"Challenges, difficulties, question, doubts—these are part of our mortality. But we are not alone. As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have enormous spiritual reservoirs of light and truth available to us. Fear and faith cannot coexist in our hearts at the same time. In our days of difficulty, we choose the road of faith. Jesus said, 'Be not afraid, only believe' (Mark 5:36)."
"When it is for the Lord’s purposes, He can bring anything to our remembrance...The scriptures give eloquent confirmation of how truth, consistently lived, opens the door to inspiration to know what to do and, where needed, to have personal capacities enhanced by divine power. The scriptures depict how an individual’s capacity to conquer difficulty, doubt, and seemingly insurmountable challenges is strengthened by the Lord in time of need. As you ponder such examples, there will come a quiet confirmation through the Holy Spirit that their experiences are true. You will come to know that similar help is available to you.
I have seen individuals encountering challenges who knew what to do when it was beyond their own experience because they trusted in the Lord and knew that He would guide them to solutions that were urgently required."
We've been talking a lot on Twitter about the election and who will win and why, and who should win, etc. Officially I'm a Romney guy but unofficially I don't think there's a single person in politics today that will do even remotely enough to turn things around. It sounds very harsh but I don't think America can make the changes it needs to with the size of the gov't until it's too late. That is, until it has no choice.
My only issue in politics is the nat'l debt. Of course social issues and taxes and healthcare are all extremely high on my list. But primarily, I am almost completely focused on the debt as the thing that will ruin us. I think there will be a day where we can no longer borrow or print money to support gov't spending. Entitlements, runaway subsidies, stupid programs, ridiculous departments-it's all too much.
So therefore, I don't think it will much matter who wins. If Romney wins, we will go bankrupt slower, and we'll get a few decent laws on the books, repeal Obamacare, extend the Bush tax cuts (or hopefully make them permanent), and maybe get a Supreme nominated or two. All of those are very good things. But I don't think for a minute that the size of the gov't will be reduced. At best, I think the rate of our borrowing will slow/decrease under Romney. When the most aggressive debt reduction plan in the country is the Paul Ryan plan, and it ADDS to the deficit, and people attack it for being akin to the most draconian form of torture since the middle ages...there's not much hope. It will take people stopping lending to us to force us to adopt austerity measures.
Why not just raise taxes, especially on the rich? Because gov't expands to fill the $ it has. Democrats (and many Republicans) will just spend the money on some stupid new program and claim the program is 'paid for.' When you're $16T in debt, *nothing* is 'paid for.' If you have to borrow money to pay for something, it's not 'paid for.'
On a basic level, I know things are going to get progressively worse for the planet. I've read the Book of Revelations. As a parent, I would strongly prefer to be the one dealing directly with all that rather than my kids. The thought of being a old guy and potentially a burden on my daughters when they're basically just fighting for survival is too much.
Because I absolutely believe that low taxes, low spending, entitlement reform, tort reform, healthcare reform, tax code reform, and so on, are the key to our survival, I'm not afraid of a 2nd Obama term. Because I know that his plans won't work. They'll just put us more in debt. Sure, the economy might go up or go down and unemployment might go up or down, but ultimately we will be in a far worse place as a country in 4 add'l years. I think healthcare especially will be disastrous. And as painful as it will be, it would almost be nice to see that all happen and be proved right just so I can say 'I told you so.' Almost worth it.
It's insanely cynical but I say if the choice is between declining slower and declining faster, then I'm pretty tempted to say 'come armageddon, come armageddon, come.' Better me than my kids.
It was just a short 7 or so years ago that I first met Jan. It was a set-up blind date from a brave friend we both had in common. I liked her immediately but committed a number of faux pas' on the date such as answering my cell phone, scandalously announcing that I 'couldn't stand' the sound of people kissing, and bizarrely, bringing along an entire thing of uncooked cookie dough for an 'activity,' because everyone loves standing around while cookies are baking, right?
She remained officially uninterested, but I eventually wore her down by sending her numerous mix CDs and trying way too hard to be funny in emails. When all my competition fell through, she agreed to settle and a marriage was born!
It hasn't been all laughs the entire time. Along the way we've had to deal with unplanned C-sections, unplanned surgery, and unplanned tornados. Oh, and the whole 'moving away from everything we've ever known and loved and setting up in a tiny apartment about 15 inches from one of the world's largest airports' thing. We dealt with that, too. Somehow, she's stuck with me the entire way. Mostly because her phone would run out of power long before she could ever find her way back to Utah.
Today my girl is a spry 36, and is as funny as ever. One of my favorite off-the cuff Jan moments was when we walked by a big truck and I talked about how that would definitely have to be her next car. "Not if I have to pole vault to get into it," she said. Ha! Well, maybe you had to be there.
Lots of love to 'Momma' from Christian, Madeleine, Zoe, and New Baby Hoopes!
