Are We Gonna Die in Debt?

Hello, out there in cyber world!  It's me, the Political Chicken back for more post election analysis.  You know me, very in depth and hard hitting.  Bwahahahaha!  At any rate, I have (obviously) been thinking or better yet, stewing over the results of the election on Tuesday.  There are lots of things still swimming through my head right now.  Like, for example, where did the election go wrong?   Could I have done more?  How do we recoup the damage that Obama has done and still yet to do?  Last but not least, what would make anybody in their right mind vote for him twice? 

Besides all the talk of free shit and not being able to beat Santa Claus, which I am sure that there is truth to that, I think it goes deeper than that.  At this point, I'm willing to put aside partisan politics for just a moment and say it goes even deeper than Democrat or Republican.  Wow, Political Chicken, what could be deeper than that?  Finances, money if you will.  No, not the spreading of it or the redistribution of it, which does play a role, obviously, but something else that ties into money.  Lines of credit.  Oh, yes, stick with me for a minute and I'll explain.

We live in a society of instant gratification; 3G, 4G and gotta-have-the-latest-and greatest-app or Ipad or Iphone.   Not to mention HDTV, high speed internet and 3D televisions.  How do we acquire these things?  Bingo!  Credit cards, lines of credit.  Gone are the days of saving cash up to pay for things.  Nah, just ring it up and I'll pay it off later...

Later becomes next month, then next month becomes three months, then three months becomes, well you get the idea.  I found some information on Infowars.com that I thought would fit into this blog, so here are a few of the statistics that will 'blow your mind'.

- Incredibly, 43 percent of all American families spend more than they earn each year.  Even while median household income continues to decline (now less than $50,000 a year), median household debt continues to go up.  According to the Federal Reserve, median household debt in America has risen to $75,600.

Large numbers of them never even escape at all and die in debt.

Consumer borrowing rose by another $19.3 billion in December 2011.  Right now it is sitting at a grand total of $2.5 trillion according to the Federal Reserve.

We always criticize the federal government for going into so much debt, but we rarely criticize ourselves for our own addiction to debt. 

So how can we expect our gimme society who doesn't even live to see the day when they pay off their own debt to actually believe that the United States of America, the most prosperous nation in the world, could ever run out of money, or credit?  Now, I might be giving some folks more 'credit' then they deserve because I'm assuming that people CARE if we run out of money.  Or if THEY run out of money, for that matter.  I believe that people don't think twice about where the government money comes from.  I think that they believe that we just print it...out of...thin...air...oh, wait.  Nevermind.  If we could just show people what we are in for, maybe they would take notice.  I know, I'm being supremely optimistic.

We live in a welfare state, and if we didn't before Tuesday, I'd say it's almost inevitable now.  So, as unpleasant as it may be, now it is time for, as Dave Ramsey would say, beans and rice, rice and beans until all of your household debt is paid off.   As the Bible says, "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." Proverbs 22:7  I, for one, don't want to be anyone's slave.

 

The Morning After x2

Deep breath in...slowly exhale.  Repeat.  Feel better?  Nah, me neither.  Onward!

All of you know me pretty well by now.  I am a stay at home mom; home school mom on top of that and a new (?) political activist of sorts.  I have just recently ventured into my own blog, The Political Chicken.  I was involved heavily over the course of this last presidential election/campaign.  I am extremely disappointed in the loss by Romney/Ryan and that's putting it mildly.  I truly didn't think that Obama would win again.  He did and now we stand at the base of a mile high mountain and we have to decide as conservatives, do we stay at the base of the mountain and set up camp or do we forge ahead with grappling hooks and ropes and climb that bad boy?  I say, climb!

There was A LOT of legislation that we as tea party members and patriot groups postponed and delayed in 2010 and 2011.  The biggest and baddest in my mind is Obamacare.  We did good work but it was shoved through even though it was clearly against the will of the American people by and large.  There will be more of that, unfortunately now that Obama has won his bid for reelection.  Cap and Trade aka Cap and Tax can be one of those, rest assured.  Not to mention a whole host of others that we don't even know about yet, or I for one, can't even fathom.

Most of us, dare I say ALL of us are pretty discouraged today.  I am going to keep fighting.  I am going to keep fighting to keep our freedoms, though as down and sad and frustrated as I feel today.  Why, you may ask.  Why bother?  I have three little reasons to keep going and those are my children.  Not trying to be extreme here, but let's stop a minute and think of some of the freedoms we have now and might take for granted.  One is the right to worship.  Another is the freedom to buy the car of your choice.  How about the reproductive rights we enjoy; to have as many children as you want?  How about capitalism, the best system in the world?  How about the right to choose your own career?  How about the freedom to home school?  I can't say without a doubt, that those freedoms are going to be there for them to enjoy.

