"So who do you support for President?" Day Day

Hi Day Day, 

So you wonder why I as a very small business person would support Bernie Sanders for President.   That is a great question.   Because you are new to this country and you have never witnessed a Presidential election, I am sure you are confused.   Many of the English people you work with are staunch Republicans.   Then there are Democrats which a lot of people are critical of in our area.   And then there is Bernie who is considered a far left socialist.   I'm sure you think that must be really bad.   So, I'm sure you wonder why I,  would support a socialist?

That is really long answer.   First we have to discuss the social issues.   These are the issues that really divide the people.  The social issues are the issues politicians use as tools to destroy their opponent but aren't the real reason people vote.   Abortion is the first one.   We are all opposed to ending the life of a fetus developing in the mother's womb.   This is a tragic happening everyday in America.   Every baby deserves to be born into the world of a loving family.   For 30 years politicians have used this issue to fool the evangelical Christians into voting for them but they have never done a thing to stop it.   I would have more respect for the pro-life movement if they would give voice to supporting single moms who carry the burden of bringing an infant to term.   The least they could do is make the whole process of adoption free for the couples who welcome the unwanted child.   Bottom line is that the republican party is all about tax cuts for the wealthy, expanding our military preparation, and little more.    Reagan said he was opposed to abortion but his wife was not.   George H. Bush said he was opposed to abortion but his wife was not.   George W. Bush, maybe, was a true believer but did nothing.   Now Donald Trump says he is opposed to abortion but everyone knows he's not.   Ask his wife.   I don't want to minimize how serious the sanctity of life is to us, but the  point is abortion is not the issue they really care about so don't be fooled.  

The other issue is the practice that marriage is between one woman and one man.   Certainly this is what we believe.   In my job I have attended more than a thousand weddings but have never been asked to photograph a gay wedding.   I know of people who say they are gay but I don't know them well.   Is it really true they are born with these gay attractions and they cannot do anything about it?  The consensus of the scientific community seems to lean this way but I don't know.   One time I asked Ler La's brother Qwei Qwei if there are gay people in the Karen community?   He laughed and said, "you mean like a girl?  yes yes....they don't treat them very well....Sometimes they kill them".  Is this true, Day Day?   It's hard for me to imagine that could be possible.   If that is the case,  then we do need laws to protect them as we do every minority group who is abused.   Certainly as a persecuted Karen person you would support that.   The hard part is we believe the gay lifestyle is sinful.....the same way we believe the adulterous husband is sinful.   It is hard to accept and tolerate something you know is sinful.   But yet in a democratic society that is what we need to do.   So the courts have established protection for  gay people and there is nothing a politician can do to change it.   It is a constitutional right.   But the Republican party will still bring this up to rally evangelical Christians even if they can't do anything about it.  

So what are the issues that people vote for.  I'm sad to say everyone votes from their wallets.   How can I give as little as I must and at the same time make as much money as I can for myself.   Republicans have been pushing tax cuts for the wealthy since Ron Reagan era beginning in 1980.   We have always called our income tax Progressive Taxation.   In other words the more you earned, the higher percentage of your income was taxed.   In 1980, if you earned 5 to 10,000 you paid just 5 percent of your income to tax.   If you earned 30 to 40,000 you paid 18 percent.   If you earned 200,000 or more you paid 43 percent for income for federal tax.  Reagan ran for tax cuts for the wealthy and won the election.   He dropped the top rate from 43 to 28 percent.   Wealthy people were very happy with Reagan but the deficit spending far outpaced the promise of more income he promised.   George W. Bush did the same thing reducing the top income rate back down since it had slipped up again under Clinton.  Again this move contributed toward a lot of the deficit spending adding to our national debt but did not generate economic growth.  

Deficit spending is a problem.   It means the government spends more money than it takes in.   If you or I would do this we would be bankrupt the first year.   We can't spend more than our income.   But there is a big difference between you and I and the government.   First the government never dies.   It can accumulate debt and it doesn't need to pay it back.   First it pays interest to people who invest in Treasury bonds....so the government debt is an investment for others.  In other words the debt is a loan the government takes on from it's people.  One could say it is the same as a loan to yourself since the government and people are one and the same thing.      Plus the government can print money.   When they do this the value of the dollar decreases.   We paid for the Vietnam War by printing lots of money.   A house my grandpa sold in 1970 for 27,000 dollars, sold in 1976 for 54,000, now it is worth 325,000.  The economy is still perking along....the dollar one earns just doesn't buy as much.   The minimum wage in 1970 was $1.60 and now it is 7.50 I think but it should be 10 or 11 I think because of the devaluation of the dollar. 

