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“Pursuit” of “Happiness”

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness . . . (Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776).

Introduction

As Carl Trueman (1) has pointed out, we live in an age in which feelings have become the test of truth. If one feels a certain way, then that is his or her truth, not be denied by anyone else. This is especially true in terms of the identity question – as to whom or what one chooses to identify. With this exaltation of feelings and emotions, the word happiness, in terms of its meaning, has lost its true significance as used by the framers of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. In much the same way, the word pursuit has been emptied of its more powerful meaning. In the words of the Declaration of Independence stated above, several things stand out about which I want to comment in the blog article. First, regardless of what this postmodern age pretends to claim, there is such a thing as truth, and more importantly, self-evident truths. Second, the question emerges: What did the original framers mean by the words pursuit and happiness? Third, we cannot speak of self-evident truths apart from there being a Creator.

The Emptying of Words of Their Full Content

Russ Harris (2), in his work, The Happiness Trap, addresses the empty pursuit of what we tend to think happiness is today. We frame happiness as an emotion of feeling good. Many people have replaced what the framers meant by happiness and have exalted as a right to feel good constantly. When they do not feel good about their lives, then something is declared to be wrong, whether it be with other people and how they respond to them, or with society or culture as a whole. Harris considers this an empty chase of something that it is at best a fleeing emotion. In his Acceptance and Commitment Approach (ACT) to therapy, he relates true happiness to the building of one’s life on a set of values that one holds. Without a set of values that guides one’s life, happiness is simply an empty pursuit with no ground for its meaning. Although I agree with Harris that building a meaningful happy life should be grounded in the values we hold, values themselves must too be ultimately grounded in that which is real.

The Framer’s Take on Pursuit and Happiness

In his article from the Epoch Times, Jeff Minick (3) addresses the fact that people can define happiness as some sort of financial prosperity, possessing things, and holding some kind of status in society. Although these can be real pursuits, many find that in obtaining them, what they in fact possess is intangible and slips through their fingers like water, never stable or fully satisfying. Minick then turns to what the framers of the Constitution meant by the words happiness and pursuit. Drawing on James Rogers’ work, The Meaning of “The Pursuit of Happiness,” Minick declares that the original framers meant something more tangible that accrues in the pursuit of happiness. Rather than mere prosperity, happiness to the framers meant well-being in general. Such well being would emerge only in a virtuous life. True well-being in life could not be obtained apart from virtue.

Likewise we tend to think differently from the framers regarding the meaning of the word pursuit. Minick points out that typically we think of the word as an endless chasing after something, an object or a person. We also think of it in terms of pursuing or chasing after our dreams, whether our dreams have any grounding in reality or not. Go after your dream is a modern mantra, not related to one’s skills, abilities, or means to obtain said dreams. Again, Minick drawing on Rogers’ work points out that Rogers credited Arthur Schlesinger Sr. authoring a book chapter on what the word pursuit meant in the time of the framers. We might come closer to the meaning of pursuit when we say things like, he is pursuing medicine, or she is pursuing lawyering. Hence, pursuit can mean occupation or some kind of practice. Some kind of vocation is highlighted here. Pursuit then means the building of one’s life along a vocation, based on practice, skills, knowledge, and wisdom of the means to pursue one’s desired ends. We are talking about a meaningful life.

Pursuit of Happiness Is Grounded in the Transcendent

Minick quoting Rogers, the happiness of people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality. The framers pointed to the Creator as the foundation for our rights and liberty. As a Christian, I believe that unless our goals, aspirations, and pursuits are grounded in the Biblical truth concerning God and Jesus Christ whom He sent (John 17:3), then they will fall short of the true happiness we were designed to have. God has given us the means to the ends to a truly happy life. We are commanded by Him to pursue wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). Biblical wisdom is the pathway for our building a purposeful and meaningful life. There is no meaning or goodness apart from God (Psalm 16:2). We can debate whether all the framers were Biblically-based Christians or not. But what they wrote and meant by the pursuit of happiness, as Minick points out, stands on the solid ground of piety, religion, and morality. Apart from this ground, there is no building a solid virtuous life of meaning.

[References: (1) Trueman, C. (2022). Strange New Worlds. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Publishers. (2) Harris, R. (2022). The Happiness Trap. Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publishing. (3) Minick, J.(2024). What Does the “Pursuit of Happiness” Mean? [In Epoch Times, June 24th, 2024, Online Edition].

John V. Jones, Jr, Ph.D./July 14th, 2024

ANALYSIS/CHRISTIAN THOUGHT

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Face of the Nation I

Introduction

We find ourselves in that four-year cycle where we are faced with an election once again. Although I delineate below the concerns that I believe the nation faces, and that therefore we should closely attend to what politicians specifically say about these concerns, I have come to believe that for whom we vote in elections will have little effect on these concerns that I delineate in this blog article. Neither political party has demonstrated that it cares nor even understands how major concerns we face in this nation are transforming this republic into a Statist authoritarian rule of political elites. There are few, if any, individuals running for office who claim as their passion to rid people’s lives of an ever encroaching State into every nook and cranny of individuals’ personal pursuits. What the nation faces is a constitutional crisis. Does any particular politician call for a constitutional cure that will restore the republic form of government under which we are supposed to live? I have categorized ten concerns that I believe the nation faces. I will discuss five of those ten concerns on this month’s blog article. The remaining five I will discuss for September’s blog entry.

The Economics of Inflation

The economic stability of the nation has been in the forefront of peoples’ thinking since the debacle of 2008 and the absurd quantitative easing that followed. Simultaneously and unfortunately people continue to look to the government for livelihood and security. Following the 2008 recession the governmental response to the pandemic of 2020 led to numerous business failings with drastic effects for the economy from which the country is yet to recover.

Inflation and Hyperinflation

The major threat to our economy simply put is government spending. The notion of a $34-trillion dollar debt doesn’t appear to concern either party as promises from government to provide health, wealth, and security continue to flow from D. C. The Federal Bank’s printing machine continues to print money so as to stimulate the economy. Keynesianism is on overdrive in the government’s response to insure the economy will flourish. And increased taxation becomes a threat to all forms of wealth and property while the middle class continues to carry the burden of the country’s woes. These monetary and fiscal policies continue to negatively hammer the value of the dollar for which people work. On top of that we are fed the nonsense by government officials that there is no inflation. One wonders if such bearers of economic news have ever gone to the grocery store, noticed the price of automobiles, or have sought lately to purchase a home.

History is replete with the lessons of the dangers of government spending, particularly that of the Weimar Republic in 1923. The printing machine mentality cannot continue without ushering the nation’s economy into a hyperinflation mode, which is the very sign of an economy on the verge of collapse. Presently, small businesses are treading deep water. The hurtles for small business startups are difficult due to expenses, taxes, and the shrinking value of the dollar. Unfortunately, corporations who are in bed and partnered with government have become what supposedly defines capitalism. Hence people call on a more powerful State to fix things. In an economy ensconced in hyperinflation, no politician wants to proffer the necessary solutions because the remedy would frighten people beyond fathoming. Four books that speak to the deadly concerns of hyperinflation are: The Fuhrer (Konrad Heiden); Waste Paper: The German Hyperinflation of 1923 (Simone Ricci); Germany 1923: Hyperinflation, Hitler’s Putsch, and Democracy in Crisis (Volker Ullrich); and When Money Dies: The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany (Adam Fergusson). The U.S. economy faces an unfathomable government debt and the devaluation of the dollar, and it is on the precipice of destructive hyperinflation. Listen for any discussion of this economic reality from would-be presidential candidates for the 2024 election. Then listen even closer for any stated remedies.

