Posted on 04/26/2014 8:02:26 AM PDT by Pontiac
Donning orange T-shirts reading "Faith in Action," a coalition of religious groups flooded the state capitol in Springfield, singing hymns, shouting "Hallelujah," and praying for higher taxes on the rich. Their goal: replacing the state's long-standing flat income tax with a new, progressive "Fair Tax."
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When asked whether additional tax revenue would really be used to help the poor, supporters like Rev. Hawking and Rev. Coulter tend to change the subject. When asked whether a progressive tax might backfire by driving wealth and jobs out of Illinois, both doubted anyone would leave. Besides, Rev. Hawking told me, "minimum wage earners," not the wealthy, "are the real job creators." The numbers, which show Illinois ranking second in the nation in outbound moves and losing more than $30 billion in adjusted gross income between 1992 and 2010, suggest otherwise.
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"These are people who put their faith in government to do what communities and churches should be doing," Mr. Greenberg said. "There's just this strange faith in government in general—which, as the corrupt and incompetent government in Illinois clearly demonstrates, is a seriously flawed faith." Brian Burch, the president of Catholic Vote, an Illinois advocacy group, put it another way: "They're substituting the state for God."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
You didn’t burst my bubble.
Your rant sounds like a progressive on steroids.
Don’t bother responding. I stopped talking to progressives, liberals and the dissatisfied ones about 3 decades ago.
Where is the line between rich/not rich?
If its annual income is it gross or adjusted net?
Net worth?
Living in Illinois this is important to me!
I may have won the lotto!
I could be declared rich!!!
One has to be beyond stupid to believe this.
One has to be beyond stupid to believe this.
No not stupid. For a Leftist it is an article of faith. Just as with any religion Leftism has certain beliefs that can not be proven in the real world. These beliefs are the foundation of religion.
It is another article of faith that taking money out of the private sector, running that money through the government bureaucracy and dribbling that money back out in to the economy in the form of entitlements stimulates growth.
And atheist think that Christians are deluded.
LOL! Don't tell the goobermint - it'll take 'em twenty years to figure it out.
Then, it will be a raft of federal felonies for a rich person to move from the Blue state that's milking them...
...Their goal: replacing the state’s long-standing flat income tax with a new, progressive “Fair Tax.”
Here in Massachusetts, The Liberals have tried many times to do just this. Each and every time, the voters have defeated the proposal hands down. Hopefully the good people of Illinois will do the same if it gets that far.
That big wave has passed. The coming big wave you'll be crying worse about is advanced robotics and automation. These are the good old days so at least try to enjoy them.
Faith in Action has a completely different meaning at my church:
Faith in Action
Details
This program is designed to help the sick, elderly, or convalescent parishioner when they are least able to help themselves. This program is also there to share in the joy of new life. New mothers can often use an extra hand when they bring a baby home. Since recovery often depends on the support of others, this program can help when families are unavailable. In this way we can truly live out the commandment to “Love one another as I have loved you.”
The goals are to:
Link various social concern/service ministries [HANDS, Funeral Luncheon Guild, Friendship Angels Visitation Ministry, Ministry to the Sick & Nursing Homes, Parish Nurse and Health & Wellness programs] through a central contact point so that we can continue to reach out and assist as many fellow parishioners as possible.
Expand our communication efforts to let parishioners know that we are there to help them and so that each organization is aware of what services the parish has to offer and who to refer them to.
What we will be able to do (providing we get volunteer support):
MEALS : Provide meals on a temporary basis for parishioners who have recently been hospitalized, had a new baby, or are adjusting to a medical situation.
SHOPPING : Small grocery orders, pharmacy pick ups, necessary purchases.
TRANSPORTATION : Taking people to doctor appointments, treatments, physical therapy.
SUPPORT/PRAYER : Call or visit with someone in need of support, listening to fears or concerns; pray for someone in need.
BREAK RELIEF : Offer breaks to caregivers of elderly, handicapped, or young children.
LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING : Perform light housekeeping chores such as dusting, vacuuming, changing a bed or doing a load of laundry.
SIMPLE HOME REPAIRS : Perform easy home repairs or maintenance type tasks.
YARD TASKS : Perform yard chores such as leaf raking, snow shoveling, grass cutting.
COMMUNION CALLS : Bring the Eucharist to people on a weekly basis.
PRAYER SHAWLS : Prayer shawls are made to provide physical and spiritual comfort for people who are sick, homebound or in nursing homes. The recipients are prayed for as the shawls are made.
WHAT WE NEED PARISHIONERS TO DO:
Tell us of someone who has any of the above needs.
Volunteer to help out in one of the above mentioned areas – if we each do a little then we can reach out to many.
That is the way that Christian values are supposed to be put to work.
Voluntary Charity expressed from one person to another, not compulsory charity extorted by the strong arm of government; extorted from one person to the government and then to another person where the giver and the recipient never meet.
Utter hogwash. What killed our economic progress was unions, protectionism, welfare "redistribution," burdensome government regulation, progressive taxation that punishes the achievers, and of course the power of government to distort the marketplace by rewarding the politicians' buddies/contributors. Just to name a few. globalization and free trade had nothing to do with it. But I don't want to keep you too long. I'm sure you have a union meeting to attend
During the 1970’s we left our car market open for Japan to romp about while they passed laws to prevent our cars from coming in. Why did we do that? Simple, as the Japs got rich they needed places to invest and park their money. US politicians/gov officials salivated at post gov careers in Jap funded investment funds, Wall Street bankers salivated at the commissions for servicing the Jap money, translate more lobbyists against protecting any US industry from Jap competition. Today the process is repeating itself. Arab money neuters anti Islamic remarks and Chinese money mutes anti Chinese sentiments nor remarks. The few on top will get rich from it, while everyone else will be sold down the river and anyone else who is working will be taxed to keep the unemployed on food stamps and etc. As Perot once said, the US gov and elites are the best thing anyone with money can buy. Real Americans face two big enemies - big gov and big business.
