Aren't You at Least a Bit Suspicious?

Once, shortly after we had graduated from college, I saw a friend’s younger brother, who was still in high school at the time, hit up his older sibling for some money using blatant guilt manipulation. I will always remember my friend’s reply, “Don’t call me brother with your hand in my pocket.” I constantly see similar attempts to grab my money or limit my freedom as an individual by institutions, politicians, and salesmen of all sorts. Whenever some great emergency or unbelievable opportunity is presented by an outrageous hypocrite or someone who wants you to act without critical thought, be suspicious, be very suspicious. Somehow, I believe that if I were an Islamic youth, I would be somewhat skeptical of a fat, balding, 60 year old Imam who told me of the great opportunities for dead suicide bombers in paradise. “If it is all that great,” I would think, “Why are you still alive?” I am a Christian and when I hear a preacher telling how I can become rich by giving him money, I wonder, “If you get rich by giving away your money, why don’t we have a reverse offering? I’ll let you give me some money.”

Some of the comments that might give you pause follow, but it certainly is not an inclusive list.

This time it’s different.
We have to do this for the children.
It is a crisis of global proportions.
We must act today.
We must kill the (fill in the blank) to keep them from destroying our way of life.
It's an issue of national security.

There are also lines of reasoning that should make you nervous, such as the infamous yes set.

Do you love your children?
Do you love your country?
Do you love Jesus?
Then support my efforts to (fill in the blank).

Politicians, salesmen, religious leaders, and ambitious rascals intent on separating you from some combination of your money and your freedom make their living with this sort of pitch. If you hear any of this nonsense from politicians of whatever persuasion, don’t bite the hook. Take the time to examine their claims in the light of reason and the evidence.

Recently we have witnessed the spectacle of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. 20,000 international bureaucrats met with the intention on stripping the developed nations of their wealth, shutting down their industry forever, and leaving us shivering in the dark. With climategate we now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that at least a fair amount of global warming is somewhere between junk science and outright fraud. Finally the conference itself with limousines and private jets had a larger carbon footprint than the combined carbon footprint of the poorest 60 nations for an entire year (or so an article listed on the Drudge Report contends). When Obama attends such conferences it requires the use of at least two 747 aircraft, about five C5A transports, helicopters, limousines etc. Al Gore's mansion in TN (not his only property) uses more energy than 19 average American family homes. His private jet consumes gallons per mile for one person and he gripes about my 28 mpg Honda. If Al Gore really believes we are on the edge of an environmental precipice, I would expect him to be living in a tree house in Maui, wearing a hand woven loin cloth, and riding a bicycle.

Too often, political economy, supposedly based on science, leads to horrific atrocities. How many children, particularly girl children, have been murdered by China’s one child policy? What are the potential social repercussions of millions of young men who will never have a wife of their own? Zero population growth was suggested as a possible solution to global warming during this meeting. That’s interesting. Who will decide who can reproduce? Who will decide who shall be sterilized? Who will decide which children to abort or kill? How will this all be enforced?

Hitler’s science produced 6 million dead Jews. Stalin killed approximately 12 million inconvenient kulaks in the interest of scientific socialism.

We all (including this author) view the world through our mental, philosophical, and religious filters. You have yours. I have mine. As an undergraduate in U.S. History we were not taught history as much as we were taught how to read the work of historians. We were taught to ask questions like, “Who is this person and why did he present these events from this point of view?” We were taught that complex issues, such as the American Civil War could be examined from any number of viewpoints. A Marxist historian might well choose to study the shifting economic power of Northern industry as it eclipsed the monetary clout of Southern agriculture. A sociologist might choose to examine the effects of the shifting political demographics driven by immigration from Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia. A Southern apologist might focus on the States Rights issue. An American Black historian of my generation who lived through the civil rights movement would likely see the war in terms of slavery and race. Try to become aware of your own blind spots and remember politics is about power and who is going to control that power.

According to Ryan Lizza of The New Republic, “When Alinsky would ask new students why they wanted to organize, they would invariably respond with selfless bromides about wanting to help others. Alinsky would then scream back at them that there was a one-word answer: ‘You want to organize for power!”

Now let’s take a moment and consider the case of a man whose belief, actions, money, and words were perfectly congruent.

Luke 19: 1-10

[1] And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
[2] And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
[3] And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
[4] And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
[5] And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
[6] And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
[7] And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
[8] And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
[9] And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
[10] For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.