The theory behind these Tax cuts for wealthy is that given more money the wealthy would spend it buying all kinds of things which create jobs for everyone.   It was called building the economy from the top down called trickle down to energize everyone.   One could say this was partially successful.   Reagan expanded his military spending considerably which did employ some people but most would say it is largely insignificant.   George W. Bush attempted to same thing but it too was only marginally successful.   The reason being is that wealthy people don't necessary spend their extra money

Therein lies the number one strength of the a socialistic economy.   Rich people rarely make poor people rich.   But poor people always make Rich people rich.   The reason being is that if you empower the poor they spend every dollar they have and it always ends up in the hands of those who control the production of goods and services.  In economic class we call this the velocity of money.   In other words the more money changes hands the more it blesses everyone.   

A second reason tax cuts do not necessarily stimulate the economy is that when one is in business there are all kinds of ways of minimizing one's income.   If one has a good year as a farmer, he can buy a 100,000 tractor which makes him more productive and he writes the  100,000 dollars off in one year.   A wood worker can buy better saws and bigger sanders.   If one prospers the first thing on any businessperson's mind is how they will minimize the tax they need to pay.   So high taxes encourage all kinds of good things such as business investments, giving to charities or one's church, investing in apartments providing homes for people, having children, buying one's own home where the interest is tax deductible, etc.    On the other hand if you spend money for expensive vacations you need to earn 2 dollars for every one you spend because those expenses are not tax deductible. 

So I really appreciate our system as it is or rather the way it was before President Reagan time.   I worry when I hear republicans talk about wanting a flat tax.  In my mind it is another vehicle to place a greater burden on the poor to pay for the costs of government and shield the rich who don't give to charity from needing to pay taxes supporting their lavish lifestyle.   Reagan earned 800,000 one year he was president and only gave to charity 6,000.   I think that shows you where his priorities were as president.    Progressive Taxation is the heart of a just society.   This is socialist principle. 

Another Socialist principle is that of  inheritance taxes.   Republicans call this a death tax and they call it immoral.   I don't understand  why this is an issue because one can have an estate of 5 million dollars before you are required to pay inheritance taxes by the federal government when you die.   Not very many people have estates this large so I am confused by this.   In our state Pa we still have a 4.5 percent inheritance tax when one dies, but at the federal level we have no inheritance tax unless the estate is larger than 5 million.   So why should we care about inheritance or estate taxes.  

I actually want to call this value Biblical Socialism.   There is a huge theme that runs through the whole Bible we call economic justice.   In the old testament it was called year of Jubilee.   The land belongs to God and is given to us as stewards.  Since some prosper and some have hard luck, inequity develops so this land which is God's gift needs to be redistributed at the end of every 50 years and given back to the original families it was given to at the beginning of their life in the promised land.   I suspect this commandment was rarely obeyed by Israel.  We know this because the prophets continued to cry out for justice for the poor claiming that if they don't keep the law they will be destroyed as a nation.  It was prophesied that when the Messiah came he would indeed practice the year of Jubilee.   It is so interesting that when Jesus began his ministry, the first time he stood up in the synagogue, he read that very passage from the old testament and then he said today this prophesy is fulfilled in your hearing.   Of course  they wanted to stone him right away at the time.   But Jesus ministry was all about giving dignity to the poor.   Even the Lord's prayer includes the line which asks God to forgive us our debts toward him as we forgive the debts of those who owe us something.   This translation is hard for us to  accept.  We are much more comfortable spiritualizing that line making it all about sins:  Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.   But the true translation of the passage is all about money.    Jesus knew our love for money is the great idolatry of all mankind.  That's why he told the rich man if he wants to be saved he needs to sell what he has and give to the poor.   Indeed when he left this earth, sent the Holy Spirit and the Church was birthed,  they sold possessions and goods, they shared with anyone who was in need. ...their possessions and property and distributed them to everyone, as each one had need.    This was the year of Jubilee enacted. 

