Our American Identity

Posted Friday, April 22, 2011, at 8:03 AM

No one likes hearing that they must make tough choices. Whether it's on the dinner menu at a favorite restaurant or picking one person to hire from two well-qualified candidates, tough choices are, well, tough.

Our great country is founded on a history of tough choices: the brave decision of the American colonies to break from the British government, the difficult point where the Greatest Generation entered World War II knowing full well the sacrifice they would bear for the future freedom of our Allies, even the courageous breakwater for our country which occurred when we cast aside political differences to unite in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. All these historical moments, and many more, were defining for our nation's future.

We are again at a transformational moment in our national history. This time, however, the pressure to make a tough decision isn't the result of an external force on our nation, it is internal and it has been building for a long time.

The crisis of spending and debt in America has reached a point where it affects generations of us. It has the potential to cost opportunities not just for us today, but even more dramatically for our children and their children. As this problem has grown over the last two decades, our national debt has doubled roughly every ten years. If we do nothing, our national debt will double again by 2021. Imagine any debt in your life doubling -- at the gas pump, for your rent or mortgage, in grocery bills. Now double it again, and again, and again. No household could ever keep up with that kind of escalating expense, and neither can our nation.

So, we go back to tough choices. Here is the good news (and it really is good news): Working together, we can bring our national debt back down to earth. We can do it without raising taxes. We can do it without costing jobs and opportunities, and we can set an example for younger and future generations without hurting senior citizens who have paid their whole lives for dependable programs to keep them safe and healthy in retirement.

The question is: will we?

I voted a week ago for a funding measure to cover the rest of 2011 that cuts $38.5 billion from the federal government before the end of the current fiscal year. These cuts aren't as deep as the ones I proposed to the bill in the first place, but they are a significant start in an ongoing process of finding savings in the federal budget. To those who say these cuts don't go deep enough, I say I agree. To those who want us to chart a responsible path forward, I agree with that, too, because these goals are not mutually exclusive. But by starting with the easy budget cuts, we guarantee ourselves a situation every American should anticipate: The next cut will always be tougher than the last one.

If we are successful in this process, we will do what Americans have always done at great moments in our history, we will have secured the blessings of liberty and the promise of opportunity for the future. Today, we are standing on the shoulders of giants, and we have the chance to do something pretty big, too.

This spirit is what separates us from every other nation in the world. Our national identity is based on the idea that our individual rights depend on the ability of our freedoms to endure. We cannot be free if we are buried beneath an avalanche of debt, indebted to foreign powers, unable to keep our economy and our democracy unfettered by economic forces that have destroyed empires.

Some say that can't happen to us. I think we must say we will not allow it to happen, because we will act.

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I rather doubt either party has the guts to erase our debt of 14 trillion dollars. there is a radical way to get rid of the debt, which I know neither party will even propose. So, here is my Biblical/egalitarian/populist approach:

1. Get rid of the system of usury! This is the putting interest on loans. Check out the following website for a detailed argument on the evil of usury and check out these scripture references.

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/usury.htm

Exodus 22:25 If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.

Leviticus 25:36 Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.

Deuteronomy 23:19 Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury:

Deuteronomy 23:20 Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

2. Follow the following Scriptures on a year of release:

(Note that because of religious conotations, and because of the fact that we are not a theocracy, we could substitute the words, "National Rest" for Sabbath)

Leviticus 25:1-55 Leviticus 27:1-24 Deuteronomy 15:1-15

Think about it. The above verses say that every seven years and then every 50 years, the debt is to be erased. They tell us how to care for the aliens or non-citizens and how to care for the poor. Israel enjoyed economic prosperity as long as they followed biblical economics. Could we? Hey, it's worth a try; nothing else has worked!

-- Posted by swift on Fri, Apr 22, 2011, at 11:25 AM
Oh,how elequently our representatives speak when it's not their basic necessities being taken away.It must be nice to speak of "tough choices" when one doesn't have to choose between medicine and bread.So willing to sacrifice our elderly mothers and fathers so that the "next generation" can be indoctrinated into the next profit-driven war machine.So eager to leave millions of Americans hungry,unemployed and homeless.So very self-satisfied in serving the corrupt corporate interests.All the while pretending to be the kind shephard who cares about their flock.The People have awoken from their media induced slumber,so why,my good sir,must you speak as if we still sleep.

Mr. Swift,I commend you on your your efforts to expose usury.For indeed,that is the cause of the worlds many woes.However,even you seem to miss the larger picture.For you see,the very usury you speak of originated with the people who now occupy Palestine and our own government.You contradict yourself when you speak of israels "biblical economic policies" which is itself based on usury.Who do you think owns the central banks and the Federal Reserve?The leech cannot survive without the host and the American People are that host.Nevertheless,you are on the right path.Seek and you shall find,my friend.

-- Posted by Always Questioning on Sat, Apr 23, 2011, at 6:39 AM
Please understand, that I was speaking of Old Testament Israel. Modern Israel's economic system is virtually the same as ours now.

With that being said, both major parties control the everyday American with their support of usury and the ever increasing national debt. 1 tillion dollars is 1000 billion dollars. Saving 38.5 billion dollars in spending when the national debt is 14 trillion is like saving 38.5 dollars when you are 14,000 dollars in debt and calling that a big savings. it has been said that the Democratic Party wants to control politically while the Republican Party wants to control economically. A return to Populist/Egalitarian principles is the real answer.

-- Posted by swift on Sat, Apr 23, 2011, at 10:45 AM

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