Foreign Policy

No doubt Israel’s conflict in the Gaza and the Ukraine war will be discussed in vague rhetorical terms among Democrat and Republican debate strategists. Although Hamas started this latest war with Israel via the butchery that Hamas is known for, it will be interesting to see if any politician addresses the reaction from Israel that has led to much more than is alluded to by the phrase collateral damage. Likewise, will any questions and/or discussion arise regarding the limit to which the U.S. should support Zelensky in the Ukraine under the rubric that he is a democrat? More importantly, will any presidential candidate touch on the historical position whereby the U.S. has sought not be entangled in foreign affairs? (This last notion may appear totally rhetorical, given this nation’s involvement in foreign conflicts since Korea to the present.) But do we, as a nation, have a principled foreign policy by which we seek to live?

Having stated the above, our foreign policy appears to be a muddled mess, given our position on Russia, while the nation’s politicians play soulmates with China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been, and is, one of the most vicious collectivist regimes for over seven decades. Although there might be some nod to supporting Taiwan, is the U.S. truly supporting Taiwan with its friendliness toward mainland China and the CCP? June 4th, 2024 marked the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The elder Bush, rather than supporting those who were butchered by the tanks and guns of the CCP, sought friendly relations with China. Given that China is purchasing land in the U.S. in warp speed, what is our Foreign Policy toward the regime of the CCP? The annual Shangri-La Dialogue occurred on May 31, 2024. The CCP is straightforward in how it views its own position in the world, and how it sees other countries. In this latest round of dialogues, the CCP is adamant that Taiwan and the Philippines fall under what China calls the South China Sea control. The CCP offers stern warnings against Taiwan and the Philippines if they do not accept their position in the South China Sea. Likewise, they threatened the West (Europe and the U.S.) if it seeks to support either Taiwan or the Philippines [Balding, Epoch Times, June 6, 2024]. If Putin as an ex-KGB guy still represents the haunts of the Soviet regime, then the CCP is certainly not our friend. Presently, I think it has to be taken as a given that both Russia and the CCP have as their goal the collectivist control of the world. How might the U.S. build on a principled Foreign Policy that takes a strong stand against these two regimes?

Education

The homeschool movement has been in full force for several decades now. The pandemic which witnessed the closing of schools enhanced the desire of many parents to rethink public education and move toward homeschooling. The upsurge of woke ideology simultaneous with the decreased academic standards related to the three-r’s has also moved parents toward the desire for homeschooling, homeschool co-opts, and private education, thereby removing their children from government schools. Unfortunately, the teachers’ unions for public schooling are politically connected and entrenched in their ideology. Although a large number of parents desire to make moves toward homeschooling and private education, they are still forced to pay school taxes to support public education. The school voucher system has been touted as one remedy for the sad state of education in the U.S. although such a system leaves in place government control of schooling. Listen for what politicians say regarding the rights of parents to have their children exit the public education system to either homeschool them or place them in private schools. Then listen for any support for public education that compromises their position. Better yet, listen for any statement whatsoever from the politically elite on education.

Border Crisis

Since Biden and the Democrats have opened the flood gates to (and yes I’ll say it) illegal immigration, the number of immigrants crossing the southern border of the U. S. has grown exponentially. Although, libertarian in my perspective, I have come to question most libertarian stances on open borders, especially in a day when terrorists of one stripe or another can so easily gain access into the country. Moreover, our immigration policy that now extends the government dole to those entering the country lacks any common sense or basic morality when the taxpayer is on the hook for subsidizing immigrants. At the very least before we can consider a libertarian position on open borders, subsidizing of immigrants must come to an end. One wonders how many would consider the risk of sneaking across the border if there were no government subsidies waiting for them. A true libertarian society based on free market and private property values must not assess the border crisis today along mere ideological lines. The amount of taxpayer money going to illegal immigrants on top of the already wretched inflation that has hit people’s pocketbooks is asking too much for the public to support. Should we be glad that people want to emigrate to this country? By all means. But we need a solid economic policy that creates the kind of society they hope to find here. Barring that reality, we need to hear what politicians have to say about illegal immigration.

Internet Politicization

The Dot.com revolution promised people a free market where ideas could be generated and debated, providing alternative pathways to legacy media and the news offered there. Unfortunately, many who tread in the political elite class view liberty as a problem to be placed under their control. Candidates running for any political office should address the politicizing of the internet that has undermined the freedom that the Dot.com revolution promised. The internet needs to remain the freest and most wide open resource for individuals to generate and search for ideas that speak to all areas of life. The State, however, is extending its ever-growing tentacles to control what is written and stated on various websites. Youtube, Facebook, and others have negated content that doesn’t fit a particular political ideology. We witnessed this most blatantly in the censoring of website material that was critical of the government’s handling of the so-called pandemic. Not only was such information and perspectives censored, they, in turn, were labeled misinformation, and, if possible, criminalized. We also witnessed certain financial venues refuse to work with those websites that were designated as misinformation. Although I believe strongly in the right of owners of such venues as Facebook and YouTube to determine their content, they should not become an arm of the State’s desire to censor material that criticizes the State. Simply put, some individuals may post things online that are egregious in their content. A free market should determine their fate. Perspective candidates need to speak, to not how they want to see the internet operated, but to whether or not they want to let the internet continue to be the free market source of ideas and an alternative source to legacy media.

Conclusion

The nation is bitterly divided today along political ideologies that have no apparent resolution to coexist in a society that allows the free exchange of ideas, all of which should be protected by Constitutional rights that are basic such as the freedom of speech, the freedom to worship, the freedom of assembly, and the freedom to disagree openly. Presently, we face a Constitutional crisis. This nation needs to decide what the Constitution truly represents. The five concerns above should be principally addressed by perspective candidates. Come September, I will discuss an additional five concerns, beginning with our Constitutional crisis.

[Reference: Balding, C. (2024). How China Views the World. [In The Epoch Times, June 6, 2024. Online edition.]

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D./June 14th, 2024

ANALYSIS OF POWER

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Self-Government

Introduction

We live in a political age. As such, people look to politics and politicians to solve all the problems we face in life. It should come as no surprise that due to the results of that mindset the State has grown in power over the decades, in a country that once touted freedom as its primary virtue. The State presents itself as the savior of the people. Hence, the State must take on an authoritarian role whereby it can allow no disagreement or dissent. Note the crack down on free speech, now deigned as hate speech, especially when it counters political correctness or political policies that those in power want to press forward.

I have mentioned on this blog the notion of Christian Reconstruction. The idea of Christian Reconstruction has been caricatured in many ways, one way in particular that it represents coerciveness on the part of Christians to establish a theocracy on earth. Christian Reconstruction is not about violent revolution or some form of coercive take over of the government. Indeed, it does not look to any form of government at all to solve people’s problems, other than a government that allows people the freedom to live their faith out in day-to-day life. Regeneration rather than revolution is the aim of Christian Reconstruction. Within the framework of Christian Reconstruction, as Christians we are called to self-government. What does that mean exactly? And how is that carried out in day-to-day life?

What Is Government?

As stated, we live in a political age, and people look to politics and politicians to solve all their struggles and problems. This mindset emerges from equating government with one form of rule, civil government. From the viewpoint of Christian Reconstruction, however, government can mean several things. First, government primarily means self-government, which the blog article will explore. The second sphere of government entails the family, a sphere of government that Scripture strongly emphasizes. Third, the church is a sphere of government, and fourth, the school is a sphere of government. Fifth, our vocation is a sphere of government. And sixth, our various activities in private organizations, family and personal networks, and community relationships form another sphere of what can be called government.

What Is Self-Government?

