Intern Speech - A Defense of Stateless Marriage

On Monday, we had to do speeches in the Cato Intern class. I was out of town Wednesday through Friday of the previous week and I have no access to my Cato email at home, so I didn't know about the speeches until the morning of. I got in at 9 and I had to have my speech ready by 10. Needless to say, it is not my best work but I support the points I was trying to make. Here it is, in all its glory!

"We as libertarians believe that less is more (in terms of government anyways.) Libertarians agree, almost completely, on eliminating government’s role in a variety of issues, but there are still a few issues where large disagreements remain. Take marriage for example: there is a large group that believes the government should be involved in order to protect everyone’s rights while another group believes that government has no place in marriage.

In my opinion, marriage should be a personal issue and not regulated by the government. While it may cause some problems with the current tax code, adoption laws, etc., marriage should be removed from the state’s authority, and left up to churches and organizations.

Government should not be involved in this very personal institution. Marriage should be left to individuals and their churches and / or organizations. I say organization for those who do not attend church or practice a religion. If I, personally, do not believe that homosexuals should get married, I would go to a church that does not allow that. If I wanted to get married to another man or I supported others that do, I could find a church that supports gay marriage. It’s that simple. No laws have to be passed. No one is forced to accept another’s morality. When we try to legislate our morality, things get really messy, really quick.

With this approach to the subject, problems do arise. I personally have a passion for working with kids and I plan to adopt when I get older. The first questions and issues I have with a stateless marriage, have to deal with adoption. What happens when a couple adopts and then they break up? Who determines custody of the child? To be honest, there is no easy answer to this. When dealing with children, more precautions are needed. They cannot protect themselves like adults can. An option to deal with the adoption problem would be to set up agreements before the adoption takes place as to how it would be handled if a divorce came about. Another, less pleasing option, would be to require adoption agencies to set up these agreements before hand. This would require state intervention, but it would be nothing like the marriage monopoly that we currently have. Also, because state has the authority to protect its citizens, if children are being hurt by their parents or are being mistreated due to the circumstances they are in, the state could step in.

If a couple has children on their own, the same principals would apply. Hopefully they would set up an agreement as to the children, but in the divorce settlement they could also sort out the issue.

On the same lines, what happens to property and possessions when there is a divorce? If a couple believes that this will be an issue (not all will obviously) they can write up a contract with a lawyer to go along with their church wedding agreement. By making sure that they have an agreement set up before, they will have no problems if they separate. Property issues are much easier to deal with than the issue of children.

In order for the state to get out of the marriage business we would also have to reshape the tax code. The institution of marriage is so intertwined with the tax code, everything must be shifted. The government uses this pairing to try to encourage certain moral activities (like getting married instead of living together to pay less taxes). The government should not be in the morality business. A fair tax or a flat tax system would eliminate the reason for tax incentives and allow marriage to be free from the tax code.

While there are problems with removing the state from marriage, they can be resolved with a little thought and practicality. However, if we continue to allow the government to control marriage, it will dictate what we believe in regards to morality and invade even further into our personal lives."

Welp. This is it.

Wow. This is it. El fin. The end. I'll be heading back to Lynchburg tomorrow for graduation on Saturday. After four years of my life, I'm ready to move on. Don't get me wrong; I loved my college years! They were amazing! But now, its time for me to move on. At this point I don't know what that means. I could be in DC (my ultimate wish, I think) or I could go back home (also a very good choice.) I had thought I would be for sure heading back to Lynchburg but it doesn't seem like thats a very strong option right now. If you're actually reading this, shoot a prayer up for me so that I can know what God whats and that I have peace with whatever it is. Thanks guys.

Christians Above Politics? Not Hardly.

