Political Implications of the Theory of Evolution

First of all, I will be forthright in my beliefs on the origins of life, earth, and the universe. I believe that God created everything as taken from Genesis 1 in 6 literal 24 hour days. I won’t go into detail on my reasoning because that is not the purpose of my post. The point is, I don’t believe that humans and apes share a common ancestor, or that there is one at all. I believe that God, at creation created every animal according to its own kind and from then, till Noah and then after Noah till now and continuing, there was a great deal of adaptation of all life, but not evolution. Anyway, a few verses in Genesis illustrate the point I want to make but keep sidetracking myself from. Oh well, this is my brain’s post so I have to deal with it just as much as you do.

[26] Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 
    [27] So God created man in his own image,
        in the image of God he created him;
        male and female he created them.

So here in this passages in Genesis 1, we can see that God created man in His own image (The “let us” and “our own” indicate a statement among the members of the Trinity, and not the angels). We are not simply evolutional accidents. We are created in the image of God. That’s a powerful statement. The implications of that for our person-to-person relationships are numerous. As easy as it is to (At least for me), we can’t treat other people like pieces of scrap or helpless morons (Even if they act that way) because they are created in the image of God. His representatives on earth. Now, perhaps the greatest earthly results from this was the idea of natural rights. Argued eloquently, (But not the first) by the founding fathers, the concept of natural rights basically means that we have rights that come naturally from our status as creations in the image of God. The book I’m currently reading A History of American Political Theories puts it best:

They [the soon-to-be-American colonists] declared that there exists a body of natural rights antedating the existence of government and superior to it in authority. These natural rights, it was held, are the real basis of political rights, and hence the action of the British government, even if strictly legal, was still regarded as contrary to the inherent rights of man. This idea was boldly and forcibly expressed by many of the Patriot leaders. Dickinson declared that "our liberties do not come from charters; for these are only the declaration of preexisting rights. They do not depend on parchments or seals; but come from the King of Kings and Lord of all the earth." John Adams said that rights do not come from princes or parliaments; but are coaeval [sic] with these. They are founded "in the frame of human nature, rooted in the constitution of the intellectual and moral world," derived from "the Great Legislator of the universe." Even more vividly the youthful Hamilton asserted that "the sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written as with a sunbeam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the Divinity itself and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."

So here we have the view that as humans and not just British subjects, Parliament had violated the rights of the colonists. Because humans are created in the image of God, they cannot be trampled on. They cannot have their possessions taken from them. They cannot be killed wantonly. They cannot be pushed into subjugation against their will. The colonists felt that Parliament, by taxing them, forcing them to quarter their troops, closing their harbors, monopolizing the tea trade, all without any consent of their own, was doing just that. So that’s why they fought the most powerful nation in the world at the time. Not because they were spoiling for a fight, on the contrary, many (at least in the beginning of the war) held the British crown and government in high regard, but because their rights as creations in the image of God were being tossed aside in the name of tax revenue and efficiency for the British.

So what does all this mean? Well, when you think about the rampant viral disease of secular humanism that has spread throughout the world, you can explain the actions of some. As much as Hitler could say that he believed in God, he certainly didn’t treat the Jews like creations in His image, much less God’s chosen people. Heh. My next argument was that this could be seen in less extreme ways with what the Democrats are doing in Congress, but nothing they’ve done really has violated our natural rights really. Just pretty much everything else. I guess then a better argument would be that as we see many European nations become more and more secular, we need to watch out for our own as we can easily see in our normal days the rampant Godlessness of our fellow people.

Lessons From the Campaign Office

Interning for my Congressman over the Summer and a bit earlier in the spring has really taught me so much and has expanded my horizons more than I thought would happen. First of all, my mom actually suggested that I intern for them a while back but I was hesitant as I am with pretty much every new things I try out. So I sort of ignored it but then had the idea in the back of my head for a long time. Then, in the beginning of my Sophomore year at Wheaton North, my APUSH class was going over the formation of the US. We were going through things like the beliefs of the founding fathers, the Puritans, the Federalist-Antifederalist debates, and of all these things I had strong opinions that I would occasionally voice in class (Nicely of course). So as I was feeling fired up about those sort of political things, my mom again brought up the idea (As she would periodically) and this time I felt that maybe it would be a good idea. So I called the office about helping out and to make a long story short, a long process of phone tag and business finally landed me in an office seat staring in front of a computer in mid-March. The business of the day was calling people in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh, as there was a special election there that a Republican had a good chance of winning (Plus the fact that Congressman Roskam is firmly entrenched in his district and is making an effort to help Republican challengers and those who need assistance). Realize at this point that calling people I don’t know and leaving messages scared me to death. I have and do enjoy public speaking, but not using the phone. I always felt unprepared and would stumble over my words and just feel stupid. However, this job was actually not so bad because it held a key: A script! I no longer had to fear feeling idiotic, I had exactly what I needed to say right in front of me. So I did that for a while until the election (The Republican lost ::Teardrop::). I would then continue to help out, doing whatever was asked, but after school, I was and have been able to throw in so much more time into it. I now am in the office pretty much 5 days of the week from 2-4 hours every day doing whatever needed. And that’s also key to the lessons I’ve learned. As an intern, I have done pretty much everything. I have called people, walked in parades, gone door to door, cut out newspaper clippings, sealed/mailed envelopes, done data entry, and  have been a wall for people to talk into. This has taught me a few new skills, made me know and appreciate my talents (And know the areas where I, uh, lack skill….), and has really shown me flexibility. Usually I know if it’s the week before a parade we’ll be making phone calls, but I don’t always know. It’s a great feeling to be able to do whatever someone asks you to do and try new things. I feel quite useful. I’ve also meet some awesome people there (Clue: They’re all in/done with college) who have imparted their AP, college choice, major choice, and life choice (that sounded bad…) wisdom onto me. I have learned quite a bit from them and can really appreciate my coworkers.

