Merry Christmas

It has been a very tranquil and quiet Christmas and the season has just begun. I hope all can find productive reflections in these next twelve days. A time of Peace and goodwill fostered through Christ and the Christian traditions and institutions built around the Holy Day. Maybe the traditions are not all perfect, especially in an overly material culture,but that is a reflection on us.

We heard a lot about Black Friday and the supposed renewed confidence in the economy the suggested sales numbers inferred. But like all numbers put out by our government these days, they appear more suggestion than reality. The real numbers always seem to be revised to the negative at a later date. It makes one wonder if even those numbers are accurate, or if this recession isn’t what I have labeled in the past the Obama depression.

But the lack of Christmas shopping traffic jams, the easy task of finding a parking spot at any mall at any time of the day or week, and the ability to walk the malls without bumping into someone every few steps contributed to the tranquility of the season. I am sure the report on the December sales numbers we receive from our government will emphasize extreme expansion of Internet sales.

And soon after this Christmas season ends we will be in the heat of the primaries to nominate a presidential candidate for the republican party. So …what of our economy? Adam Smith correctly identified the pursuit of self interest as essential in creating a free and prosperous economy for all. But in that self interest is an inherent understanding that ones prosperity helps all and others prosperity contributes to the prosperity of oneself.

One might create a metaphor with birthdays. One may look forward to ones birthday, if one has lived a good productive life in relation to others, for the gifts or gratitude one might receive from others through their recognition of their coming into the world. It can be a joyful, maybe humbling day.

But is one’s birthday nearly as enjoyable or humbling as Christmas. A time when we celebrate the birth of Christ and not only receive gifts but give gifts. That, with the spiritual truth and reality of Christ and what he has done for our lives and society, a society built around Christian culture and institutions, we find a deeper meaning and significance in everything.

What I want to say is that man is a spiritual being. That religion is not just superstition as atheistic materialist want to define it. And that the spirit somehow magnified in this most special of times touches the hearts of most everyone. In the same way, the understanding of the relationship between one’s self interest and mutual prosperity in our economic dealings is something productive is open to most.

But the left wants to portray all profit or prosperity, any expression od self interest by others, as greed. Every economic activity in their sorry view is taking, not giving. Only government can save man from his inherent selfish nature. Government must take what’s been taken to be fair.

But it is man’s spiritual pursuits that have brought liberty and freedom. Man’s spiritual pursuits that have produced a free marketplace of ideas as well as material. Freedom, liberty and prosperity are inalienable rights that come from God and cannot be planned or dictated by man. As our founding fathers realized and tried to institutionalize.

It does not require any deep saintly attributes to understand that producing the best product possible for one’s customer, based on one’s self interest to prosper, brings a deep satisfaction to one’s customer and then in turn, by investing one’s own resources in favor of those who strive to produce the best in their own field builds a greater society for the benefit of all. That keeping one’s own employees happy and prosperous does the same, creating more people who can afford and purchase one’s product.

Conservatives understand the spiritual reality and stand against the socialist agenda President Obama is promoting. But great Christian thinkers have proposed socialist ideals themselves. But these ideals are in some way only theoretical. They require that man as a whole achieve a more saintly standard, have a deeper relationship with God and correspondingly with their fellow man than currently exists.

But conservatives do believe in a safety net; that man at times needs to help their fellow man. What they don’t believe in is denying man his spiritual dignity by suggesting one is nothing outside of what the government defines them to be; that they have no rights or duties beyond those given to them by their government.

People are open to socialist ideas. And, if the candidates want to take my advice, where conservatives believe everyone should be paying taxes they are not opposed to reasonable progressive tax rates. In an ideal world we would be living something closer to a socialist system. But that world will develop along with liberty and freedom as man evolves in his relation with God. It cannot be forced, counterfeited or dictated. And …could be accomplished best under a very limited government. There is currently no greater den of inequity than government.

Merry Christmas!