One thing I hate more than anything else: a Christian who believes it is morally beneath him to participate in things that are not 100%, to-the-max, faith-related. Their goals are correct – God must be the center – but you cannot cut out everything. The biggest issue is politics. I have met so many, many people that think politics don’t matter or that they are too dirty for Christians. How far from the truth can you get? In order to continue to witness and to minister to those around you, you have to be able legally do so. It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that, either. In order for your voice to be heard, you have to protect your freedom of speech.

To impact this world for Christ, you have to be in this world. Sitting on the sideline watching everything pass you by will not give you a platform to speak from. We have to be active in this world – in all areas – in order to be, first, seen and then, heard.

Not to continually get on my soapbox but possibly the reason that Christians don’t want to become active in politics is because they see the contradictions of the two major parties. Republicans, the typically Christian party, voices support for freedom but never actually supports it completely. Democrats support freedom as long as you don’t get too Jesus-y on them. There is no happy medium… But wait! There is! Libertarianism allows everyone to have the freedom to do whatever they want. Yes this will allow bad things to happen but people are more likely listen to the message of Christ if your not trying to legislate their beliefs away (either side).

Celebrate Justice, Not Damnation

“Justice has been done,” according to a statement Obama made late last night. Osama Bin Laden has been killed in Pakistan. This one man had harmed and killed many thousand people across the world. He was the architect behind the World Trade Center terrorist attack in 2001 which killed over 3,000 Americans. We should celebrate the fact that he can no longer hurt innocent people around the world. His organization can, and probably will, continue his fight however. While this man was undoubtedly vile and evil, the celebration of his death is not something I, personally, can take part in.

Last night on Facebook – and probably Twitter as well – there were numerous posts celebrating Osama’s death. While a celebration for justice and the men and women in the military is right and I would say, necessary, celebrating a man’s death is wrong. As a Christian I cannot do this. I also saw one status on Facebook last night that read, “Burn in hell, Osama. God bless America.” This status was from a Liberty student. This shocked and appalled me. How can a God-fearing Christian wish for someone to go to hell? No matter what his crimes were, Christ loved him and died for him.

I completely support our military, don’t get me wrong. This is not to degrade them or their contributions. They have served valiantly for their country (albeit in a war that is illegal and immoral) and they should be treated as the heroes they are. A side note: Ron Paul’s argument that Osama could have been dealt with by a small force is a good one. Wasting ten years and trillions of dollars on one man, seems like a waste when it could have been done in a much simpler way.

After this event we must be on our guard. He had so many devoted followers that so deeply believed in his convictions that there will be backlash from this. They will come after America and her allies. We must be on guard.

Christ calls us to love our enemies. He wanted Osama to see His love, but in the end, Osama did not. This is a sad fact, but one that we live with. With this, we should not judge all Muslims this way. They are a group of people who Christ loves just as much as any Southern Baptist congregation here in the States. It is our job to reach them. Occupying their lands and constantly fighting them, is no way to further the Gospel. A conversion at gun point is no conversation; it’s a last ditch effort to save one’s skin. Ezekiel 18:21-24 says, “But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.” This plainly shows that God does not enjoy death, even the death of the wicked. However, it is the punishment for our sins. Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” If everyone has sinned, should we not celebrate at every funeral?

My convictions lead me to value human life over most anything. I deeply enjoy my liberty but I would sacrifice it to save a life (as long as it was my choice, not a government’s). I am a fierce advocate for the pro-life movement and I could never support a candidate that did not support life as well. While Osama did not share my deep rooted convictions, he was still a life. I wish he was given a trial so at least if the death penalty was used, it would be just. In our attacks on the compound where Osama was killed, the U.S. killed several children. Was that a fair trade? I’m not so sure. Their lives were extinguished after just a few short years. That is something that should be mourned.

I am happy that this is now over. Osama, a man who has caused so many so much pain and death, is now gone. Through this however, another man is now burning hell. This is no reason to celebrate.

Practice what you preach!

