Jesus, The Performance Artist

Two different Facebook friends have posted declarations of faith in the last few days, requesting that all of their friends copy and paste the declaration to their Status.  Both of the declarations contained reminders that if we deny Christ in front of men, He will deny us to The Father at The Judgment.  I needed to ask myself why I hesitated to comply with their requests.  It is because I have become leery of reposting anything on Facebook, and I do not want to be responsible for turning anyone away from Christ. 

Many requests to repost information on Facebook turn out to be rumors or hoaxes.  That was not true in this case, as both of my friends accurately paraphrased what Jesus said.  I am concerned about turning anyone away from Christ because I have seen it happen.  Jesus told us not to judge anyone, but my impression has been that many people who call themselves Christians are some of the most judgmental and mean-spirited people around.  I think that many other people share this impression.  People I have known who have been some of the best examples of loving thy neighbor, who were most like the Good Samaritan, have been people who did not even think of themselves as Christians.  Reminding people that they face damnation unless they declare themselves as Christians will probably not motivate people to learn about Jesus Christ.  Jesus said that he came not to condemn the world, but to save it from condemnation.

If we are going to use Facebook and other social media to share the Good News, we must share the good news with those who have not heard it.  They can learn about not hiding their light under a bushel after they get interested and start reading a Bible.  Jesus preached a message of love and hope and the power of faith.  One important thing I learned from reading the Bible is that we do ourselves a larger favor by forgiving others than any favor we do for anyone else when we forgive them.  I learned that we can overcome fear by faith.

Jesus was the ultimate performance artist.  Historians regard the Gospels as historical documents.  The Crucifixion was an historical event, not just a religious event.  Even if we leave aside some of the dogma, such as whether Jesus was born of a virgin, He really did go to the cross to send a message.  He had enough love and enough faith in him to undergo torture and die an extremely painful death so that the rest of us can have a focal point for our faith.  He died so that we can have life more abundantly and so that we can face the afterlife without fear.

Taxation Without Representation

An important principle for us to keep in mind on Independence Day is the idea of taxation without representation.  It was an important reason for the American Revolution.  It is the reason the franchise was expanded to include more than male property owners

Many citizens of the United States today are taxed without representation, but that is at least partly their own fault.  Less than half of the eligible voters in Ohio showed up at the polls to narrowly elect the now unpopular governor, John Kasich.  The government of Minnesota is now shut down because the governor and the legislature cannot agree on a budget.  The Democratic governor wants to raise taxes on state residents with the highest two percent of income, and the Republicans in the legislature refuse to agree to this.  It looks as though the same thing may happen to our national government.

The people who represent us in our state and national governments do not represent all of us.  They certainly represent the wealthiest among us, because the wealthiest among us vote.  They also have the means to fund election campaigns to influence how the rest of us vote.  If the wealthiest among us have a disproportionate share of power, it is because we gave it to them through our apathy. 

This problem goes back many generations.  Many people are apathetic about voting because they do not understand the importance of voting.  They did not adequately learn about civics in school because their parents did not vote for adequate funding for the public schools.  Those parents did not vote for money for the schools because they did not understand that their children must have an adequate education to participate in government effectively.  As a result, we have a population that believes that their votes do not count.  Many of those who do vote are manipulated by politicians who tell them what they want to hear.

If you are a poor working stiff, your incompetent brother-in-law sleeps on your couch.  If you are well-to-do, your incompetent brother-in-law works in your tax shelter business.  If you are wealthy and powerful, your incompetent brother-in-law holds public office so that you can get government contracts and subsidies and so that the tax structure favors your business interests.

We can reverse this situation simply by voting.  This means all of us.  If we simply bothered to learn about the issues and vote for candidates who truly represent our interests, we might be able to choose from more than two parties, and we might be able to field candidates who know something about the United States Constitution and the law.  We might not have to put up with campaign ads that insult our intelligence.  We might be able to keep our government in operation.

I'm Still Here

Even though Harold Camping seems to have not read the verses in the Bible in which Jesus Christ said that not even the angels in heaven know when he will return, (Matthew 24:36) I would be reluctant to laugh or jeer at him.  Mr. Camping predicted that the Rapture would occur on May 21, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. EDT.

