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Lifestyle DAVID PANNELL: Without Christian roots, capitalism and socialism would fail

DAVID PANNELL

Heres a question: Which is better socialism or free enterprise? Which seems more sensible? That the means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned and regulated by the community as a whole, or that a society of free agents should compete for them?

Before I go any further, and before you report me to the authorities as a socialist sympathizer, let me say for the record I am not a socialist, nor am I trying to persuade you to become one.

Like most Americans, I would naturally say free enterprise is better. I personally prefer, on grounds both practical and ideological, the idea of free individuals having control over their own lives.

Yet I think its a question that deserves a fresh and fair hearing in the times we live in, from a Christian perspective.

A strong case could be made for free enterprise by pointing out that socialism tends to take away personal initiative and responsibility. Or one could simply point out the obvious historical failures of socialism. Some who have lived long enough to remember the deprivations of socialists regimes of the last century would answer, without hesitation, that for all its problems, free enterprise is better, both ideologically and practically.

Others, looking at the more recent prosperity and well-being of people living in Northern Europe, especially Scandinavia, would say with equal fervor that socialism is better.

They would correctly point out that in a competitive system like free enterprise, there will be winners and losers. Some will have more than they need and others will not have enough.

To be fair, it could be said by many measures, the quality of life for the average person in those countries is better than in a society built on a model of competition.

We Americans rightly argue the free enterprise system is rooted in a Judeo/Christian work ethic based on personal responsibility.

People living in Scandinavian countries with socialist governments would rightly argue their form of government is rooted in the Christian ideals of compassion, sharing, and mutual care.

If both free enterprise and socialism have roots that can be traced, at least in part, to Christianity, then whos right?

You could only say it would depend on your definition of a good society, and good and reasonable people would disagree on that definition.

Ive made my peace with the question, and my imperfect answer is Im a Christian who believes in free enterprise.

But as a Christian, I am troubled by the ever-widening chasm between modern free enterprise and its Judeo/Christian underpinnings. Without its Christian tradition to guide it and place compassionate limits on it, free enterprise will descend into savagery.

As a person of faith, steeped in the tradition of both personal responsibility and care for the weak, I see merits for both systems.

As an observer of modern culture, I shudder to think of the world we will bequeath to the future. Both socialism and capitalism, severed from their ethical taproots in Christianity, will be disastrous.

Neither, I fear, will bear much similarity to the ideal of the good society formed in the wake of Jesus exemplary life and described in the book of Acts: local, joyful, organic sharing; intentional simplicity of heart and life; and at its core, a nobler vision of communal life, driven not by fear of scarcity or desire for control, but by love itself, which, in the midst of our frantic striving, I fear we have forgotten to even want.

David Pannell describes himself as a recovering farmer and a retired preacher.

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DAVID PANNELL: Without Christian roots, capitalism and socialism would fail - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

CAPE CANAVERAL

Surrounded by Brevard County officials and reporters, Gov. Rick Scott stood in an empty field at Kennedy Space Center where a satellite factory soon will rise.

The plant, being built by OneWeb Satellites, is a project that President-elect Donald Trump touted as an exemplar of American job creation. The company has raised nearly $2 billion from investors, including a Japanese technology conglomerate.

OneWeb, a new company, is going to be hiring 3,000 people, so thats very exciting, Trump told reporters at the Mar-a-Lago Club in December.

OneWeb is not the only emerging player on the Space Coast.Across the street, construction crews bustled at a massive rocket factory being built by Blue Origin, a company launched by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos.

Both high-tech ventures are recipients of subsidies negotiated by Enterprise Florida, the public-private partnership that serves as the states economic development agency and an entity that suddenly is the subject of an intense ideological debate among Republicans in Tallahassee.

OneWeb, Blue Origin and other high-paying employers wouldnt be here if it werent for Enterprise Florida, Scott said during Thursdays event.

Scott, a second-term governor, has made job creation the focus of his six years in office, and he routinely lobbies the Legislature for more money for jobs subsidies. In recent years, lawmakers have pushed back, approving less for incentives than Scott requested.

Now, the Legislature is in full revolt. The state House this month voted 87-28 to abolish Enterprise Florida. Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran has hammered jobs incentives as corporate welfare and de facto socialism, and many in the Legislature seem to agree.

This is not where we should be spending other peoples money, said Rep. Paul Renner, a Palm Coast Republican who sponsored the bill to kill Enterprise Florida, according to the News Service of Florida. There are better, higher uses for that money, whether its public safety, whether its quality education, or infrastructure.

During Scotts appearance Thursday at Kennedy Space Center, the governor touted Floridas robust job growth and low taxes and he griped about lawmakers vote.

Im really frustrated with my Legislature, Scott told reporters.

The battle between Scott and Corcoran is a rare example of opponents attacking the governor from the right. Scott was a political novice when he swept into office during the Tea Party wave of 2010, and he has hewed to conservative positions on taxes, regulation, gun control and the death penalty.

Scott also has been a strong advocate for job incentives, which he considers an investment rather than a subsidy. State taxpayers get a fivefold return on incentives, Scott said, an estimate critics say is overly optimistic.