   Why is this value so important?   We believe in private property.  We believe when people have opportunity, build on that opportunity, they prosper and improve their lives and everyone around them.   This is the foundation of the capitalistic system we practice in this country.   As is natural our enterprises expand.   Up until this point capitalism is wonderful.  But where we go from here is the problem.  Where are the limits of growth that keeps a healthy society.   It's like we are all fish in a big fish bowl.  Little fish get eaten by bigger fish who then get eaten by bigger fish and eventually there is just one big fish who has to die because there are no more fish.   I suspect a biblical answer to this question is that we are limited by our own lifespan.   In addition the year of Jubilee which came every 50 years limited the strength of the big fish.   50 years is just a little less than 3 generations.   I think this is significant because in practical terms 3 generations is as long as a family business can be kept in tact.  

I am most familiar with farming.  Farming is my mindset from which I understand the world.   It is natural for some because they work hard, pay attention to detail, or the luck of good weather, to prosper beyond their neighbor.  When another farm comes up for sale they can purchase it but of course that requires more help....maybe they can take on employees, or maybe a they have a child who is now ready to farm.    This is model of farming in the life of my childhood, and the current Amish model of farming.    However, today's corporate model of business has industrialized farming as well.   We are no longer limited by our lifespan or family help.   The machine age has enabled one to expand enterprises far beyond our human limitations.  Tractors and implements are huge making it possible to farm vast sections of land.    Large chicken or dairy enterprises have grown so large that they depend on multiple farms to support their enterprises somewhat for feed but primarily for manure disposal.   The children of a farmer can bind together to run a large operation like this successfully into the second generation but it becomes a huge problem when all the cousins in the third generation want to have a part in the business.  None of the family can afford to purchase and run this mammoth operation so it needs to be sold to yet a bigger fish....some corporation buys it with public money on the stock exchange.  What we worked so hard to create, ends up in nobodies hands with a family of children upset with each other.   This road we are on has taken us to a difficult place.  Either one is lucky enough to be the child of a trust fund recipient, or you are part of the next generation with no opportunity for ownership except as a nondescript wage earner in some corporate entity.   One hears the echo of Isaiah the prophet saying "Woe to you who add house to house and field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land".  Currently in Lancaster we have a couple of farms in the corporate stage. but most are in the 2nd generation stage.   Entering the third generation stage will be the challenge in the next 30 years.   A strong socialistic government is critical for the health of our farm lifestyle but primarily for the well being of our family life together.  Breaking up these large farms will restore opportunity for individuals who want to farm.  With strong zoning laws in place farms can be valued by their potential earnings in agriculture alone.   

Fortunately we do have the Amish as our best example of Biblical socialism by their self imposed limits of their own operations.   Farms are bought and sold frequently with values based on what that individual farm by itself can produce.  Farms are limited in size to what an ordinary family can do.   Older farmers turn their farm over to their children quickly in their late 40's or early 50's.  as they move into the apartment.   In the corporate world ownership is in the hands of stockholders.  They hire managers who manage employees who do the work.  They have no vested interest in the community or neighborhood except the return they expect for their investment which they buy and sell regularly.   In the Biblical Socialized world the neighborhood, family, means just about everything.  

So the year of Jubilee is central to everything I believe about Christian faith, and politics.  I happen to talk about farming because that is what I am most familiar with.  But one could talk about restaurants, retail stores, health care providers,  etc.  it all has become different expressions of corporate structure.   I thought about this yesterday in Philadelphia where I had my sandwich in a corner deli owned and run by an older couple and their son.   It was simple, good food, unique character.   I sat down with neighbors from neighborhood who recognized me as a stranger, asked me who I was and why I was there.   I wish I would have taken a photo because I only thought about it afterward how special that experience was in contrast to sitting in a strip mall eating at Subway. 

So why socialism?   We have come to this place in our history where people don't see a way to get on the first rung of the ladder.    Many people work at Park City but no one there owns anything.   All the wealth lies in the hands of those stockholders in some corporation somewhere far away.   How can one feel a sense of ownership when that is seen as something far beyond their reach. 

