Democracy where citizens elect a small set of people to represent them in decision making
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2 episodes with Representative democracy
3 episodes with Representative democracy
2 episodes with Representative democracy
2 episodes with Representative democracy
2 episodes with Representative democracy
2 episodes with Representative democracy
Is the Fever Breaking? What lies ahead for the US Senate and Representative Democracy?In this podcast we catch up with Ira Shapiro one week out from the historic 2024 election. We take Ira's temperature on the upcoming election and discuss some of the challenges ahead for democracy. As is always the case, for those who listen through the full podcast there are always gems to take away from the experience and this podcast is no exception.
We need system change, not just a leadership change or political party makeovers.All of this focus on political leaders and their personalities has our hosts frustrated. What is it about leadership races and elections that makes people forget about the issues most important to them?Here are a few episodes related to this discussion:Leadership Cults in Politics: On the trappings of playing to the leader vs. leader narrative, why they exist and how we can move away from these 'leadership cults' in politics.Our Leaders Are Landlords: 4 of the 5 federal Party leaders are now landlords. Why do we keep electing wealthy people to lead the working class? Is this what Representative Democracy looks like?___________________This content is a creation of Rabble Rousers Co-operative and is only made possible by the generous sponsorships of our Patrons. If you would like to support the work: PatreonIf you don't already subscribe to our other podcast, Blueprints of Disruption, you're missing out!Follow us on Instagram
Opinion: U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision is a victory for representative democracy. Paul Guppy of the Washington Policy Center says ‘thanks to the Supreme Court, citizens will no longer be required to politely bow in deference to obscure alphabet agencies run by nameless government bureaucrats.' https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/opinion-u-s-supreme-courts-loper-decision-is-a-victory-for-representative-democracy/ #Opinion #Columns #Commentary #PaulGuppy #WashingtonPolicyCenter #USSupremeCourt #SupremeCourtLoperDecision #NamelessGovernmentBureaucrats #TheLoperFamily #LoperBrightEnterprises #NewEnglandBasedFishingBusiness #WashingtonState #ClarkCountyToday
Darrell Castle talks about the proposed World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Pandemic Treaty. It covers pandemic preparedness that would grant WHO absolute power over global biosecurity and would mean the end of representative democracy and with it the end of human dignity. Transcription/Notes WHO'S ODIOUS PLANS FOR HUMANITY Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today's Castle Report. This is Friday, the 17th day of May in the year of our Lord 2024. I will be talking about the proposed World Health Organization (WHO) Global Pandemic Treaty on pandemic preparedness that would grant WHO absolute power over global biosecurity and would mean the end of representative democracy and with it the end of human dignity. The Pandemic Treaty, if implemented, will change the landscape of health globally and will strip people of some of the most basic rights and freedoms that we enjoy as Americans. The Who would have the power to implement digital identities, vaccine passports, mandatory vaccinations, travel restrictions, lockdowns, standardized medical care and more. Your doctor would become nothing more than an employee of a gigantic unelected, unchosen by you, bureaucratic, global control mechanism designed to stamp out human freedom and dignity. The sovereignty of the world's nations would be and in fact is under attack by this proposed treaty. Your ultimate authority over your own body is also under attack. I really don't think its much of a stretch to say that we would no longer be autonomous human beings but we would be relegated to the status of cogs in a gigantic machine. There are 194 member nations in the World Health Assembly which is the assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO). It will meet in Geneva, Switzerland from 27 May to June 1, 2024, to consider this treaty. The meeting start is only 10 days away folks. Members will consider the treaty along with revised health regulations to accompany it. It takes two-thirds of the members voting yes to approve and implement the treaty. Approval would give the WHO and its Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, full power in matters of health and climate change over and above the health sovereignty of individual members. This treaty would mean the end of Representative Democracy or rule by we the people in the various nations of the world because health is the most basic of human freedoms. It would be the end of decision making in affairs of health worldwide but it is also the beginning of something far more important and that is global government made possible by digital tyranny. All countries and their health records would be interlinked globally and digitally. That would give this worldwide unelected conglomerate leverage and control over virtually all aspects of our society. Just see it as the Covid Pandemic and its worldwide system extended indefinitely. To bring the importance of this decision home to you, if WHO ordered that you be injected with some poison that would give you heart disease or cancer you would have no say in it. If WHO ordered your daughter to be injected with a poison that would prevent her from ever bearing a child so be it. The very sinister people who control this drive for world domination have been in existence since man first started to record his time on this earth. God created us in his image, but that wasn't good for the satanic evil that confronted mankind and still to this day seeks to dethrone God. Now, they have concocted a way to gain control over world health through their own private interests all based on pharmaceuticals which is, of course, part of the same petrochemical industry we have known our entire lives. You must, at this point, be thinking, the people don't want this and will not submit to it, and you might be correct, but these people don't care what you want or don't want. For them, this is the final piece of the puzzle that cloaks our culture in satanic hate.
