The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1180850
C-8 Wednesday, October 30, 2019 The Press-Dispatch OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg I was browsing through some items on the internet since I had some downtime. There was an arti- cle that caught my attention about solitude-the need to be solitary at times. According to the Webster dic- tionary, solitude is a state of be- ing alone, being isolated, being se- cluded, being by one's self. In this current state of life we live in, any- more we are relentlessly bombard- ed with stimuli-like the television, radio, the cell phone, tablets, com- puters, many electronic devices we are constantly watching. Add to this are activities such as attend- ing to appointments, schedules, social events and so forth. Now we do Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Messenger, YouTube and so on and so forth. Whew, going through these even makes me tired. We have seen a cor- responding increase in anxiety, depression, dependence, addiction and even self inflicted harm. So we really need to step back and ask ourselves: Do we need to just be still and be quiet and be seclud- ed at times and prac- tice solitude. I did not mean to imply we should be isolat- ed and not be connected with what is important in our lives. We need times when we should turn off our thinking engines just like we turn off mechanical devices and ma- chines to give them time to cool down, to cool off and reset. • • • Here's what the arti- cle on solitude shared and I did some para- phrasing to add some clarity and a slightly different perspective and flavor to the sub- ject. • Solitude is nec- essary to detox and clean up all the noise we have accumulated. • Solitude and doing nothing is a way to relax and de-stress. Be- cause when we are able to have quiet times, clutter clears up and we become reinvigorated. • Solitude helps us to appreci- Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Lack of faith requires faith My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Practicing solitude Minority View by Walter E. Williams U.S. in moral decline Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Last week, U.S. Attorney Gen- eral William Barr told a Universi- ty of Notre Dame Law School audi- ence that attacks on religious lib- erty have contributed to a moral decline that's in part manifested by increases in suicides, mental illness and drug addiction. Barr said that our moral decline is not random but "organized destruc- tion." Namely that "Secularists and their allies have marshaled all the forces of mass communi- cation, popular culture, the enter- tainment industry, and academia in an unremitting assault on reli- gion and traditional values." The attorney general is abso- lutely correct. Whether we have the stomach to own up to it or not, we have become an immoral peo- ple left with little more than the pretense of morality. The left's at- tack on religion is just the tiny tip of the iceberg in our nation's mor- al decline. You say: "That's a pret- ty heavy charge, Williams. You'd better be prepared to back it up with evidence! " I'll try with a few questions for you to answer. Do you believe that it is moral and just for one person to be forc- ibly used to serve the purposes of another? And, if that person does not peaceably submit to such use, do you believe that there should be the initiation of force against him? Neither question is complex and can be answered by either a yes or no. For me the answer is no to both questions. I bet that nearly every college professor, pol- itician or even minis- ter could not give a simple yes or no re- sponse. A no answer, trans- lated to public poli- cy, would slash the federal budget by no less than two-thirds to three-quarters. A fter all most federal spending consist of taking the earnings of one American to give to another American in the form of farm subsidies, business bailouts, aid to higher education, welfare and food stamps. Keep in mind that Congress has no re- sources of its own. Plus there's no Santa Claus or tooth fairy that gives Congress resources. Thus, the only way that Congress can give one American a dollar is to first, through intimidation and co- ercion, confiscate that dollar from some other American. Such actions by the U.S. Con- gress should offend any sense of moral decency. If you're a Chris- tian or a Jew, you should be against the notion of one Ameri- can living at the expense of some other American. When God gave Moses the Eighth Commandment — "Thou shalt not steal" — I am sure that He did not mean thou shalt not steal unless there is a majority vote in the U.S. Con- gress. By the way, I do not take this posi- tion because I don't believe in helping our fellow man. I believe that helping those in need by reaching in- to one's own pocket to do is praiseworthy and laudable. But helping one's fellow man in need by reaching into somebody else's pockets to do so is worthy of condemnation. We must own up to the fact that laws and regulations alone cannot produce a civilized society. Moral- ity is society's first line of defense against uncivilized behavior. Re- ligious teachings, one way of in- culcating morality, have