Conservative Republicans tend to believe government is the problem and if government would be small,  get out of the way, tax less, then people would have money to be able to strive for their dreams.   The problem is though, Republicans have not made government smaller.   They just have redirected government toward projects they love to push, namely building up the military.   This is why conservative Ron Paul and his son Rand Paul want to be known as a libertarian because they claim those who call themselves conservative republicans aren't conservative at all.   They say most republicans will continue push military preparedness and fight wars ultimately bankrupting our country.   Interesting that Bernie Sanders as a socialist would agree with that libertarian view completely.

Ordinarily I would support Ron Paul and Rand Paul whole heartedly.  Our government has meddled in the affairs of other countries for a long long time.   Our track record of success is really bad.   We have destabilizing one country after another.  Our current problem in the Middle East is just another illustration of what we have been doing since the Spanish American War in the 19th century.   We have to recognize that wars are big business.   Vice President Cheney was an executive with Halliburton, a military contractor.   It is estimated that his company alone made almost 40 billion dollars on the Iraq war.  He really wanted that war and George W. listened to him.   Hillery Clinton pushed the Iraq war as a business opportunity.  This is grossly immoral.   So the Paul's are exactly correct in wanting to stop our country from getting involved in foreign countries affairs.

On the other hand a democratic government can play a really important role in helping limit the powers of the big fish.   I believe government has a positive role protecting weak and vulnerable from the strong and empower the poor to get a foothold in this world.  Minimum wages, safe working conditions,  food and drug regulations, social security programs, environmental protection programs, public education, public health clinics, unemployment compensation,  are all areas where government plays a role in protecting weak.   These legislative programs have always been labeled as socialistic, which sounds ungodly, but I wish they would be viewed as something God's very heart was concerned about from the very beginning.   So I am not a libertarian.   I believe big business requires government to protect the people.  In this regard they are doing the work of God.  

The business community almost universally rejects these programs because they see it as cutting into their profit margins, but experience has proved otherwise.   When Henry Ford doubled the wages of his workers he enabled them to buy his cars.  Today he is given credit for stimulating the middle class in our country.   In my own small business of renting apartments at least one third are persons who rely social security to pay their monthly rent.   I often think that indirectly I am the one who relies on the government check or what some would call welfare.   The whole agricultural industry is blessed by the food stamp program.   Everyone who employs anyone for less than 16 dollars an hour and one who has a family is blessed by the income tax credits.   This is a program initiated by President Reagan called work welfare.   In a sense it is subsidy to small business supporting them with employees who raise their families on marginal incomes.   I was excited when our first family of four was able to pay rent and living expenses on his $9.00 hour income, buying food with food stamps, and save his income tax credit check.  After 4 years he had accumulated 22,000 in savings.  When he moved with his family to Minnesota he was able to purchase a house with his savings as his down payment.   Since that time I was disappointed when Republican Gov. Corbett said if a family has more than $5500 in saving they cannot get food stamps.   This took away any incentive anyone had in saving to buy a home.   Now our people are inclined to spend money on cars rather than lose the food stamp check.   But the point is still strong, whenever we empower the people to have a vision of what they can become it turns around to bless the people who support that empowerment many times over.     

The biggest reason to support socialism is in the area of health care costs.  When I was in business we paid the insurance premiums for our employees.  Costs were very high.   One was reluctant to hire more people primarily because of medical insurance.   When I take someone for a job interview today and the employer asks me, "Does he have a family?"  I know exactly what he is thinking.   A single guy costs far less to employ than a worker with a family.    On the other hand, if a person has a job and really wants to change their job,  many times they are locked in because they can't interrupt their health care.   Health care is expensive primarily because the inefficiency at the bill collection end.   If I go to the doctor, he writes up a bill 3 times higher than he expects to receive, the insurance company rewrites the bill according to what they believe is fair and reimburses the doctor, then the bill comes to me because I have not yet accumulated expenses to match my $5000 deductible.   For this effort each doctor's office needs to employ extra staff, the insurance company needs to pay staff, advertising, and the CEO of insurance company apparently earns 2 million a year.   For the past 30 years I dreamed of a single paying provider with a non profit motive....which of course would be a government health care system.  I wondered why should providing health care be the responsibility of the employer?   In the past 8 years I have sat many many hours in our public health clinics in Lancaster with our immigrant community.   The public health providers are wonderful people. I would be happy to patronize them.   Many of our doctors including my personal family Catholic doctor also would dream of a simpler system so they could just focus on health care.   The Private health care system is destroying our business community.   I plead for everyone to help adopt a one payer socialized system of health care.   It's so upsetting going through all the different medical cards and have the receptionist say we take this card but not that one.   Please make it one card.   Sadly Obama tried but in the end the medical care insurance providers just expanded the base with a sliding scale payment system based on income, which is an improvement.  20 million more people have coverage, but the inefficiencies continue.

