The Future of Blogging

Ever read Ender's Game? In that book, the world is wired. Tabletops are PC's and people can read the morning news or connect to blogs. The blogs are the center of politics. If you want a name in politics, you start a blog and you will gain a following. In fact, one of the characters in the book, Peter(a child genius) takes over the world through his blog. Sounds far-fetched? Read the book and it will become a scary possibility. Actually, I think the details of his rise to hegemon are found in another book, The Shadow of the Hegemon. Check them out. They are actually both books in companion series about child geniuses who shape the world and universe they live in. Very good books that make you think.

Religious progressive? I don't know, it doesn't make sense to me. I was looking at a blog called A Religious Liberal Blog, and it has a link about progressive Christianity. Here is the introduction to the site:

"Religion doesn't have to be
irrelevant, ineffectual, repressive...

Do you find more grace in the search for meaning than in absolute certainty, in the questions rather than in the answers?

Do you have religious interests and longings but cannot accept the beliefs and dogmas you associate with Christianity?

Are you repelled by claims that Christianity is the "only way"?"

I'll tell you what I'm repelled by. I'm repelled by men remaking religion in their own way. They take the doctrines of God and tear them apart, replacing the holy word of God with things that they believe. The Bible and the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, are revelations of God. They were, literally, spoken words which God said to prophets. They have been written down by these same prophets or their scribes and put together to form the standard works, the group of scriptures which lay out the doctrine and teachings of Christ. You cannot go against what is taught in these books and still be following Christ. The only way I can excuse these "progressive Christians" is by knowing of their ignorance. Sadly, though, I am sure at least a few of them are in no way ignorant. They know the truth, they just don't like it. It hurts them, it makes them feel guilty because they have not been living the truth. They think, "how can any true religion be painful?" They think, "Religion is supposed to bring happiness, therefore, if I'm not happy immediately, it can't be true." They don't realize, or they ignore the fact that you cannot be truly happy if you have not suffered. You cannot know, or fully appreciate, pleasure without pain. You cannot make it to heaven without following the road to heaven. There is only one road. That is revealed truth. No man made it up to get power over anyone. Men twist it and lead others down the wrong road to get power, but they did not make up the basic doctrine. To say that it is not true is to reject the bible and every other revelation of God. To reject these revelations is to reject Christianity. It's that simple. If you do not believe they are true, if you think the doctrines taught in them are false, then you think that all of what Christianity is false. You are left to remake Christianity in your own image and that will create chaos and churches that aim to make money or power profits.

I have so much more to say, but I need to go. Check out www.mormon.org.

Ok, this post is a bit haphazard, but I don't have a lot of time:

Bush vs. Kerry
First of all, neither of the candidates seem to have a full grasp on reality. Bush wants to fight a war and have tax cuts. The only way to do this is to borrow money. Borrowing money will increase the debt. Bush's plan is lousy. He has, however, created jobs and pulled us out of a recession faster than any other president.

So what's Kerry's plan? Don't tax the middle class and tax the rich. What will he do with this money? Pay for healthcare. Is taxing the rich enough? No. He will need to find money in other places. Where? Business. I'll get into that, but Kerry's plan is lousy, too.

Taxing business
What's wrong with taxing business? Isn't that where the money is? Taxing business will take money away from creating new jobs and investing in capital. Kerry's plan will decrease the job growth rate. Business will stop expanding. But isn't Kerry's cause good? Healthcare for all. What does it matter, though, if it kills the growth of the U.S. economy? Look at Denmark. Yeah, they are cared for from birth to death, but they are looking at legislation to ban people from moving into the country. The people find they can't afford to pay the taxes to support these immigrants. This is not freedom. We cannot kill our economic growth or destroy the vision of freedom in America for immigrants. If we do, Western civilization will face a brutal collapse. We aren't just at the peak of modern civilization, we are also the base.

Across the Board Income Tax
The solution to all our taxing problems, as I see it, is an across the board 10% income tax. Every tax bracket pays the same percentage. No more tax cuts. Personal income tax all the way. Why tax the personal income tax? Because this money is the people's spending money. It doesn't create most the jobs in the economy, it generally isn't invested. Most of it is spent on products. So wait, if we tax it, aren't we taking that money away from the consumer? Shouldn't that hurt the economy? Nope. Those who buy more, the rich, are being taxed less. They will have more money to spend, which could possibly create more jobs. There would still be problems, but they would be simpler and easier to handle than the complicated, messed up system we have today.

Universal vs. No healthcare
So what do we do about healthcare? Our system is obviously broken. Health insurance, because of its discounts, drives medical costs through the roof. Hospitals can't afford the discounts unless they raise prices. So those without insurance lose any option of quality healthcare. What's the answer? It obviously lies with changing the insurance system. Either we 1. do away with it completely or 2. socialize it.

I like the first option better, so I'll explain socializing it first. Ok, to socialize it is simple: everyone pays a new healthcare tax, and the government provides the healthcare. Everyone pays, everyone gets free healthcare. The problem is the thousands or millions, I'm not sure of the numbers, who pay little or no taxes because of how low their incomes are. These people are freeloaders. They get free healthcare without paying for it. We pay more because of them, so we see taxes go up more than we'd like. So I don't like this solution. More taxes are not better. Making everything public means we don't have very high quality healthcare because there is no competition. This goes against the basic idea of the free market system. We are not socialistic, we should not become so.

The second option is very attractive to me. If you get rid of health insurance, the costs go down. Way down. Those who are uninsured will be able to afford healthcare. There are still many who would not be able to afford it, but I am not considering that right now. They are in the minority. One thing I will say is that these people will have a great incentive to work harder and earn more money. Harsh, but that's reality in a free market system. And this option will privatize the healthcare system, creating competition and better quality service.

The tax system and the healthcare system are falling apart. They are heading towards collapse. They both need to be reworked or we will have a crisis, we already have a crisis on our hands. Tithe's are serious issues that the presidential candidates need to face, and neither of them are. I am for Bush. I feel he has a better handle on the situation. He is more honest, more steadfast, simply a better leader. He is still a politician, though. Someday, when I can vote, I hope that I have better options than what I see today.

Church Growth
Now for some happier news: the church is growing greatly in the northeastern United States. It really makes me wonder, with the church providing so much service and offering so much hope to people, how there can be so much opposition to it. I mean, I understand theological reasons for it, but putting those aside, why do people not see and appreciate what the church does? In a world in which the family is falling apart, why do so many reject an organization that claims that family is central to the survival of the human race? Ok, that's easy, because many think that the family isn't important. But how can people not see the truth? I look at my friends. The happy ones have strong families. The sad ones have families that have been torn apart for various reasons. Now, this is not universal, but the happy child in the torn family is the exception, not the rule. How can people not see this? Why do they continue to tear apart the family, the core of civilization in every culture? There has been no successful culture that did not have strong families. That is a fact. Study your history. And what is a family? It has always been a mother, a father, and their children. Often it has included grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and others, but the basic element of a strong family has always been the married mother and father. It has never been different. To change it would be to destroy civilization, as we are finding out. I could go on and on, but I need to cook dinner. In the meantime, check out www.andrewhagen.com.

Bush is not the best president we've ever had. But Kerry is a threat to this country. Who will win? Probably Kerry. Bush has done bad in the debates. People blind themselves to Kerry's hypocrisy and lies. Bush won't raise himself above the petty mud-slinging of the presidential campaign. Bush is the better choice. He's more honest. He's more steadfast. He has strong beliefs and sticks to them. He believes in the family and in life. Kerry believes in the freedom of "choice." Bush should win, Kerry may win. I'm afraid.