As a libertarian, I don’t believe throwing money at a problem solves it. We have seen time and time again where the government tries to “fix” one of its programs by giving it more funding. It hardly ever works. More often than not it needs a revamping or a handoff to the private sector. When a situation in my life (intern housing) came up, I was almost too quick to toss money at the problem instead of fighting it. I’m glad I held off because God used the Career Center at LU to fix things for me. They went well beyond their jobs to help me. Awesome folks there despite the disagreements I have had with them. So basically, when push comes to shove, do what you say.

Drawing to a close or a new start? We'll see...

On Monday the Washington Semester Folks from LU took us out to eat at Carmine's (a very nice Italian restaurant) for the end of the semester. In my spare time, I applied for the Lynchburg District Court Deputy Clerk position. Haven't heard anything back but who knows. I used Caitlyn's phone and scanned several business cards into it. I definitely want a smart phone now. haha

On Tuesday, I delivered all of Cato's papers by myself. It didn't take too long though. I did CT and we finished up the CJUS week. We talked about how to deal with police (after we had to deal with police the night before. Ultimate Frisbee on the capitol lawn.) We also went to the Freshman Hill Briefing.

On Wednesday, we went to the freshman hb.

On Thursday I wasn't feeling so well so after I did CT I went home and napped. For four and a half hours. And I took medicine. And orange juice. I think it worked. While sleeping I received an email from Bob Goodlatte's office about the resume I sent. I have an interview this week for a staff assistant position. Wish me luck!

On Friday my parents came up and we had lunch. We also went to the People's Church (new NCC) for a Good Friday service. We watched Robinhood and Gulliver's Travels as well.

Saturday I helped with the Eggstravaganza for Ebz. I had a blast! We all had dinner at Barracks Row at this Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican place. It was good.

Sunday we went to Ebz for the Easter service and then we went to Eastern Market. That night we went to Columbia Heights to see Jason play drums at the Gala NCC location.

Criminal Justice Week at Cato

Well last week was criminal justice week at Cato (and today because we didn't finish on Friday). We watched a video and had a discussion each day. I really enjoyed it.
Monday - I did Cato Today (MWF) and our topic for CJUS Week was legalization of drugs.
Tuesday - I worked on Caitlyn's RSS feed and the topic for CJUS was the 2nd amendment and safety
Wednesday - I did Cato Today and the topic was plea bargaining. That video made me very mad. People are tricked into taking pleas by the system. Horrible
Thursday - The topic was wrongful convictions. Also another video that made me mad. Basically people were arrested falsely, then they were forced to rat on someone (making it up) to enter into a plea bargain, and then that person was arrested. And the cycle repeated until there were 7 guys. Finally a random guy was caught and he said he did it by himself, but the other guys were still locked up. Stupid system.
Friday - I did Cato Today and we had a Hill Briefing on Transportation with Randal O'Toole. Pretty interesting. We also had the State of the Institute where Ed Crane and David Boaz spoke. Those guys are awesome! Ed is a funny guy!
Saturday - I helped fill the communion bags for NCC
Sunday - We went to Fort Stephens and got to see the cannons and the place where Lincoln came under fire

Arrested Development: Libertarian Philosophy from our dear friend Buster

In the Arrested Development episode, "The One Where They Build a House," Buster says, "I don't agree with your dirty doings here, but I will defend with my life your right to do it." He was talking about joining the army because of what he caught his "parents" doing. As libertarians, we often come into situations where we also have to defend something we don't like.
Take the Westboro Baptist Church's protest of military funerals. I personally hate that. Those men and women served their country with everything they had (for a war that should not have happened) but those that protest their actions have that right. Just because I don't agree with someone is no reason for me to try and silence them. Our government is there to protect us from harming each other; but that does not mean that it can stop us from doing completely morally apprehensible things. As long as it doesn't hurt someone physically, then freedom reigns supreme.

