I have never written about politics in this blog before. But today I am going to just a little. Our country is in a critical place and it badly needs leadership. I am not saying I am that leadership but I have been a student of history and government for most of my life. The USA is not going in the same direction that has made it one of the greatest places to live in history. We are abandoning our foundational values faster than I have ever seen my lifetime. Frankly, it is unsustainable if we want to remain the same USA we were the first 200 years of our existence. I am not saying there will be no country, just that we will be a very different country.

Government is very important. It affects every part of our lives. As Christians we cannot ignore it and no matter what government says it needs the Mind of Christ in Christians to be successful. I believe that 3 things to be addressed quickly in order to move our country back to the correct direction. My answers below are conceptually very simple but will take some courage to implement. Whole books could be written about each of these subjects and they have. That is not my purpose in this blog. I am simply trying to set up a simple framework of thinking. If we say nothing we will end up with nothing. These are my thoughts.

3 Things that Have to be Fixed in America

1. Fix Our Morality

Situation: America’s morality is not good. Some statistics say that close to 90% of child pornography comes out of our country. A very large part of all pornography comes out of this country – specifically Southern California. All legal. Our TV shows, video games, billboards, advertising are all saturated with sex. Gay marriage is now legal in many states and advocated by our President. More people cohabit together before marriage than those that don’t. I could go on but it is not necessary.

My Answer: More laws are not going to help. The brave efforts of the Moral Majority group in the 1980’s showed us that. More laws will not stop what are heart issues. The only answer is first for Christians – who 86% of Americans claim to be – to actually become disciples of Jesus. Second, we need a sin convicting, Holy Spirit respecting revival pure and simple.

2. Fix Our Economy

Situation: The answer to our economy is not the government. I have found that very few people understand basic economics in the USA anymore. The government hires people but they do not create jobs. They can’t. They don’t sell anything that produces revenue. The government is a needed organization but it is also a parasitic organization. It requires real business jobs that produce something that make a profit that the government then taxes in order to pay their own employees. According to the latest statistics I have seen we for the first time in our history have set a record. 51% of Americans now owe their living to the government. The government could be the city, county, state, or federal government. This figure also includes all of the Americans who are on unemployment, disability, and Social Security pay. This means that every American – adult or child – is responsible for one other American. This is simply unsustainable.

My Answer: a. Reduce the Federal Government by 50%. The federal government is the main stranglehold on the economy. It needs to be reduced by at least 50%. We are running a budget deficit of 50%. We need to at least spend no more than what we are collecting in taxes. We could do this by reduce government by 10% over the next 5 years to 50% of size. This would be painful but doable. It will either be done by choice ahead of time or by necessity later.

b. Reduce Taxes to 15%. Contrary to popular opinion we have a very high tax rate in the world among industrially developed countries*. More taxes are not the answer but less. Jobs and entire companies are going to other countries because our tax rates are too high. We need to immediately reduce all corporate and personal taxes to a flat 15%. This alone would unleash tremendous economic growth. *US Tax Rate  *2nd Highest Corporate Rate

c. Remove Regulations by 75%. These are laws made by bureaucrats without Congress voting on them. They are technically illegal and they are killing business more than the high taxes. Regulations need to be reduced drastically – on the order of 75%. We need to support business not strangle it. We have dropped to the lowest level of economic freedom* (business competiveness) ever, after Denmark. We are lower than the average of other free economies. We are now number 9 in the world. Regulations have a huge impact on this economic freedom. *Economic Index 

3. Fix How Federal Politicians Work

Situation: As a general rule there are no leaders in our government only politicians. I realize there are exceptions and I am making a broad sweep that generalizes the whole. But I believe this is true. The reason there are no leaders is because the people now serve politicians and not the politicians serving the people.

My Answer: 

a. No Career Politicians. Our lawmakers need to come back and live as ordinary citizens in the rules that they have created while they were in office. 2 terms is enough.

b. Politicians and Federal Employees Have the Same Benefits We do. Congress and all Federal employees need to have the same Social Security retirement plan we do. They also should have to live with the same medical plan Obamacare will give us. Did you even realize that they have a much different plan than we do? Suffice it to say it is nothing like what they voted in for us. Politicians doing this are self-serving and lack integrity.

These are my thoughts. What are yours?