Like it or not, we are entering an election year, which means we will be inundated with political ads from every media source conceivable. Candidates will be appealing to us for our votes, telling us why it’s imperative that we should vote for them. Many, if not most, candidates will tell us if elected what they will do for us. I don’t mean to sound cynical. Candidates should run for whatever office they believe they can best serve, and they have the right to get their message out. But note the primary emphasis of their message: I will cut your taxes; I will raise taxes on the rich; I will end this or that war; I will win this or that war; I will fix education; I will cure environmental ailments, etc. We hear this ploy because we listen to it. People have come to believe that they must look to those in power who will secure the good life for them. Again, we live in a political age, one in which people look to those in power for happiness, security, and wealth. We no longer believe that we should govern our own lives.

The theologian, R. J. Rushdoony, (1916-2001) proffered the notion of self-government. Whether one agrees or not with his position on theonomy, I believe that his position on self-government is Biblical, and therefore wise. There are probably several pathways to ridding the overreach of government into our lives. Note the growth these days of the nullification movement, Convention of States (COS), tax reform, foreign policy debates, fiscal and monetary policy reforms that call on politicians to truly work at balancing the budget, etc. Rushdoony poses a straightforward question: This is the heart of the issue: is authority derived from man, from history, from the state, or from tradition, or is it derived from God? For the Christian, there is only one ultimate answer to that question. Rushdoony does not deny the rightful place of government. He does deny its overreach into every nook and cranny of our lives. For the believer in Christ, self-government is not a radical individualist and anarchist approach. Under a constitutional republic, it is the right of the Christian in the face of the State to live freely in alignment with his or her religious and spiritual convictions. Rushdoony stated: Government is, first of all, the self-government of the Christian man. This is basic to government. Self-government extends to the church, then the family, then to education, then to one’s vocation, and finally to society. This view of government is one that is radically decentralized. From a Christian worldview, we can establish self-government and all its extensions if there is a thorough decentralization of the State, allowing individuals to govern their own sphere. As a believer in Christ, Rushdoony held that self-government will eventually fail, as any other form of government, when it fails to build on the foundation of the sovereignty of God. Hence, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father (Col. 3:17).

Conclusion

This short blog article doesn’t come close to explicating all of Rushdoony’s thought. The important takeaway from his position on self-government is that people must ask themselves who or what has ultimate authority in their lives. For the Christian, that must be God and His word. As we survey our culture today, we see a State that continues to reach into every area of our lives, not by raw power it has taken on, but by raw power that people have given it as they look to the State for a life. [For more exploration on this topic see The Need for a Christian Manifesto.]

[Quotes from Rushdoony are taken from various Chaldean reports collected in An Informed Faith, kindle edition.]

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D./May 14th, 2024

ANALYSIS OF POWER/CHRISTIAN THOUGHT

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The Enemy of Liberty

For they do not speak peace/But they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land (Psalm 35:20).

Introduction

We are in the midst of ideological warfare that could have far-reaching effects for a republican form of government. Note how the mainstream media has become a mouthpiece for the left and its progressive ideology. Pay close attention to those businesses which progressive ideologues have sought to ruin because they dared adhere to their Christian beliefs. The attacks on 1st and 2nd amendment rights never cease. Progressivism is an ideology that holds that a centralized powerful State will bring about a utopia on earth through bureaucratic regulation that threatens what we have typically experienced as liberty. Couched in rhetoric touting democracy, progressivism is a collectivist ideology that views individual liberty as the problem, a problem to be cured by an all-powerful State. Hence comes the movements of Critical Theory, Social Justice, and egalitarianism.

The Rhetoric of Progressivism

The Orwellian speak from the progressive left under the guise of such words as democracy, equality, and peaceful coexistence, is nothing more than rhetoric that they use to push their ideology. First an absolute democracy not checked by a republican form of government becomes rule by the majority. Note the move to eradicate the electoral college and the desire to shift all legal matters away from the states and localized decision making to the centralized government. This was specifically played out in Biden’s move to dictate to the state of Texas its decision on how it should guard and protect its own border. Second, equality of opportunity is not the aim of the egalitarianism of the progressive left. Egalitarianism shares nothing in common with equality of opportunity. Equality of results is the goal of progressive ideology. Individuals by the power of the State will be made equal, whether it be in pay, hiring practices, or educational outcomes. The aim of progressive ideology is to empower the centralized State to force equality of results. Meritocracy is targeted as racist and the result of class privilege. Given this stance, we see the onslaught of Critical Theory and Social Justice ideologies, particularly seizing the academy in all departments. Thus, peaceful coexistence is the last thing that progressives truly desire. Although much of the ideology undergirding progressivism emerges from postmodernism and its claim that all is a relative and a social construct, the true driving force of progressivism is the mantra, everything is political. Given that presupposition progressives will drive home their ideology via political power. Again, we can see this reality in the attacks on free speech and the weaponizing of the legal system to punish businesses that do not adhere to progressive ideology.

Ideological Warfare

Joseph T. Salerno, in his pamphlet, The Progressive Road to Socialism, hammers home that given the ideological presuppositions of progressivism, there can be no peaceful coexistence with the political goals of progressives. The conclusion of everything is political is that political power makes right. Salerno points to the work of Murray Rothbard as a blueprint for how those of us who stand against progressive ideologies should wage ideological warfare. First, we have to recognize that throughout the 20th century, progressives, the academy, and corporatism (corporate cronies tied to big government and the academy) have teamed up to apologize for progressive political aims. The payoff for both the academy and corporations has been subsidies from the State at the taxpayers’ expense. Such politicizing of all avenues of life is not something with which those who stand against progressive policies should seek to coexist, especially if coexistence as defined by progressives means that those who are critical of leftist policies are deemed racist and privileged, basically a move to silence any critical dialogue of progressive policies. Again, note the attacks on free speech. Second, given the political power wielded by progressives, Salerno points out that Rothbard counsels that those on the right must wage a warfare based on ideology that shatters the disguised rhetoric of progressivism, showing that progressive policies will lead to the destruction of a republican form of government, the economic prosperity it brought about, and the end of any sense of meaning of liberty. Salerno, quotes Rothbard: We are engaged in the deepest sense . . . in a “religious war” and not just a cultural one, religious because left-liberalism/social democracy is a passionately held worldview . . . held on faith: the view that the inevitable goal of history is a perfect world, an egalitarian socialist world. . .It is a religious worldview toward which there must be no quarter; it must be oppose and combated with every fiber of our being (p. 18). Salerno, as a libertarian, throws down the gauntlet. He states, There is no middle ground. You are either a progressive or a reactionary. You either join, or acquiesce in, the forced march into socialism or you join the reaction (p.19). Salerno points out that those on the right must recapture the meaning of reactionary, not letting it be labeled as a derogatory notion. This is the game the left plays. Again, note any critique these days of leftist policies is met with the opprobriums racist and privileged.

Conclusion

For the second time in three months I have opened this monthly blog article with an epigraph taken from Psalm 35:20. The question for those of us who are born-again Christians is how we go about the ideological warfare that Rothbard calls for when we are also commanded by Scripture to love and pray for our enemies. First, as a Christian, I hold that we should do as Scripture calls for, love and pray for our enemies. Note however, that in such a commandment, there is no denial that our enemies are just that, an enemy. The progressives do not speak peace (everything is political). Instead they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land. As one who is opposed to an all-powerful and centralized State, I simply want to be left alone by the State, to live quietly in the land. However, there comes a time when it no longer suffices to remain quiet, but to engage the ideological warfare that has engulfed us. As believers in Christ, we must engage that warfare in a way that doesn’t turn us into the likeness our enemy.

Reference: Salerno, J. T. (2023). The Progressive Road to Socialism. Auburn, AL: Mises Institute.

[Joseph T. Salerno received his doctorate in economics from Rutgers University. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Mises Institute where he is also academic vice president and professor emeritus.]