I am not expecting all of these rights to be taken away over night or even tomorrow.  The problem is that there is something called tyranny creep.  It has already taken hold and continues to 'creep' its way into our society and personal lives.  This is another reason we must stay vigilant and fight the good fight.  It happens little by little.  In our courts, where religious objects are harshly removed or when war memorials are ordered to be taken down simply because they are symbols of religion or Christianity.  Where the TSA has the 'right' to strip search innocent people just trying to go on vacation with their families.  These freedoms have been eroding for some time now.  So where does it stop?  That's the big question for me, and right now I don't have the answer.  

We are ALL made in God's likeness; in the image of God.  We were made with the desire to perform a task, learn a trade, earn a living and to be self sufficient.  In Ecclesiastes 2:24 it says, "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work.  This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment"?  I wept last night thinking that my children would possibly grow up not knowing those simple freedoms.  To not be able to provide for their families as Godly men are called to do.  To not be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor as many generations that have come before them have been able to do.  To take away the most innate rights from any human being is just beyond wrong.   

All I know to do is to pray and trust God and to pray that His will be done, not ours.

More Than a Woman...

*Disclaimer: The following blog may offend some readers.  This is not a judgement call on anyone's lifestyle choice.  This is simply my opinion.

More than a woman.....I thought this might be an appropriate topic what with the war on women the left seems to be waging; and all the while, claiming it's the GOP waging said war.  Tsk, tsk.  I remember hearing Obama say in the last presidential debate that Romney wanted to take us back to the 1950's or some such nonsense.  So?  What was so wrong with the 1950's?  In the 1950's, moms stayed home and cooked meals and made beds and cleaned house all while wearing heels and pearls.  Heh.  Oh, and everything was black and white; not gray scale like they show it on Leave it to Beaver.

I digress.  I have been in the habit lately of digging up some history or some scripture and comparing it with the things that are happening today in the political realm.  If you like that style, then you are in for a treat. 

Just for kicks, let's look at what the Bible says about women and their role.  I know we are probably all too familiar with Proverbs 31: the wife of noble character. We are also reminded of the Titus 2 woman, who is to to be self-controlled and pure among other things.  The Bible also identifies the woman as the weaker sex.  It's factual simply because woman came from man.  The Bible also says that the man is the head of the household.  Whaaaaat?!?  Political Chicken, are you waging a war on women, too?  Now, don't let that ruffle your feathers (see what I just did there?)  With all of these words flying around, you have to wonder if we didn't start waging a war on ourselves when the feminist movement came around. 

Think about all of the things that we as women demand from ourselves as well as from the world around us.  The song 'Anything you can do, I can do better' comes to my mind often times.  We all feel that we have to be as strong as a man physically and/or emotionally, and we have to be as smart as a man.  The Bible did put some limits on what women can or should do outside the home; for a REASON.  God and the Bible also  puts limits on what we as Christians can or should do here on earth for a REASON.  What reason is that?  To guard our hearts. The Bible also defines the role of a man and a woman very clearly.  It's society that has come along and mucked it all up.  The woman is to be the helpmeet of the man or the helper.  The husband also has a definite role in which he is to "...love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word..." Ephesians 5:25.  So while we all have free will given to us by God to do and say all of the things we want, we are reminded in 1Corinthians 10:23 that,  Everything is permissible...but not everything is beneficial.

It makes me insane when I hear some women say that they can have it all.  By having it all, they mean a college degree, a prestigious career, marriage and children.  Okay, I'll play along.  You may be able to 'have it all', but there is always a price to pay.  Your children make a sacrifice when you go to work when they are babies, because let's face it, our mothers are one of the most important people in our lives.  There seems to not be enough of us to go around to meet all of the needs of a family, like cooking meals, cleaning, laundry, homework help, etc.  I can almost hear you rolling your eyes when I mention all of the domestic duties as if they only belong to the wife.  That to me is where our role of helper comes into play. 


I say all of that to say this; maybe if we went back to a more biblical approach to the way we live our lives, we wouldn't be so concerned if there was a war being waged on the female gender.  If, for example, you are single, the Bible says you should not have premarital sex.  Not in those exact words, but you get the point.  If we lived by that standard, then guess what?  We wouldn't be worried about where our birth control would be coming from!  We also wouldn't be worried about access to abortions either.  Extreme, I know.  Everything is permissible...but not everything is beneficial.