**Disclaimer** The following post is not a comment on Christianity, nor do you have to agree with me to be a devoted Christ-follower. I am writing from the standpoint of an American citizen, not as a minister who is preaching God's word. This is my specific commentary and is not a commentary on Scripture nor does it have anything to do with following Christ.
As a minister, I am very often approached by people who want something from me. They know I'm a minister and therefore have a decent chance of getting what they want. After all, that's my job, right? Give people what they want?
I remember one guy who was in desperate financial straits. He had lost his apartment, had his car repossessed, and all the stuff that goes along with it. I hated it for the guy. I really did. I felt for him and I would never want to be in his position. But something happened that changed my mind towards him.
He demanded that I help him.
He didn't ask. He flat-out told me that I was supposed to give him money. He implied that if I didn't take care of him, that I was not a Christian.
In further discussion, I found out that he didn't have a job, not because he couldn't get one, but because he had quit because the boss "was a jerk." He also had been driving a car that was much nicer than what he could afford, and his credit cards were maxed out on dining out, movies, expensive entertainment systems, and vacations.
In other words, he had lived beyond his means, and when it went south, expected me to pay for it. No mention of changing his habits, no mention of wrongdoing, no mention of mistakes, no mention of doing anything different. Just wanted money. What person in their right mind would help out a guy like that? The answer: no one . . . . in their right mind.
I see the same thing with our government. You and I didn't rack up $16 trillion in debt. The government did that. They spent it. The government is the one who has lived beyond its means, spending money like a drunken sailor, throwing away tax money on irresponsible projects like Solyndra, and now that reality hits, they come to the American taxpayer demanding that we pay for it.
Just like the guy that approached me.
Why did I refuse to help the guy? Had I given him money, it would have been wasted. He would be back the next day, demanding more. His lack of money wasn't the problem- it was his lifestyle. And he wanted, no not wanted- DEMANDED- that I pay for it so he could do what he wanted to do.
Same is true of government. Do any of us think that more money to the government will solve anything? The government has never once admitted that its "lifestyle" is out of control. Our politicians truly believe, like this guy, that it is my responsibility to solve the problems they have created.
Are any of us stupid enough to believe that raising taxes on Americans will change the government debt situation? Let's use an example from daily life- all people who have ever gotten a raise at work will know the answer to this question. After you got your raise, did you have more money left over at the end of the month? Of course you didn't. Unless you were serious about saving and budgeting, that money disappeared and was GONE. More money doesn't mean more responsibility. More money means more spending.
This is why I am against raising taxes. The government is like an immature child without financial sense who spends without any sense of discipline, overdraws his account, and comes to the parents demanding more and more. We are the enabling parents who keep subsidizing him. Has any parent, who has enabled a child's addiction to spending or drugs or anything else, ever had the child come to them and say, "You know, I think you are giving me enough. I don't need any more?" No! The child who is addicted to spending, or drugs, or anything else will ALWAYS want more. He will always DEMAND more.
So, the more we give the government, the more it will demand. It will never stop wanting more and more. We need to stop feeding the addiction and we need to stop enabling our government's irresponsibility. The best thing a parent can do to an addicted child is to cut them off completely. Let them hit rock bottom. Refuse to enable their out-of-control lifestyle.
The same thing has to happen to the government. We, as the taxpayers, have to refuse to give any more in taxes to the government. It already taxes everything we do. We pay taxes on the houses we live in, the cars we drive, the water we use, the phones we use, the natural gas we use, the gasoline we use, the electricity we use, and everything we buy. Then, the government takes a third of our paycheck. Then the state takes a percentage. Then the city takes a percentage. Then, if you send what's left to the stock market, the government takes a portion of already-taxed money out of that. Then, when you die, it wants to take fifty percent of your estate that you would leave to your children. And now, the government wants more.
Right now, there is a dysfunctional relationship between taxpayer and government, like the dysfunctional relationship between enabling parent and addicted child. Only when we start thinking in terms like these will we see the folly in calling for higher taxes to solve our problems.
Just like the guy who approached me demanding that I pay for his lifestyle, the government is approaching us demanding that we pay for its lifestyle. I didn't create the problems for this guy: he is the one who lived extravagantly beyond his means. You and I didn't create $16 trillion in debt: the government is the one who has lived extravagantly beyond its means. He created the problems and they were his responsibility. The government has created its problems and it is the government's job to fix it, without demanding any more from you and me.