been un- der siege in our country for well over a half a century. In the name of not being judgmental and the vision that one lifestyle or set of values is just as good as another, traditional moral absolutes have been abandoned as guiding prin- ciples. We no longer hold peo- ple accountable for their behav- ior and we accept excuses. The moral problems Attorney Gener- al William Barr mentioned in his Pursuit of the Cure by Star Parker Pompeo and Barr speak about religion Cutting tariffs is better than cutting payroll taxes The longest running economic expansion in United States histo- ry continues. The latest jobs re- port confirms it. Average wage growth has exceeded 3 percent for 11 straight months, while wag- es have grown at more than twice that pace for the lowest 10th per- centile of wage earners, or people making about $12 an hour. That is equivalent to a roughly $1,500 raise for someone earning less than $25,000 a year. Consumer confidence and con- sumer spending are strong. Un- employment is low, and business- es continue to expand their pay- rolls. All of this to say that it is far from clear that the American economy is entering a downturn. The sky is certainly not falling. But even if we are sliding ever so slowly into a recession, a payroll tax cut would do nothing to boost the economy. Instead, cutting tar- iffs on goods should be the first priority. The dark economic clouds now visible on the horizon have little to do with payroll taxes. Rather, these problems are simmering and international. The Chinese economy is slowing due to demo- graphics and the inevitable mis- management of central planners, while the Japanese economy con- tinues to limp along in the face of high debt and a pending value added tax hike. Germany has en- tered a recession, while the Euro- pean Union continues to struggle with the pros and cons of Brexit. At home in the United States, the new and threatened tariffs, which are really taxes on Amer- ican consumers and businesses, are a drag on our economy. The 25 percent tariff on nearly all steel imports last year, for exam- ple, increased steel prices by as much as 40 percent in the follow- ing months. American consumers and businesses paid those high- er prices, and domestic steelwork- ers are not seeing the promised benefits. But the problem with tariffs runs deeper than higher pric- es. Businesses need certain- ty to plan, invest, and hire. The upheavals to global trade policy have created economic uncertain- ty and increased costs the world over. Without some semblance of normalcy and a credible com- mitment that it will stay that way, business investment will contin- ue to drop. A payroll tax cut can- not fix the damage caused by the current trade policy. This is not to say that we should not cut tax- es in general. Letting people keep more of their money is always a good goal for lawmakers. But cutting the payroll tax is de- signed to stimulate the economy by putting more cash in pockets and lowering the cost of employ- ment. The latter should lead to an increase in hiring. But these are not the areas where the economy needs help. Consumer spending has been strong, and employers have historically high numbers of open jobs, with a million more jobs available now than there are people looking for work. The last time we tried a payroll tax cut, the Congressional Bud- get Office estimated that for each dollar of forgone tax revenue, the economy would grow between 30 cents and 90 cents and cost more than $100,000 for each job creat - ed. If Congress wants to cut tax- es, they should start with the ones that are most harmful to the econ- omy. Taxes on trade, taxes on businesses, and taxes on saving and investment should take pri- ority. Unfortunately, President Trump and House Speaker Nan- cy Pelosi agreed to spend $ 322 billion more than the law allowed. Even without the recent budget busting deal, the federal govern- ment was nearing trillion dollar annual deficits. That is the worst level in the developed world. In the first 10 months of this year, federal tax revenue will have Two recent high-profile speech- es by Trump administration offi- cials say much — maybe even all we need to know — about the core cultural conflicts in the country and what will define the upcom- ing election. One speech, titled "Being a Christian Leader," was delivered by Secretary of State Mike Pom- peo to the American Association of Christian Counselors in Nash- ville, Tenn. Attorney General William Barr delivered the oth- er speech to the law school and the De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame. Pompeo discussed how, as a young man at West Point, he re- focused his Christian faith to the center of his life. He went on to relate how this influences today how he understands America's role in the world and how he does his job as secretary of state. Barr discussed the aggres- sive and destructive secularism now sweeping the country. He touched on the key point, made first by then-President George Washington in his 1796 farewell address to the nation, that a free nation must be a self-governing nation and that this only is possi- ble through moral virtue. Limited government requires a population that rules