Friday, May 28, 2010

A post at Sojourners

Jim Wallis posted over at Sojourners about libertarians. There are more strawmen than a county of corn patches, so I couldn't help but post. In case they delete or reject my comment, here it is in its entirety:

I managed to have a very nice post. Unfortunately, disqus proceeded to eat it.

Mr. Wallis, you commit the same error you claim to detest in the Christian right: you are defining the True Christian.

I am a Christian, and I am a Libertarian. God does not compel giving by the sword; the Law showed us that that doesn't work. We are instead to give freely, of our own will. Government does not ask; it takes.

If the church cannot meet God's will, then the church is in sin. God no more needs a government to feed His people than he needs it to convert the sinner.

There is no racism or hypocrisy in pointing out that the government is broke. The federal government will borrow 1 trillion USD this year. Illinois can't pay its bills at all; California is next. Social Security will spend more this year than it draws in, and Medicare is only solvent on paper because it systematically abuses and underpays doctors in the system. If we do not default on the US sovereign debt before then, the US will need 100% of our GDP just to service the debt before my children grow old.

Moreover, the government is inefficient. The government has around 70% overhead rates (for every .30 going to the poor, the government spends around .70 to do so). Good charities manage 10% overhead or less (.1 overhead for every .9 spent), and any charity with more than 25% overhead is probably a scam.

Facts aren't racist or classist. They are still the facts.

The libertarian doesn't favor the strong; the libertarian KNOWS that the strong regularly abuse the weak, and they usually use the government to do so. To paraphrase Lewis, at least give me a petty tyrant. He will sleep or might grow lazy. God save us from the righteous tyrant; he will never sleep for fear of someone harming themselves.

We have a government of righteous tyrants, afraid that one type of "marriage" will corrupt me, or that my incandescent lights will ruin the world. Neither "side" has the least compunction from using the same means; they just argue over goals.

The Libertarian believes in the law of unintended consequences. Pass a minimum wage law, and fewer people get jobs. Regulate companies, and they can't compete with their foreign competitors. The government that has the power to take over GM is the same government with the power to shoot the workers (coal miners and railroad workers of the 1800s). The government that can force a waiter to serve a black man is the same government that can force a waiter to not serve a Christian, or a Jew, etc.

I do not believe that Government is evil; it is worldly and flawed. The Mosaic Law failed when it attempted to impose charity just as it failed when it tried to impose Godly behavior. Our brethren who want to outlaw sin are just as flawed as those who want to outlaw poverty.

As for racism: Mr. Wallis, might I suggest you attend a Tea Party rally? Or perhaps look at the pictures from the right-wing nut job blogs. The people showing you the lilly-white pictures have an agenda to keep them looking that way.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Shame on Congress

There is absolutely no excuse for giving a foreign head of state the bully pulpit of a joint session of Congress to criticize the legal, legitimate actions of a sovereign state of the Union. Anyone who attended needs to be thrown out of office, now.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Rand Paul takes the Nomination

Dave Wiegel on Twitter:

Boone County 100% counted -- Rand wins it 67-31. Again, TREY GRAYSON LIVES THERE. #kysen #randslide

That is very hard on a candidate. That said, Greyson was incredibly gracious, and I will remember that later. I would love to see him run against Bashear.

Hat tip Vodkapundit.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

For my nephew

I want to be counted among the Sheepdogs

I know a lot of people have linked Dave Grossman's article On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs. I'm not sure who gave me the original link, but the version on Mr. Grossman's site is better than the rest.

I printed off a copy for Number One Son and Little Miss to read. It sums up the true warrior mentality better than any other article I've ever read.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Voting for Skip Horine for Mayor

I have no idea how competent he is, but he can't be any worse than Newberry, Jim Gray, or Theresa Isaac (WHY is she running again?). Therefore, I'll vote for Skip Horine Tuesday.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Gun Control

Gun control is hitting what you aim at.

That's 20 out of 20 from 7 yards. No, it's not 20 holes, I count 17 distinct holes but I know all 20 hit the paper there (the target is BIG). If it were up to the gun, that spread would have been a 1-2" circle around the X; the distribution is solely the fault of the shooter....

The sad part is that a lot of people testing for concealed carry in Kentucky can't hit that well to that close.

A habit to break

Work requires I carry a pager, since I don't get called enough to justify a cell phone (a good problem for a system administrator to have). I had been carrying it on my right side, but of late I've switched it to the left.

Over the last couple of days, I've been going into gun stores, to find and then take a CCDW (concealed-carry) class. Until I went in, I didn't realize that I have a bad habit: resting my hand on top of my pager. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, except for being around people who have to watch for concealed weapons in hip carry configurations. Putting my hand down there makes gun shop owners more nervous than cats in the dog pound....

To be fair, I stayed nervous the entire time I was in the store. It was unnerving to hear autoloaders having their actions worked that much, with my back to the action.