I'd appreciate it Rev, if you could point out just 1 or 2 examples out of the myriad instances where this phenomenon occurs...
You conveniently forget that there was a massive QUALITY gap between the detroit stuff of the 70's and the Japanese vehicles. GM at the time had over 50% of the market and was fat dumb and complacent about it. They would give in to any union demands kicking the can down the road. They only VERY reluctantly addressed the quality issue over the last 40 years. No Japanese at the time would even WANT to buy American cars. No, good buddy, globalization and free trade is a good thing except maybe for buggy whip makers.
Who taught the Japanese how to make better cars? Who taught the Chinese how to make electronics and write software as well as American IT workers. Unions did not drive the US factories out of US. Unions drove factories into right to work states. Free trade made foreign labor available and helped US factories move out of US. NAFTA was the starting mechanism but it did not start well. Mexican workers did not do so well. But China stepped in and proved otherwise. All the US corporations did was use the Mexican blueprint to move but substitute Mexico with China. Twenty five years ago a Chinese worker could not solder a printed circuit board nor manage a modern factory. US corporations were more then willing to step in and help them close the skill gap. Today Apple sells you a smart phone for $ 300 and pays the Chinese factory $ .75. At the same time they cry a river how they cannot make it in the US because the profit margins are sooooo slim they barely make. Gee they pay the Chinese factory $ .75 and pocket $ 299.25 and that is a slim profit margin. Ever been to Silicon Valley where these companies exist and witness what it is like to operate on slim margins. Hitech facilities are like multi billion dollar Star Trek campuses with modern glass, concrete and metal palaces. Workers work to the sound of modern fountains of water with modern multi million sculptures and art surrounding. Lunch is organic food free to the workers plus all the gourmet coffee one can drink. Does this look like shoe string slim profit margin operation to you??!!!! Here is the work force myth of high tech. High paying jobs for Americans if we can get more of Apples, Googles, etc etc etc. Only high paying person on campus are the founders, exec staff, core skill Americans (that are not available from overseas), good youthful looking techies geared for tech marketing (hired for looks and image). The bulk of the workers who hold jobs that many typical IT American college grads can hold are being occupied by H-1B foreign Indian and Chinese workers who must work for the company for 7 years at 1/3 US salary. Point this out and you are called a racist. Now you wonder why your kids out of college with IT degress cannot find work (unless he or she has the hip look and hired for tech marketing)!!! So we wipe out manufacturing with free trade and an empty promise of a bright future in high tech!!! What BS!!!!!! Many freepers will defend this, and here is the biggest irony many of these IT owners and workers vote for Obama and Democrats. I will also point out that Reagan won by a huge margin with blue collar Dems. Free trade about killed that support. Now some in the GOP want amnesty for illegal immigrants and more H-1B workers for corporate America!!!!
I am sure he could not come up with a single example.
The Lib’s ridiculous theory is that minimum wage earners spend every penny they earn so that their money is immediately put back in to circulation as opposed to the rich who hoard their money.
The Libs of course totally ignore the fact that few people get rich by hoarding money, especially in today’s economy where saved money loses value to inflation rapidly.
The rich are rich and stay rich by investing money. Invested money creates jobs and earns a return on that investment.
But even money just kept in a bank account stays in circulation because banks lend that deposited money to those who borrow that money. So the Libs theory is facetious and simply foolish.
What is particularly foolish about this theory is that if everyone spent every penny they earned immediately the country would be the most miserable third world hell hole imaginable because there would be no economic growth. Such a country would be no be no more than a subsistence culture. Those living there would live hand to mouth.
But you probably knew that.
You are, of course, correct in asserting that it is not a logical conclusion on the part of the good pastor because there’s no knowledge base (i.e., economics theory) that supports such a statement. It is, as you say, an article of faith but is it religion or ideology? Hard to say, really hard to say. from my perspective.
I always have thought of leftism as an ideology, ground into the its adherents’ little malleable “minds” somewhere during their development but it seems to be to differ substantially from religion. I am a religious person and I have always thought of religion as belief in a God who created and oversees the world; attached are moral codes which one must obey to find favor with God. An economic/political system, such as liberalism doesn’t seem to me to be any equivalent.
But I may be wrong. Many Freepers have pointed out where I’m wrong and it tends to humble someone. So, I’ll throw out how I see it and grant that you may have the better argument.
I guess it depends on the definition religion.
Since what are considered some of the largest religions in the world do not have an associated deity, such as Buddhism, I can think of Liberalism as a religion.
Liberalism defines its adherents’ view of the world despite ample evidence of the detrimental effects of the implementation of that world view. The adherents of Liberalism also actively proselytize and impose strict discipline on their fellow adherents. I consider Liberals to be much like Jehovah Witnesses in their organization’s strict doctrinal discipline. Those who stray can face shunning as the most lenient punishment. However the faithful can commit grave crimes and still be held up as saints.
Liberalism may not be in the strictest sense a religion but certainly has most of the trappings of a religion.
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