Another issue, Day Day, I am sad to say is a historic issue our country has had with Race.   There is a large segment of our population feel so much hatred toward Obama just because he is black.  I know this is true primarily because I listen to people talk on Amateur radio from the south and I hear all the racist things they say.   Donald Troop has become their hero.  He can say the most racist statement and they actually love him for it.   He also ridicules Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio and gets away with it also.   I believe that he ridicules them and people enjoy it because they are also a bit brown.   The reason the establishment republicans are so upset is because they have spent a lot of energy trying to court Spanish and Black votes and now Donald Troop is redefining the Republican party as a white, Racist party.   We knew this element was part of the party since Nixon's time but never has it become so blatantly obvious.    My comfort here is that Donald may be able to use this racism to get the nomination but hopefully will not give him the national election.   You must know Day Day, as an Asian you are considered white.   All nationalities who come to this country have a hard time assimilating into this country in the first generation.   By the second generation every immigrant nationality has been absorbed and accepted as equals except our Afro-Americans.   When Asian people get beat up by blacks you must know that the blacks know in one generation your children will prosper and be successful here in America but the blacks will remain the last hired and first fired.   Sadly this is true.   Bernie Sanders is a most unusual person because as an American Jew he marched with Blacks for Civil Rights in the 60's when the South was still enforcing segregation.   Blacks have not supported Bernie really well for reasons I don't understand.  There is not one of us who does not have racist attitudes.    Our Karen people are keenly aware of their own race because they have been the victim race based genocide.   You were born into a people group exactly like Jesus under Roman occupation.   It will be a miracle of God if you can help your people embrace all people as equally loved by God including your enemies.  

Bernie Sanders will take some criticism for his commitment to a minimum wage of $15.00 and hour.   I agree with Bernie that $15.00 is the minimum livable wage.   You will be surprised that I actually like our status quo.  There seems to be little difference in lifestyle between our families where the bread winner earns $11.00 an hour and those who earn $16.00.   The point is that the bread winner who earns $11.00 gets cheaper health care, more food stamps, and plus income tax credit.   As long as they are working they are golden.   Raising the minimum wage to $15.00 for everyone would reduce almost everyone's benefits to zero.  That would please the Republican Party really well, but the small business owner would be really upset because they really appreciate the subsidy the government gives their employees.   Not all businesses could absorb that kind of increase and survive.   So I think the most socialistic practice would be to keep the status quo as it is.  

Bernie also takes a lot of criticism for his promise to provide free collage education for every young person in America.  It's not a fair criticism from those who wanted to go to war in Iraq because Bernie's promise to young people would represent only a percentage of what we spend in fighting our multiple wars every year.   It is a noble goal and I'm sure you would appreciate this gift but I would raise some questions.   I believe a guarantee of education though high school is important for socialization of every young person.   So our public schools are extremely important and should be free.   I view collage as an investment in a career track.   People value greater and work harder if they need to pay for something.  We have trouble enough with the party lifestyle of students in collage away from family, I suspect if we made it free it could get even worse.   I remember being in collage and feeling that I was prolonging my adolescence as I compared myself to my friends who were in the work world  making money, even getting married and here I was poor as a pauper studying in the library.    Collage education does not necessary open job opportunities to someone so one needs to have a goal to pursue a collage degree.  But clearly a collage education does open doors that ordinarily would not be open to someone, so Bernie is right, young people need to be encouraged to go collage.   The least we could do is have a given amount necessary for any public collage as an interest fee loan promised for everyone who wants to go to collage anywhere.     Bernie's proposal here scares me because I support our Church colleges.   I wonder how they would survive if the State supported collages were free.  

