By: Dale Weckbacher
Matthew 8:19
Then a certain scribe
came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."
NKJV
Decisions and choices are part of life. When we are children, our parents make the
important decisions in our lives but as we grow older, we acquire knowledge and
can begin making more of our own decisions.
This, however, does not mean we always make the right decisions but even
when making a bad decision, we should learn from it so as not to make that same
mistake again.
Scripture never reveals the name of the scribe mentioned in
Matthew 8:19, but after hearing Jesus, he made the best decision anyone can
make, the decision to follow Jesus. This
is because a decision to follow Jesus has the reward of eternity in Heaven with
God the Father and Jesus. The
alternative is eternal damnation and separation from God our creator for
eternity.
I want to encourage anyone reading this that has not already
done so to make the decision to follow Jesus by praying with me,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans 3:23) and know
that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans 6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse
me as you promise in your Word (1 John 1:9).
I believe you died, was buried, and resurrected from the dead and now
declare you Lord of my life.
The political conventions are over in the United States
setting up the electoral showdown between Donald Trump and Hillary
Clinton. These candidates represent two
different paths for the United States presenting an opportunity for the United
States to choose which path it will take moving forward.
Hillary Clinton, as the former First Lady, Senator, and
Secretary of State provides a clear picture of the path through which she will
lead the United States. According to her
campaign site her agenda is to,
1)
Implement what she calls a fair tax system. Her idea of a fair system is for the wealthy
to pay more thus redistributing wealth to those she determines needs it. While this on the surface may sound fair, it
is economically destructive for it taxes job creators in the private sector at
a time when record numbers of individuals are not participating in the
workforce.
2)
Build an economy that works for everyone. She has a five step plan which consists of,
a.
A 100-days jobs plan, which involves investment
in infrastructure, manufacturing, research and technology, clean energy, and
small business. This sounds a lot like
Obama’s stimulus plan, which failed to create jobs and only caused massive
deficits and debt.
b.
Free college and relief for those with existing
college debt. My question here is how we
are going to pay for it because I am sure college professors and administrators
are not going to volunteer to work for free.
c.
Rewarding companies that share profits with
employees. Once again, this sounds good
and many companies already do this.
However, for small companies with only one owner, this will be asking
them to redistribute their personal income to employees instead of them
investing this money back into growth for their companies, which saves existing
jobs while creating new ones.
d.
Making sure corporations, the wealthy, and Wall
Street pay their fair share. Once again
this represents a wealth redistribution plan that will stifle economic growth
in the private sector and since the greater share of tax revenue in the United
States comes from the income tax, will actually reduce revenue to the
government instead of increasing it.
e.
Enact policies that meet the challenges families
face in the 21st-century economy.
This includes equal pay and paid leave.
I believe in equal pay for individuals with the same qualifications
doing the same job but her definition of equal pay is not merit based. Paid leave is also a burden to small
companies who have small staffs because they will find it necessary to hire
temporary help during the duration of an employee’s leave. In other words, they will have to pay two
people to do the job.
3)
Combatting terrorism and keeping the homeland
safe. I agree that this is the most
important issue facing the nation and world but her record with Benghazi
demonstrates she places a higher priority on protecting her, or her bosses,
political agenda over keeping the nation secure.
4)
Immigration Reform. Her idea of immigration reform is
comprehensive reform providing a path to full and equal citizenship. In our dangerous world, we can ill afford allowing
any individual to enter our country without being able to determine their
purpose for entering our nation. (1)
The agenda of Donald Trump is quite different. However, with him not having held a political
office, we have nothing with which to gauge how he might lead as
President. However, his success in the
private sector as a CEO does demonstrate his ability to lead organizations and
achieve his desired outcomes. In
contrast to the Clinton plan Trump plans to,
1)
Reduce taxes allowing people to keep more of
their money by increasing after tax wages.
He also plans on simplification of the tax code. This plan will be deficit neutral for it will
grow the economy through increased economic activity creating more jobs and
thus taxpayers. (2)
2)
Besides the economic stimulus of reducing taxes
and increasing capital in the private sector, he plans on curtailing
regulations that in his words are destroying us. (3) These onerous regulations act as a brake
holding the economy back at a time when we need a vibrant economy creating jobs
for millions not working. In addition,
these non-working individuals pay no taxes so getting them back to work will
create more taxpayers thus increasing revenues to the Treasury.
3)
In his book ‘The America We Deserve' Donald
Trump actually predicted the attacks of 9/11.
Granted he did not predict the exact date or method of the attacks but
looked at the liaise fare attitude of the nation’s leadership and predicted
that terrorist would attack the nation while its leadership was asleep. (4)
4)
Immigration reform is the issue that thrust
Donald Trump to the top upon announcing his candidacy for the Presidency and
what thrust him to winning the nomination.
This issue resonated with Americans, especially those living in Border
States, who are seeing their cities and neighborhoods transformed from
traditional American cities to something resembling cities south of the
border. English is no longer the
prominent language in many of these neighborhoods as it once was. At a time when many citizens of the nation
are out of work, they are seeing jobs go to those in the country
illegally. They are also seeing an
increase in dangerous and violent crime in neighborhoods that were once peaceful
and prosperous. We are also witnessing
an increase in diseases that were at one time eradicated from the nation. (5)
(6)
The contrast in the candidates is obvious. For those desiring more freebies from a
growing government, the choice is Hillary Clinton who will complete the path to
European socialism started by Barack Obama.
For those wanting to see the United States return to its position of
leader in the world, the choice is Donald Trump.
The question therefore voters’ face this election is which
path should the nation take.
1. Hillary Clinton for President. Learn More
About Hillary's Vision for America. www.hillaryclinton.com. [Online]
Hillary Clinton for President. [Cited: July 20, 2016.]
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/.
2. Donald Trump for
President. Tax Reform That Will Make America Great Again. www.donaldjtrump.com.
[Online] Trump Pence Make America Great Again. [Cited: July 20, 2016.]
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/tax-reform.
3. Richman, Howard.
Trump: 'We're Going to Get Rid of the Regulations that are Just Destroying
Us.'. www.americanthinker.com. [Online] American Thinker, September 16,
2015. [Cited: July 20, 2016.] http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/09/trump_were_going_to_get_rid_of_the_regulations_that_are_just_destroying_us.html
4. The Polotics and
Elections Portal. Donald Trump on the Issues. 2016.presidential-candidates.org.
[Online] [Cited: July 20, 2016.] 2016.presidential-candidates.org/Trump/?on=terrorism.
5. Miller, S.A.
Most Americans Fear Illegal Immigrants Hurt U.S. Culture, Economy: Poll. m.washingtontimes.com.
[Online] The Washington Times, August 7, 2014. [Cited: July 20, 2016.] m.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/7/americans-fear-illegals-hurt-culture-economy-poll/.
6. Bruce, Tammy.
When Foreigners Bring Disease Across the Border. m.washingtontimes.com. [Online]
The Washington Times, January 25, 2016. [Cited: July 20, 2016.]
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