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D./ April 14th, 2024

ANALYSIS/Politics

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Mis-State of the Union

Introduction

We live in a day in which everything has become politicized from health care to sexuality. The rhetorical prayer of postmodernism – everything is political – borrowed from their god, Karl Marx, for now is winning the day. Six days ago the presiding President of the U.S. declared his state of the union. This blog proffers my personal critique and response to the President’s address. I will disclose from the outset that politically I hold mostly to a libertarian viewpoint. As a Christian, I hold strongly to a Judeo-Christian ethic. The purpose of this blog is not to exalt the RNC, which I think has done nothing to counter the politicization of our culture. As a libertarian I believe that people can live a life in which very little is political. We cannot carve out a life for ourselves, however, apart from values and beliefs that form the foundation of how we live in the world. Today people in the U.S. are becoming more and more to believe that the State provides a life for them.

My response to the State of the Union Address is formed among three categories: 1) foreign policy; 2) economics; 3) political rhetoric. 

Foreign Policy

It is entertaining to listen to how Biden connects Putin’s threat to the world with the disproved charge that Trump won the election against Hilary Clinton because of Russian interference. And then he analogizes Putin’s world threat to the January 6th insurrection. To hear Biden’s claims, Putin is the most dangerous Stalinist in the history of totalitarianism. By the way, FDR, whom Biden praises, saw Stalin as an ally. Many in the military at the time saw exactly what Russia was about during those days. Is Russia about spreading totalitarianism today? Perhaps Putin may see himself as a world conqueror. 

While excoriating Russia, Biden then shows his anti-Israel colors by being soft on Hamas. Yes, he had to speak to the October 7th debauchery executed by Hamas. What else could he do? But sending money to “Gaza” is sending money to Israel’s enemies. Calling on Israel to a cease-fire with Hamas is anything but a rational foreign policy. If Putin epitomizes the evil from whom America can’t ever back down, then what is Hamas and the threat of Iran? There comes a point when the people of Gaza and Palestine must say to Hamas – no longer – no longer can you hide in innocent people’s homes, hospitals, and schools. I know that such a stance will take more courage than I can fathom. But courage is what is required to stand against such an evil as Hamas. Hamas’ evil is not limited to the gross debauchery they have perpetrated since their existence. It is also evident in their willingness to hide among civilians, placing them in extreme danger in the midst of reprisals for which Hamas’ evil deeds call forth. Israel is an ally. As such their foreign policy should not be dictated by America’s government. We may disagree at how Israel has gone about its response to Hamas; nonetheless, Israel is a sovereign country and is an ally. 

Next Biden seeks to tell everyone that China is really not rising in power and should not be considered that much of a fear factor. Tell that to the Taiwanese. Speak that nonsense to those who live in Hong Kong. If Putin is a threat to world peace, then to neglect China as such a threat, is totally irrational. In this nation we face the fact that China is buying up land and other forms of real estate throughout the country. Biden may want to claim that he and his cronies have brought to life the computer chip industry in America, but globally and economically that doesn’t make sense. China is a threat to the world as much, if not greater, than Russia. We will have to keep a close eye on Taiwan to see what happens. If China invades Taiwan, we’ll have to experience what our foreign policy is really made of. I would rather any support go to the Taiwanese than to Gaza, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. 

Failed Economic Policies

According to Biden’s speech he has made everyone better off from the poor to the wealthy. Addressing the decrease in deficit spending in the face of a $34-trillion dollar debt is like trying to irrigate a desert with a cup of water. The next government budget may very well see a fifth of its spending go simply to paying off the interest on the debt. And listening to Biden’s address doesn’t give anyone any comfort that government spending is on the chopping block. (By the way, this is as true of the RNC as it is the DNC.) Government spending is rather an oxymoron. It is actually the tax payers who are on the hook for the fiscal policies that lead to irrational spending by politicians. According to Biden, he is going to fix all problems from healthcare to education to corporate profits by the old game of tax-it-and-spend-it. Not one word did he utter regarding the government debt, what it does to the value of the dollar, and how it undermines peoples trust in economic policies. Not one word did he utter regarding the debauchery known as the Federal Reserve. End the Fed has been a shout for those who hold an understanding of economics contrary to Nobel Prize winners like Paul Krugman. The mindset that has taken hold of Washington’s fiscal and monetary policies can simply be translated as – spend our way toward utopia. 

As Biden spoke out of one corner of his mouth regarding deficit spending, out of the other side he played the old rhetorical tune of class envy, calling on the wealthy to pay their fair share. No doubt the tax burden in on the middle class. But this fact is due to both Democrat and Republican policies that uphold a so-called progressive income tax. The real question is who determined what is fair for everyone to pay in taxes. Such rhetoric is nothing more than the State being too much a part of our lives. When politicians set the tax code, then they and their IRA crony bureaucrats dictate to others what their fair share should be. There are many other pledges that Biden made that speak to what will be the continued failed economic policies put forth by Washington. Teachers will get raises, children will be forced to go into public education at earlier ages, unions will be subsidized to make America strong again. And then finally, an insult to all insults, inflation is going down. Tell that nonsense to people who are trying to buy a home, pay for an automobile, and to even those going to the grocery store. Of course all of these rises in prices will be fixed by more government spending and subsidizing of corporate cronies while the government debt continues to reach higher levels.

Everything is Political

Biden mentioned all the necessary politically-correct items from abortion to transgenderism. And then there is the border situation, which he has really tried to fix while instead trying to dictate to Texas that the state cannot string barbed wired along the Rio Grande. Literally millions of illegal immigrants have crossed the border, wreaking havoc on communities. Even schools in New York have been shut down, sending the students home while the educational facilities were used to house illegal immigrants. The border situation is a disaster. It’s remedy should be left up the each and every state that has to deal with the effects of illegal immigration. Immigration policies also effect economic policies. Those who enter the U.S. illegally are subsidized with healthcare, housing, and education. Interestingly enough, it is the very unions that Biden touts that look with scorn at immigration policies because of the jobs and inflated wage losses due to illegal immigration. I happen to believe that it is a wonderful reality that people want to move here, work, and establishing a life for themselves. But as in all countries, Mexico included, there are legal and legitimate ways to obtain that goal. Tax payers should not be subsidizing those who cross the border illegally.

Biden’s political rhetoric, which is true of Washing D.C. as a whole, was replete throughout his address. If we were to believe him, he will put forth policies that will solve all of our problems, of course at the tax payers’ expense. With every line, he had to take a jab at Trump (and I’m no Trump supporter). Of course it’s an election year. What this State of the Union puts forth is like most addresses over the last few decades, if not longer. People are to look to the beltway in D.C. for a life. Never mind the the pandemic and the policies that followed from it crushed the economy. Never mind that politicians are spending the economy into oblivion. Never mind that our foreign policy for the last decades since WWII have taken of the goal of a Pax Americana. And never mind that NATO is an organization that is at best a silent enemy of what America supposedly stands. NATO stands because of the American military and loss of American lives in foreign conflicts that we should not have engaged, from Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan.

Conclusion

The political rhetoric continues. Look to the politically elite for a life. They know better how we should live. The populace surely cannot carve out a life for themselves worth living. People are called to depend on the government. That is the taxpayer.

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D/March 14th, 2024

ANALYSIS OF POWER/Politics  

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The Political Class and the Rest of Us

For they do not speak peace/But they devise deceitful words for those who are quiet in the land. (Psalm 35:20)

Introduction

I have a trick question for you: what has the political class done for you lately? It’s a trick question on several levels. First and unfortunately, many people believe that politicians do extraordinarily benevolent things for them. Second, government and its peons can do nothing for any of us unless they first take something from someone else. The only thing that politicians can truly do for “the rest of us” is find more efficient ways to extricate themselves from our lives. Ho-hum. That will never happen, and all this question and answer exercise is simply to preface that, whether we like or not, we’re in an election year where candidates will promise people all they can get away with in an election year, only to renege on the promises once in office. However, don’t blame the politicians. Making promises is how they stay in “power.” The citizens are to blame because of their view of government. Government, especially on the national level, exists to give us a life – so people have come to believe in an ever evolving mind-numbing way. There are three things on which we can focus if we really want a nation that no longer looks to the federal government for some kind of life. First , we need a refocus on the legitimate relationship between the federal level of government and the state and local levels of government. Centralization of power has gone much further than simply being an overreach to being a tyrannical threat to state and local powers. One example of this overreach is being played out in the border crisis in Texas. However, too much centralization of power is the core problem of all that will be discussed in this blog article. Second, we need to properly understand economics and, in the words of Murray Rothbard, what government has done with our money. Third, we need to take a hard look at our foreign policy, not defining every conflict in which the U.S. engages the military in patriotic colors and rhetoric about spreading democracy around the world.

