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Well, this year’s election day is over and I, for one, am glad about that. Even though it was not an election as significant as the 2010 mid-terms or the 2012 “Big One”, it is still pretty remarkable to see the process for change in this country. It certainly is far to be preferred over what we seen in some other places in this world in recent times! Locally, we had some hotly contested races which in part meant that our phone rang about every 10 minutes with pollsters, political names, research organizations that were all interested in what we think, who we support and various other topics. With all of this behind us now, we can begin to focus on the First in The Nation Iowa Caucuses.
The date for the caucus this year is January 3, 2012. Apparently the Iowa Republican Party was pretty confident that Iowa voters were not going to be distracted by any of our state’s college football teams having to participate in a BCS Bowl. But that is a topic for a different essay. Whenever the Republican candidates can get away from the every other day televised debate schedule, many of them are taking the time to stump across Iowa making promises about what they will do if and when. I have to say I much prefer stopping into the local coffee shop and meeting someone in the running to be the “leader of the free world” as opposed to seeing them criticize each other and the “Current Occupant” on television. At the very least I still end up with a good cup of coffee!
All of this reminds me of something I read years ago. It was a book written by a man who spent several years at the top levels in the administration of a U.S. President. In the book he made a remarkable confession; how for years he had worked with everything he had within himself to do the things in government that he believed would make people’s lives better. Yet, for all that time and all that effort, he could not point to one person whose life had actually changed for the better as a result of those policies.
How thankful I am to our heavenly Father for His sending Jesus Christ to do in us and for us what no man can do for and by himself. From the standpoint of the Word of God, the real change for the better that is available now is the new birth and the transformation that comes by the renewing of the mind. A change for the best in the future comes with the return of Christ for the Church when we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.
As Christians with the ministry of reconciliation, we have the joy to serve something to people that will really make a difference in their lives when we preach Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
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Comments
sorry should be 160 feet of boom
Politics is like crack the whip.
What starts out as an honest need, and is proposed as an idea, brought forth on a platform, assisted by legislation, enacted by law, and enforced by agency are almost never one and the same.
When I injured myself in 98, and needed to sell my crane service, I sold it to a compny and went to work for them. My first task was to train someone who had never ran a crane before. At that time construction was booming, and the first day we parked in a lot where a five story office building was being erected. I knew the company, and the crane operator (one of the best). They were doing triple picks of steel. One piece dangling from the hook line, and then a piece dangling from that, and another dangling from that. The crane had 16 ft of boom with a 30 foot jib extension. It was windy, and yet it was flying. The crane line to the load was 10-15 ft. behind the crane, and yet by the time he got the first piece to the man standing 60 ft. in the air, it was motionless. I told Bob, the guy I was training we were going to stay there until he could explain to me why, on how that guy was able to do that. It took about two hours, but I got him to understand there is a world of difference between you being seated and pulling levers which are all functions of mechanical operations, and what is at the end of a cable that reacts exactly as Sir Isaac Newton said it would. He told me a number of times, that he got more understanding from that particular session, than any other thing I taught him.
I think the man or woman of modern politics thinks their seating gives them rule over the meachanical functions of power, and no matter how jerky or herky the load is they think it is not their fault.
On the whole last night I was proud of each and every candidate, proud of Iowa, Proud of the whole debate, and honored that this debate was within 100 miles of the land of my nativity.
But discussion regarding the legitimate purposes of government was not what I had in mind in my original post. There was so much mania in our local area regarding the election that we just had and so much attention being paid to the first in the nation Iowa Caucus that I wanted to give a little attention to a different aspect of life. Frankly most of the promises that the Presidential candidates are making and most of what every politician says can't be relied on at all. All men are liars - they have made it an art form.
It would be nice to see our country engage in a serious discussion regarding the legitimate functions of government. It would be nice to see honest cost-benefit estimates (if that is possible) before public projects are undertaken. You mention airports - here in eastern Iowa there is an airport in Cedar Rapids, in Waterloo (45 minutes away), one in Dubuque (75 minutes away) one in the Quad Cities (90 minutes away), one in Burlington (90 minutes away). All are serviced by commercial airlines. Is that really the best use of public funds? Would we not be better served by putting resources towards the maintenance of the roads that everyone uses? That is only one question that I think you are raising in a much better way than I am saying it.
As Christians with the ministry of reconciliation, we have the joyu to serve something to people that will really make a difference in their lives when we preach Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God
And that I affirmly believe, But............................
But as John Adams, stated, "While I live, let me have a country, a free country"
In 1976 I was stationed on the island of Guam. We were hit by a typhoon. a Big one. In 1980 It was where I spent my interim year in the Corps. The phone system was still not completely restored. Our Battalion supplied the generators, I forget how many now, for the back up power. It took to fuel trucks, and one mechanic full time to do the maintenance. In 1980 there were still a couple of generators in use, because not all power had been restored.
Infrastructure...............................
It is a poor man who gets into politics, and cannot point to a single achievement. My brother's, dad, uncles, and grandfather are bridge builders. Federal, state, county and township. Everything from a 24 inch culvert transversing a country road, to spans that have crossed the Mississippi. My mother and father met when My Grandpa Prahm rented rooms at a boarding house from my Grandpa Meyer. At the time my parents were dating, not only were my two grandparents living under the same roof, but my Great-grandpa as well. There were at that time installing a new water line in the town.
Government is not about the spiritual matters of life. It is about gravel, how much ash to use in concrete, the slope of the road ditch, and right of ways. Its about roads and why bridge overpasses must be a certain height, and trailers a maximum length. For instance, for every mile of interstate built, there must be a stretch that is straight, I forget how much and how often, but it is there in case of national emergencies so they may be used as runways. From the centerline of a two lane road to the outside of lane there is a 3 inch slope. The shoulder is flat.
Infrastructure.............................
For the sake of argument, let's assume there is in the U.S. 30,000 miles of intrastate, that took 30 years to build. Let's say life expectancy is 30 years. Every years that is 1,000 miles needed to be rebuilt. All that was done with State and federal gas tax, which today has been robbed, for bike trails, light rail, envoronmental impact studies, diversity training. Even the tax paid by over the road truckers on tires has been robbed to fund Airports, and the wonderful world of security we have come to know.
I would guess that any one in government that feels like he has never helped anyone has forgot his great duty, that what it is he does, helps everyone, and those that labor to swing the sword of power to help the individual, do so only at the expense of the majority, and such is the quagmire of modern politics.
The extension of the tax cuts tied to the pipeline is one such case, but wasn't health care hitch to the back of budget reconciliation?