Without subsidies, Scott said, OneWeb Satellites would be building its factory somewhere else. Brian Holz, chief executive of OneWeb Satellites, agreed with Scotts assessment.

We looked at seven other states besides Florida, and they were all very competitive in terms of incentives, Holz said.

The company also entertained offers from four other countries. In the end, OneWeb took Floridas package of $20 million in incentives in exchange for promising to hire 250 workers.

I can tell you we didnt choose it for the beaches, Holz said. Even though theyre really nice.

Scott worries that killing Enterprise Florida would mean letting other states win economic development prizes like OneWeb. But critics of jobs incentives say theyre not swayed by the everyone-is-doing-it argument.

Its not in the best interests of taxpayers to take their money and give it to private companies, said Andres Malave, spokesman for Americans for Prosperity Florida, a group that has been pressing state leaders to end incentives. Its a matter of my tax dollars, your tax dollars, being straight-up given to someone else.

Paying subsidies directly to large employers grants an unfair competitive advantage for recipients, Malave said. He suggested devoting the money to schools, roads and police instead.

If lawmakers kill Enterprise Florida over Scotts objections, the state would honor the incentive contracts in place, Malave said. But companies shopping for future tax breaks would have to turn to county and municipal governments, which typically match a percentage of state subsidies.

If state jobs incentives were to disappear, the effects could hit especially hard in Palm Beach County, which has been the state champ in landing subsidies.

The county pulled in $425 million in state incentives from 1996 to 2013, according to a Palm Beach Post analysis of state data. Thats 42 percent of all state incentives paid to a county with just 7 percent of Floridas population.

The grand prize for Palm Beach County, of course, was a $310 million state grant to lure the Scripps Research Institute to Jupiter. But there have been other big payments, including $94.1 million to bring the renowned Max Planck Institute to Jupiter, $6.7 million to aerospace giant Pratt & Whitney, $2.7 million to struggling retailer Office Depot and $2 million to failed start-up DayJet.

By encouraging subsidies, Scott is following a precedent set by his Republican predecessors in the governors mansion. Jeb Bush personally wooed Scripps and spearheaded the states billion-dollar bet on biotech.

Bush promised the nonprofit biotech labs would create tens of thousands of private-sector spinoff jobs. That bonanza has yet to materialize, helping to set the stage for the Republican revolt against subsidies.

And Charlie Crist signed off on a $20 million incentive package for Digital Domain Media Group, the Port St. Lucie-based movie effects venture that crashed and burned. Enterprise Florida didnt grant incentives for Digital Domain, but Corcoran has made that companys collapse part of his pitch to kill the agency.

As for OneWeb, the company has raised $1.7 billion from a blue-chip list of investors that includes Japanese tech giant SoftBank, Qualcomm, Coca-Cola Co. and the Virgin Group.

OneWeb itself expects peak employment of 1,200 employees, many of them at its new factory at Kennedy Space Center, although Scott mentioned only the 250 jobs called for in the states agreement with OneWeb. Add in employment from suppliers of solar panels and other equipment, and total employment related to the satellite system could reach 3,000, OneWeb said.

Americans for Prosperitys Malave said he wishes OneWeb well in its goal of launching hundreds of satellites, but he says its ridiculous for a private company to receive a $20 million boost from taxpayers.

Thats not the role of government, Malave said.

Originally posted here:
Smart bet or socialism: Is satellite firm touted by Trump both? - MyPalmBeachPost

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The Tea Party - Official Site

Then-Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) at a 2014 hearing. CREDIT:CSPAN2

As a Newt Gingrich revolutionary in 19951996, freshman Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) earned the moniker Congressman Clueless from Texas Monthly. The magazine noted that his harebrained ideas and headline-making gaffes have made him the laughingstock of his own party. After losing re-election, he returned to Congress in 2013 and proceeded to again provide a non-stop barrage of extremist comments. Still, business PACs showered him with tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.

On Thursday, Stockman was arraigned in federal court on felony charges of conspiring to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable donations for his own personal use. Told by the presiding judge that he would need to have counsel by 2 p.m. on Friday, Stockman observed, Ill have to hustle with that.

Yeah, you will, the judge responded. These are serious charges.

Stockmans first term in Congress was notable for his headline-grabbing claim that the federal government executed Branch Davidian cult members who actually died after cult leader David Koresh set his compound ablaze rather than surrendering to the FBI. These men, women and children were burned to death because they owned guns that the government did not wish them to have, Stockman wrote in Guns and Ammo magazine. He also authored a 1995 bill to force an investigation into whether Alfred Kinseys landmark 1948 and 1953 reports on human sexuality are erroneous, wrongfully obtained by reason of fraud or criminal wrongdoing or both.

When he ran again in 2012, he had not moderated at all. He boasted of endorsements from some of the most far-right fringe members of the GOP and the Constitution Party including Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX), the Gun Owners of America, Ted Nugent, and Citizens Unitedbut also mainstream organizations like the National Rifle Association. The National Federation of Independent Business even spent a few hundred dollars in support of his candidacy.