Another huge issue has raised it's ugly head in this campaign is an effort block immigration.   Strange that our Mexican neighbors have borne the brunt of this criticism in a time when net immigration vs. emigration is currently near zero from our southern neighbor.  Most of our current illegal immigrants come from Asia where students stay longer than their student visas allow.   However it has been our Spanish populations which historically have swelled the ranks of our undocumented immigrants.   We need to remember that our industries have depended on labor from our southern neighbor for generations.   Our border was porous and people traveled back and forth freely as jobs required.   Families are made up with 2 or 3 children born in the states as US citizens and others born in Mexico.   Spouses are often citizens of two different countries.   All of sudden immigration became politically explosive, walls were built, work visas became almost impossible to acquire, and green card requests denied beyond reason and families are caught, unable to visit relatives or unite families.   You must know as an Asian refugee you have come to America with a golden parachute.   You have legal residency from day one, with 3 months free rent, caseworker support, and a path to citizenship.   My own ancestors were German who came to this English colony of Pennsylvania without documents.   Ben Franklin wrote frequently of his displeasure of these hordes of Germans coming to Pennsylvania who would change the culture of his beloved colony.   So since both of us have immigrant past, myself as an child of illegal immigrants, and yourself as a privileged refugee immigrant, I believe Jesus is watching how we respond to others less privileged.

Ultimately our very society is dependent economically on our immigrant base.   Germany has absorbed a million Syrian immigrants nobly, it's true.   But more important is the fact  that they needed them economically.   Their populations has been aging just like our congregation at Habecker Mennonite and they drastically need a labor support going forward.   One retirement home executive told me he looking at a future of a growing population of older people with drastic reduction in the labor force required to support his community.   The immigrant population provides us with the most necessary support for our entire society.   Here in Lancaster our houses are full, and our economy is thriving primarily because of first generation immigrants to our community.  Those who oppose our national welcome toward our immigrant communities are inviting our own financial demise.   It is a socialistic principle that every individual has equal dignity and respect.   As Christians we believe that God loves all people.   We believe that when we show love and care toward people of need whoever that may be, we demonstrate the love of God.  God does not respect or see borders or legal residency documents.  He only sees human beings created in his likeness.  

Climate change concern, energy conservation, environment protection, renewal energy resources are all issues we support as people who inhabit this planet called Earth.   We believe the planet is God's gift to us and we need to care for it.   As an Asian you claim your heritage from Mongolia.  Your ancient cousins were the first people who called America home.   They had a saying, "The great spirit is our Father, and the earth is our mother".    I think they were saying the same thing we want to say as Christians.   This too is a strong socialistic value.  

Ultimately we need to remember, when one votes for president of the United States they are voting for the commander in chief of the military.  Presidents can take our country to war.   President Obama promised to take us out of war in Iraq and expand the war in Afghanistan.    He did exactly what he said he would do, but Iraq situation went into disarray with the rise of ISIS  so now our war in Iraq is continuing into it's 14th year.  I voted for the first time in my life when I voted for Obama.  I believed the Iraq war was such a massive tragedy,  I registered as a democrat so I could vote for Obama against Hillary in the primaries.   Hillary has a record of being quick to wage war, and I believed Obama needed to be rewarded for his vote against waging war.   However, war continues to rage, and now we have this horrific problem of 60 million refugees world wide.  I can take comfort that Obama has been a bit of a reluctant warrior  in that we are not fighting Russia in Ukraine, nor did we invade Syria supporting Islamic groups against Assad as McCain wanted to. 

So will I vote in the 2016 elections?   If I have an opportunity to vote for Bernie I will as an award for voting against the Iraq war as did Obama.   Will I vote for Hillary in the general election?   Probably not.  A funny thing happens to a person when one votes for a person.   Unconsciously their decisions become your decisions.   Unconsciously you feel you need to defend your man because of your vote.   The same thing will happen to you when you take the oath of allegiance to this country.   You will start to defend your country in your thoughts if not your words.   It happens to every soldier when they take their oath to live and die for their country.  Allegiance to one's person or one's country can easily become an exercise of idolatry.   Hillary's track record for military intervention has not been good.  She supported the war in Iraq.   Democrats may speak for peace more frequently but when it comes to waging war, both parties are equally quick to use military force.   We need to remember as Christians that our King and highest allegiance is Jesus and not Caesar.