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Each of the thirteen American colonies had some features of representative democracy that we still see today. For example, each of the colonies had a legislative, executive, and judicial branch. Learn more with today???s episode! Center for Civic Education
EPISODE 1833: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Maciej Kisilowski, editor of LET'S AGREE ABOUT POLAND, about the promise and peril of democracy in a post authoritarian Poland after what he calls its "almost miraculous" October election Maciej Kisilowski is a frequent commentator on issues of political-economy of East-Central Europe, contributing (among others) to Project Syndicate, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, Haaretz, EU Observer, and EURActive. He is the author/editor of three books, including Administrategy, which was translated into five languages. He's a consultant to governmental organizations, progressive political parties, advocacy groups and businesses in Central Europe and beyond.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Minnesota state representative Walter Hudson joins Al Travis to discussion state and national politics.What does the Washington D.C. budget brinksmanship say about the state of our democratic processes?Why is Minnesota spending $17 million to "study" why their Covid models failed?
In this podcast, William Steele is back to discuss his latest project!! Represent.Dev is set to revolutionise democracy as we know it... https://represent.dev/ ----------------------------------------------------- DONATE and help the channel grow - https://donorbox.org/help-me-buy-stuff PRE-ORDER MY GAMESTOP BOOK - https://wen-moon.com Buy Brexit: The Establishment Civil War - https://amzn.to/39XXVjq ----------------------------------------------------- You can listen to the show on Spotify, Apple, and all major platforms - https://chatterpodcast.podbean.com/ Watch Us On Odysee.com - https://odysee.com/$/invite/@TheJist:4 Join My Mailing List - https://www.getrevue.co/profile/thejist Follow Me On Twitter - https://twitter.com/Give_Me_TheJist ----------------------------------------------------- Website - https://thejist.co.uk/ Music from Just Jim – https://soundcloud.com/justjim Extract Labs CBD - https://extract-labs.pxf.io/n10JMa Canva Premium Graphics - https://partner.canva.com/b3A9X6
The Living Cadaver Versus Narcissist Boy I QANTAS: Chooks Come Home to Roost I Productivity: What About the Collective and Co-Operative Sector? I Do We Want to Walk Lock Step in With a Failing State? I Why Does the Australian Government Pick and Choose What Political Prisoners it Supports? I What About West Papua? I The Housing Crisis: Vortex I "I Believe": Belief, Fiction, Fact
Topic 1: Temporary Foreign Worker ExploitationJamaican Migrant Farm Workers in Ontario have long been decrying the poor working and living conditions they face as part of the longstanding Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SWAP). A recent one day protest by workers on a farm in Norfolk County resulted in 6 being sent home to Jamaica early. We look at the whole Temporary Foreign Worker Program, its impact on workers and the movement fighting to secure the rights of migrant workers in Canada. Topic 2: Billions for Billionaires and BattleshipsThe Irvings, already the second richest family in Canada secured the largest single purchase in the Canadian governments history, the CSC Project. If that wasn't enough, the Liberals just handed them an additional $463 million to 'modernize' the facility tasked with building the warships Canadians will pay almost $400 billion for in the end. The money for war is always there, rarely questioned. What is the political reasoning behind this? And what is at the root of these bailouts for billionaires?Topic 3: Our Leaders are All LandlordsWith the recent disclosure that the wife of NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh purchased an investment property and became a landlord during a housing crisis, 4 of the 5 federal Party leaders are now landlords. Why do we keep electing wealthy people to lead the working class? Is this what Representative Democracy looks like?All of our content is free - made possible by the generous sponsorships of our Patrons. If you would like to support us: PatreonFollow us on InstagramResources: The Maple: Find Out If Your MP Is A Landlord Or Invested In Real EstateMSN: Irving Gets 463 Million MoreHarvesting Freedom | Justicia for Migrant WorkersMigrant Rights Network: Full Immigration Status for AllCBC: Open Letter Penned by Jamaican Migrant Workers (2022)CTV: Jamaican Migrant Workers Sent Back
Our guest today is Tom Van der Meer, a political science professor from the University of Amsterdam. He's an expert in political trust, social connections and voting patterns. Tom highlights the historical importance of political trust since post-World War II. He explains that the idea of a continuous decline in trust isn't entirely accurate. Trust levels vary across regions and times. He shares an interesting idea when people lose trust due to poor government performance, it might actually motivate them to get more involved in a democracy like voting and protesting. This can lead to positive change. Tom also explores what shapes political trust. He breaks down reasons like fair institutions, electoral systems, and education's impact. He discusses the link between corruption and trust, showing how corruption hurts trustworthiness and the importance of fairness in countering it. Tom talks about how politicians talk about trust and the connection between populism and political trust. He points out that the two aren't always directly linked, but trust affects how people vote and which parties they support. When asked about Francis Fukuyama's view on populist politicians and distrust in institutions, Tom partially agrees but adds nuance. He challenges the idea that populism always arises from declining trust, pointing out examples like modern populism emerging in high-trust countries. He also notes that the connection between rising populism and decreasing trust isn't always direct, as events and trust fluctuations don't consistently match Fukuyama's theory. Tom does share agreement with Fukuyama on the growing politicization of political trust. He observes that voters now choose parties based on trust levels a change from the past, where Trusters and Distrusters often voted for the same parties. Tom highlights the role of polarization and ideology in shaping party dynamics. He's concerned not just about overall trust levels, but also how trust is distributed across parties. He warns that parties dominated by distrusting individuals could lead to challenges like questioning election legitimacy, as seen in the United States.
