We go to hard places and do hard things for the Church and community
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Sometimes positive actions do not suffice to prevent or remedy unacceptable behavior. In these cases, disciplinary action is indicated. The following table contains useful suggestions for the manager in a government setting who needs to punish an employee.
Government Service Civilian Personnel Discipline
Power of all types must be diffused throughout society, because no person or entity can be trusted with too much of it.
One of the most troubling realizations during the financial meltdown of 2008 was that some companies were “too big to fail”. Chrysler and General Motors were “too big to fail” because of their strategic importance to American industry and because of the thousands of jobs that would be lost if they collapsed. So they received billions in taxpayer money. Remarkably, Ford Motor Company, just as big, in the same industry, the same environment and also threatening thousands of jobs, did not need government assistance.
Big financial companies, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Bear Sterns, Wachovia, American International Group, and others were also considered too big to fail. The fear was that if they failed, so much confidence would be lost in the financial system that markets would implode. As a result the Bush and later Obama administrations did some legal ledgermain to merge companies and sank hundreds of billions of dollars into these entities. Individual taxpayers, home owners and account holders got a shakedown. While the blame for the crisis belongs throughout our society, from greedy lenders to irresponsible borrowers, the pain hit us all, including many who never deserved it.
Continue reading “The Financial Crisis and the Concentration of Financial Power”
Our acrimonious political debates often center on class struggle, those who “have” against those who “have not.” Perhaps the conflict is really between those who “do”, who contribute to wider society, and those who “do not,” who take without giving.
The 2012 Presidential Election campaign is in its final weeks, and while one candidate seems to relish contrasting the “haves and have nots”, the other candidate recently implied that the real division is between the “do and do nots.” One group seems to boil with resentment against those who they perceive have more than they do. Another group seems to boil with resentment against those who they perceive do less than they do. Is either narrative accurate? Are both narratives accurate but incomplete? The debate is not limited to candidates or even parties; large swaths of the American population seem to feel the same way. The structure of the human body can shed light on these questions.
The human body is made of billions of cells, the building blocks of life. The cells are fundamentally the same, including parts such as the nucleus, the cytoplasm, the mitochondria, and the cell membrane. There is also diversity amidst the unity, with cells of hundreds of types and functions, including muscle cells, bone cells, hormone secreting cells, nerve cells, skin cells, fat cells, and many others. They are arrayed in a system of incredible complexity, and work together with precision to accomplish the purposes of the body. The human body is a truly magnificent creation.
Continue reading ““Haves and have nots” or “Do and do nots?””
Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, but Christians are salt and light in their society, protecting it from the rot of sin. Followers of the Lord must be active in politics, at least voting, but never forget that our salvation is in Christ alone and our home is in heaven. Let’s examine Christians and politics.
By Mark D. Harris
This morning in church one of the members of my class asked me about my opinion on Christians being involved in politics. There has been a great deal of press, largely negative, on the issue of evangelicals opposing the legalization of same sex marriage, and this brother was unsure about what the Bible teaches about the issue. While I do not pretend to speak Ex Cathedra, this issue is important enough to examine what Scripture teaches, especially in light of our current circumstances in the United States.
Continue reading “Christians and Politics”