As a minister, I am very often approached by people who want something from me. They know I'm a minister and therefore have a decent chance of getting what they want. After all, that's my job, right? Give people what they want?
I remember one guy who was in desperate financial straits. He had lost his apartment, had his car repossessed, and all the stuff that goes along with it. I hated it for the guy. I really did. I felt for him and I would never want to be in his position. But something happened that changed my mind towards him.
He demanded that I help him.
He didn't ask. He flat-out told me that I was supposed to give him money. He implied that if I didn't take care of him, that I was not a Christian.
In further discussion, I found out that he didn't have a job, not because he couldn't get one, but because he had quit because the boss "was a jerk." He also had been driving a car that was much nicer than what he could afford, and his credit cards were maxed out on dining out, movies, expensive entertainment systems, and vacations.
In other words, he had lived beyond his means, and when it went south, expected me to pay for it. No mention of changing his habits, no mention of wrongdoing, no mention of mistakes, no mention of doing anything different. Just wanted money. What person in their right mind would help out a guy like that? The answer: no one . . . . in their right mind.
I see the same thing with our government. You and I didn't rack up $16 trillion in debt. The government did that. They spent it. The government is the one who has lived beyond its means, spending money like a drunken sailor, throwing away tax money on irresponsible projects like Solyndra, and now that reality hits, they come to the American taxpayer demanding that we pay for it.
Just like the guy that approached me.
Why did I refuse to help the guy? Had I given him money, it would have been wasted. He would be back the next day, demanding more. His lack of money wasn't the problem- it was his lifestyle. And he wanted, no not wanted- DEMANDED- that I pay for it so he could do what he wanted to do.
Same is true of government. Do any of us think that more money to the government will solve anything? The government has never once admitted that its "lifestyle" is out of control. Our politicians truly believe, like this guy, that it is my responsibility to solve the problems they have created.
Are any of us stupid enough to believe that raising taxes on Americans will change the government debt situation? Let's use an example from daily life- all people who have ever gotten a raise at work will know the answer to this question. After you got your raise, did you have more money left over at the end of the month? Of course you didn't. Unless you were serious about saving and budgeting, that money disappeared and was GONE. More money doesn't mean more responsibility. More money means more spending.
This is why I am against raising taxes. The government is like an immature child without financial sense who spends without any sense of discipline, overdraws his account, and comes to the parents demanding more and more. We are the enabling parents who keep subsidizing him. Has any parent, who has enabled a child's addiction to spending or drugs or anything else, ever had the child come to them and say, "You know, I think you are giving me enough. I don't need any more?" No! The child who is addicted to spending, or drugs, or anything else will ALWAYS want more. He will always DEMAND more.
So, the more we give the government, the more it will demand. It will never stop wanting more and more. We need to stop feeding the addiction and we need to stop enabling our government's irresponsibility. The best thing a parent can do to an addicted child is to cut them off completely. Let them hit rock bottom. Refuse to enable their out-of-control lifestyle.
The same thing has to happen to the government. We, as the taxpayers, have to refuse to give any more in taxes to the government. It already taxes everything we do. We pay taxes on the houses we live in, the cars we drive, the water we use, the phones we use, the natural gas we use, the gasoline we use, the electricity we use, and everything we buy. Then, the government takes a third of our paycheck. Then the state takes a percentage. Then the city takes a percentage. Then, if you send what's left to the stock market, the government takes a portion of already-taxed money out of that. Then, when you die, it wants to take fifty percent of your estate that you would leave to your children. And now, the government wants more.
Right now, there is a dysfunctional relationship between taxpayer and government, like the dysfunctional relationship between enabling parent and addicted child. Only when we start thinking in terms like these will we see the folly in calling for higher taxes to solve our problems.
Just like the guy who approached me demanding that I pay for his lifestyle, the government is approaching us demanding that we pay for its lifestyle. I didn't create the problems for this guy: he is the one who lived extravagantly beyond his means. You and I didn't create $16 trillion in debt: the government is the one who has lived extravagantly beyond its means. He created the problems and they were his responsibility. The government has created its problems and it is the government's job to fix it, without demanding any more from you and me.
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