The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1222437
B-2 Wednesday, March 18, 2020 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 A dear friend of mine sent me this email which I think is quite appropriate for this Lenten sea- son. I receive many inspirational articles and I think this is one of the top ones worth sharing. Here it is: "Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Laugh often. Leave the rest to God." A man by the name of Eusebius wrote this prayer about the third Century AD: "May I be no people's enemy, and may I be the friend of that which is eternal and abides. May I never quarrel those near- est me, and if I do, may I be recon- ciled quickly. May I love, seek, and attain on- ly that which is good. May I wish for all people's hap- piness and envy none. May I never rejoice in the ill-for- tune of one who has wronged me. When I have done or said what is wrong, may I never wait for the re- buke of others, but always rebuke myself until I make amends. May I wish no victory that harms me or my op- ponent. May I reconcile friends who are angry with one another. May I ,to the ex- tent of my power, give all needful help to my friends and all who are in want. May I never fail a friend who is in dan- ger. When visiting those in grief, may I by gentle and give healing words, and be able to soften your pain. May I respect myself. May I keep tame that which rag- es within me. May I accustom myself to be gentle and never be angry with people because of circumstances. May I never discuss who is wick- ed and what wicked things one has done, but know good men and fol- low their footsteps." • • • A little background on Eusebius . Since I did not live during those times, I have to depend therefore on whatever record- ed history that has been shared with us by various sources. I did a little research on the author, out of curiosity. Most scholars date his birth about between 260 -265 AD in Ceasaria Martima, an ancient city on the coast of Mediterra- nean. He apparently died 339 AD. He was a historian of Christianity and became the Bishop of Cesar- ia about 314 AD. He was a scholar of the Biblical Canon and one of the most learned Christians of his time. He also provided a biograph- My Point of View By Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Live simply. Love generously. Minority View By Walter E. Williams Rights versus wishes Continued on page 3 Continued on page 3 Continued on page 3 Sen. Bernie Sanders said: "I be- lieve that health care is a right of all people." He's not alone in that contention. That claim comes from Democrats and Republicans and liberals and conservatives. It is not just a health care right that people claim. There are "rights" to decent housing, decent food, a decent job and prescription drugs. In a free and moral society, do people have these rights? Let's begin by asking ourselves: What is a right? In the standard usage of the term, a "right" is something that exists simultaneously among peo- ple. In the case of our U.S. Consti- tutional decree, we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- piness. Our individual right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness imposes no obligation upon anoth- er other than the duty of noninter- ference. As such, a right imposes no ob- ligation on another. For example, the right to free speech is some- thing we all possess simultaneous- ly. My right to free speech impos- es no obligation upon another ex- cept that of noninterference. Simi- larly, I have a right to travel freely. Again, that right imposes no obli- gation upon another except that of noninterference. Sanders' claim that health care is a right does impose obligations upon others. We see that by recognizing that there is no San- ta Claus or tooth fairy who gives resources to government to pay for medical services. Moreover, the money does not come from congressmen and state legislators reaching in- to their own pockets to pay for the service. That means that in order for government to provide medical services to someone who cannot afford it, it must use intimi- dation, threats and coercion to take the earnings of another American to provide that service. Let's apply this bogus concept of rights to my right to speak and trav- el freely. In the case of my right to free speech, it might impose obliga- tions on others to supply me with an auditorium, microphone and au- dience. It may require newspapers or television stations to allow me to use their property to express my views. My right to travel freely might require that others provide me with resources to purchase air- plane tickets and hotel accommo- dations. What if I were to demand that others make sacrifices so that I can exercise my free speech and travel rights, I suspect that most Americans would say, "Williams, you have rights to free speech and you have a right to travel freely, but I'm not obligated to pay for them! " A moral vision of rights does not mean that we should not help our fellow man in need. It means that helping with health care needs to be voluntary (i.e., free market decisions or voluntary donations to charities that provide health care.) The government's role in health care is to protect this individual right to choose. As Sena- tor Rand Paul was brave enough to say, "The