I Can't Believe I'm Talking Politics
I don't normally get political on here, for three reasons.
1. It's boring.
2. I lack the patience to truly think through all the nuances of a well-reasoned debate.
3. I'm not sure anyone was ever convinced to change their views based on something presented by another person. (Prove me wrong!)
But here we go. I'll try to keep it brief. My political background: I grew up in a white, Republican household in Utah. Not surprisingly, I inherited values considered conservative: traditional families, limiting governmental power, all that. My first job out of college was working with a company that lists strongly to the Tea Party side of things. When Obama was elected I genuinely thought it was a disaster.
Then I left the company and started having more conversations with people. And I'm confused about these two ideas.
1. Conservatives in this country tend to identify themselves as Christian.
2. They don't espouse the ideals that I think Jesus himself would approve of.
Political conservatives are very keenly interested in RIGHTS, from the Second Amendment to freedom from oppressive taxes. And I don't overtly object to those concepts. But when they come at the expense of true Christian values, I have an issue. What would Jesus say about these things?
• Caring for the poor
• Not murdering children
I'm pretty sure he's on board with those things. Now, let's look at the first item. If you happen to be LDS, consider the number of times we are counseled in the Doctrine and Covenants to care for the poor. It looks like it's over 30 times at a glance. The conservative viewpoint seems to be a reluctance to give to the poor if anyone who is undeserving might receive it. My analogy there is that we believe in innocence until guilt is proven. We would rather risk a criminal going free than imprison someone who is innocent (though in truth we know this happens). To me this is the same as saying we should make sure the poor are taken care of, even if a few people are able to mooch off of welfare.
As for the right to bear arms, the majority of people in the country at least support expanded background checks. There's plenty of precedent in motor vehicle registration and licensing to recommend some caution when it comes to wielding things that can murder people. And no, you won't stop everyone who wants to kill, but wouldn't stopping some of them still be good?
Individual rights are only valid when they don't interfere with the rights of others. Isn't the right to life the first inalienable right mentioned in the Declaration of Independence? I assert that my right to live, and my children's right to live, supersedes your right to own an assault rifle. This is further illustrated for my LDS friends by the pervasive presence of secret combinations in the Book of Mormon. Even if you don't believe in the doctrine of the book, it still serves as an example of the way governments are corrupted by those who seek to trade money for influence.
It's abundantly clear that business lobbying in our government today is at odds with the best interests of the citizens, whom our elected officials ostensibly serve. We need look no further than campaign contributions from the NRA to illustrate that point. An organization of "almost 5 million" according to their website is in control of policies affecting 325 million. This makes no sense in a country that is based on Democratic principles.
While I don't agree with every value that would be considered liberal, I'm much closer to that line of thinking than conservatives these days. My point is simply this: If Jesus were here today, I believe he would want us to take care of one another. He would want us to put our resources toward helping the poor and needy rather than building up the wealth gap and arming ourselves to the teeth. Whether that comes through formal law and taxation to support social support programs, or through individually donating money to your local food bank instead of purchasing weapons (and other unnecessary luxuries) is up to our own interpretation. Basically, if we are going to claim Christian values, we should be sure we are familiar with what those are.
1. It's boring.
2. I lack the patience to truly think through all the nuances of a well-reasoned debate.
3. I'm not sure anyone was ever convinced to change their views based on something presented by another person. (Prove me wrong!)
But here we go. I'll try to keep it brief. My political background: I grew up in a white, Republican household in Utah. Not surprisingly, I inherited values considered conservative: traditional families, limiting governmental power, all that. My first job out of college was working with a company that lists strongly to the Tea Party side of things. When Obama was elected I genuinely thought it was a disaster.
Then I left the company and started having more conversations with people. And I'm confused about these two ideas.
1. Conservatives in this country tend to identify themselves as Christian.
2. They don't espouse the ideals that I think Jesus himself would approve of.
Political conservatives are very keenly interested in RIGHTS, from the Second Amendment to freedom from oppressive taxes. And I don't overtly object to those concepts. But when they come at the expense of true Christian values, I have an issue. What would Jesus say about these things?
• Caring for the poor
• Not murdering children
I'm pretty sure he's on board with those things. Now, let's look at the first item. If you happen to be LDS, consider the number of times we are counseled in the Doctrine and Covenants to care for the poor. It looks like it's over 30 times at a glance. The conservative viewpoint seems to be a reluctance to give to the poor if anyone who is undeserving might receive it. My analogy there is that we believe in innocence until guilt is proven. We would rather risk a criminal going free than imprison someone who is innocent (though in truth we know this happens). To me this is the same as saying we should make sure the poor are taken care of, even if a few people are able to mooch off of welfare.
As for the right to bear arms, the majority of people in the country at least support expanded background checks. There's plenty of precedent in motor vehicle registration and licensing to recommend some caution when it comes to wielding things that can murder people. And no, you won't stop everyone who wants to kill, but wouldn't stopping some of them still be good?
Individual rights are only valid when they don't interfere with the rights of others. Isn't the right to life the first inalienable right mentioned in the Declaration of Independence? I assert that my right to live, and my children's right to live, supersedes your right to own an assault rifle. This is further illustrated for my LDS friends by the pervasive presence of secret combinations in the Book of Mormon. Even if you don't believe in the doctrine of the book, it still serves as an example of the way governments are corrupted by those who seek to trade money for influence.
It's abundantly clear that business lobbying in our government today is at odds with the best interests of the citizens, whom our elected officials ostensibly serve. We need look no further than campaign contributions from the NRA to illustrate that point. An organization of "almost 5 million" according to their website is in control of policies affecting 325 million. This makes no sense in a country that is based on Democratic principles.
While I don't agree with every value that would be considered liberal, I'm much closer to that line of thinking than conservatives these days. My point is simply this: If Jesus were here today, I believe he would want us to take care of one another. He would want us to put our resources toward helping the poor and needy rather than building up the wealth gap and arming ourselves to the teeth. Whether that comes through formal law and taxation to support social support programs, or through individually donating money to your local food bank instead of purchasing weapons (and other unnecessary luxuries) is up to our own interpretation. Basically, if we are going to claim Christian values, we should be sure we are familiar with what those are.
Comments
I love this person, and maybe it's worth mentioning that she's married to my brother who isn't a dirtbag. But I wished I had repeated to her what she had just said, because it's an example of something that sounds completely insane to me. Instead I just told her that yeahhh, i'm inclined to believe the girl, in these types of situations. This comment probably belongs on your other post, because #metoo.