Politics

I've had a lot on my mind recently. Visiting prospective partners who might send us to Australia for ten years . . . Nicole's Mum staying with thru Thanksgiving . . . leadership and power dynamics in my workplace . . . various asundry blog post ideas I never get around to posting . . . and, of course, what I may eat, drink, or wear tomorrow.

I've also been thinking a lot about Ron Paul. He's kind of messed my life up a bit by inspiring me to give up political apathy. I still have greater faith in Jesus of Nazareth's ability to rule the world than anyone else. He's the only rightful king. But Ron Paul's deep conviction and character remind me of this. I want to ask my blog readers to take time studying Ron Paul's personal history, views, and essays. I recommend watching YouTube videos of Ron Paul and/or reading Wikipedia's entry on Ron Paul. I have read summaries on almost all of Ron Paul's views and legislation and have found that every single one made sense.

So, now, added to all the other things on my mind recently, I'm wondering how best to take action. There are many other things that are probably more urgent for me to think about than to consider how I can support Ron Paul for President 2008. Still, I've decided to at least post this little entry to show my support and encourage people to learn about Ron Paul's consistent voting record and thorough knowledge of every issue and his youthful passion for being free and alive. If you take my recommendation, you will almost certainly become a better leader. I would love to read comments from my friends and family on this, too, especially if you have a negative view of Ron Paul's character or convictions. It will certainly make things interesting and remind us of what freedom means.

Oh, by the way, here's a quote from a 2003 article that I really like: "The Founding Fathers envisioned a robustly Christian yet religiously tolerant America, with churches serving as vital institutions that would eclipse the state in importance. Throughout our nation’s history, churches have done what no government can ever do, namely teach morality and civility. Moral and civil individuals are largely governed by their own sense of right and wrong, and hence have little need for external government. This is the real reason the collectivist Left hates religion: Churches as institutions compete with the state for the people’s allegiance, and many devout people put their faith in God before putting their faith in the state."

Nobel Moment

My dad sent me a link to this excellent article [click on this blog title for link]. The author, John Christy, calls for less presumptuousness and drama about global climate change and greater liberality where it counts. In fact, Christy's article encourages me to spend time and money on issues in ways that create 20 to 500 times the benefit of marginally limiting "global warming". I think one of my favorite parts of the article is here where Christy says,

" . . . It is my turn to cringe when I hear overstated-confidence from those who describe the projected evolution of global weather patterns over the next 100 years, especially when I consider how difficult it is to accurately predict that system's behavior over the next five days.

Mother Nature simply operates at a level of complexity that is, at this point, beyond the mastery of mere mortals (such as scientists) and the tools available to us. As my high-school physics teacher admonished us in those we-shall-conquer-the-world-with-a-slide-rule days, "Begin all of your scientific pronouncements with 'At our present level of ignorance, we think we know . . .'"

But the best part of the article comes in the final lines because it leaves us with the ability to respond to an undeniable moral imperative.