There is a reason that we have a concept of a Last Day and a Rapture.  It is there to remind us to check ourselves to see if we are free of guilt and anger.  Whether you call these emotions sin, or bad kharma or negative spiritual energy, they hinder us from living life to its fullest in this world and prevent us from achieving Nirvana or entering the Kingdom of Heaven.  To be free of guilt and anger, we must seek forgiveness from those we have wronged, and forgive those who have wronged us.  This can be hard work.  The idea of the Rapture is there to remind us not to put off that hard work until it is convenient.  Jesus could come back at any time.  Even if he does not come back soon, any of us could get hit by a bus at any time.  We don't want a heart full of guilt and anger whenever something happens.

Basic Economics

WBNS 10TV, a television station in Columbus, Ohio, recently posed a question on its Facebook page. They asked followers who or what they think is responsible for the price of gasoline. The most popular answer among the people who post comments is that high gas prices are caused by the greed of the oil companies. President Barack Obama addressed similar concerns when he announced that the U.S. Justice Department will investigate whether the price of gas has been artificially increased by speculation among commodity traders.

Saying that an increase in the price of gasoline is caused by greedy oil companies is overly simplistic. They are in business to make a profit, but they have to compete against each other. If one oil company raises their prices significantly more than the other oil companies, they will not sell any oil or gas. I would be surprised if speculation is responsible for the price of gas increasing by more than a few cents a gallon.

What many of us seem to forget is the law of supply and demand. The price of gas is going up because we are running out of crude oil, from which gasoline is refined. The law of supply and demand determines the price of anything. If the supply of something increases or if the demand for something decreases, prices will go down. We can see this with the price of pork. More people now believe that the amount of fat in pork is not good for them and are buying less of it. The supply has not decreased in proportion, so those who still enjoy pork chops can find deals at the supermarket. Deals are not available on honey. A mysterious disease has killed off many honeybees, so honey is in short supply. The demand for honey has stayed the same, but there is less of it available. It is like we are all at an auction. Fewer people are bidding on the same amount of pork chops, and the same amount of people are bidding on less honey.

The situation with gasoline is similar to the situation with honey. There is less gasoline available than there used to be, but the same number of us are bidding on it. There is less oil available because we have used it up. We have been using it up for more than 100 years. Allowing oil drilling in places where we do not now allow it might keep the price of gas from going up for a little while, but it will go up again once we use that up. We have used it up through our pride, impatience, snobbery and laziness. We love to be seen in big, fancy cars, and we love to drive them fast. We think public transportation is for losers. We would rather spend the money to own a car than to walk a few blocks to catch a train or a bus. People who would rather take a bus or train to get to work are often out of luck because public transportation systems have not been built. We have put our money into roads and streets to accommodate automobiles. Those who want to ride bicycles risk death or injury at the hands of impatient and inattentive drivers. Obesity is epidemic, but we do not want to walk a few blocks to the store. We would rather use chainsaws, snowblowers and power mowers than do any kind of labor.

We have designed a transportaton system that uses fuel as inefficiently as possible. CSX claims that its trains can move a ton of freight nearly 500 miles on one gallon of fuel. This seems vastly more efficient than moving freight by truck. It makes me wonder why more freight is not moved by trains. If freight has to be moved hundreds of miles, it seems that it would be much more efficient to move it by train, and then put it on a truck to move it from a train depot to the final destination. This may add to the time it takes to deliver products to market, but I would think it would help decrease the final cost of the products.

We have used up all of our oil by using it inefficiently. If we want to stop paying outrageous prices for gas, we will have to avoid driving. We will have to take the bus, walk, or ride a bicycle. We may have to wait an extra day for products to arrive at the store.

Fighting Words

The United States Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that picketing funerals is free speech, protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  Samuel Alito was the only justice to dissent from the ruling.  He opined that carrying a sign at a funeral that reads "GOD HATES FAGS" amounts to fighting words, which are not protected by the First Amendment.  Members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas picketed the funeral of a soldier who was killed in Iraq.  They claim that God is punishing the United States because we have homosexuals enlisted in our armed forces.  The father of the dead Marine sued for damages, claiming that the picketers at his son's funeral inflicted emotional damage. 