Two weeks... (again)

Monday - I did CT again. I also worked on Caitlyn's RSS feed and I worked the Green Energy seminar.
Tuesday - I did an email and a fax. EXCITING! Not really
Wednesday - Cato Today. MWF this week. I met the new lady in our department, Laura Renz. I did another fax and email at the spur of the moment for the freshman policy series. We had the op-ed seminar.
Thursday - I did a fax and email list for the freshman congressman. We had a seminar on the Constitution as well.
Friday - I did my professional interview with Caitlyn. Boy is she a talker. But it was great. I learned a lot. I did CT and a couple emails. I also worked on updating 4 databases for Laura. One day there and she's already bossing me around. Haha. She's actually really nice.
Saturday - We went to celebrate Kayon's birthday at the Cheesecake Factory in friendship heights.

Monday - I finally got the email sent out for the freshman policy series and I started dropping off some literature for the series as well on Capitol Hill. That evening, on the way to drop off some mail, I saw Al Frankin walking home.
Tuesday - I worked some more on Laura's databases. I did CT (TR) and I went to a hill briefing on Libya. We met with Nita Ghea about our op-eds and she said mine was a very interesting topic.
Wednesday - I spent almost four hours on capitol hill delivering the rest of the literature for the freshman policy series. In a period of one hour I saw Paul Ryan, John McCain, and Carl Cameron from Fox. Pretty awesome.
Thursday - CT
Friday - Went to Lynchburg
Saturday - Saw Phantom of the Opera (LU). Awesome!

My Letter to the Editor

Piece I responded to (Bristol Herald Courier):

"Was vote against Boucher rigged?

Virginia’s longest serving U.S. Congressman, Rick Boucher, is beloved by all of the people of his district, having served them through 14 terms. He received 68 percent of the vote in 2006 and was not even contested in 2008. So does anyone think it a little strange that he lost his seat garnering only 46 percent of the vote?
It reminds me of the curious result in South Carolina where an unknown, unemployed black man named Alvin Greene beat a well known state senator with 59 percent of the Democratic vote in the primary. He then lost the general election 68 percent to 28 percent to Jim Demint, the incumbent Republican.
Did Rick really lose? He deserves this theory be presented: It has been documented time and again by the best computer scientists in the country that 80 percent of America’s votes in 2010 were tabulated by hackable, inaccurate, unreliable, electronic voting machines. After a university team hacked into California machines, that state outlawed electronic voting machines for the 2010 election. In another instance, computer scientists tested the vulnerabilities of a mock District of Columbia election in 2010. They were able to infiltrate the online system and change votes without leaving a trace.
Do the research and you will find that this is a taboo subject. Perhaps it is because both parties are involved. I don’t know!
There are several documentaries out there exposing the fraud. One was produced by HBO, called "Hacking Democracy." Bev Harris at blackboxvoting.org has been on this for years. This, in my opinion, is the reason Boucher lost. It does not deserve to be pushed under the rug by those in charge of voting in the Fightin’ Ninth. Rick Boucher’s congressional career could have been terminated because of it.

Gary Carrier
Bristol, Tenn."


My response:

"Mr. Carrier is mistaken that Mr. Boucher’s loss in November was the result of a 'rigged' election. It was the result of the people of the ninth district of Virginia changing their minds about the Congressman. While the results of the election were much different from previous years, and would have to be for Mr. Griffith to win, that does not automatically point to foul play.

Boucher received 46 percent of the vote in 2010. In 2006, (the last year it was a contested race) he received 68 percent. While this 22 percent difference is quite large, Boucher himself knew it was going to be a tough race. According to OpenSecrets.Org he spent 2.9 million on media, campaign expenses, and administrative support in 2010. He only spent $828,000 in 2006 on the same items.

Boucher lost because the ninth no longer wanted his services and he most definitely saw this change coming."

Another Week in DC

Monday - I the second half of the medicaid event. I just sold books but I enjoyed it. I also stuffed letters for Caitlyn's "Gokhale" distribution list.

