute or supersede those of Michael Moore's Catholic Church's goals and principles?  If you do have advanced revelation and superior moral proposals for the future, please share them with us all.

See Also: "Is Michael Moore God’s Man for This Hour of National Crisis? " , "Henry Payne IV v. Mike Moore: Contrasting 2 Lives" and "Occupy Payne: Bloomfield Hills"

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Is Michael Moore God’s Man for This Hour of National Crisis?

Michael Moore's Focus on "Social Justice" Arises Directly out of His Catholic Education: Praise God!

"Progress has brought us both unbounded opportunities and unbridled difficulties. Thus, the measure of our civilization will not be that we have done much, but what we have done with that much. I believe that the next half century will determine if we will advance the cause of Christian civilization or revert to the horrors of brutal paganism. The thought of modern industry in the hands of Christian charity is a dream worth dreaming. The thought of industry in the hands of paganism is a nightmare beyond imagining. The choice is between the two."
-- Theodore Roosevelt

Michael Moore was schooled a Catholic. His sense of social justice is derived from his religious training and beliefs as a Catholic.

"Is there anyone here who, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone?"
-- Matthew 7:9

Let's look at Moore's Roman Catholic Catechism for some insight:

"Here is a quotation from the official Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church which illustrated the Church's position regarding the economics of poverty. This is to be found in Article 7 "The Seventh Commandment: You shall not steal," paragraphs 2401 through 2463. Notice that the seventh commandment establishes the right of private property, for without some recognition of private property there could be no such thing as stealing for everything would belong to everyone. Hence one cannot accuse Catholic doctrine of supporting views expressed by French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book 'Property is Theft.'

"Article 2402 of The Catechism states that 'The goods of creation are destined for the whole human race. However, the earth is divided up among men to assure the security of their lives, endangered by poverty and threatened by violence.'

"Article 2403 of The Catechism states that 'The right to private property, acquired by work or received from others by inheritance or gift, does not do away with the original gift of the earth to the whole of mankind. The universal destination of goods remains primordial, even if the promotion of the common good requires respect for the right to private property and its exercise.'

"Article 2406 of The Catechism states 'Political authority has the right and duty to regulate the legitimate exercise of the right to ownership for the sake of the common good.'

"Consider the exercise of 'eminent domain' when highways must be constructed. Consider the anti-trust laws which prevent any single Corporation from becoming so powerful that it would exercise unfairness in the competitive market place..."

Thus concludes William Buell, blogger.

America Has Been Too Long Under the Sway of a Cult of Mammon and Unrelenting Greed: Our Present Day Paganism

The ongoing press of libertarians and malcontents in defense of rampant greed rides in large part on the atheism and anti-humanitarian dementia of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan, et al. These powerful influences have co-opted and sanctified the financial barbarism which is the basis of many of their fortunes (not all) and the power-lust of the top 1%; who find little shame in their dominance and suppression of the 99% - including the working poor, the disadvantaged, the handicapped, the mentally addled; nor do they recant their shortcuts which took them to this haughty pinnacle.

"In what other land or age does one find selfishness enshrined as a virtue and a whole population of individuals drinking their self-worship neat, unadulterated by any idolatry of tribe or class? Where, but here, and when, but now; could "I DID IT MY WAY" be the music most often played at funerals?" 

-- Commenter from FirstThings.

The Detroit News/Mackinac Center charges against Michael Moore's motives lie squarely askew God's Plan.

Note the brilliant summation of Roman Catholic Archbishop Dom Helder:

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint, But when I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist."

Original.

Attention Pseudo-Christian Capitalists

Forget God' s Rules for Wealth, Forfeit Your Wealth

Having received the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai; Moses said to the gathered people:

"Obey all the laws that I am teaching you, and you will live and occupy the land which the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add anything to what I command you, and do not take anything away. Obey the commands of the Lord your God that I have given you. You yourselves saw what the Lord did at Mount Peor. He destroyed everyone who worshiped Baal, there, but those of you who were faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today.

"I have taught you all the laws, as the Lord my God told me to do."