It concerns me that only one justice out of nine on the highest court in our nation recognizes the word "fag" as a fighting word.  People who are openly gay and people who are anti-homosexual know that if you call someone a fag, you should be prepared to fight.  The fact that most of the justices on the Supreme Court do not know this makes me believe that they are out of touch with the rest of us.  We want our judges to be objective, but they should also know about fighting words.

Even if members of the Westboro Baptist Church did not have signs that included the word "fag," the very act of picketing a funeral amounts to fighting words.  If you do not think so, try this thought experiment:  Would the members of the Westboro Baptist Church picket the funeral of a gang member in Los Angeles who died in a shoot-out with another gang?  If they want to protest against immoral practices in our society, why not protest against selling dangerous and illegal drugs?  Picketing a funeral is abusive to the people who mourn the deceased.  They dropped plans to picket the funeral of a nine-year-old girl in exchange for radio air time.  I understand that they planned the protest against abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergy.

If you disagree with my idea that picketing funerals is abusive, consider that the practice is reverse evangelism.  What I mean by that is that it will have the opposite effect of the intended effect.  The people who picket funerals want us to see that homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church are against the will of God.  They want us to turn away from sin and accept the will of God.  If they really want to convince us of this, they need to find another medium for their message.  I can imagine that a person who does not like gay people would think that anybody who dies for their country is entitled to not have their funeral disturbed, even if they were gay.  Such a person would be more likely to support the right of gay people to serve in the armed forces.  The sexual abuse of children by priests is an important issue, but thought about it goes out the window when I hear about the outrageousness of someone picketing at the funeral of a child.  Those who picket funerals are more likely to turn people away from Christianity than they are to win converts.  Judgment belongs to God.  Those who would evangelize must bear that in mind.

My Old Idea

The Columbus Dispatch published my opinion about prohibiting public employees from going on strike 25 years ago.  The bus drivers were on strike here in Columbus then.  I had recently purchased a car and considered myself fortunate to have one.  I would not have been able to get to work during a transit strike.

I still believe that public employees should not be able to go on strike.  I believe in collective bargaining, but disrupting public services is different than refusing to help a business make a profit.  People could lose their lives, jobs or property if public workers go on strike.

A question sometimes comes up during discussions of education reform; Why does a basketball player make more money than a teacher?  This question is often used to illustrate our misplaced priorities.  The people who do the most important work get paid the least, and the people who do the least important work get paid the most.  The people who harvest our fruits and vegetables are de facto slaves, while the people who rigged our financial system so that they could bet on a failing housing market receive multi-million dollar bonuses.

A teacher should make more money than a basketball player.  The children of undocumented migrant workers should have U.S. citizenship and a free education and free health care.  That is the least we can do for them.  A police officer should make enough money for a comfortable living and so that he or she is unlikely to accept bribes.

If we prohibit public workers from going on strike, we should compensate them adequately.  Rather than balance the state budget by trimming their pay and benefits, we should soak the rich.  No one needs to be a billionaire.  We cannot argue that heavy taxes on the rich will stifle free enterprise.  We gave up on free enterprise when we bailed out the banks and the automobile manufacturers.  It is scandalous that teachers in Ohio face diminished retirement benefits while a basketball player from Akron sits on $90 million that he received for endorsing a brand of shoes.

Please vote!

     If we can learn anything from Governor John Kasich's failure to appoint members of minority groups to his cabinet, it is the importance of voting if one is able to do so.  (Black Ohio lawmakers demand that Kasich name minorities to cabinet, by Ann Sanner, Associated Press, January 27, 2011)  According to information posted on the Ohio Secretary of State's website, less than half of registered voters cast votes on November 2nd, 2010.  This does not take into account those who are eligible to vote, but are not registered.
     If Governor Kasich's claim that two members of minority groups were not interested in serving in his cabinet is true, he is not guilty of discrimination.  We do not know if any potential white designates declined the Governor's offer to serve in his cabinet.
     Apathy is responsible for the fact that we have an all-white cabinet in Ohio for the first time since 1962.  If more people bothered to vote, we might have more candidates running for office.  We might not be forced to choose between a Republican and an incumbent governor who received an endorsement from the NRA.