Chuck Coleson shares the bad news
The Party's Over
Bailing Out America
October 15, 2008
Last week I opened the New York Times—and read one of the most powerful ads I’ve ever seen.
The ad was paid for by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. I had the privilege of working with Pete Peterson when we were in the White House together—he’s a shrewd guy who became Secretary of Commerce and made a small fortune in the financial world. That small fortune he’s now spending to educate the American people. His message in the advertisement was a heroic call to Americans to take over the political process before it’s too late.
In his two-page ad in the Times, Peterson outlines the problem facing the American economy: “As disruptive and damaging as today’s mortgage sub-prime crisis is,” he warns, “We’re looking at a “super sub-prime” crisis, which, if left unaddressed, will hurt many more Americans—and hurt much worse.”
Among many inconvenient truths: “Each household’s share of the nation’s $53 trillion debt is $455,000—almost 10 times the median household income. This is unfinanceable!” he clearly warns.
Vital research and development, infrastructure, and children’s programs are already getting squeezed, Peterson writes; “We cannot grow our way out of the problems or solve them simply by cutting earmarks and pork-barrel spending.” We could do these things, plus cancel the Bush tax cuts, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—and we would still be only 15 percent of the way to solvency.
Peterson has a few hard questions to ask our presidential candidates. How, for example, do they plan to slow the rate of growth in health care costs that threaten to bankrupt America? How will they encourage the country to save more and reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign lenders? And he wants to know if they support a bi-partisan commission to review everything on the table and make recommendations with a guaranteed up-or-down vote by the next Congress.
Congressman Frank Wolf, my friend, has proposed such a commission, called SAFE—which I’ve talked about on BreakPoint before. It would examine all entitlements, identify what we can afford—and slash what we cannot. The commission would submit its proposals to Congress for an up-or-down vote. (The only changes permitted would be those that leave the long-term budget impact unchanged.)
Peterson is correctly warning us that no political promise is going to solve our problems. The only thing that will solve it is Americans being willing to accept a whole new way of life. We need to be willing to share sacrifices and make very tough choices. No more politicians promising to socialize everything, which will simply make a horrific problem even worse.
If you visit our website, BreakPoint dot org, you can find the link to the New York Times ad. I urge you to read it, sign the petition, and invite your friends to do the same thing.
Our leaders need to sober up. The sad truth is, they will only do so if we force them to. A grassroots campaign to support SAFE would be a very good start—in fact, the only plan that has any chance of solving this horrific problem.
We have to take back our government—and put America on its feet again. If we don’t, our children and grandchildren will pay the price for generations yet to come.
posted by Bob Carder @ 11:55 AM
12 comments
12 Comments:
We are already paying the price but the price will be far greater for our childrens children.
I say we clean house in Washington and start today.
The Plebians accomplished this during the days of the Roman Republic simply by packing up and threatening to leave Rome. The Senate was on the verge of war with a neighboring people group at the time. They immediately caved in to the demands of the common people.
I wonder what we can do to erode the power of the federal government. Voting doesn't really work any more because the corruption and assumptions of the political establishment are too vast.
I'd love to hear thoughts about how we can de-power the Washington elites.
well, we could seek the Holy Spirit, to see if God WANTS things to change, or if Babylon needs to get worse before she dies, and if God wants things to happen, pray fervently that the Lord would reveal Himself to the rulers and authorities, ruin them before His throne, visit them in dreams, blind them on the way to damascus, turn their worlds upside down and so on and so forth...
or we could just sit and do nothing. or worse, we could try and do this thing in the flesh, which will only beget frustration and evil
I would like to know how Peterson figures that the national debt is $53 trillion. It is reported by the government as $10 trillion. Even that is bad enough.
Joel - only through the power of the Holy Spirit and prayer will we see real revival in America - thus ushering in government reform. Human efforts of de-powering the government will not work. Remember, we wrestle not with flesh and blood...the spiritual powers are waging but we can see victory in Christ alone.
R
Do you really think revival is coming? By this I mean a sweeping nation-wide revival that will cure all our ills.
Could it be that the time is at hand to take action? Perhaps, such as is found in Joshua 7:10, God wants us to act. I don't recall revival immediately before the War for Independence, William Wilburforce's successful campaign against slavery in England, or MLK's fight against segregation.
I'm not trying to pick a fight with you R. I'm just growing weary of waiting for a revival that may or may not come.
let's run with this revival idea...
what were the greatest revivals in history? There was the first Great Awakening, then there was the Second, then I would argue in favor of a holiness revival, and even an evangelical revival of late.
What happened with each of these vast movements of the Holy Spirit? I think they all primarily started with prayer, and not just any old mealtime prayer...but real fervent prayer. I think if we get on our knees and faces before God once again, he might just hear from heaven and forgive us our sins, and heal our land (1 Chron 7:14).
