Seperating the Worthy from the Un-Worthy

Settle in, this is a long one, and this is my last "pre-Lent" news post. I realize the political conversation is changing, and I am glad my self imposed news exile is going into effect soon (Wednesday). More on that then, but for now...

The recent developments in our national conversation regarding the housing crisis and rescue plan have really troubled me. It seems as though there are pundits who wish to turn neighbor against neighbor and would prefer to see families thrown out on the streets instead of compromising a "self-righteous" capitalistic ideology. They seem to believe that employing grace, humility, and solidarity with our fellow citizens would create a "moral hazard" for the citizens of our country. RIDICULOUS! First of all, are we not our brothers keeper? As Christians AND patriots I would say YES! Surely as a "Christian nation" we would want to model ourselves after the law given to God's chosen people in the Bible.

Leviticus 25:35-37
35 “If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and cannot support himself, support him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident and allow him to live with you. 36 Do not charge interest or make a profit at his expense. Instead, show your fear of God by letting him live with you as your relative. 37 Remember, do not charge interest on money you lend him or make a profit on food you sell him. 38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God."

By now I am sure you have seen the rant last week by Rick Santelli (if you haven't here's the link). The basic question he asks is, why are we (the government) giving money (tax dollars) to people who did not make a good decision with their home purchase or mortgage financing in the first place?

The practical answer is because the problem is so deep and widespread that to do nothing and allow potentially ten million homes (families) to go into foreclosure would wreak societal and financial havoc on an exponentially greater scale than we have seen so far.

It's telling that Rick didn't say a word when one single insurance company, AIG, received $150 billion tax dollars so that they would not default on their obligations. People, that's ONE company being shored up by tax dollars. If people are going to be "outraged" that's where it should be directed, not at our neighbors or the family in the foreclosed house in another city! AIG was designated as a company "too big to fail." I thank God that Obama (and many other politicians) deem 9,000,000 problematic family homes too big to fail as well!

There seems to be a false assumption that people are going to be getting checks in the mail so their houses can be paid off without some sort of accountability. A simple cursory reading of the proposal and a person will find that this is not the case. I think Rick's words are a disgrace because of the false notion that people are just defaulting on their homes so the government will rescue them. That notion completely discounts the psychological devastation people go through when they loose their home.

Reality check. Families are losing their homes because people are loosing their jobs (over 4 million jobs lost in the last six months) and can't make their payments. Before we judge our neighbor we must ask ourselves how long we could make our mortgage payments or rent if we lost our jobs tomorrow? People are being foreclosed on by banks because they can't meet monthly payments they never dreamed they would have trouble making. These are families who had jobs, retirement, savings, and home equity all of which has been completely wiped out. True, people have purchased more house than they could reasonably expect to afford if the economy went bad. But complicit in that are Banks who TOLD family after family that the mortgage loans they were getting were the perfect size for their income, and the guaranteed increase in their homes value.

It is in our interest to help each other in this time of crisis. On a spiritual, personal, and governmental level. Unless we do that, unless we have a solidarity of suffering with each other, we will not emerge stronger as a nation, people, and especially as Christians.

In case you are still having a hard time being convinced that we should come to the aid of our fellow citizens who have been caught up in a once in a hundred years financial crisis then perhaps you need to be reminded just how we got into this housing mess in the first place. I'll let 60 minutes lay it all out for you with the story of just a single bank headquartered in California.



BONUS:

A visual explanation on how the whole financial crisis happened to begin with. Done very well and after the 11:00 you'll be smarter than you are now about what's going on.


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Don't forget to laugh too...

Some people have said that the entertainers who have made their comedic living off of the Bush Presidency are going to have a hard time with the new Obama administration. I don't think this will be so, entertainers are wired to entertain regardless of who is in the White House and the good ones will thrive in this environment just like they did during the Bush years.