In this episode, I talked to Congressman Greg Landsman who represents Ohio's 1st Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber in the 118th U.S. Congress. Congressman Greg Landsman won his current House of Representatives seat by defeating former Congressman Steve Chabot in the 2022' U.S. Election. I asked Congressman Greg Landsman questions such as what made you change from a member of Cincinnati City Council to a current member of Congress?. We talked about the U.S. Supreme Court & if he thinks any reforms need to be changed within the Supreme Court. Congressman Landsman believes in our Representative-Democracy we have in the United States where people vote in elections as well as sharing with family & friends how to register to vote. Congressman Landsman is a member of the House Committee on Small Business & House Committee of Veterans' Affairs in the House of Representatives chamber. Here are Congressman Greg Landsman's social media handles: Twitter: @RepGregLandsman Instagram: @repgreglandsman Facebook: Rep. Greg Landsman Here is the link to Congressman Landsman's house website: https://landsman.house.gov/ Here are links relevant to Congressman Landsman's 2022' election win: https://www.landsmanforcongress.com/ https://ballotpedia.org/Ohio's_1st_Congressional_District_election,_2022 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Landsman --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nrodyunknown/message
Today's guest on Moments of Clarity is Sue Barrett. CEO, entrepreneur, and systems thinker, Sue is best known as a business growth strategist, sales systems specialist, educator, writer, consultant, and change agent championing Better Business Practices for a sustainable world. Founder and CEO of Barrett and the Selling Better Movement, Sue works with organisations across the world helping leaders and teams create and operate highly successful sustainable business growth systems, strategies, teams and cultures. A leading advocate for human-centred, ethical business, sales and leadership practices, Sue works with leaders, teams and communities to think deeply about the consequences of our decisions on others and on the planet. She has the ability to raise awareness of our interconnectedness as a foundation for empathy, compassion, decency and ethics, which in turn informs our moral cognition – our capacity to ‘do the right thing'. One of the founding organisers of March4Justice that rallied 110,000+ people in 200 locations around Australia in 14 days in 2021, a founder organiser of Voices of Goldstein, and Campaign Manager for Zoe Daniel's winning campaign for the Federal Seat of Goldstein in 2022, Sue's an advocate for Equality, STEMA education, Social Justice, Climate Action and Representative Democracy. In 2019, Sue published her first paperback book, ‘142 Days of Gratitude that changed my life forever‘, a treatise on the positive power of gratitude that delivers a masterclass in resilience. Sue lives in Melbourne with her family and is inspired by David Bowie, Rachel Carson, Kate Raworth and Maria Montessori. Links https://www.barrett.com.au/ https://www.sellingbetter.com/ https://www.suebarrett.com/ https://www.suebarrett.com/media/ https://www.suebarrett.com/books/ https://twitter.com/SueBarrett https://www.linkedin.com/in/suebarrett1/ Time Stamps 0:00 - 13:42 Introduction with Matt and Toby 14:43 - 45:29 Part 1 with Sue Barrett 45:30 - 80:50 Part 2 with Sue Barrett 80:51 - 82:05 Outro Thank you to the team at Ex-Zero for our branding and design work and to Christian Prochilo for our music and sound editing. Thank you so much for listening to Moments of Clarity. Remember to subscribe, review and share episodes with your friends and family. You can also check out our Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/momentsofclaritypodcast/?hl=en or our website at www.moc-pod.com.
We’re talking to Christian political outfit C4C - on concerns about ’The Voice’.Help Vision to keep 'Connecting Faith to Life': https://vision.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
If you are just joining us today, then you are in luck, because today we are going to have a quick overview of all the big ideas which we have covered over the last 26 or so episodes. Why politics isn't working for us, the voters, and why it isn't really even working for the politicians who are trying to do their bests on our behalf, struggling to work within the political systems. Why there are some problems with the very nature of what we call representative democracy and electoral systems, but also why there are some problems which political parties bring on top of those structural problems.Today, we are going to group our review around three main areas: Voters and Voting, Representative Democracy, and Political Parties. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For minority communities in Arkansas, voting can be a struggle. That doesn't just mean racial minorities; rural voters have less resources and limited access to polling places. In today's episode, we discuss the barriers and the folks working to remove those barriers.