basic assumption that you have a right to get something from somebody else means you have to endorse the concept of theft." Statists go further to claim that people have a "right" to housing, to a job, to an education, to an afford- able wage. These so-called rights impose burdens on others in the form of involuntary servitude. If one person has a right to something he did not earn, it means that an- Pursuit of the Cure By Star Parker Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Today's great black dilemma Lent is a time of accountability The blogosphere is awash with accusations and counteraccusa- tions surrounding who is the worst candidate for public office. One of the latest terms used to demean an opponent is "hypengiaphobia," the inability to take responsibility for his/her actions. From the opening pages of Gen- esis, we find sin entered humanity through disobedience. When con- fronted by God, Adam placed the blame of his transgression "upon that women whom YOU gave me." Nice try. Maybe this was the or- igin of hypengiaphobia, but God did not buy it! The church has been invaded with hypengiaphobia. The world is rampant with sin, which is expect- ed; however, the church no lon- ger calls its members [those who claim to be a disciple of Christ] to repentance for their sinful trans- gressions. Though the church recognizes sin, it seems impotent to define what it is because the Church has become cuckold, and has accepted "brokenness" as a permanent condition. Many from within the church point out "Jesus refused to make judgement towards people caught in sin [i.e. the women caught in adultery]." When those who accused the women taken in adultery left her after Jesus said, "let him who is without sin, cast the first stone," Jesus told her He did not condemn her—that did not mean she was not guilty. He refused to carry out the sentence. He extended grace and told her "go and sin no more." Jesus displayed enormous compas- sion and grace toward her and in- vited her into the kingdom. Jesus authenticated her sin, yet bestowed mercy and grace and an admonition to flee from sin. This act should be a wakeup call for the church who fears a backlash from within and without the church. Jesus "did" practice radical love while at the same time calling the wayward to repentance and a transformational life. Jesus frater- nized with the sinner, yet was sin- less. He searched out the sinner- the ones who were lostand extend- ed his hand of love and forgive- ness, yet did not partake of their sins. Jesus came to set sinners free from the condemnation of sin and the coming judgement. His mes- sage was "God is merciful and will extend grace to forgive sins." Many who opposed His mes- sage, claimed He was "a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners! " These op- ponents failed to recognize that Je- sus did not confuse love with tol- eration. Many within the church cling to their brokenness and blame God. This is troubling because Jesus told those who would lis- ten "Therefore you shall be per- fect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." The world around us lives in brokenness and finds ex- cuses to remain broken. Jesus addressed brokenness with his answer to the question, "What is the greatest command- ment? " He replied, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind;" then with barely a breath added "And the second is like it: You shall love your neigh- bor as yourself. On these two com- mandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Brokenness therefore, is the in- ability to follow God; Command- ments are broken, we injure and abuse others, while we abuse our- selves. We cry out "there is no hope! Grace must cover me be- cause God knows I am broken." Paul refuted that excuse when he wrote to the Church at Rome "… Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! " The antidote to brokenness was repentance! Jesus called all to re- pentance; "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." The broken who live within his/ her brokenness fail to realize or ac- cept that 'God is greater than our sins.' The resurrection of Christ is a witness to the power of God! How should we interpret Donald Trump's foreign policy? His sup- porters see it a "putting America first." His detractors believe he is setting the world on fire. For a clearer view of what the president is really up to, let's begin by disposing of some myths that have built up over the last three years. Here are five bad assess- ments that should be set aside to objectively evaluate where Ameri- can foreign policy is headed. Myth 1: In a second term, Trump will be unbound. This dire warning holds that the presi- dent is just waiting for the second bite at the presidential apple to unleash his craziest ideas on the world. What makes this notion laughable is the idea that Trump has ever been "bound." The reality is that Trump has been the decider-in-chief since Day One of his administration. The so-called "axis of adults" has never constrained him. He has cy- cled through four very different National Security Advisors; none seems to have distracted the presi- dent from his course. Nor has any- one achieved the status of "Trump whisperer," someone who guides the president in a particular direc- tion. All this means is that