Now with regards to the historical, which Joel tried to bring into play...
Prior to the American Revolution was the Great Awakening of the church in England, with Wesley and Whitefield the primary catalysts. In fact, many scholars argue that it was the Methodist movement of Wesley that probably prevented the American Revolution from becoming like the French Revolution (a nasty and bloody war of revolt by mass secular humanists in the wake of the Enlightenment). Thank God, ours was not like that!
Wilburforce's campaign against slavery was also likely influenced by Wesley and the work of the Quakers. One could argue that England and later America had a revival in faith that initiated abolition.
MLK was also riding on the coattails of the holiness revivals and the beginnings of the evangelical movement.
What this nation needs is a true revival! We need to pray! We need to pray for our leaders! For far too long we have been riding on the blessings from the faith of our forefathers, and I think its about run dry. Let us return to that faith that birthed this nation. Let us return to God.
Lord, start a revival. May it start with me!
Levi,
While I'm not discounting revival, I'm not sure that there's a clear link between it and political change. The Great Awakening occurred a generation before the War for Independence. I pretty sure MLK was a Baptist with no connection to the holiness movement (his lifestyle was an indicator of this as well) . I've read the Wesley's work in England probably did prevent a bloody revolution in the 1700's but that's speculation. The Glorious or Bloodless Revolution did occur in England, but that was 1688, before the birth of Wesley and the initiation of the revival movement.
My question: Why do we need to wait on revival? Why not just act as the Holy Spirit leads us now?
how do you propose that we act then? torches and pitchforks? beheading the established government?
i think the best thing is to pray. we need to seek God's guidance in this. the leaders that he wants elected should be elected. we should pray that he would lay this on the hearts of all who vote. we should pray that more godly men and women would rise up in politics. we need politicians of Christian commitment and discipline and integrity. then we need to pray for our guidance regarding our own vote. we need the discernment to elect these types of people. this is not "de-powerment" of the government, but a reordering of who controls it. When God is at the center of our nation again, our country will prosper.
what else can we do? what else is the Holy Spirit leading us to do other than praying for revival, other than initiating revival in our own families and communities first, then in our schools, and our counties, states, and nation? This is what our time is calling for. i have great hope for this land of the free, home of the brave.
what else can we do? You asked for it. Demand that all Christ followers become obedient to the Great Commission. Do not let any believers who profess off the hook. Call them out in their sin. If they profess Christ and remain disobedient to the Great COmmission how can they be in Christ? Call them out in their sin.
Obedience and consecrated living unleashes the Transformational power of God in our lives.
We don't need to wait for a revival we need to walk into consecrated sold out obedience. Obedience to the Great Commission fulfills Jesus reason for coming to earth, it is His redemptive Mission, it was His life's mission and it was something He gave to the Church following His resurrection and it is the reason we have the Holy Spirit to fulfill it. Every believer must make disciples who make disciples. Argue if you want, but the Mission of Christ and His Word is clearly on my side here. America will never see Revival until we repent for not being obedient.
America has had great revivals but we have not experienced the likes of another Pentecost. As I write there is another Pentecost happening somewhere in the world. But it will not happen here until we engage Christ fully in his redemptive and Holy Spirit led work of making disciples who make disciples.
If you want to experience a Pentecost in America you have to walk into it through complete and consecrated obedience to all the commands of Christ.
You can pray for it - but Obedience is what unleashes God's power among us.
Levi,
As much as I'd enjoy the torches and pitchforks, they'd be no match against machine guns and tanks. Guillotines are way too messy. I'm just kidding, of course.
I think you and Bob are on target. We do need prayer, obedience, disciple-making and all that jazz. I don't think we need a sweeping revival movement, as has occurred in the past, to make change. Even if it happened the leviathan government will not roll over and give up power. It will have to be de-powered and dismantled in some way.
Somehow we need spiritual renewal and we need to teach Christians to get off the government dole. We need a biblical worldview regarding government and politics.
I am, however, not opposed to eventual resistance. Francis Schaffer recommended it in A Christian Manifesto after means such as the political process, peaceful resistance, and fleeing the oppressor failed. Armed resistance is a last resort, but not out of the question, even for a Christian. Just ask our founding fathers.
I hope we are a long way off from armed resistance. Hopefully I'll be dead by then, so I won't have to choose. Had I been living in the 1770s, I likely would have been a tory. Revolutions aren't really my cup of tea.
But we are all right to say that we need more prayer. Bob, I think that with more prayer, more people will become aware of their sin, no matter what it is, and will turn and repent. "If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land." (that's from memory, forgive me if there be error).
If this country wants to be great again, the pillars of the church need to be lifting her up in fervent prayer. That's where it all begins, and obedience will soon follow. And this nation will be changed. God bless America!
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