Part 3 of 4....thought I'd better break up this last piece.

Continuing the discussion of the reaction of the left to last week’s election. While values were cited in exit polls a being the most important issue, and this was extrapolated by the left to mean Evangelical Christians, whom the left thinks have no interests other than values, were the deciding factor in the election. However, values are only a part of the issues of interest to Christian and were not the only reason voters turned to the polls is record numbers.

The important point the left misses is that our values are what drive our viewpoint of all the issues. We see all the major concerns of our day in the light of the struggle of mankind, the importance of the individual, of a compassion that brings dignity to people and that the citizen, not the government, should be the final decision maker for those areas that impact him.

Among the issues of concern by conservatives, Christians, and yes, those Evangelicals, were security, taxes, Social Security, healthcare, government spending, international relations, the economy, jobs, the "War on Terror" and the war in Iraq. Christians are not a mono-focused group who view the world in light of a single issue. Rather, we view the world in light of the values we have learned from scripture and struggle to live in our own lives.

Are all these issues in neat little packages, easy to articulate, easy to discern, easy to fix? Certainly not. Most are very complex, requiring much thought and forethought, a careful plan, and tremendous insight. To answer the questions of policy facing our country one must look beyond the simple, easy and popular "fix" for the better, usually more complex, slower to implement but more permanent answers.

The left leans towards a quick "fix" to peoples problems. Throw money at it, give a welfare check, food stamps, farm subsidies, increase educational funding, more scholarships for higher education, make people feel better about not meeting expectation, or better yet, lower the standard. The left relies on appeasement and handouts; the right looks to empowering individuals to achieve their best.

Security, yes we must secure our nation from threats from with out and within. This is the primary function of our government as implemented by the constitution.

Taxes, we must simplify the tax system. It is designed to give politicians power over the people by giving tax breaks to those in favor, or increase taxes on others to curry favor. Taxes must be held to a minimum to allow the individual to choose those goods and services he will support. Not to have artificial supports put under businesses that otherwise would fail excepting government’s involvement. The former is capitalism, the latter is socialism. Our nation became great because of the principles of capitalism. The Soviet Union fell under the burden of socialism.

Social Security, the system has to be overhauled. We are on a collision course, acknowledged for decades, with a collapse of this boondoggle legacy of the Great Depression.

Final, for sure, tomorrow.

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