His Semitic predecessor was depicted as a man or a bull - the Wall Street Bull?) (Baal serves Mammon & Greedy Hording)

Remember Who Has Given You Ability to Produce Wealth

"You may say to yourself, 'MY POWER AND THE STRENGTH OF MY HANDS HAVE PRODUCED THIS WEALTH FOR ME.' But REMEMBER THE LORD YOUR GOD, FOR IT IS HE WHO GIVES YOU THE ABILITY TO PRODUCE WEALTH, and so confirms his covenant..."
-- Spake Moses - Deuteronomy 8:17-18

So spoke Christ Jesus:

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can not serve both God and Mammon."
-- Matthew 6:19-21 and 24

God or Mammon America...What will your choice be ?

The Occupy Wall Street Activists & Grassroots Tea Party Activists Have a Lot in Common

What has become clearly obvious is that much unites the concerns of the Tea Party leaning Americans and Americans of the Occupy Wall Street protest- many of their individual concerns are in many ways shared.

Both Groups are vastly unhappy and uncomfortable with corporations and ineffective and hidebound congressional members in this our time of our ongoing economic and jobs crisis. Change is demanded.

The one and only Independent Member of Congress, the Honorable Bernie Sanders has succinctly listed Six Demands to be made of Wall Street and they are worthy of our attention:

1. If a financial institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist,
2. Put a cap on credit card interest rates to end usury,
3. The Federal Reserve needs to provide small businesses in America with the same low-interest loans it gave to foreign banks,
4. Stop Wall Street oil speculators from artificially increasing gasoline and heating oil prices,
5. Demand that Wall Street invest in the job-creating productive economy, instead of gambling on worthless derivatives,
6. Establish a Wall Street speculation fee on credit default swaps, derivatives, stock options and futures.

More from Sanders statement:

"Making these reforms will not be easy. After all, Wall Street is clearly the most powerful lobbying force on Capitol Hill. From 1998 through 2008, the financial sector spent over $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions to deregulate Wall Street. More recently, they spent hundreds of millions more to make the Dodd-Frank bill as weak as possible, and after its passage, hundreds of millions more to roll back or diluter the stronger provisions in that legislation."

Sanders Summary of the Wall Street Debacle:

"Let us never forget that as a result of the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street, this country was plunged into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes, and life savings as the middle class underwent an unprecedented collapse. Sadly, despite all the suffering caused by Wall Street, there is no reason to believe that the major financial institutions have changed their ways, or that future financial disasters and bailouts will not happen again.

"More than three years ago, Congress rewarded Wall Street with the biggest taxpayer bailout in the history of the world. Simultaneously but unknown to the American people at the time, the Federal Reserve provided an even larger bailout. The details of what the Fed did were kept secret until a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that I sponsored required the Government Accountability Office to audit the Fed's lending programs during the financial crisis."

There is more in these 6 REFORM PROPOSALS that unite both genuine grassroots, independent Tea Partiers - and those now thousands of The Silent Majority who are intent on seeing real changes, and very soon.

Did you get that? THERE IS MORE THAT UNITES THAN DIVIDES PEOPLE WHO WANT TO TAKE BACK AMERICA TO A CORE SET OF VALUES AND AN HONEST GOVERNMENT - overseeing and enforcing honest and business/finance practices which once again will carry us forward.


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The Evangelical “Base” - So Indispensible to the GOP Electoral Success - is in Denial and Utter Confusion

What's alarming and mysterious is how faithfully "true believing" folk are taken in by crass political and business practices that are destroying their lives, ruining their communities, robbing them of living wage jobs, foreclosing on their homesteads, and sending their young and brave to die on foreign soil for private/corporate causes... and worst of all this faction (the GOP's diehard religious base) is taking down the entire country with their demands that we all be subservient to their beliefs, while steadfastly ignoring the real issues: loss of saving, no jobs, wealth inequality, privatization of the public square, and rampant corporate greed.

It's clear that the leadership of this religious segment of American society hasn't come to face reality that the harm which they have prophesied for decades as coming from OUTSIDE FORCES is really now most virulent and destructive as forces organized and promoted from sources on the inside as well. THE COUNCIL FOR NATIONAL POLICY HAD IN IT MEMBERS WHOSE INTERESTS EASILY SLIP FROM RELIGIOUS TO ENTREPRENEURIAL, FROM MORAL ISSUES TO DE-REGULATED CORPORATE INTERESTS. These forces have promoted and put in place legislation, programs, and business models that have inflicted considerable harm on themselves: the members of the conservative Catholics, Pentecostal, Mormons, and Evangelical congregations across the country.

