Index of this page:
Conservative Issues E-mail list
Conservative thoughts
A Poem
Conservative resources
Future plans for this page
I believe it is important to stay informed so that those who can do something about a particular issue can take action. This helps keep everyone, especially those in power (government) in check.
Purpose of this list
The goal of this e-mail list is to provide people with information that they can use to improve their own lives as well as the lives of others. America was founded based on the principle of self government, of the people, by the people, and for the people. I believe it is when people don't govern themselves that we face the greatest danger of loosing not just the opportunity to do so, but our freedoms and liberties as well.
The freedom we have in this country is based on the recognition of certain unalienable rights and is preserved by our ability to govern ourselves. I believe that when these foundations are weak, we leave ourselves open to being ruled by tyrants. To rebuild our foundations, we must know what is going on in our world, what it means when liberty is taken away, and in what things we can do to promote liberty, freedom, and morality both in our own lives and in the lives of others. I also believe that even when these foundations are strong, they must be actively maintained, or they will become weak.
This list provides the opportunity for people to learn about what is going on in our culture, nation, and world, and to give ideas as to what can be done about it, both as individuals and as groups.
This is a "Grass Roots" type project. By that I mean that any person can support, promote, participate, constructively criticize, or start a similar project. To that end, I welcome and would be encouraged by anyone who does these things. It is this type of individual involvement and connections with others that will build a network of people that can have a noticeable impact on our communities, our nation, and even the world, without one particular person controlling everything.
What I'll send:
I am on a number of e-mail lists that give a conservative and/or Christian perspective on many issues relating to conservative politics, Christian issues, creation vs. evolution, abortion, and other useful or interesting topics. From these e-mails, I'll occasionally come across a really good commentary on a particular issue, and I will forward it to this list. I typically add a few comments of my own or at least give the reason for sending the message. Occasionally, I will send out a piece consisting only of my own thoughts. In general, I will send information falling under one of the following categories:
Major current events concerning a conservative issue
Things you might be able to participate in, respond to, or do something about
Revealing or profound statements made by or spoken to important people
The explanation of a conservative value in a unique and/or powerful way
Anything that might directly affect a critical value held by conservatives
Subtle things to watch for in our local communities or on a national or global level
Disclaimer
Any action you take in response to what I send is your responsibility. While I make a dedicated effort to send stuff that can be verified or will at least have merit as it stands on its own, it is always best to verify anything before taking definitive action on it.
Traffic Volume
I don't forward an overwelming amount of stuff. There is no set pattern to the frequency of what I send, which is primarily dependent on when I receive something worthy of sending. E-mails will be very sporadic. I'll rarely send more than one a day, and I may not send anything for a month or more.
To join this list, please send e-mail to Bill222E@ensingers.com and let me know that you would like to be on my conservative issues e-mail list. When you write, I would be interested in answers to the following questions:
How did you find my page?
Do you have a web page? (What is the address?)
History of this list
I started this list after signing up for a multitude of conservative and Christian e-mail lists. I was very impressed with the clarity with which some of the messages I received explained various important truths. I shared some of these messages with close friends, then realized that more people should see this stuff so they could increase their own knowledge, and perhaps even share it with their friends. So I invited others to join the 2 or 3 I was randomly sending stuff to, and the list was born. The rest is history, as they say, and even as I type this, there isn't much history. At last count, there are less than 20 on the list.
Conservative/Constitutional government is limited government, thus low or no taxes, which helps everybody.
Socialism is dependent on capitalism Socialism redistributes wealth. It does not generate wealth. Where does it get the wealth to redistribute? Business people making a profit. Taxes: on businesses, from the business people directly. Taxes on income? only when people are employed by a business making money. Debt and borrowing? Someone has to lend. Someone with money. The only people who have money are those who either earned it (through income or their own business) or stole it from someone else who earned it. Occasionally a government owns a business that makes money, but that's a business as well. Hmmm... that just about covers every way a government can support itself.
Helping the poorIt is morally and constitutionally wrong to manipulate government into forcing other people to pay for programs to solve a problem you think some 3rd party has. That is, if you think government should use tax revenue to develop social programs for the poor, you aren't putting your money where your mouth is, and from a Christian perpsective, the Bible calls upon us as individuals to assist the poor with our willful, cheerful giving, not manipulating a government system to do the same thing with someone else's money.
Tax on the rich? The rich have enough resources to either defend themselves to reduce their tax burden, or move out of your tax district, leaving the poor behind. And Biblically, this just demonstrates a covetousness on the part of those desiring to tax them, which is a violation of the 10th commandment.
Minimum Wage
The minimum wage effectively eliminates jobs that aren't worth paying someone at least the minimum wage to do. These jobs will either be outsourced, automated, or simply not done, in effect, reducing the available number of jobs, while at the same time leaving many useful and even necessary tasks unaccomplished.
Would you pay someone minimum wage to mop the floor? Take out the trash? Clean rest area bathroom stalls? Change hospital bed sheets? All of these are rather important jobs, yet may not be worth the minimum wage, that is, you won't find anyone willing to pay someone the minimum wage to do the job, while at the same time leaving the jobs undone can be a significant safety and health hazard to many people.
Socalist government leaders look like this: Wealthy people champaining for the grandiose idea of a society where everyone's basic needs are met by universal government programs dependent on taxes on other wealthy people, while at the same time skimming off significant sums for themselves, followed by pats on the back for the wonderful work they have done and election campaign bullet points full of reasons to to get re-elected.