Each of the thirteen American colonies had some features of representative democracy that we still see today. For example, each of the colonies had a legislative, executive, and judicial branch. Learn more with today???s episode! Center for Civic Education
For all of the talk about "our democracy," there is a better way to protect the lives and property of people than just electing politicians. It is called sound money. Original Article: "Sound Money Can Prevent What Representative Democracy Does Not" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
For all of the talk about "our democracy," there is a better way to protect the lives and property of people than just electing politicians. It is called sound money. Original Article: "Sound Money Can Prevent What Representative Democracy Does Not" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
THE THESIS: By right-sizing the relationship between elected office holders and the bureaucrats, the Supreme Court has granted America one last chance at sustaining an actual republic. If Republicans don't seize on that opportunity that chance will pass and we will be a Republic in name-only. THE SCRIPTURE & SCRIPTURAL RESOURCES: Biblical Decision Making Part 5: Wise Counsel THE NEWS & COMMENT: What History Says About Whether The United States Will Fall Like Rome Poll: Majority of Americans Believe Country is on Wrong Track, Including 78% of Democrats - “Since last month, the percentage of Democrats saying the country is headed in the wrong direction rose from 66%.” Supreme Court Aborts The Green New Deal, Strikes Down EPA's Carbon-Emission Power Grab Chief Justice Roberts for the 6-3 Majority – “Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible “solution to the crisis of the day.” …. But it is not plausible that Congress gave EPA the authority to adopt on its own such a regulatory scheme ….” [AUDIO - ABC Whines SCOTUS Is Making Congress Do Its Job With EPA Ruling AOC wants to abolish the Supreme Court? China Slams U.S. Supreme Court's EPA Ruling, Tells Biden Admin to Stick to ‘Climate' Obligations -- WH Climate Czar John Kerry doubles down on climate agenda, says SCOTUS ruling “doesn't take away our ability to do a whole bunch of things that we need to get done.” Biden Administration Has America's Most Productive Oil Field in Its Crosshairs -- EPA using ozone regulations to target the Permian Basin production, threatening to reduce American petroleum production even further. [AUDIO] - CNN Panel Angry Dobbs Ruling Makes U.S. An Authoritarian Country...Like Poland? [AUDIO] - WATCH: CNN Promotes Illegal Abortion Scheme; “Experts” warn unregulated abortion pills put women at risk . . . CNN host Poppy Harlow interviewed the head of Plan C, a group that connects women with unregulated overseas pharmacies that mail chemical abortion pills to the United States—an illegal practice that skirts federal regulations. Elisa Wells, the cofounder of the group, encouraged women to obtain the pills without medical supervision or follow-up visit, even though chemical abortion pills have roughly four times the complication rate of surgical abortions. The Jan. 6 Committee Is Causing Never Trumpers To Lose Their Minds Liz Cheney's J6 Committee Show Trial Theatrics Are Further Exposed After ‘Concerning Messages' Source Is Revealed - “Cheney could have asked Hutchinson about [the messages] right then and there. But she instead chose to do the TV tease and leave everybody hanging.” – Byron York Election integrity is not just an issue of The Right this year . . . [AUDIO] - Watch the moment from the @NCSBE meeting where Chairman Circosta (Democrat) refuses to answer NC Green Party lawyer Oliver Hall's question if there's any reason not to certify the @NorthCarolinaGP 's 15,953 verified signatures, then shouts down our lawyer & mutes him. @voterchoice . . . Attorney Oliver Hall of the Center for Competitive Democracy @voterchoice was the Green Party's only representative allowed in the meeting. He was allowed to participate for less than 2 minutes, his 1 question was not answered, & he was shouted down and muted by Chairman Circosta See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A lot of people are disconnected from politics these days because they don't feel their voices are being heard. But is there a better way to bring more people into the decision-making process? The Alliance for Securing Democracy's Laura Thornton has a new piece outlining the benefits of proportional representation, ranked choice voting, and other electoral reforms. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The invasion of Ukraine is a shocking reminder of what's at stake for democracies around the world. This moment is a stunning reminder of the vital importance of what we so often take for granted— personal freedoms and the rule of law. Despite well-advertised flaws, our constitutional system of governance is infinitely preferable to dictatorships or thuggish autocracies. In this episode, we share a conversation that touches on the relationship between voters and those who represent them, and what is meant by "representative democracy". The interview is shared with us by our friends at the "Democracy Paradox" podcast.Lisa Disch, author of the book, “Making Constituencies: Representation as Mobilization in Mass Democracy” is this week's guest. She is a professor of political science at the University of Michigan and an elected member of the Ann Arbor City Council. She is a committed member of the Democratic Party, but her views and research should be of interest to listeners from across the political spectrum.Lisa makes a spirited defense of multi-party representative democracy as an engine for change and progress. Justin Kempf asks the questions in this interview. His podcast, “Democracy Paradox” and ours are members of the Democracy Group network, where you can hear challenging, fascinating, and sometimes difficult ideas about democracy and governance. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In theory and often in practice, liberal democracy principles exist in various Republics, not just in the United States. The right to vote is what citizens expect and deserve as part of a kind of citizens' contract with the government in those countries. In fact, the right to vote is codified in many constitutions as a matter of law. However, liberal democratic principals have always been under fire and pressure from would be autocrats, authoritarians, war lords, strong men, and those who would enrich themselves and their families. One element in pressuring the downfall of liberal democracies is a charismatic leader gaining followers and convincing them that their interest lies best in a single individual who will fix everything, including bringing back some unrealistic resemblance of the past. You know. Thinking that all was so wonderful a decade, two decades, or even centuries past. As we all know, we humans have a great capacity for good and an equal (and sometimes greater) capacity for the opposite. Suspicion of the other, racial and ethnic animus, distrust of immigrants, fear, and all manner of grievances are ingredients of a perfect toxic stew to turn citizens against each other. Indeed, some of these would be leaders foment division of a country's electorate to perpetuate their thirst for power. Often these leaders will lie, target low information voters, weaponize programs of social equity or justice, and even attempt to dilute the voting franchise as a means to divide the country. And guess what; it's worked in the past, it's working now, and will continue to do so if people remain complacent. A call to action is for citizens to exercise their right to vote in local and national elections, learn about government, review various issues and proposals on the ballot, become a high information voter, and avoid going in the direction of negativism that would-be autocrats seek and foment. On today's solo episode, I discuss these topics and more. I also play a short audio clip from an episode of a well known television series that first aired on January 24, 1963. I've viewed this entire episode (season 4, episode 24) at least 5 times over the past 20 years. Indeed, it's quite haunting in its relevancy to today's political environment in many countries who exercise liberal democratic principles. As always, The goal of my podcast is to have interesting guests at time to share their thoughts on different issues, have guest co-hosts to discuss various topics (especially those that offer humor), and even share short episodes in which I discuss thoughtful and even heartwarming issues. You can listen to and subscribe to, "It's Not All Bad," that's available from the following platforms: *Anchor - https://anchor.fm/stewart-devine *Google Podcasts - https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy82MDYwNGQ2MC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== *Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its-not-all-bad/id1574392751?uo=4 *Breaker - https://www.breaker.audio/its-not-all-bad *Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0X6Gn9zC85iEyfKbNmpINM *Pocket Casts - https://pca.st/beu5r0lv *RadioPublic - https://radiopublic.com/its-not-all-bad-WDjRy7 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stewart-devine/message
Each of the thirteen American colonies had some features of representative democracy that we still see today. For example, each of the colonies had a legislative, executive, and judicial branch. Learn more with today?s episode! Center for Civic Education
On February 28-29, 1992, the Federalist Society held its eleventh annual National Student Symposium at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas. The subject of the conference was "The Legacy of the Federalist Papers." The second day of the symposium began with a panel titled "To Govern and Be Governed: The Federalist's Vision of Representative Democracy."9:15 a.m.Panel II: To Govern and Be Governed: The Federalist's Vision of Representative DemocracyDean Jesse H. Choper, University of California at Berkeley School of LawHon. Frank H. Easterbrook, U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh CircuitDavid Epstein, U.S. Department of Defense and Author, The Political Theory of The FederalistProf. Jonathan R. Macey, Cornell Law SchoolModerator: Hon. James L. Ryan, U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit*******As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speakers.
GUEST: Judge Dave Larson joins the show, discussing whether the government can force employers require vaccines for their employees or not. // TEXTS and WRAP // PERSONAL NOTE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Should AOC have worn that dress? ... Should celebrities make our healthcare decisions? ... The legacy of Norm MacDonald ...
Should AOC have worn that dress? ... Should celebrities make our healthcare decisions? ... The legacy of Norm MacDonald ...