Trump's sec- ond-term foreign policy would look very much like his first term policy. A f- ter all, it would be the same guy call- ing the shots. Myth 2. The president doesn't have a plan. Trump detractors appear to believe he just wakes in the morning, watches Fox News and then decides what to do in the world that day. Nonsense. The president has had a well thought out plan in place since ear- ly in his administration. It's called the National Security Strategy of 2017—a document that accurate- ly expresses the goals and aspira- tions of Trump's foreign and secu- rity policy. Those goals and aspirations re- main unchanged. If you don't be- lieve me, just ask the advisers in the National Security Council who helped draft it. If anyone really wants to know what guides and animates U.S. foreign policy, all he needs to do is read the document. Myth 3. Trump is Putin's puppet. This canard still pops up frequently, especially on the campaign cir- cuit. In reality, Putin absolutely hates every single aspect of U.S. foreign policy. He hates the sanc- tions levied against his country and his cronies. He hates that Trump has prodded our NATO al- lies to beef up their defense spend- ing to make the alliance stronger. The Syrian civil war gave Putin an opportunity to play around in the Middle East, and he made the most of it in the Obama era. But the current administration hasn't given Moscow any real chance to run wild. Meanwhile, it has shoul- dered in between Russia and India. On the strategic front, Trump has pulled out of the one-sided INF Treaty (which Moscow had violat- ed with impunity for years) and in- Continued on page 3 Continued on page 3 I was proud recently when Marc Little, chairman of my organiza- tion, the Center for Urban Re- newal and Education, stood be- hind President Donald Trump at a White House event for Black His- tory Month and prayed for him. Then a parade of black liber- als did their thing in the media to try to deflate and devalue this im- portant event. Their actions help us understand why so little prog- ress has been made after more than half a century of civil rights activism. How can we miss the irony of black liberals, their lives dedicat- ed to keeping blacks on the gov- ernment welfare plantation, us- ing insulting plantation imagery to attack conservative black Chris- tians working for freedom and bet- ter lives for A frican Americans? The Economist magazine last year ran an article with the head- line "The black-white wealth gap is unchanged after half a century." "(I)n 1962," the article reports, "two years before the passage of landmark civil-rights legislation ... the average wealth of white households was seven times great- er than that of black households. Yet after decades of declining dis- crimination and the construction of a modern welfare state, that ra- tio remains the same." The article fails to mention that total spending on government an- ti-poverty and welfare programs over these years is estimated at $20 trillion. Why do significant gaps in wealth and income persist be- tween black Americans and the rest of the country? Racism? Americans recently elected a black man as their president twice. In the elections of 2008 and 2012, Barack Obama received al- most 80 million votes from white Americans. Between 1967 and 2015, the per- centage of marriages that are in- terracial or interethnic couples in- creased by five times. Why are blacks still inclined to attribute the challenges they face to racism? Because that's all they hear from left-wing black media moguls who are in business to get a rise out of people, rather than en- lighten them. A major theme being peddled in the current Democratic presi- dential campaign is that wealth is evil. Candidates are tripping over one another to see who can come up with a better tax on wealthy Americans. But is punishing wealth and achievement the answer for im- proving the lives of black Amer- icans or any Americans? According to one study, 69 % of those on Forbes Magazine's list of 400 wealthiest Americans are self- made. And 20 % grew up poor. Dr. Ben Carson, now secre- tary of housing and urban de- velopment, rose from a Detroit ghetto; he was raised by a single mother and later became a world- renowned neurosurgeon. His sto- ry, how his mother made her sons turn off the television and read at least one book every week, should be read by every American child. Surely, if blacks continue to buy the lie that the poor are poor be- cause the rich are rich, 50 years from now there will still be no change in the wealth gap between black households and the rest of the country. It's so easy to hate. It's so easy to blame others for your problems. And it's so hard to take responsi- bility for your life, regardless of the circumstances. But hate, blame and mockery are the meal ticket of black liber- als. So for them, conservative black Christians standing by the presi- dent, standing at the seat of pow- er, is a red flag. The idea that free- dom, faith, family, marriage and personal responsibility are the path to the good life is the last thing they want to see legitimized. Once, the great challenge that black Americans faced was the scourge of racism and the acts of evil white men. Heritage Viewpoint By James Carafano Five myths about Trump's foreign policy