Some Food For Thought

In Response to my good buddy Kyle Blodgett's Article found at:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31368784237

Kyle,
You mention “What you believe, you can achieve.” That is a very good slogan to live by and is very admirable. However, there seems to be a disconnect here. What you set as an expectation to live by is not realistic for everybody. Why? Not everyone is as fortunate as we are to come from good families, good upbringings, good faiths, and good life-experiences.

As for being masters of our own fate, not everyone has the luxury of being able to do so. I will give you three simple examples of what I experience day in and day out that illustrate my point.

Example 1
Each year we go to Mexico for our mission trip and experience how government policies affect millions of peoples. The NAFTA bill that was signed into law has in the past ten years put 10 million small farmers out of business. Big US companies tell the farms what they will pay for fruit and only the biggest farms can produce fruit at the given price. So since the little farmers can’t compete, they loose their jobs, their farms, and their lives. Most are force to become migrant pickers. The average migrant worker gets at most a 3rd grade education, has kids at 15, and dies by the age of 40 (usually from lung cancer caused by harmful pesticides in the fields). I walk into camp every year and the teenagers there hate us. They hate us because we get to walk away back to our lives and they have no say with their fate. Our government affects others and our mission as Christians doesn’t end after our mission trips.

Example 2
I work in a pretty big parish that is ½ English-speaking and ½ Spanish- speaking. We have many people who are and are not documented who from Mexico because they need to survive. Since they only have a third grade education, they may make choices in the US like they would back in Mexico like having kids at 15. Is this right? No. But it is all they know. What is the antidote? Time and education. Sometimes it takes two to three generations until they get it. But it is our jobs as a community to provide these educational opportunities for them.

Example 3
This example is more at home and relatable. Across the street our church supports the St. Vincent de Paul food shelter for people. I wish people could see that sometime, people are put in situations they cannot effect. For example, we give out free medication to people who cannot afford it otherwise. You would be surprised how many people did everything right but still far on hard times. The most recent example is a hardworking man fell ill and was rushed to the hospital and had to go to surgery. The total bill was $150,000. After a bill like that, he was forced into poverty because it was just too much for him to handle. Read the book THE JUNGLE. It beautiful illustrates this.

I agree with you that we can only do the best we can with what we have, but let’s face it, sometimes that means that we need a helping hand. And that is what the government is for, to lend a helping hand and work for the greater good. It is its job is to do this especially when times are tough. Not only is it our jobs as Citizens to do this, but it is our obligation as Christians. I won’t preach to the choir here, but there are countless times in the Bible where we are called to take care of the poor, the widows, the estranged, the orphans, and etc. Most of what Jesus talked about in the New Testament spoke of fair economics and how we should treat people. It’s time we do the same.

I believe, like Jefferson, the government is supposed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is up to each and everyone of us to make this a good government. So I am asking you, whoever is still reading this, to put you money where your mouth is. This election, are you going to reach across the trenches and lift up your brother in need or deny that he is even there. There is a season for everything and this is the season of change.

In Response to Kyle's Article (Below)
Many of my beloved friends and facebook friends have been asking me to explain why I am so against the Obama/Biden ticket. Some have lashed out in anger, others in curiosity, and a few in meaningful conversations. I appreciate all who have taken notice, and I love the fact that these types of discussions can be had by all through the internet.
I wish to now address the issue I have been asked so frequently about: “Why are you so against Barack Obama?” Let me explain the main reason I feel justified in my disgust towards him. Anyone is free to comment.
The main reason I am disgusted is because I hate the overarching message of the Obama/Biden ticket. Although “change” is the “motto” or “slogan” the ticket trumpets, this is not what I feel accurately describes their overall message.
In my opinion, the message that the Obama/Biden ticket has been conveying throughout their campaign is “VICTIMIZATION.” At every opportunity, Obama/Biden bring up the Bush Administration, deregulation, the Iraq War, oil companies, and middle class citizens making anywhere from $120,000-$250,000/year and directly blames every single world problem on one of these.
His message is essentially that because of these five things, the average American has no chance of making it in the world. His message is that the middle class is not empowered, but POWERLESS, and unless we rely completely and utterly on the Federal Government, you are doomed to be exploited, beat down, and dragged out in life by a rich corporation, person, or political figure. Victims. We are all somehow victims of something we cannot ever hope to control, so why should we try individually? We should just let the government create programs to help us since America has become the land of the damned rather than the land of opportunity.
This campaign theme is so completely and utterly against what I feel that it sickens me. When I entered the workforce right out of college, my first manger became one of my favorite mentors. One thing he would most often quote is the famous Napoleon Hill saying, “What you believe, you can achieve.” I believe wholeheartedly that this is true. I do not believe in Obama’s policy of “What you believe, the GOVERNEMNT can achieve for you.” Do you see the difference in logic? The first attitude EMPOWERS an individual, while the latter leaves the individual POWERLESS and completely dependant upon a bureaucratic entity.
Victimization is the wrong message we should be sending to ourselves and our children. We are masters of our OWN fate. So what if George Bush went into Iraq? So what if the California housing market is wreaking havok in our economy? I understand that there may be political disagreements with such decisions, but how does that somehow set you up to be a failure in life? Since when did YOU become so hopeless, that no matter what you do, you can’t get ahead? Since when did YOU become completely dependant on someone deciding FOR YOU how you should live your life? After everything is said and done, I cannot make excuses and say I am a VICITM of what others have chosen to do. I can only do the best with what I have been given, and should not expect a government agency to be the one to seal my fate.
Please, please please, make the right decision this year. The right decision is NOT the Obama/Biden ticket. Make the decision that puts YOU in control of YOUR life. Let your decision reflect the reasons this country was founded in the first place: self-reliance, independence, and freedom from a central government making decisions about your personal life for you. Be part of the COMPETANT minority, not the IGNORATE masses. Make the RIGHT decision, vote McCAin/Palin.