For instance, The Daily Show was able to have find humor and irony on the very day of Obama's inauguration. Colbert of course followed up with a brilliant show as well. Hopefully SNL, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report will help me laugh at President Obama for the next eight years.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Inauguration Day

From Inauguration Photos

After taking Levi to school, we came home and bundled up and headed to 125th St. and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. Adam Clayton Powell, by the way, was the first African American elected to Congress from New York.

Once there we were joined by hundreds of our fellow New Yorkers and we all stood in the cold, elated by what we were witnessing on the big video screen. One of the coolest moments was when Rick Warren started to recite the Lord's prayer during the invocation, the crowd followed along with him. It was so moving to be in the midst of that crowd praying that prayer.

The part of Obama's speech that made the biggest impact on me (and the crowd) was:

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

Here are some pictures we took of the day.

A Moment of History

The words were spoken first by George Washington and have been repeated by every President since. Today those words will be spoken by a man who would have been counted as property to be owned 150 years ago.

The weight of meaning and the historical significance of this day is overwhelming to me. We plan to go up to 125th st. and watch it with our fellow New Yorkers. Levi's school is watching the oath and all the kids are wearing red, white, and blue. I anticipate there being a feeling of disbelief that what we witness today is in fact actually happening. But the reality of Barack Obama becoming President of the United States, will ripple through that crowd when we hear him speak these words:

I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God.

It's going to be electric.

Tomorrow

I cannot believe that tomorrow at noon eastern, this official Presidential picture will become a reality. Barack Hussein Obama will become the 44th President of the United States of America. I feel so fortunate to be able to witness and be a part of this turning point in our nations history.

I know there are people who see this event through different eyes. They are fearful, suspicious, and ideologically opposed to Obama's spoken vision of America. For those people this inaugural celebration is a tempered affair. But to those brother and sister citizen's I hope to encourage you with words from Peggy Noonan, editorial writer from the Wall Street Journal:

But a long-oppressed people have raised up a president. It is moving and beautiful and speaks to the unending magic and sense of justice of our country. The other day the journalist John O'Sullivan noted that 150 years after slavery, a black man stands in the place of Lincoln in the inaugural stands, and this country has proved again that anything is possible, that if we can do this we can do anything. That is a good thing to remember at a difficult time.

What is required for full enjoyment of an inauguration, from opening prayers to speeches to marching bands is, in the great 19th-century phrase, the willing suspension of disbelief. If you don't put your skepticism aside, you will not fully absorb and experience the drama. You must allow it to be real for you...

To believe, suspend disbelief. We have been through this before, the flags and fine speeches, the brass donkey paperweight, the glass elephant, the rise and fall of administrations, the coming and going of figures great and small. It's good to put that aside for a few days, to remove yourself from politics, partisanship and faction, to suspend your disbelief, to be grateful that the signs and symbols endure, as does the republic, and raise a toast: "To the president of the United States."

Reason No. 58

Because Every Once In a While, There is Dancing in the Streets:

They were dancing up in Harlem. Down in Union Square. Can’t forget Fort Greene. There was swingin’, swayin’, and boom boxes playin’. To be in New York on the night of November 4, 2008, just after 11 p.m., when the presidential election was called for Barack Obama, was to be reminded that our streets are made for expressions of spontaneous joy. Despite the forces that atomize our lives more all the time, the urge to take to the streets remains deep. Sometimes people are propelled by anger, as after a controversial shooting; sometimes the gravitational pull is shock and sorrow, as it was when thousands gathered to grieve and debate in parks after September 11. But the communal compulsion is an amazingly hopeful phenomenon, no matter what the circumstance, especially because in New York there are so many impediments, so many reasons why it shouldn’t keep happening, from the sheer scale of the city to the stark economic and cultural differences of the people who live here. Yet maybe those are also the greatest reasons why people rush into the streets in huge numbers to celebrate everything from sports championships to election victories: the need to connect, to come together, right now, as one, to share our happiest moments, and to do it against the most dramatic urban backdrop imaginable.

From New York Magazine's annual list of Reasons to Love New York 2008.

And Still I Rise

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