Pray For Your Enemies
What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?
Psalm 116:12 ESV
Those of us with a diverse community of Facebook friends get to experience the heartfelt passion of our friends on the political topics of the day. The Supreme Court’s ruling last week on the Affordable Care Act was a good example. It blew up my FB feed for several days in a row. Some of the comments were fair; some inflammatory. Truth be told, I posted a few of each myself.
I think it’s great when people speak their mind. And I count myself fortunate that all my friends don’t think alike. Too many of us are a bit too cozy living in our Red or Blue states, watching our Red or Blue news shows and hanging with our Red or Blue friends.
I believe that if we mingled more we’d be quickly dispelled of the notion that people on the other side of the political spectrum are stupid or evil or just plain self-serving. We have differences for sure; but at their core are differences of philosophy not differences of morality.
People who believe in an active, large government believe that government is an effective vehicle to meet people’s needs and right the wrongs of our time. And because people have many needs and there are so many terrible wrongs that need righting (both here and abroad) they need a whole lot of programs, people and money to try and fix them. As governments get money from either printing presses or taxes, this philosophy requires a lot of both.
When big government people say that everyone needs to pay their “fair share” of taxes, the people who are already paying virtually all the taxes in our country take offense. But they shouldn’t, it’s not personal. All the politicians are saying is that they need more money to pay for the programs they believe our country needs and that the least unfair place to get money (other than printing more and more of it, which they are already doing) is from people who are making a decent living.
So my question to YOU is simply this. If you are not a big government person, what do you think is a better way to meet people’s needs and right the wrongs of our time?
Instead of calling each other names and impugning each other’s character, let’s engage in a thoughtful and respectful discussion of our genuine beliefs. Maybe we’ll all learn something.
Bill Weisberg
Chairman & CEO
@BillWeisberg