https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-45-free-guy/Part IThis week, we were offered a story of an NPC, non-player character, in a video game called Free City. And what happens when Guy, played by Ryan Reynolds becomes sentient. He is triggered awake by seeing a girl. Shocker right? He becomes a sentient algorithm, able to see his desires, take action, and even judge the relative value and merit of his actions. Well, the backstory is, the two programmers, a girl and guy, develop an AI, artificial intelligence engine, that allows characters to grow and change without human input or interaction. Naturally, the programmers are maybe in love, but are maybe too immature to know how to express it. A totally rad, bro capitalist buys the AI and scuttles their “pure and sweet dreams”, basically an AI “garden of eden” terrarium.NOTE: two young, awkward genius programmers, who can't get out the words to get someone out of their pants, frustrated, make a petri-dish to grow life in… so, yeah, they made a baby making machine, because they couldn't get past their emotional immaturity to make their own baby… so now, we have sentient NPCs crying in the garden to two clueless parent/gods. Long synopsis even longer: The female programmer falls for the NPC, of course, and eventually has to tell his creator he is simply “a love letter from the author.” Yuck. Gross. Bleh. FIRST THING: The moralRomance and Capitalism. The moral? pursue Noble Passions, do not cave to the temptation of the base and mean, though it surrounds you. The reward is beyond money, and will reward you more deeply for longer, and who knows? maybe you will get the girl, or guy, or hunky algorithm… or the dopey, buff algorithm. SECOND THING: Work, Labor, ActionWhy do we need an AI? (This is answered at the end, but given “human idiocy” making anything like us is bound to be a failure.)To comment on the story and AI, we will borrow Hannah Arendt's terms for WORK, in which she distinguishes between the drudgery of labor, the productivity work, and the self-becoming of action.Labor is the NPC without sentience repeating tasks over and over. This is like a robot making the same widget over and over or humans having to get food and eat it over and over… then poop over and over.While work is the effort to create a new AI engine, or make a factory, something that will outlast you and supersedes nature.And finally, action is to engage in the world in such a way that you create a story of yourself in the world. ~ SO, this is kind of the notoriety Guy receives in the movie, moving from repetitive, endless labor of the NPC into work to level up and get the girl, into being a Contender, which affects the world and alters other people's understanding and actions.The AI is a challenge progression: from robot labor to creative work mimicking human behavior to self-aware action… to create something that can meta-cognate and make value distinctions.We are just attempting to leap the uncanny valley, and hoping the artificial grass is greener. RyderBut, what if we get past anthropomorphization? If the AI can see that Goodness, Love, and Purity are really our Kryptonite… then when you dangle some lovey, attractive cuddly thing in front of us we go stupid. The best way an AI could get protection is to exhibit cutesy love. And, of course, this is the plot of many sci-fi books and movies, such as Ex Machina or Vivarium, where the true test for an intelligent machine or species is to prey on the human weakness of emotions and love. This is that ugly deep sea fish, the angler, with the little dangling light it uses to attract the other fish. The little light is the dangling Ryan Reynolds… THIRD THING: DifferncePursuing Desire (once you have it, generally from discontent) takes work and action . To create your own story, where your actions effect the world is your will to power. A negative (discontent) moves us from our Contentment, that banal sameness that produces nothing new. however, difference… difference produces change.This where in Nietzschian terms we begin to move beyond good and evil, because the fascinating thing is, negative and positive are both forms of difference, they actually mirror and contain their contrariness in each other, they are just categorized by degree and distance. The more difference, the more transformative it becomes. Sameness, contentedness, can be when we are subservient to the same illusions… it is not really being alive, it is merely enacting historical, conservative values repetitively: these are phantasms. That's what movie projectors and shadows on cave walls are… They are the flattened, inverted forms of life.To escape this flattened category is to increase the difference, negate the sameness, even if it is through radical repetition.We thought we had an identity before… but this big “D” Difference is beyond the lame-ass category of identity: by enacting such a difference, we break the category… we approach transcendence, we manifest the beautiful soul, and enter the Eternal Return. In Free Guy: The hapless coders produce an AI, the crooked capitalist produces douchery and employs tons of people, and the awestruck NPC levels up to get the girl, then transcends that ~ all of them go to extremes of difference, they power through, and to each there is an affirmation. We are talking about Action, and Difference… about being aware, being motivated and taking action. We are talking about breaking the script. At the end of the day, why are we trying to make an AI that is sentient or aware?Because we lazy humans would like to stay at the WORK level, never taking the ACTION to become AWARE ourselves. We will build a machine, an AI, to achieve enlightenment for us. Call now, and for a limited time we can get ship you three cans of Deleuzian Difference Spray. Stand out. Smell difference, be difference. and watch her eternal return to you…. Now, we mentioned caves and movie projectors… These are Representations of the world, the re-presentation of the same. These re-presentations mediate everything.Adding more, an