"...(J)ust how pervasive the alliance between the rich on the one hand, and the church on the other, has become can be measured by the harsh new attitude towards the poor manifested today by so many evangelicals - an attitude which ascribes poverty to "laziness" and "individual failure;" while such an attitude is not particularly reflective of Christ's attitude towards the poor, it certainly reflects the historic attitude of the rich" 

... writes S. R. Shearer - one brave prophetic voice that has been crying out in the wilderness of these times against the sinfulness and moral injustice these highly skilled and politically connected men of immense wealth have perpetrated on the poor and the very people, who are the base of the Republican Party and the 8 year threadbare "morals" cult of "Texas born-againer" George W. Bush.

Shearer insightfully explains:

"In attributing poverty to "laziness" and "individual failure," evangelicals have unwittingly bought into the arguments of their elite "business allies" - allies which have ostensibly joined them in their struggle to "return America to Christ and the church." But what evangelicals have evidently not fathomed is the fact that much of the poverty which has developed in the country since 1972 is directly attributable to the "free trade" (and, ipso facto, anti-union) policies and practices of their own business backers - phony "supporters" who, on the one hand, financially aid the ministries and churches of their evangelical allies, while on the other hand they mercilessly ship American jobs (many of which are held by rank-and-file evangelicals) overseas to Third World sweat shops. Maybe the next time evangelicals hear of large sums of money pouring into their churches and/or ministries from wealthy benefactors, they might do well to ask themselves what all this money is purchasing? What deals - implied or otherwise - might have been struck? WHAT KIND OF SILENCE ON THE PART OF THEIR LEADERS THIS MONEY MIGHT BE BUYING?"
(emphasis added)

This is a very troubling era, and if it is not corrected, OUR SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT WILL COME INTO GREAT CALAMITY... The "conservative" church, the "use-the-government-to promote" their ideological and theological goals faction, has become a huge economic source of adventure for an evil cabal of far right corporatists and free marketers (given effective cover from the religious groups) as well as the latest group of "free marketeers" among them are 400 OR SO CORPORATE MEMBERS WHO DOMINATE AND CONTROL THE AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL.

Now that the auspices of FOX/Rupert have given us (via the saturation promotion of so-called Tea Parties) the scourge of angry white men with placards and megaphones in mimic of the original Tea Party hooligans and vandals. Thanks to Karl Rove, Dick Armey, the Brothers Koch, and FOX we have a movement (laced with conservative religionists) completely out of control of GOP regulars and forcing the country deeper into ongoing economic chaos.

The "values voters," Fundamentalists, conservative Catholics, Evangelicals, and Pentecostals have only themselves to blame for the thundering failures now raining down on America. They have made the current mess possible by their blind allegiance to their own narrow beliefs and beguiling operatives while blind to the day-to-day problems of everyday life and gridlocked federal government.

Keen to choke all Americans with their sectarian dogmas and strict behavioral demands and aggressively using "government coercion" in many areas of human life, while ignoring the crumbling economy and the ongoing wars of present day. This command leadership has put a full nelson on the selection of appointees, the Supreme Court, and federal judgeships.

Decrying "big government" THESE FORCES HAVE ACTUALLY BECOME THE CLUELESS PROMOTERS OF BAD GOVERNMENT-BLIND TO THE FOIBLES AND FLAWS OF THOSE IN GOVERNMENT WHO ESPOUSE THE KIND OF BRANDED "CHRISTIANITY" THAT THESE THEOLOTICIANS USE TO PULL-THE-WOOL ON THE HUMBLE BELIEVERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, WHILE CATERING TO THE NEEDS OF A VAST CORPORATOCRACY.

Blind to greed, fraud, and corruption in the business and financial world, these religious groupings (and their compromised leadership) have abandoned social justice, to become the enablers of catastrophic crimes against the economic well-being of the nation and their own children.

Social Justice Defined
Social Justice means an equal participation of all groups in a society mutually shaped to meet their needs. Social justice includes a vision of society that is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure.

None less than the "national pastor" Dr. Billy Graham once weighed in on the scope of Social Justice: "Jesus taught that we are to take regeneration in one hand and a cup of cold water in the other."

And "Christians, above all other, should be concerned with social problems and social injustice."

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