Centralization of Power

The present conflict between Biden and Abbot regarding the border crisis is simply a symptom that speaks to a more pernicious issue of the loss of states’ rights in the usurpation that accompanies the centralization of power that has been accumulated in Washington D. C. The crisis of illegal immigration is another reality that the Federal Government would have people believe doesn’t exist. Illegal immigration is not merely about people crossing the border. Who can blame individuals for wanting better lives for themselves. Presently, however that “better life” is promised to illegal immigrants in terms of entitlements at the expense of the taxpayer. Free schooling, healthcare, and welfare benefits are held up like a carrot to entice people to cross the border illegally. There is also evidence that non-citizens are being allowed to vote in elections. To desire to be a citizen in this country is a good thing, and there are proper channels for doing so. The border crisis is real, but it’s simply one piece of evidence for the politicalization of everything, particularly at the expense of states rights while the federal level of government seeks to bully states into relaxing or eradicating their stance on illegal immigration. Centralization of power at the federal level of government risks more than laws regarding immigrants. We have watched over the years federal powers intrude on states rights in areas from education to now free speech and second amendment rights. One place this power struggle is being played out now happens to be at Texas’ southern border.

Understanding Economics

Wrap your mind, if you can, around the figure $34.2 trillion. This is our the present debt owed by our government on the day I’m writing this article. We are fast approaching where one-fifth (20%) of federal expenditures will go specifically to pay the interest on this debt. For a people that looks to government to take care of their needs, the simple fact that the government has no money is unfathomable. There are two basic truths about politicians. One, they want to keep promising people anything they can spew from their mouths; two, they don’t want to raise taxes. Not doing the former and doing the latter will prevent them from getting elected. If the promises that politicians make are not paid for via taxes, then the Federal Reserve simply prints the money. (Others outside the government are imprisoned for counterfeiting money). The more printed money the government infuses into the economy, the less valuable the dollar becomes. Hence, people’s purchasing power of the money they work for is destroyed. Looking at both government and our society as a whole, we have become an indebted people. We tend to define wealth by things people possess without seeing the indebtedness in which they swim. Regardless of what Paul Krugman in the New York Times spouts, the devaluing of our currency along with inflation are realities. These realties tend to hit hardest those who are on fixed incomes, such as retirees. One short paragraph will not suffice to help us understand economics. This is a topic to which I want to return time and again in the future. The basic principle to remember for now in this election year is that politicians love to make promises with other peoples’ money in mind.

Foreign Policy

In this years’ election drama, foreign policy will be a hot topic with so many points around the world embroiled in military conflict, with Russia/Ukraine, China/Taiwan, and Israel/Palestine being three of the most visible points of contention that could lead to further world conflict and war. Our foreign policy over several decades since W.W.II has been one disaster after another. We continue to embroil ourselves in the name of “American interests” in various countries around the world, spreading our use of troops to an ever-thinning layer and making poor decisions as to why we entered a conflict in the first place, and then making even poorer decisions about how to exit such conflicts. Foreign policy and the Pentagon is another example of other peoples’ money. The budget for the Pentagon contributes heavily to the U.S. debt. Although I am for a strong military and the proper role of the military in defending this country, we need to really search out why and if we need our military stationed all around the globe in a Pax Americana fashion. We are presently looking at some potential heavy conflicts that could really draw on our ability to defend this country, ranging from China to Iran to Russia. This is not a time to speak of spreading democracy around the world via the Pentagon,

Conclusion

Although in the Psalm from which the epitaph for this article is drawn the psalmist, David, is writing a prayer to God for rescue from enemies, I believe we must recognize when a government crosses the line to becoming an enemy of the people. Crises regarding the centralization of federal power hit home in the areas of fiscal/monetary policy, immigration policy, and foreign policy. While people can expect these three areas to be the foci in this election year, do not expect much discussion around the decentralization of power, not as long as the basic premise to which people hold is that the government (the State) exists somehow to take care of our needs, security, and peace of mind. Those of us who believe in a radial decentralization of power long for a government that does its minimal job of guarding our basic rights, which, by the way, do not come from the hand of the government. Otherwise we want to go about our business and be “quiet in the land.” What we will hear from political wannabes are many deceitful words about why they should live in every nook and cranny of our lives. One of the pathways to peace entails ridding ourselves of the State that presently controls our lives too much. The other and more important pathway is spiritual, praying that God awakens this nation unto Him. Government, the State, is not, never has been, and never will be a way to true peace and prosperity.

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D./February 14th, 2024

GENERAL ESSAY/ANALYSIS OF POWER/POLITICS

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The Gift of Time

So teach us to number our days that we may present to You a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).

Introduction

Several times I have posted on this blog regarding six major themes (here) I intend to explore at various times from month-to-month through Contemplations. For this month I want to focus on the theme humility/finitude, more specifically finitude. We are finite creatures with a limited amount of time given to us in this life. As a Christian although I believe in the Biblical teaching of eternal life through the atoning work of Jesus, the Messiah, this present earthly existence is the one life that God has granted us on this side of eternity. Life and time are gifts. Hence we are responsible for how we use this life, how we go about living out our lives. For Christians such a journey is wrapped up in our sanctification (John 17:17; 1 Thessalonians 4:3). God’s sovereignty is a comforting truth for the lives of us who are in Christ. The fearful truth is that time is something we can waste, thereby culminating in an empty and a wasted life. Meaning making is also one of the six major themes I have explored on this blog. If our lives are to be meaningful, then via God’s sovereignty and providence, we are to obey Him, utilizing the gifts and talents He has granted us via His grace. It is a frightening thing, indeed, for many people to look back on their lives and ponder: What was it all about?

This Side of Eternity

On this side of eternity life is short, whether or not we want to admit it (Psalm 39:5, 11; 103:15-16). Living a full and satisfied life in this world evades the grasp of many people. In 1969, I was just starting out my college studies at University of North Texas (North Texas State University back then). Since then, fiftyy-five years have passed. Needless to say those five-and-a-half decades flew by like the wind. In many ways, I have no idea where they all went. I became a believer in Christ through Campus Crusade when a couple of Crusade’s members stopped by my dorm and shared the gospel. I can’t reinforce enough how I wish I would have embraced my sanctification over those fiftyy-some-odd years, grown and matured in Christ, never looking back to my previous way of life. But I did not. Much too often in my life, there were too many years of wandering, not following God’s truths that led me down some dark paths. Simply put, those days of wandering were wasted time, time that I cannot reclaim and make different. That is not to say that God is not sovereign over all we do. He is. His sovereignty for me involved pulling me back on the right path more than once. That doesn’t alter the reality that I let valuable time in my life expire, not living in the manner I was supposed to live.

