In the meantime, I’ve been gathering a wealth of articles to help me (and you) better understand where the problem came from and what should have been done instead of a bailout. I think you’ll also notice a theme that shows how more government involvement is not the answer, but if anything is the reason we have this mess in the first place.

Trust Capitalism - This piece makes me think the bailout wasn’t necessary, and also shows how the federal government screwed with the free market.

Democrats to Blame? - This article talks about how President Bush tried to get something done in 2003, but how Democrats blocked those efforts. Funny how we keep hearing that this is all Bush’s fault though.

Bailout Politics - A great article by Thomas Sowell about how Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd, two democrats, can be saddled with a lot of the blame. Funny how the MSM hasn’t brought this up and simply let’s Obama off the hook whenever he blames Bush.

How is Obama Connected? - Another Thomas Sowell article detailing what role Obama has had in this mess.

But despite all the facts, my faith in the general public to think intelligently about these subjects is decreasing every day. Few people think about how the government’s role in all of this matters, but instead go along with the notion that the sky is falling, it’s all President Bush’s fault, and the only one that can save mankind is Barack Obama. That sounds like a best selling novel!

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1) Is college affordable?

In the last post Trent said life was tough paying for three kids to go to college. Obama says college costs too much. So is college a bad deal? Even at current prices (which are already higher because of the government, but more on that in a minute) college is actually a good deal. Even if you finish college with a boat load of student loans, the extra money you will make as a result of that loan far out way having to pay it back.

When Obama says college is too expensive, what he’s really doing is telling “the poor” that he’d be glad to give them some free monies.

2) What effect does government aid have on tuition?

A basic understanding of economics makes it clear that throwing federal money into higher education makes the price go up. It’s simple supply and demand. The more free tuition there is, the more people want to go, and that demand makes the price go up. If you don’t believe me, believe the CATO Institute.

There are other examples of government subsidies, but I figure we can talk about higher education specifically. Obama brought it up, and like Andrew pointed out, there was no explanation of how he would pay for it. But assuming what I’ve pointed out in the above, even if Obama tries to make college more affordable by throwing money at it, that will only drive the price even higher.

Why not let people pay for it themselves? Oh right, because grossly misusing people’s tax dollars is the socialist way.

We had some old Blockbuster gift cards lying around, so I went the other week and looked for a good game to buy. The only thing that caught my eye was Metal Gear Solid 4, so I got it. The reviews have just been amazing, so I had to give it a try. Then I found out that you could get the first three Metal Gear Solid games for the low price of $30…so in an effort to better understand the story in part four, I bought the first three games.

I beat the first Metal Gear Solid today after 15 hours. It’s old school, from the PS1 in 1998, so the graphics are a little dated, but the story is awesome. It’s a little hokey and over the top at times, but I quickly forgot about the pixelated 3D environments and was engrossed in the story. The first half of the game seemed familiar as I had played it in the past, but I had never beaten it until now.

Next up is Metal Gear Solid 2, which was made for the PS2. I’m pretty sure I beat that one all the way through when it came out, but I’ve forgotten the story line completely. My goal is to beat all 4 games pretty close together so the story flows well. My overly optimistic goal is to have them done by October 21st when Little Big Planet comes out, but I know the first game is quite a bit shorter than all the rest.

Oh, and Luke helped me beat a lot of the game.

1) Class Warfare

I’m tired of hearing Obama champion the middle class. He mentioned how teachers are struggling to pay the bills at night. What? My family has TWO teachers, and we’re doing just fine. I don’t want a President who tries to pit the “middle class” against the “rich.”

His tax cuts for 95% of Americans? How do you get a tax cut when when you don’t pay any income taxes to begin with? Oh wait, that’s called redistribution of wealth, aka socialism. But it’s cool to run on a platform of hating the rich and hoping there are enough jealous voters that will support you.

On 20/20 they showed a clip of Obama’s time as a community organizer. It was a bad part of town that went south after a steel plant or something closed. He got a bunch of women together though to go make some demands from their city leaders! The demand? That the government remove the asbestos from their government housing. Haha. Go government!

2) Besides trying to convince people that rich folk are evil, his only other tactic is to convince people that McCain is the same as Bush. He can’t go more than two sentences without trying to equate the two men. I understand doing it a couple times as good strategy, but after months and months it’s just become silly. We get it Obama, you don’t like Bush, you know a lot of other people don’t like Bush, but McCain is actually a different person.