infinite repetition of forms with infinitesimally tiny differences, keeps us trapped in the same point of view. It is the logic of the simulacrum, with no grounding, fractally expanding and dispersing with no purpose. Capitalism and the market feed us small consumable changes: over-valued, over-marketed. This incepts (or coopts) our desire to move beyond the sameness, feeding us infinite multiplicity as novelty. It is saccharin, artificial fulfillment.As Anthony DeMello says, “We must wake up.” Drop your illusions.As Deleuze says. Quit becoming the Representation, become an experience. (pg 51?) THING 4: LeviathanLet's talk about the state, or the government. People set up these frameworks that are meant to serve the citizens, yet they are rife with contradictions: the state has coercive power over us, yet it allows us liberty. This is Isaiah Berlin's Positive and Negative Liberty.Setting up an AI and a State have similar problems… namely intentions and the blind spots of the authors.The NPC in FREE GUY is constrained by the limits of the game… the limits of the state… and in this way, government limits and shapes us, because even when we enact our highest state of Action, self-actualizing within the community, that happens under an umbrella of the state, in response to the state, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. The state is the story in which our story begins. It is our terrarium in many ways.Thomas Hobbes, who wrote Leviathan, is one of the earliest ideas of a modern state, a state that recognizes individuals wanting freedoms rather than a sovereign's dictates determining people. It uses artifice, a bit of deception, to constrain and balance for human brutishness, but overall, it's goal was to serve individuals. So… the key innovation here is individualism.Hannah Arendt, seeing what the Nazi regime perpetrated, despised Hobbes's “mechanistic” reduction of the citizens turned into subjects… and the subjects turned into cogs. Because she saw the evil a cog, a bureaucrat like Eichmann, could perpetrate. Her notion of how the state could serve individuals was radically different.We now have Representative Democracy here in the US, and a fascinating idea is not to think of “Democracy” as the key point, but “Representation” as the key point. This points out that the founders were quite fearful of true democracy, the “tyranny of the majority” as Tocqueville says.When our founders built the political AI engine, that we call a constitution, it appears to be based on premises of “equality” and “liberty” that actually never allowed for equality or freedom. The contradictions within the system means that as it evolves, particular points increase in prominence and divergence. These points come, in part, from author bias.conclusionOne thing I have not discussed too much, but is key: for Arendt, to take ACTION is to manifest your story in public. Not private. The path should be open for you, but it often isn't for many people. There is a friction here, often between the Story told (individualism and freedom) and what will be tolerated (reality, law). There exists an interstitial GAP between the story and the law, society and privacy, spaces that some people occupy and work to expand. As GUY found out in the game, as an “NPC” his actions were not explicitly denied, because they were new… never considered. He was not considered, because he was not a “he” or any type of human. This gets into some concepts I recently learned from Charles Mills, The Racial Contract, where colonizing imperialists saw indigenous people as “sub-human” thus not human.The logic is, someone like Kant, the Western world's preeminent moral philosopher, could be extremely racist because his morality only applied to “civilized men” which were by default posited as “white men.” His categorization blinded him. So will it be with Artificial Intelligences. The NPC is a soft entry to this concept of how we treat the sub-human.In the movie, Guy the NPC, due to not being “seen” as sentient or intelligent was at first unrecognized, then written off by incurious system admins. This allowed a modicum of Freedom, wiggle room in that interstitial space, until his difference became so pronounced that people had to take notice. As he took action, his “difference” became excessive, beyond the category of NPC, which at first is negative for the game but affirmative for him, and as Deleuze and Neitzsche may say, “The extremes of difference are productive.”And thus, we fall back into capitalism: Excess production is a value to be captured. Recognize, extract…. Love produces excess, and in this case, frustrated love produced a new type of sentient being, that is now not only producing love in the world but introduces a novel untapped resource to be colonized for the capitalist. Capitalism collapses love back into a category, rather than BEING. We tend to allow capitalism to stimulate and feed our DESIRE for Love: It multiplies and reflects back desire but without the Love itself. But, to wrap this up as a Hollywood Ending:The warmth of new love, in this story anyway, created something new in the world… the reciprocal feedback loop of difference between two people made something new rather than replicating suffering. And capitalism itself, with its infinite multiplicity of redundant permutations is really a shambling zombie, merely feeding on the products of frustrated love, but unable to produce anything itself.
Imagine a new kind of democracy — one that puts governance back in the hands of the people. This is the idea behind political theorist Hélène Landemore's book Open Democracy. Contemporary representative democracies, like in the United States, are broken, she says, so why not reinvent popular rule? In a conversation with Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, she describes a new paradigm of democracy where a randomly selected assembly of citizens could define an agenda for the polity and make laws. There's much more to it. Learn more from Landemore who's a professor of political science at Yale.
