Welcome to the Constitution

During the Government Shutdown, I have been somewhat silent except with friends and family. I tend to stay away from much of the noise that politics has become even though I count myself among those in the Tea Party. However, I find myself compelled to speak briefly on this issue even though this is at the Federal level and I am but a humble servant of the people at the State level.

Whether you are Liberal, Conservative, or Moderate, believe the House Members (and I do mean House not just Republicans) are Terrorist or the Senate has lost their mind, whether the President is kind, caring, and considerate, or Satin himself, there is one thing we should stop to consider and that is our history and more specifically our Constitution. You see our Founders in their infinite wisdom knew there were going to be times we don’t get along (or is that sing a song?) They also know the old saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is why they set in place a set of checks and balances. Power is shared by three branches of the government, The Executive, The Legislative, and The Judicial. During our short history as a nation, each branch has tried to seize more power than was delegated to it by the Constitution. Our Founders knew this would happen. Many have forgotten, but the check given to Congress and more specifically the House is the power of the purse string. I say the House because Appropriation bills are to start in the House. So whether you agree with what the House is doing or you do not, that power was given specifically to be a necessary check.
Over the last several weeks my wife and I have been retaking the Dave Ramsey course FPU again and we paid for our daughter to take. In the course for personal finance he talks about first taking care of the four walls. He sets those as Food, Shelter, Utilities, and transportation. The controversy over the Government Shutdown will eventually end, but our real problem is just beginning. Although I know governments are a bit different than people, much of the same math applies. If you continue to spend more than you have coming in you either have to borrow or print money. Both options put you into bondage either to another country or to inflation.
As a country, we will soon have to choose our 4 walls, focus on those, and with what is left push to lower and hopefully in some lifetime pay off the debt and unfunded obligations. This will not be fun, but sometime, if not now, we will have to speak to ourselves as Dave speaks to creditors who he can’t pay at the moment. "Give me more.” "No” "Raise the Debt Limit or the world will blow up.” "So” "Raise the Debt Limit or you will lose your next election!” "So”
Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t want the market to crash, people to go hungry, or throw my mother off the cliff. But if we do not grow up, if we give into fear, and fail to address the problems soon, we will have done that anyway all the while claiming that we have built the unsinkable ship. Arrogance is short lived when it hits an inanimate iceberg.
Pray for our country. Love the Lord and love one another.