Tuesday - I did more letters. Oh joy. I also sold books at another event. I did Cato Today too. I'm getting pretty quick at it now. Definitely not the four hours like the first time.

Wednesday - I worked on Caitlyn's RSS feed again. Give it a week and it really piles up. I had to go through close to 300 articles. I did CT again and we had another interesting GA meeting.

Thursday - I delivered more handbooks after we did a hill briefing. Then I went on a dome tour with several of the LU kids. One of the most epic things of the semester so far.

Friday - I put together an email for Brandon and I worked on something else. Can't think of it right now though...

A sweet reminder of home...

Well this past week was good week. On Saturday we went to the Eastern Market. Epic. I got an awesome shirt. I'm going back next weekend fo sho. The last couple (3) Sundays I've been volunteering at Ebenezer's (8:20 in the AM!) and its been pretty awesome.

On Monday, I did Cato Today once again and I did Caitlyn's RSS feeds. (I need to do that this week...).

Tuesday, Catinca, April, and I reorganized the book room. As in alphabetized several hundred books. They moved the book room from the basement to the second floor so everything was crazy. Took several hours but it looks quite lovely. (insert faux British accent). I also put together two packages for Caitlyn filled with Bad Medicine (one of our publications).

Wednesday I did Cato Today and we had another incredibly topically random GA meeting. We started googling congresswomen that we thought were good looking. Very interesting choices mentioned. I also delivered some more handbooks to the hill.

Thursday, I worked on a large mailing which used the contact info for the Gokhale distribution (over 300 contacts).

Friday we had another informal libertarian lunch group on the hill and as soon as I got back to Cato, I left for the Planet Wisdom Conference in Woodbridge, VA. It was so awesome to get to hang out with my church. I missed that! Great friends and great times. Thanks guys!

Two weeks...

So I've been incredibly lazy and I haven't posted in forever (2 weeks).

Last week...

Monday - I worked on the list of new freshmen and on Tuesday I finished it. Not exciting.

Wednesday - I did an email and fax and I did Cato Today which got out by 11:30.

Thursday - I delivered some handbooks to the hill.

Friday - I did Cato Today and I went to the hill with more handbooks. I went to the capital hill club after work and got free food.

Weekend - worked on my Govt 302 paper and went to the National Cathedral.

This week...

Monday - I went with Brandon to the RSC. Always cool. Saw Ben

Tuesday - I started a project for Caitlyn where I went through her RSS feed and summarized all the stuff happening (state agencies). I also took testimony to Dirksen and we had an event where I found my backup job...

Wednesday - I did CT, worked on Caitlyn's RSS feed thing, and Nita Ghea spoke to us. We had a GA meeting where we talked about dogs, gay congressmen, hot congressmen (?), and retro music and tv.

Thursday - ?

Friday - Handbooks on the hill

Parental Units

As the previous post said, I was off on Monday. Awesome. Tuesday I worked on the Report for Government Affairs and on Wednesday, I finished it. Also I did Cato Today in 2 hours! The quickest I've done it. I started at 8:30 so I had to wait 30 minutes (until 11) to send it out. I went to the the informal lunch group and I met a mult-millionaire. Pretty epic. I also did an email for Brandon. On Thursday, I didn't do that much. We had a lecture with Tom Palmer (my favorite) and I did a mailing for Caitlyn. On Friday, I did CT in 2 hours again! On a roll baby! I also started putting together a list of freshman congressman and their offices so we can deliver handbooks to them. My parents came up on Friday so I hung out with them all weekend. It was awesome to see them again. We had dinner with all my DC friends on Saturday and Kayon started talking "real suthern" like my parents. pretty funny!

Ain't Presidents Grand?

As you can see from the title, I was off work today. Much needed day off, let me tell you. It was a great week though. A lot of epicness. I've been using that "word" too much... Anyways, here's the stitch:

On Monday, I helped one of my fellow interns make phone calls to see what Representatives were coming to our New Member Breakfast on Tuesday. No one I talked to was coming. Drat.