God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

We are called in Scripture to obey and abide in God and Christ (John 15:1-11). We are exhorted to pursue our sanctification. This Biblical truth channels us through the thorny knot of God’s sovereignty and our responsibilities before Him. All that is good comes from the sovereignty of God. That includes the commandments He calls us to obey, which we can do only by His grace. The sad fact is that we can also go astray. While such wanderings are part of God’s sovereignty, many times that sovereignty comes with the hard lessons we learn through our erring ways. Deuteronomy 29:29 tells us, The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law. As finite creatures, we must also embrace the humility that we cannot fathom the mind of God. His sovereignty and our personal responsibilities as saints in Christ are both Biblical truths. God uses the means of our obedience and disobedience to bring us toward the ends He has for us. This is difficult to plumb with finite logic. As saints in Christ totally via God’s grace He has called us to sanctification, which we also obtain via His grace, but which we can shirk in disobedience with consequences that follow. One of the most devastating consequences is that we can waste and trash valuable time in this life on this side of eternity.

Time As a Gift

Whom God has called to be in Christ, the Messiah, He will not lose one of them (John 17:12). God set me on a path to encounter other believers during those wandering times following 1969 that brought me back to the fold. Many of those individuals whom I’ve known since the 1970’s remain close friends of mine. The fact still holds, however, with this question: How different would my life have been had I begun the path of my sanctification following the evening of my conversion? As a finite creature, I’ll never possess the capability of answering that question. I know this. I learned a hard truth. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap (Galatians 6:7).There was some wasted time during those years I would like to have back. But they are gone. God’s sovereignty is not an excuse to waste our time. Rather His sovereignty is a comfort that we can keep our focus on Him, knowing that while acknowledging Him in all our ways, He will make our paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6). The reality of this finite life is that we can in sinful disobedience walk many crooked paths. God’s sovereign lovingkindness is not an excuse to walk those paths without fear. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever (Psalm 19:3). His sovereign lovingkindness is a blessing we have, even when we go astray.

Conclusion: Finiteness and Infinity

The epigraph that opens this blog article from Psalm 90:12 provides us with an important truth regarding the time that makes up our lives. Having a Biblical understanding of our finitude should lead us to be wise. The importance of wisdom is highlighted throughout Scripture. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:29-31; Luke 10:27). Knowing that our days are numbered should lead us to present a heart of wisdom to God. On this side of eternity, we know our finitude, and for those of us in Christ, we have an unfathomed blessing ahead of us to spend eternity with the Triune God. Although finite, for those of us who have believed in the only begotten Son of God, our infinity with Him begins now. We have the blessing via our sanctification to know God on a deeper level each and everyday. Why would we want to waste our time not pursuing that blessing? Another warning comes to us via Scripture. There is no Biblical justification that an individual can claim to believe in Jesus, the Messiah, and continue unchanged with his or her formal way of living. Wasted time can be a reality for believer and unbeliever alike. For those of us in Christ, God is sovereign in our lives. Let us never call on His sovereignty as an excuse for a wayward life.

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D./January 14th, 2024

ANALYSIS/CHRISTIAN THOUGHT

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The Season of Advent

Introduction

The Christmas season is upon us. As one who believes in the atoning work of Jesus, the Messiah, this time of year is a joyous one for me. We are in the middle of what Christians call the season of advent as we approach the day that we will celebrate the birth of our Savior. This is typically the time that those churches that hold to the Incarnation of Christ take four Sundays before Christmas to light the four advent candles. In the church I attend, the candles of hope and joy have thus far received their flame. We have the remaining two candles of peace and love to light before we celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th. On this month’s blog, I thought I would say just a little about each of the advent candles: hope, joy, peace, and love. The theme that will run through the discussion of these four blessings is Jesus, the Messiah, Himself. These four words cannot stand on humanistic understandings. Apart from Jesus, they fall short from their true meaning.

Hope

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2nd Corinthians 5:21).

Unfortunately, we use the word hope many times to mean nothing more than wishful thinking. Biblically, the notion of hope has nothing to do with wishful thinking that may or may not come true for our lives. The Christmas season is one of hope because it is grounded in God. The advent (coming) of Christ is the basis of our hope. Indeed, He is the foundation of our hope. From Old Testament times, beginning in Genesis, God promised the advent of a savior that would defeat evil and death. We have hope because God keeps His promises. Our savior came in the Incarnation of Jesus, the Messiah, who Himself is the foundation of our future hope when we place faith in Him. Hope apart from God is meaningless. The word of God gives us the truth about our future hope of being in God’s presence through our savior, Jesus, the Messiah. Through the atoning work of Jesus through the cross – His death, resurrection, and ascension – we have the promise and the hope we can look forward to of being in God’s presence forever. We have the hope that through Jesus we have been removed from God’s judgment. Indeed, meditate on 2 Corinthians 5:21 that heads this section. God sees us through Jesus’ atoning work as the righteousness of God. Our salvation and position in Christ is totally the work of God. His eternal decree never fails. Our hope is in our rock and redeemer.

Joy

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love; just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full (John 15:10-11)

Just as the word hope has been popularized to mean wishful thinking that may or may not come true, people many times confuse the word joy with happiness. Happiness is a fleeting emotion that is based primarily on particular situations or circumstances. There is nothing wrong with happiness, but joy carries a depth of meaning to it that far surpasses the meaning of happiness. In Luke 2:10-11, the angels informed the shepherds in the field that a savior had been born to the world. This good news (gospel) according to the hosts of angels that appeared to the shepherds, would bring joy for all the people. The apostle Paul tells us that in Christ we are to rejoice always (Philippians 4:4). In John 15, what some call the abide chapter, Jesus tells His disciples that He has given them the things He told them so that His joy would be in them to make their joy complete (John 15:11). In the following chapter of John, Jesus informs His disciples that in the world they will have tribulation, but that they should not be concerned for He has overcome the world (John 16:33). Hence joy is something we hold to, not just in happy circumstances, but in times that are difficult as well. Just like hope, joy is grounded in God and what He has done through the Incarnation of Jesus, the Messiah. Through Jesus, we come into a relationship with God, knowing Him on a deeper and deeper level through our sanctification. Christmas is a joyous season because of the birth of Jesus, the Person of Jesus, and the salvation that Jesus offers to those who believe in His Person, name, and work.

Peace

Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1).

We live in turbulent times. The conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas serve as examples of wars and violence that we would like to see have a peaceful resolution. We think of peace as the absence of war and turbulent times in our lives. However, again, the Biblical view of peace, like hope and joy, is grounded in God, and what He has done through our Lord, Jesus, the Messiah. Those who believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God, will not come into judgment. Those who believe in the atoning work of Jesus, the Messiah have passed out of death into life (John 5:24). Peace, rather than being the absence of conflict, is the presence of God whereby His wrath has been propitiated through the atoning work of Jesus, the Messiah. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ and His salvific work He has performed. This is something we didn’t earn, merit, or deserve. It comes to us totally by the grace of God. What does this mean about the way in which we are to respond to the turbulent times that engulf us? The only antidote to sin is the blood of Christ ( Outreach: Behold a Savior is Born, p. 38). We are to respond to the world as through Christ. This doesn’t mean we don’t call evil, evil, and good, good. We have a Biblical mandate to do so. But ultimately, the Biblical meaning of peace is the peace we have with God through our faith in the atoning work of Jesus. The Apostle Paul exhorts us: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7). We can demonstrate what this season is about through the peace we have with God by showing goodwill toward others. Who are those in our lives to which we can show goodwill, perhaps in ways we never have before?