Overall I think McCain came across as more knowledegable, and he should in this debate. This is McCain’s bread and butter. Sometimes I wish McCain would get a little more philosophical and talk about the role of government and that it’s not the government’s job to take care of people, but I’m not sure he could do that. Are there so many people now who expect the government to take care of them that making any suggestion to the contrary is political suicide?

For me the biggest issue is caring for what Jesus calls the “least of these.” I would argue that would involve issues such as healthcare as millions of Americans are left without adequate access to the care they need. You are also right that it shouldn’t be the governments responsibility to care of the “least of these.” I would love to see the church in America come along side and help these people out in their time of need without the government. But in the present state of the church, that simply isn’t happening with our time or our finances. For example, only 17% of Christians tithe off their income and on average they give 2%. How can the church make a difference if its people aren’t doing their part? Additionally, only 20% of believers in the average church serve in any capacity outside of attending Sunday morning. So then do we as Christians ignore the issue? No I believe that we can partner with our leaders and help them accomplish what the church isn’t.

There are a number of questions that should be asked and answered. “Government Assistance” is a really generic phrase, so I’ll speak in fairly general terms.

1) Do people give enough money to charity?

According to Mike, the answer to this question would be no, but I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. For one, the above is only an analysis of giving within the church. It doesn’t include money given to Habitat for Humanity or money donated to a local charity. A better indicator of giving to charity can be found here. Total charitable giving in 2007 was $306 billion (2.2 percent of GDP). Of that, $229 billion came from individuals. Religious organizations received just over $100 billion

2) How much is enough?

Mike said it’s hard for the church to make a difference because they don’t have enough money, but the question then is, how much? Should the government (or Mike) be able to decide, and force you to give that much?

I would say no, and not only because the money belongs to me, but because I want to decide how that money is used. In the past tax money has been used to put a cross in a bottle of urine. I’m supposed to trust that after the government takes my money they will use it in ways I approve of? No thanks. If I want to donate money, I will give it to the organizations I trust and believe in (none of which are the government).

3) Is the government any good at helping “the least of these”?

I made a post back in May that talked about the war on poverty. In case you don’t want to read it, we currently spend around $600 billion a year on the poor, and since the war on poverty began in the 1960’s, the poverty rate has remained unchanged. So much for making things better. No one really disagreed with that post though, so it must have been a good one.

I’ll look for a post from Mike about how the government is good at helping people.

4) What does government “giving” do to people?

I’ve made this point over and over, but I’ll make it again. When the government gives people things for free, it saps them of the energy to become better. When the government picks you up for making stupid decisions (like buying a house you can’t afford), people don’t learn their lessons. When the government offers to pay for your child’s lunch everyday for their whole life, it’s amazing how “poor” some people immediately become. When people expect the government to support them until they’re dead through social security, people stop saving money and making good choices. When the government gives handouts, it makes things worse. Government programs are bankrupting our country.

5) If the left loves the poor more, they must give more money, right?

Conservatives give 30% more to charity every year despite having a lower average income than liberal families. Do liberals recognize this, or do they just turn a blind eye and champion more leftist causes?

6) Is life all roses?

No, it’s not. Life is a struggle at times, and surviving those hard times make us better people. You don’t become a country with a strong work ethic by believing that the government can fix every problem. No, you tell people to learn to take care of their own life, to better themselves through education, and to make wise choices. If you think more government involvement is the answer, then you have learned nothing from history.

Those are some questions I came up with…what about you? Keep your comments focused on the topic at hand. If you want to talk about guns or war or something else, we can have a new issues post for that.

Read This Now

…and then tell me with a straight face how someone with such views has earned your support.

You might think it odd to attribute this to George W. Bush, but it makes perfect sense. It was obviously his fault when gas prices went up, so the correlation must follow that prices are now going down because of him.

In the morning we wake up at 5:50 a.m., and lucky for us the boy is sleeping through the night (and then some). We manage to eat breakfast and get ourselves all ready while he naps in his crib without a care in the world. Once I’m ready at about 6:45 a.m. I wake up Luke, and feed him his morning bottle. After that it’s a clothes change, fresh diaper, and then off to the sitter. I leave the house at 7 a.m., and I’m at work usually by 7:25 a.m. Phew! Stacie picks him up in the afternoon, and we’re usually all home by around 4 p.m.

Work is good, though it will be even better once we get those first paychecks.