On Tuesday, I did Cato Today again. I was not planning on this and I got started about an hour later than usual (9:30). I was doing the newspaper delivery and when I got done the other guys asked me to take if for the day. Kind of rough. I tried the pizza place near work with Saagar. Pretty good stuff.

Wednesday, I worked through the Gokhale distribution list till I was down to the last two emails. When I got home, I called numbers for both and I was able to get an email for one.

Thursday, I finished the Gokhale list. Thank the Lord! I now hate excel. Completely. I was able to start a new project too. I began to put together my department's (Government Affairs) quantitative report for 2010. I have to list all the events and put descriptions with the events. That evening in the apartment, I had a huge foreign policy "discussion" with Josh, Jason, Taylor, and Nick. I was ganged up on, but at least I know I'm right. Our military is there to provide for the common defense, not world domination and messing in already hostile situations does nothing to make them better (the Middle East).

Friday, I worked more on the project and then I went to the International Students for Liberty Conference. It was awesome. I attended the whole weekend. I saw John Stossel, David Boaz, Gary Johnson (2012), and several other awesome speakers. If you ever get the chance to go to one of these, don't think, do it. (Employee of the Month reference.)

Today (Monday), we went to the national zoo. Saw red pandas (my favorites), giant pandas, shrews, leopards, and a bunch of monkeys. Check out my pics on Facebook if you want to see them. Awesome stuff.

Thanks and peace.

Bourbon Babies! "Somebody hit her with the ugly stick"

A wee bit behind but at least I'm posting...

On Monday I went with my supervisor, Brandon Arnold, to the Republican Study Committee. That's always an interesting meeting. Its a bunch of Republican staffers that discuss whats coming up for the house. Pretty legit. On the way back to Cato in the taxi, Brandon explained the process of making laws and procedures. Pretty awesome, and intricate, stuff.

Tuesday I started making phone calls for my distribution list. Calling offices all over the country. I hate phones... but it was still fun. You can definitely tell when you're talking to people from the south. I left about an hour early so I could drop of some testimonies for Mark Calabria for the next day.

Wednesday: More phone calls. OH JOY. Another discussion with Kuznicki. I still haven't decided if I like him. He's good, but odd. I also put together a list of freshmen congressmen that declined their provided health care. For lunch I went to Micky D's and I saw Dan Griswold. I also bought lunch for two homeless guys.

Thursday: I did CT again but I was overconfident. So it took a while. And then I went with Caitlyn Korb and Roger Pilon to a Hill briefing about restoring Constitutional liberty. Pilon and Rep. Scott Garrett spoke. Pretty awesome.

Friday: LYNCHBURG!!! But first work. It wasn't bad. Then four hours on the train.

Went to Jordan Connell's concert. EPIC. and then I went to b-dubs with everyone: JB, Cribby, Stephan, Sara Beth, Ryan, AJ, Zack, Corey, Zach, Lexie, Chris, Allison, Nick, and a random Asian girl I don't know.

Saturday: We went to the mall and got Chinese like old times (Stephan, Sara Beth, and Grant) and went to Walmart and Target. Then I went to the ball game and then played the futuristic risk and it was epic. Watched Wall Street with JB and Zack. Not sure about that.

Sunday: Left on the train at 10. Back in DC...

Thai, mushrooms, and emails...

So here's the weekly update:

On Monday, I took the lead on Cato Today. Um... can you say intense? It's Cato's daily publication that is sent out by email. I got there about 8:20 and didn't get it out until 1:00. Over four and half hours. But it made it out!