Love

But God demon\strates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

As I have said before on this blog, we live in a postmodern world, where truth is set aside for relativity, although so-called postmodern warriors do not fail to use the political realm in coercive ways. We also live in a world where feelings supposedly describe truth rather than rationale and reason. If I feel that you have offended me, then my truth is that you have offended me. And politically, if possible, you are to be held accountable for offending me. Consequently, like the notions of hope, joy, and peace, the notion of love is caught up in sentiment, feelings, and emotions. The primary word for love, used in the New Testament, is agape. It is a love that does for others, that serves others, that helps to meet others’ needs where possible. Agape love is also grounded in God. 1st John 4:19 tells us, we love because He (God) first loved us. Apart from God we do not understand what it means to love. He is our rock and redeemer(Psalm 19:14). This is true of the unbeliever in the sense that all human beings are created in the Imago Dei, the Image of God. God’s ultimate love is seen through the sending of His only begotten Son into the world so that we may have life through Him (1st John 4:9). God did not have to save anyone. His love is shown through the gift of His Son who willingly took on our sin when He didn’t have to do so. He willingly gave up His life to have laid upon Him our sinful filth. Jesus is the Lamb of God, but He is also the Lion of Judah. No one took His life from Him. He willingly surrendered it so that His righteousness could be imputed to those who place faith in HIs atoning work. Our response to God’s gift of salvation brings us to what Jesus declared as the greatest commandment: You should love the Lord Your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind . . . you should love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). We can do this only because God first loved us. Agape love for God and neighbor is an active and serving love. The Old Testament word for love that is used quite frequently is the hesed of God, meaning His lovingkindness. Psalm 100:4-5 tells us that God’s lovingkindness is everlasting. Lovingkindness is an attribute of God that never fails us. It is available only to those who believe in the atoning work of Christ. As we approach the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, as Christians, we need to set aside the busyness of the holidays, and rejoice in God’s love, what the season is truly about.

Conclusion

The season of advent is upon us, and for those of us who are in Christ through our faith in His atoning work, it is a season where the advent candles of hope, joy, peace, and love, describe the hope we have in God’s promises, which will be fulfilled; the joy we have because of the birth of our Savior; the peace we have with God through our belief in the atoning work of Christ that propitiates the wrath of God; and the love of God seen in His sending His only begotten Son into the world that we may live through Him. Hope, joy, peace, and love are grounded in God. They are concepts that humanistic values cannot sustain. Apart from the one, true, living God, they are ultimately meaningless concepts. I encourage Christians this advent season: embrace your hope in Christ; rejoice that the advent of a Savior has been fulfilled; find peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace; and know the lovingkindness of God that is everlasting and never fails.

[All Biblical passages are taken from the NASB 1995 version of the Bible. Some of the ideas stated here are informed by the 30-Day Devotional Journal: BEHOLD: A Savior Is Born. Colorado Springs, CO: Outreach Inc.]

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D./December 14th, 2023

THEOLOGY/BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

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Takeaways/Book Review – Lew Rockwell on Economics and Moral Courage

Introduction

As I’ve said before on this blog, we live in a postmodern age in which the notion of truth has been jettisoned, and rhetoric is king in a social milieu where everything is political. Most people, when they think of economics, see a field regarding filthy lucre. They do not think of absolute truth as being a part of any discussion of economics. The positivist philosophy of science constantly attacks the notion of economics as an a priori science. Indeed it attacks the notion of any a priori science. Hence, we live in a morass today whereby politicians and those in power define economic truth. For the most part, the academy is the mouthpiece for monetary policies proffered by bureaucrats who define what is and what is not economic reality. Hence we hear from the halls of power today that we truly have no inflation. State of the union addresses tell us that we are ensconced in a stable and healthy economy when all one has to do is go to the grocery store or seek to purchase a home to discover that Washington D.C. is made of nothing but lies. (To believe in lies, however, one must believe in truth.) Lew Rockwell Jr. has authored a small pamphlet with a title that stands fully against this postmodern age: Economics and Moral Courage. It speaks of three men who stood against the cultural milieu of their time in upholding that economics is not merely about political ideologies, but about truth and the reality that people must face as they strive to make a living, build savings accounts, and seek to make sound and stable lives for themselves. The three individuals are Henry Hazlitt, Murray Rothbard, and Ludwig von Mises.

Economics Should Explain the Financial Reality Which We Face

Thomas Carlyle dubbed economics as the dismal science. Austrian economists, however, have a different take. In this age of Keynesianism, however, (which might even frighten Keynes himself if he were still around to see what government has done to our money) the Austrian perspective is not mainstream. Over the past fifteen years, we have witnessed the spending of billions of dollars to bail out businesses and banks because they were deemed too big to fail. What the State cannot confiscate in taxes to pay for such policies, they turn on the printing machine, flooding the market with money. Hence, the dollar, which sometime back was ripped screaming bloody murder from the gold standard, has continually weakened in purchasing power, and inflation is undermining people’s ability to structure a life for themselves. Our overlord politicians tell us there is no inflation, and all is well with the economy.

In the first few pages of Rockwell’s pamphlet, he uses the the phrase underlying reality at least five times, speaking to how economics as a science should address, not the surface, but the reality that people face in their economic strivings. The positivist view of economics offers charts and statistics to explain the economy. The Austrians address the economic realities that people face day-in and day-out. Economics from the Austrian perspective is about human action. Rockwell calls on Bastiat’s notion of the unseen dimensions of human action through which we must understand such economic realities as the business cycle, the structure of production, sound money and investment, and the difference between fake and real savings. The goal of the political class, however, is to keep reality at bay.

Abstract Thinking Is Required to Understand the Economy

To grasp a full understanding of economic production in contrast to uneconomic production, economists must have a theory by which to explain the economy. What is the relationship between capital and interests? How can we understand the business cycle so as to know we are in a boom that will eventually bust? The 2008 debacle is a prime example. How do we understand what money really is and what it is not? How can such understanding provide us with a solid understanding of money and investment? What is the role of the central bank in the economy? Do we really need a central bank? The age of positivism will not give us answers to these questions. Only good and sound economic theory can lead us through and hopefully take us out of the morass that monetary policies created by politicians have brought about. In contrast to the postmodern dictum that everything is political, Frank Chodorov stated that economics is not politics. This is a lesson we must learn if we are to build a sound economy.

Holding To Sound Economics Requires Moral Courage

Rhetoric creates a reality that will eventually undo itself because what rhetoric alone creates is not real. In this age where we constantly hear the dronings of everything is political or follow the science, Austrian economists go against such mainstream notions. Since the academy, for the most part, is mouthpiece for the political class these days, there are few institutions of higher learning, where students will obtain the Austrian perspective on economics. The academy censors ideas that do not align with the political and philosophical ideologies that have become mainstream. (This is not only true of the field of economics, but it is true also in the field of science, especially regarding climate change and its political hacks. But that is another blog article.) Rockwell discussed three individuals who held the Austrian perspective and lived out their lives standing against other perspectives such as Keynesianism and its consequential interventionism and massive government spending. These three men were: Henry Hazlitt, author of Economics in One Lesson; Murray Rothbard, author of Man, Economy, and State/Power and Market; and Ludwig von Mises, author of Human Action. Two economists and one journalist held to principles and the moral courage that led them to, for the most part, to work outside economic departments in the academy. Hazlitt worked out a life as an American journalist while Rothbard and Mises taught as economic professors outside mainstream academic positions. As Rockwell points out, their moral courage and integrity led them to become known by those who believe in a free market. Over a million copies of Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson has been published. And the works of Rothbard and Mises form the foundation for the Austrian perspective in economics. These three men held to their principles in a time when government interventionism and middle of the road and socialist thought was sweeping the country as it is today.

Conclusion

Austrian economics today, however, is making comeback through such institutions as the Mises Institute, and the theory of Austrian economics is taking hold around the world from Spain to Germany. Politics is about power, not the truth. It requires moral courage to stand for the truth. As I opened this article, in this postmodern age, rhetoric is king. We live in a nihilistic culture in which the notion of truth is disparaged. However one must question whether or not the claim that there is not absolute truth is itself a claim of absolute truth.

Reference: [Rockwell, L. H. (2022). Economics and Moral Courage. Auburn, AL: Mises Institute.]