Another thing I have learned from interning is how apathetic people are about politics. When I go door to door, most of the people aren’t home, most of the people who are home don’t know/care, and the people who do just say something like “jobs”. Well who doesn’t want jobs? Are you saying that everyone else on this block who didn’t say they cared about jobs simply doesn’t care if they get laid off? I do understand thought that it can be more important to certain people. But anyway, it’s kind of infuriating to see all these people who when you see the ratings of the President, Congress, and the government in general, seem to think that something’s going wrong, but yet no one really seems to know anything. People talk about how they’re not into politics, but that’s what makes our nation run! People talk about how they don’t like it when the Democrats and Republicans don’t play nice and work together, seemingly failing to realize how impossible that normally is! This nation was founded upon citizen participation and input, and now most people don’t know or care. That’s completely wrong and needs to change…somehow…We need to facilitate this participatory attitude in the people of my generation. You’d think the “Government run” schools would do a good job, but that’s not the case. Oh well, if you all don’t care, more power and influence for me then…

The Politics of Our Beloved Land

Politics has interested me for a while, and President Obama’s election really sparked that interest in me quite a bit. Being in Wheaton in Dupage county, I am in one of the wealthier and more conservative counties in Illinois (And no, we’re not wealthy. I have 5 siblings, remember? I’m paying for all of college myself). However, Wheaton North Public High School was a different story. It seemed, as national polls indicated, that all the young people were in love with Obama, and hated Bush and “that old senile white guy” McCain. Liking Obama was easily the “Cool thing to do.” I’ve just finished a mini lecture series on the history of US Presidential elections, and it was made in 2008 with the last lecture being an analysis of the 08 election. So I could see pretty specifically the massive “Blue shift” almost every single state had during that election. Besides Arizona, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Tennessee, every other state and countless counties voted far more Democratically than the had in 2004. Even my country, along with many other “Wealthy and white” fast growing suburban counties that had previously been Republican strongholds either went Democratic (As was the case with all the counties surrounding Chicago) or saw their Republican majorities strongly reduced. So that was surprising to me, even though I had predicted early in the Summer that Obama would win by a sizeable amount.

Now today, the Democrats in Congress are in serious danger of losing the House and are probably going to see their majority in the Senate sharply cut (But that’s only because 36 are up for reelection this year). Obama’s approval rating is hovering around the 48-52 range and is at it’s lowest point ever. People are fed up with the liberal agenda that has totally ignored what a majority of the people really want. The deficit is incredibly high and the national debt is staggeringly huge. The new financial regulations bill (Whose Congressional debates I have watched hours of) is also meant to unreasonably restrain businesses (especially farmers) and banking in a way that severely limits their ability to lay safety nets for themselves and is again putting the government into every aspect of our lives. Now granted, some of the reforms have good ideas. Would it be nice to have cheap healthcare for everyone? Of course! Is it good that large financial institutions aren’t being irresponsible with funds and aren’t trying to make money on corporations failing? Yeah! But then do you make taxpayers foot the enormous bill, do you slow down the system, do you harm businesses? No! It’s just like most things the Democrats have come up with over the centuries. Unions were good ideas. They provided workers with better conditions and better pay when they were being exploited. But now, they’re simply out for themselves and don’t seem to care for the companies they actually work for. They are limiting business and slowing down production and aren’t doing much good. Was old age and disability insurance (Social Security) a good idea? Sure! But now it’s going to bankrupt out country because there are and definitely will be in the coming years far more retirees than workers. Things are not getting cheaper and if everything continues, Social Security expenditures will comprise a massive amount of our spending, again raising our deficits and national debt.

So essentially, the Democrats are fantastic at doing things that seem great, but in reality cost far too much money, and cost far too much government. Obama has for the moment lost quite a bit of popularity and many Blue-Dog (Fiscally conservative) Democrats that were swept into office in 2006 when the Dems were energized  are going to be swept right back out as many have not stayed true to their constituents and have obediently bowed to the more liberal wing of the Democrats that has controlled the agenda. Obama’s support among Independents-a key to his 08 victory-has all but vanished. So now, the Republicans are riding a wave that could land them quite a few seats. Republicans are extremely energized, even more so than they were in 94 with the “Republican Revolution”. The problem is, according to some poll (I forgot which one, maybe Gallup) most of those who are planning on voting for a Republican (And there are plenty) are doing so not because they like Republicans and their ideology, but because they dislike Obama. So Republicans cannot be overconfident in thinking that this is the beginning of a major change in American thinking and that they’ll be in power for years to come. As with almost every single movement centered around the hatred or dislike of a person or idea, once the object of dislike is removed, support for that movement vanishes. So Republicans must continue and support what the majority of Americans (And especially those Independents and Democrats) is supporting: fiscal restraint and deficit/debt reduction. Now I know that I have heard and seen personally many representatives (My own, Congressman Roskam *Beams*) especially Republicans that are advocating just that, but we need to make sure that Obama’s fad support doesn’t become our support, where it’s just “cool” to not like the Democrats. That way, we can set this country again on the right path toward a better future for all Americans. (Sorry, couldn’t help adding the melodramatic note at the end)