On Tuesday, Jason Kuznicki spoke to us about logic. Very interesting despite the fact one of his examples of bad logic was a faulty argument that creationists (which I am) sometimes use. He definitely had some valuable insight. At Cato we're allowed to take the books they publish home. Because of this, I've started a list of books I really want and one has been at the top: The Libertarian Reader. I found it Tuesday. I was excited! haha

On Wednesday, I put together a fax for Kuznicki's Marriage Against the State. It's a good article but not really something LU would like. Oh well. I also worked on the Gokhale distribution (like I have the last 3 weeks). For lunch I had Thai food for the very first time. Saagar talked me into (one of the other interns).

On Thursday, Kuznicki talked again, but this time about natural rights. A good lecture with a lot of good discussion. I really like the article from Ayn Rand. Good stuff.

Today, Friday, I went to Capital Hill to deliver books and then we (me and Saagar again) had lunch in the Longworth cafeteria with one of his roommates who works on the hill. His roommate is allergic to mushrooms so what did he do? He had one. We had to take him to the first aid room.

We're watching the Island right now. Epic movie. We're always watching movies... haha. Tomorrow we're heading to Georgetown to get cupcakes. Yep. Cupcakes. They're so legit they're on the food network.

Why Libertarianism Fits With, and Exemplifies, the Christian Faith

This is just my preliminary thoughts on the subject. I hope to really get into this at some point from both angles. Here is just the Christian angle.

"Many Christians today feel that the Republican Party is the only option that fits with their faith. They feel that the “morals” exemplified in the party so closely resemble their own, that they have to support the party. While I personally agree with some of the moral issues that the Republican Party takes a stand on, I do not agree with the Republican way of implementing them. I consider myself a Christian Libertarian. Many, from both sides (Christian and Libertarian), would stare at me with wonder at this pairing of seemingly contradictory words. These two things are in fact compatible. I would go so far to say that this worldview is best acted upon through this political philosophy.

Christians in today’s time have fallen down on the job. We do not have the passion that the early church had and because of this, we are losing the fight in society. In order to “shore up our defenses,” we attempt to legislate our views and morality. If we can outlaw drugs then our society will become more moral; so we think. If we legislate morality, the actual morality that we are trying to uphold is warped and lessened greatly. When we force people to act a certain way by fear of punishment, there is no morality; just fear and disdain for the overbearing authority. In order to truly reach the culture around us, we must do it on our own: through relationships and personal interactions. Legislation cannot induce morality. If people are allowed to choose what they do and how they act, then when they make good moral decisions, the decisions are actually good and true.

Christians take the easy way out when we take our moral rules and obligations and apply them to the general public. Its almost as if we are jealous that they can have fun so we have to make them “suffer” as we do. This is not true faith. It is laziness and immorality at their pinnacle. To truly win a society and make it “moral,” we must win their hearts. We must regain the passion that once made Christianity so enticing and show that to the world.

If we (Republican Christians) enact our morality into legislation when we are in power, what do we expect the other side (“Godless” Democrats) to do? It does not take a genius to see what will happen, and what has happened. If we try to enforce our beliefs on those who do not share them, when they become the ruling party they will most definitely strive to enact their policies as well. When they do, we cannot complain. We did the same.

Take a look at Genesis. God created Adam and Eve for companionship. Did you get that? He CREATED them. He chose how they would be. Every. Single. Aspect. Not long after their creation they disobeyed him and fell into sin. They were given the free will to do what they pleased even if it went against what God wanted for them. (I hold that it was still His will but that’s another discussion.) The Republican way of doing things does not recognize this. They try to tell people how to act through coercion. God wants us to come to him of our accord (with the Holy Spirit’s guiding).

Man is fallen. Dr. Metallo would be proud of that statement. Man is a sinful being. If we place people in a position of power, that sinful nature is tempted even more than a normal person. It is magnified beyond belief. Government is necessary but not the type we have today. Our founders created a governing system with a very small central government because they knew that men governed themselves better than a government can. Because of the size and magnitude of our present government, the greed and immorality of man has been expanded so much that the government rarely functions effectively. The founders confined the government by establishing certain actions that the government could take and then delegating the rest either to the states or to the citizenry. Today’s government has ignored these rules (aka the Constitution) and has stolen power from the states and the people."