John V. Jones, Jr,, Ph.D./November 14th, 2023

ANALYSIS/BOOK REVIEW/Economics

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Inflation and the Demise of Spiritual Values

Introduction

Jörg Guido Hülsmann is probably known to many who are members or followers of the Mises Institute for his massive biography of Ludwig von Mises, Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism. I am presently reading through that work. For this month’s Contemplations blog, however, I will draw from a short pamphlet he authored back in 2004, How Inflation Destroys Civilization. February 10, 2022, this pamphlet was republished by the Mises Institute under the title The Cultural and Spiritual Legacy of Fiat Inflation. Sometime in the future I would like to do a TakeAway review of the pamphlet, but for this month I thought it would be fitting to focus on sections 7 and 8 from the pamphlet that address how fiat inflation leads to the demise of spiritual values with the consequent demise of civilization that depends on those values for its just and moral existence. Because the Christian worldview is the foundation for this blog, I agree with Hulsmann that inflation and economic irrationality destroy the spiritual bedrock values on which civilization is built and maintained. The very fact that in the United States we can speak of $33-trillion debt without any depth of understanding what economic and moral dangers such debt holds for our nation is evidence of how inflation destroys both rational and moral precepts that undergird a culture.

Inflation Undermines Christian Family Values

Throughout his pamphlet Hülsmann describes the devastating effects of fiat inflation, giving rise to the fractional-reserve banking system, the increase of public and personal debt, the undermining of legitimate entrepreneurship, and the decrease in quality of manufacturing products, these among many other destructive effects. Hülsmann in part 8 of this short pamphlet (p. 16) discusses how fiat inflation and the rise of the welfare state leads to what he calls suffocating the flame of Christian family values. How does inflation lead to this effect?

First, with the constant increase of public debt the welfare state emerges and usurps private responsibility through the politicization of all areas of life. For those of us who care to be aware, we are first-hand witnesses of this phenomenon in the United States. There was a time when people felt frantic about the fact that from the inception of Johnson’s Great Society legislation in the late 1960’s to the turn of the 21st Century, state expenditures for HEW was just over $5-trillion dollars. The welfare state has now encroached on nearly every area of an individual’s life from retirement to health care to public education. As stated above, people can nonchalantly speak of a $33-trillion dollar government debt in the blink of an eye without grasping what that means for the economy and where the nation is headed economically and morally. When people turn to the state for all their needs, human values change. Hülsmann points out that massive public debt represents a major factor in the decline of the family. Perennial inflation slowly but assuredly destroys the family, thus suffocating the earthly flame of Christian morals (p. 16).

Second, the Christian family generates a particular type of morals that can undergird and uphold a society. Among others, such values include understanding the legitimate place of authority, heterosexual marriage between a man and a woman, and prohibition of incest and abuse of children that appears so prevalent today. Hülsmann points out where families live according to Christian values, marriages stay in tact, offspring are loved and care for, and children respect their parents. For those who truly believe in Jesus, the Christ, the reality of the Triune God and the truth of the Christian faith is passed on. I would also add that where a nation stands on Christian values, a Christian consensus comes about, whether or not everybody is a believer. With these values come the responsibilities that families take on in educating their children, charitable assistance in times of need, and a work ethic that maintains the subsistence of the family and society. Most or all of these responsibilities have been hoisted upon the welfare state. Government expenditure escalates, taxes increase, and inflation sets in due to state fiscal policy, thus individuals no longer hold to the responsibilities that once belonged to families. When it comes to charitable giving, people say, I gave at the office. It’s called taxes.

Third, as Hülsmann points out, compassion cannot be bought (p. 18). Amazingly, Americans continue their donations to charities, but not at the level that once existed, especially when adjusted for inflationary costs of living. I might add not only can compassion not be bought, but neither can education and health care when it is placed in the hands of the state. Because the welfare state, and statism in general, is grossly inefficient economically, it must depend on taxes. People bow and praise the holy state because government bureaucrats slow down the rate of spending rather than reducing spending in large sums as they should. People’s taxes will continue to rise, and state spending will continue to escalate. Because people look to the state for a life, we are trapped in a nonstop escalating cycle. Government continues to tax, but taxes alone cannot come near paying for what politicians have promised people via their campaigns and once in office. Hence the state continues running the printing press and floating loans with the consequent absorption of capital that should be used in the manufacturing and production of goods and services (p. 18). The free market, the production of income, savings, and wealth, and the manufacturing of quality goods and services cannot coexist with statism and government’s infiltration of every area of the economy and life. The excessive welfare state of our days is a direct attack on the producers of Christian morals . . . The welfare state systematically exposes people to the temptation of believing that there are no time-tested moral precepts at all (pp. 18-19).

Additional Spiritual Casualties of Fiat Inflation

Part 7 of Hülsmann’s pamphlet (p. 13) actually begins his exploration of how fiat inflation undermines spiritual values in a culture. Part 8 discussed above puts the crowning cap on his discussion. I will briefly delineate what Hulsmann designates as the casualties of fiat inflation (pp. 13-16) in part 7.

First, because inflation destroys the purchasing power of money, people have to spend an extraordinary amount of time managing their assets and investments. No longer can we simply depend on having a healthy savings account. Indeed, these days leaving cash in the bank not invested is dangerous as inflation eats away at the value of the money simply lying there. It is a shame, but once having money in a savings account was considered to be frugal. At retirement age, I know so many people, having worked all their lives who are frighten about having enough income to continue to live on for the rest of their lives. The state should have never taken over the retirement plans for individuals. One’s social security account does not exist. The state spent the money years ago. This means retirement has been placed in an immoral pay-forward systems that puts retirees at odds with younger people who are starting out in their early productive and working years. The precept addressing the Biblical stewardship of money has fallen on hard times.

Second, the concern over the value of money leads people to consider higher-paying careers that would not otherwise be at the top of their lists except for its lucrative returns that will put them in better stead for retirement years. There has become a large financial rift between certain types of work and those sought out in the worlds of industry and corporations. This is especially ludicrous when one reflects on how the state and major industries and corporations are bed partners.

Third, inflation makes society cling to materialistic values (p. 15). As the economy descends into more and more ill-health, people, whether they want to or not, must place heavy emphases on their monetary decisions.

Fourth, continued inflation leads to the a lower quality of production (pp.15-16) Small businesses, and even large firms, industries, and corporations cut corners as prices increase in both production and consumer goods. Although technological innovation can ward off some of the inferiority in products, as a whole, innovation is a victim of inflation as well. What we are witnessing now is the desire of corporations to become political so as to gain a favored market share, regardless of the quality of their products.

Fifth, a failing economy leads to a blurred distinction between truth and lie (p. 16) In this postmodern age, rhetoric has become king, and what sounds good is true. Hence, the cost of advertising rises to create a language to convince people of the quality of what they purchase. The fractional-reserve banking system is a product of the distinction lost between what is true and false. The history of money-runs on banks bears this out. What people believe is safely in the bank is not there.

Conclusion

In this short 19-page pamphlet, Jörg Guido Hülsmann provides much food for thought, not only regarding economic catastrophes that come about due to fiat inflation, but also how inflation and the destruction of the value of money leads to and is continued by moral and spiritual decay. Economics, family, ideas about justice and frugality, and people’s moral and spiritual values are not separate compartments. They are a way of living out what we believe to our core in the world.

Hülsmann, J. G. (2004). How Inflation Destroys Civilization. Auburn, AL: Mises Institute.

[Jörg Guido Hülsmann is a Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute located in Auburn, AL. Additionally he is a member the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Pontifical Academy for Life. He is a professor of economics at the University of Angers where he also directs the Master of Law and Finance and co-directs the bachelors of Law and Economics. He has taught courses in economics, including macroeconomics, money, banking, and finance. He has authored several books, including an extensive biography of Ludwig von Mises, Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism.]

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D./October 14th, 2023

CHRISTIAN THOUGHT/ANALYSIS/Economics