itself. This requires, as Barr explained, "shared moral values" that "rest on authority independent of men's will — they must flow from a transcendent Supreme Being." There is no way two high-pro- file officials from the Trump ad- ministration would give public presentations like these with- out support from the president, particularly in today's highly charged political environment. Pompeo and Barr communicat- ed a worldview starkly in contrast to what we're hearing from the Democratic presidential hope- fuls, most recently at the debate in Westerville, Ohio. The line is drawn clearly in the sand. President Trump is running on the premise that America is a free nation Under God. Democrats see our future in secular humanism. In the Democrat's world, poli- ticians define for us what social justice is, and politicians use the power of government to imple- ment their vision. Practically, this means massive expansion of government and pol- iticians like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, or whomev- er Democrats wind up choosing, running our lives and deciding who should have what. At least some Democrats are asking where the tens of trillions of dollars will come from to pay for proposals like "Medicare for All." But let's look at it a different way. Who is going to pay for all the government required by the col- lapse of the American family? According to the Kaiser Fami- ly Foundation, Americans ages 55 and above accounted for 56 per- cent of all health care expendi- tures in 2016. Our population is now shrink- ing due to fewer births, a direct result of acceptance of abortion and young people shunning mar- riage and family. The result is an aging popula- tion. The Census Bureau projects that by 2034, 15 years from now, for the first time ever, there will be more Americans over 65, 77 mil- lion, than under 18, 76.5 million. Fewer and fewer working Americans bearing the health care and retirement burdens of increasing numbers of elderly is not a picture for a healthy future. But it is the future that secular humanism is delivering and will continue to deliver. The 2016 election was about pushing back from this trend and restoring a free nation Un- der God. During the October 15th Democratic Debate, the Free- dom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) ran an ad featuring Ron Reagan pitching for contribu- tions. He said, "Hi, I'm Ron Rea- gan, an unabashed atheist, and I'm alarmed by the intrusion of religion into our secular govern- ment. . . I am a lifelong atheist, and I am not afraid of burning in Hell." Good for him. I hesitate to point out Mr. Rea- gan's ignorance, but I am not counting on the media to correct him on his lack of historical knowl- edge. All nations through time im- memorial embraced religious or philosophical tenants to guide the moral life of its citizens. The lack of religious scruples is a mod- ern development, and the ancients would be bewildered by this turn of events. American courts have recog- nized that atheism/secular hu- manism is a religion because it es- pouses a belief system that guides daily life. That is a definition of re- ligion. The FFRF has been accused by its detractors of using the legal system [and the legacy media] to force the abandonment of Chris- tian morality and practice from the public arena, and in- sert atheism [secu- lar humanism] into the vacuum. As one columnists pointed out the FFRF "apparently believe that the 3% of Amer- icans who are athe- ist have the right to never hear anything religious, and the 84-plus percent of Americans who are religious have to shut up and sit down as a result." Atheism is a religious system of beliefs as much as Christianity is, for it is based upon blind faith in secular humanism, which as men- tioned is a faith-based belief sys- tem just like every other religion. Faith is a system of beliefs based upon tenants that cannot be proved "objectively" true. The non-reli- gious claim one cannot "prove" the existence of God. However, neither can the irreli- gious prove that He does not exist. From this point, a series of "straw- man" arguments are constructed to demonstrate philosophically that God does not exist. Christianity states that God cre- ated all things while the atheists claim the cosmos cre- ated itself. A great leap of faith for both sides is noticeable here. The secularists claim the universe can be ex- plained by science, but science produces an ever-evolving body of knowledge. Therefore, it can only attest to what is known based upon current and incomplete knowl- edge. This is akin to blind "faith- based" claim. Cutting to the quick of the ar- gument of the atheists against re- ligion, they cannot disprove the accounts of the Bible and that the men who claim they were eyewit- nesses are false; likewise, they cannot prove the "Big Bang" the- ory. What cannot be ignored is the FFRF are just as disingenuous as the political progressives. They de- mand the right to be heard and be taken seriously, but any ideas or beliefs outside of their own are of- fensive and must be suppressed. Others have pointed out that by Continued on page 9 Heritage Viewpoint By Adam Michel Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9