9/11 and Airline Security: My wildest conservative idea...
While I don't necessarily think this is the best solution, it might be the best solution given the circumstances: If our right to own guns had not been infringed, and there were no security checks at airports, I suspect that the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001 would not have happened. As soon as those on the planes knew what was happening, there would have been clicks throughout the cabin of each air plane as the passengers cocked their guns, trained them on the terrorists, and demanded a different outcome.
Concern over increasing government power: The vast increase in government surveilance and police presence since 9/11 in the name of security, and the people currently filling those positions doesn't concern me as much as does the fact that such increases provide the opportunity for people with evil intent to get into these new positions of power and take advantage of them to the detriment of the rest of us.
Collision Course?
Some things are on a collision course with each other. Among them:
Taxes and Welfare (when someone doesn't have enough money to pay their taxes)
Freedom of speech and Separation of Church and State
We're not fighting for peace, that's an oxymoron. I fight to defend our freedom.
Liberal Ideas, Conservative counterpoint:
If the people can't solve a social problem, what makes anything think that a government that is "of the people, by the people, and for the people" can solve the problem?
Freedom doesn't mean you get free stuff, it means you cannot be prevented from doing certain things.
Everyone deserves a right to abortion? No one should be forced to pay for an unnecessary procedure done on someone else, especially such procedures they find repugnant.
Legislation doesn't provide good health care. Good, honest, dedicated, caring and knowledgable health care workers provide good health care.
Legislation doesn't prevent murder or hate crimes. "Love thy neighbor" prevents murders and hate crimes.
Legislation doesn't prevent corruption in business. Honesty prevents corruption in business.
More government doesn't prevent corruption in government. Less and limited government prevents corruption in government.
Government schools don't solve the education problem. Parents and other adults taking the time to help a child understand a concept accomplishes the education goal.
Government social programs don't reduce poverty and other social problems. What does? Jesus said "the poor will you always have with you."
What solves the problem of poverty and other social problems? Recognition of what ultimately causes these problems: sin.
These statements present a principle that can be applied to any suggested solution to a social problem.
What do we deserve?
In reality, nobody _deserves_ ANYTHING. If the Bible has anything to say about it, we all deserve only one thing: Death. The fact that you are alive is blessing enough. And if you are reading this or even if someone is reading it to you, you are better off still. Count yourself blessed if you have clothes on your body, even more so if you have regular food to eat. And if you are a typical American, with a fast computer, 2 cars, a nice house in the suburbs and a summer place on the lake, that's great. Perhaps all these things are even brought and paid for. There's nothing wrong with all that on the surface. I suppose you've succeeded. But have you? How much stress do you go through trying to maintain all that? Are your children happy about all they have? Do you actually spend much time enjoying those things? Or do you bicker and fight over who used the boat last and who's responsible for fixing the leaky roof or water pipes? But never mind all that. If on top of all this you then go and vote for government social services because you think someone else ought to pay for and/or manage your social security, your health care, your day care, and so on, you're acting pretty selfish. Material wealth doesn't bring happiness, and neither does government social services solve the poverty problem.
Who is responsible?
Only when people take responsibility for their own actions and offer help where they are able to those who genuinely need it (as only the two individuals or parties most directly involved (those helping and those receiving the help) can best determine), will we have a civil society where most of our needs are met. This is NOT communism. Communism looks similar, but it is not at all the same thing. Communism is forced by the state. When people don't take responsibility for their own actions, the door is open for others (ultimately the state) to make themselves look good by helping or forcing still others to help those people who don't or won't care for themselves. On the other hand, when people don't offer the help they are able to offer to those who genuinely need it, the door is open for others to fill in the gap. Both of these situations can easily lead to pride and corruption on the giving side, lack of productivity on the "taken from" side, and dependency on the receiving side. Moreover, anyone promoting such a welfare system on the notion that we have a moral obligation to help the poor is unwittingly suggesting we have a moral obligation to create or promote dependency.
What then should we then do if we are conservative minded and/or Christian? I believe we should strive to be self sufficient without being self righteous or selfish, just so we are not a burden on others because of our lazyness. We need to seek truth. We should get to know people, seeking opportunities to share truth with them and to learn truth from them. Work with those who have similar goals. Try to stay unnoticed by mainstream media. Seek to meet the needs of other people, but don't let them become dependent on you. Help them to become self sufficient. Do all these things individually or in small groups. Formal organizations are fine, but they tend to sterilize the process and be impersonal. Make sure you are doing the right things, encourage others to do the right things but recognize that you can't force them to act any particular way. And finally, recognize that no human authority is absolute.
In Response to a facebook post regarding someone promoting work strikes and how easy it would be to shut down industry and production, I came up with this:
And so the gears of progress grind to a halt nothing works, it's someone else's fault There's no food to eat there's nothing good to drink There's no lumber for houses Only crumbs for mouses There's no clothes to wear the burden is just too much to bear There's no fuel for busses, trucks, or trains no protection from the wind or rain When no one works 'cause the pay is too low What's described above is the place they'll go
Political/Government stuff
Conservative web sites including organizations, Government control and/or conspiracy, Pro-capitalism, and news.
Government and Christianity
If you would like me to send you text based documents on the following topics, just send e-mail to me at Bill222E@ensingers.com. When you write, please let me know how you found my web site and the address for your web page if you have one.
POLITICAL Liberalism Patriotic documents