2nd Blog from DC

So this week was pretty epic. I am still loving the city. I've been able to see and do so much! Last Saturday we went to the Air and Space Museum. Pretty awesome stuff! On Wednesday, I sat in on a House Judiciary Subcommittee meeting. One of our scholars at Cato, Dan Griswold, testified about immigration. It was pretty exciting. It snowed so much that day! They let us leave at 3. On Thursday, we went in 2 hours late. I'm really glad we actually made it because the founder of Cato, Ed Crane, spoke to us. I also put together 2 faxes and emails about new material we had. On Friday, we had a debate and a bunch of students came from organizations all over the city. I ran around with a microphone for questions and answers. It was really epic. The discussion was about welfare and poverty.

Yesterday we went up to the Washington Monument. Boy was that awesome! The view was amazing! Today I went to Ebenezer's (NCC) again for church. They gave all the new people food after the service. For dinner I had Armond's pizza (AMAZING) and we're watching Chaos Theory now. (ALSO AMAZING). Peace.

Moving and a Little Bit of Consistency

So I recently moved to Washington, D.C. Not permanently of course (I'm a country boy), but for an internship. I'm working at the Cato Institute (flipping awesome) and I'm wrapping up my final semester at LU through their online program. In order to keep up with my oh so exciting life now (it really is!) I'm going to try and blog on a weekly basis. I'm keeping notes each day about what I do and on the weekend I'll blog about it.

I just finished my second week but it seems like I've been here for months! In a good way though. I was scared to death to start at Cato but I absolutely love it! The atmosphere is not Liberty Way per se, but its definitely an atmosphere of liberty. I work with the Government Affairs department and their goal is to get Cato's libertarian information out to Congress and other leaders. So in other words... I've been compiling databases with contact info. No that glamorous I know, but incredibly important. Jagadeesh Gokhale, a Cato Scholar, wrote a study on the costs of medicaid on the states in regards to Obamacare. We are trying to get this out to all the states and this is where I come in: get all the emails, addresses, phone numbers, etc. for a bunch of people. Tedious, but important.

We've been to the hill (Capitol Hill for all you people back home. haha) a couple times for events and I've been to a lot of cool places. I've delivered Cato books to several house and senate offices. I haven't seen anyone, but eventually I will! On Wednesday, we took a taxi to capitol hill for an event. First time in a D.C. taxi. Ok. When we got back to the office we found everyone outside because there was an gas leak in the building and they sent us home at 3. Heck yeah.

The next day I delivered a couple packages for Jason Kuznicki to the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institute, and Americans for Tax Reform. They're all kind of close to Dupont Circle, one of the famous D.C. landmarks. On my way I passed the embassies of Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Peru. And for the finale of the day, I was stuck in the elevator between the 1st and 2nd floors at Cato. I was there for about 30 minutes but I had coffee so I was fine.

Today, we went to the hill again for an informal pizza lunch/discussion with staffers. It was pretty cool. Afterwards we delivered more books around the hill. Today was my first happy hour at work. It was a Chinese New Year theme with a bunch of Chinese food and sake. I didn't have any because I don't like alcohol and because of my commitments to LU. It was hilarious. They had a huge dragon that people walked around in and they had pictures of Chinese and Korean leaders everywhere. I had a good time socializing and discussing.

Last weekend we toured a bunch of museums (we being a bunch of the LU students in the Washington Semester.) We've got a great group of people and we're all hanging out and getting along. We've been to the National Community Church the last two sundays at Ebenezer's Coffee Shop. It's epic. We're watching Clue right now. Also epic.

This was a lot but its my first post. Hopefully this will be once a week so I'll tone it down a bit. Thanks guys.

Oh, the grocery stores here are outrageous!