Once again, his extremism was on immediate display after he was re-elected. He brought Ted Nugent as his guest to the presidents State of the Union address. He mocked climate science as global wobbling and the new fad thing. He mocked a female colleagues outfit. He said that people on food stamps are too self-indulgent to buy healthy meals, told a reporter that if he admitted he likes ceramics the public would think Im a fag for sure, and tweeted that the Boston Marathon bomber though [sic] he could escape in a backyard boat after hearing Gore speak on global warming. He claimed that Obama was trying to flood Texas with illegals to make it into a blue state.

Though he again became a national laughingstock over his second term in the House, that didnt stop Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Halliburton, and Phillips 66, Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the National Association of Realtors, AT&T, Comcast, Bayer, Boeing and Lockeed Martin, Altria, and a host of other corporations from kicking in $1,000 or more in PAC contributions toward what they likely assumed was his re-election.

In December 2013, he unexpectedly opted against seeking re-election and challenged Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in a quixotic and unsuccessful GOP primary.

Since his overwhelming 2014 defeat, Stockman has continued to demonstrate his judgment in full view of the world:

Now, if convicted, he could face time in federal prison. And the corporate PACs that bankrolled his political career will likely take no responsibility for their role in putting him and many more who share his fringe ideology into public office.

Read more here:
Former Tea Party Congressman faces felony conspiracy charges - ThinkProgress

President Trump hosted a group of conservatives at the White House Friday and he's reportedly given them what they want: big changes to Medicaid.

Lawmakers report the GOP health care legislation will now turn Medicaid into a block grant program run by states, and it will allow states to force recipients to get jobs before they get health care.

Those are considered major concessions to the conservative wing of the party.

Is this a preview of things to come? And will more moderate Republicans from the Philadelphia region find themselves on the outside?

U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican from Central Pennsylvania, is part of the tea party-aligned House Freedom Caucus. While his group has the ear of the president, he said it doesn't always seem that way.

"Look, we don't feel all that powerful, obviously. We're a lot of times, unfortunately, we're treated like pariahs around here," he said. "Everybody is very kind and all that stuff, but, let's face it, they're not thrilled with some of the positions that we take."

Have more moderate Republicans from the Northeast lost clout as the party moved further to the right?

U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, who represents a district west of Philadelphia, said he doesn't think so.

"No, because I think we have our own way of evaluating things and making our points heard," he said. "And it's not necessarily through the press the way that they do it."

But the health care debate is testing the Republican Party, and it could reveal which direction the GOP goes in the near future when it comes to funding for Amtrak, after-school programs and even the environment.

'Different tribes from the same family'

The good news is that moderates and the tea party wing of the GOP share the same goal, said U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur from South Jersey.

"These are different tribes of the same family," MacArthur said.

On the health care bill, while the White House has made promises to the far right, it still hasn't locked in the support of MacArthur and other moderates. He's lobbying to keep his state's Medicaid expansion in place for the next three years. But he also said the bill needs to do more to protect the poor and those in their 60s who aren't old enough for Medicare.

Surrounded by a flock of reporters with microphones and notebooks in tow, MacArthur disputed that conservatives are winning all the concessions.

"I'm not worried about that because I'm in the discussions," he said. "And I know all the back and forth."

Then there's Leonard Lance, another New Jersey Republican. His district begins in Hunterdon County and stretches across the state.

"I don't like the bill in its current form," Lance said.

The Congressional Budget Office dropped a bombshell on Republicans this week with an estimate that as many as 24 million people would eventually lose health insurance under the GOP plan.

In New Jersey, many people getting assistance from the government for insurance would also have to pay almost $1,300 more under the plan, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

While conservatives say the CBO score doesn't matter, Lance said he needs reassurance that the plan covers more people.

"I would like to see a CBO score that is significantly different from the CBO score that was released earlier this week," he said. "I don't know whether that's possible."

In Pennsylvania, those getting tax credits instead of direct subsidies from the government would have to pay an average of nearly $2,200 more for insurance. In Delaware, they'd have to pay more than $2,300.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent from the Lehigh Valley is co-chair of a group of moderates Republicans known as the Tuesday Group. The more concessions made to the conservative wing of the party, Dent said, the harder it will be to hold on to the more moderate lawmakers for key votes.

"They have a very difficult needle to thread here. Any movement in one direction can cost votes from the other side," he said. "I think that's what they're grappling with, but a lot of us are looking at this issue right now in terms of the Senate.

"What in this bill is going to survive the Senate and what is not? And I think a lot of us would prefer to get a better sense of where the Senate is prior to the launch from the House. A lot of members here don't want to walk the plank for a bill that may not ever be passed by the Senate," Dent said.

For now, party leaders seem to be taking the concerns of the far right wing of the party more seriously than the concerns of moderates.

But as they put the health bill for a vote next week, moderate lawmakers from the region are hoping to play a larger role.

Read more from the original source:
White House concessions to tea party on health bill could alienate ... - Newsworks.org