This week, we learn how the little-known case, Jacobson v. Massachusetts, can provide lessons and insight on the importance of upholding representative democracy and balancing public safety and civil liberties.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/friendsfellowcitizens)
In this episode of Surely, You Must Be Joking Dr. Fleming?, we discuss representative democracy: is there such a thing, is it even possible, and what are Dr. Fleming's proposals for dealing with it. Original Air Date: May 15, 2017 Show Run Time: 46 minutes Show Guest(s): Dr. Thomas Fleming Show Host(s): Stephen Heiner https://fleming.foundation/2017/05/season-1-surely-you-must-be-joking-dr-fleming-episode-2-representative-democracy/
What steps must be taken to improve the immigration system? How can we hold government elites accountable? On a new episode of "Right Now with Stephen Kent," Stephen sits down with Saurabh Sharma, President of the American Moment, for a wide-ranging discussion about the current (unfortunate) crop of elites in Washington, the faults within US immigration, filling a new conservative elite pipeline, and the future direction of the American right. Subscribe to Rightly and check out additional info about their conversation below. ---- Content of This Episode ---- 00:00 Episode Start 00:05 Shakeup on the political right 02:42 Welcome Saurabh Sharma 03:22 Returning to The Swamp - against his better judgment 11:54 The crises American Moment aims to resolve 18:40 Filling the conservative elite pipeline 21:29 On being an “immigration restrictionist” 28:31 Immigration and assimilation 37:54 What’s wrong with the current crop of D.C. elites 43:20 You can’t unsee this 50:42 Positively good news ---- Reading List ----American Moment https://www.americanmoment.org/ What libertarianism has become and will become — State Capacity Libertarianism (Marginal Revolution) https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/01/what-libertarianism-has-become-and-will-become-state-capacity-libertarianism.htmlCoercion in the Name of Virtue (The Wall Street Journal) https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB94461328599540685Wait Just One American Moment (National Review) https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/03/wait-just-one-american-moment/The Kushner conundrum (The Spectator World) https://spectatorworld.com/topic/jared-kushner-conundrum-scapegoat-saboteur/Inside the American Moment launch party (The Spectator World) https://spectatorworld.com/topic/american-moment-saurabh-sharma-nick-solheim-jake-mercier-launch-party/We Must Build An Elite For This American Moment (The American Conservative) https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/we-must-build-an-elite-for-this-american-moment/---- Plugs for our guests ---- Follow Saurabh Sharma on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ssharmaUS
Voting Rights Bills are going to make our US Democracy crumble...
West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy is Now Open! 8am-9am PT/ 11am-Noon ET for our especially special Daily Special; Tarrytown Chowder Tuesdays!Starting off in the Bistro Cafe, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger tried to explain why he supports the controversial state voting bill that strips his power, after he said there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election.Then, on the rest of the menu, the National Labor Relations Board found that two outspoken Amazon workers were illegally fired last year; businesses want masks on, even as states drop mask mandates; and, Mitch McConnell is warning Corporate America to stay out of politics now that Corporate America is siding with Representative Democracy.After the break, we move to the Chef's Table where Putin signed a law that will keep him in power until 2036, then he'll change that law, too; and, the World Health Organization won a dismissal of a lawsuit in New York over its pandemic response. All that and more, on West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy with Chef de Cuisine Justice Putnam.Bon Appétit!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~“As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.” ― Ernest Hemingway "A Moveable Feast"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Show Notes & Links: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/4/6/2024618/-West-Coast-Cookbook-amp-Speakeasy-Daily-Special-Tarrytown-Chowder-Tuesdays
It's being decided right now and there is no middle ground
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://ncc1707c.wordpress.com/2021/01/14/fascism-vs-representative-democracy/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
In this episode, we have a look at some different possible political systems, and use that to explore what we mean by the word ‘Democracy', along with other ideas, such as consideration for others and respect for minorities. Then we move from there to understand the particular form of democracy which we use. Because, though we might blithely use the blanket term ‘Democracy', we actually have a fairly specialised form of ‘Democracy'.The system we have is actually more accurately referred to as: ‘Representative Democracy'. But, what does that word ‘Representative' actually mean, in this context? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In Episode 17 of Viewpoint Presents with Malcolm and Michael Johns, Malcolm and Michael lay out emerging allegations of a vast criminal conspiracy to alter the '20 presidential election, including mounting concerns about Dominion Voting Systems and ties the company and its affiliates have had to election fraud globally and how easily available reports about their systems' susceptibility to illegal foreign or domestic manipulation should have been sufficient to dissuade any state from acquiring them. Yet, 30 states and 2,000 jurisdictions apparently ignored or discounted these reports and acquired them anyway. Malcolm and Michael detail several shocking examples of election fraud and atypical practices, including the arrival of 130,000 bags of ballots exclusively for Joe Biden dropped off in the middle of the night at one Michigan polling facility and what appears to be a nationally-coordinated effort in Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and other cities to deny the legal right of Trump and Republican poll watchers to witness ballot counting. Viewpoint Presents reports on the stories with the goal of offering a unique perspective that challenges conventional thinking. Welcome to the Premier News Magazine. Join WE THE PEOPLE to fight back against FAKE NEWS and Rate the show, leave a quick review, and subscribe to Viewpoint on Apple Podcasts by clicking here. Malcolm and Michael also address the long and laudable public careers of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell and why the allegations they are now making about vast and election-altering electoral fraud deserve to be taken seriously. It is absurdly hypocritical, Malcolm and Michael argue, that some of the very same establishment figures who spent years demanding that allegations of Russia's intervention and collusion with the Trump campaign in 2016, which turned out to be almost universally untrue, be taken seriously while they now simultaneously summarily dismiss 2020 claims, which already are supported by signed whistleblower affidavits and Giuliani and Powell's statements following their review of what they say will prove vast criminal election fraud sufficient to overturn reports of Biden's victory. All this now leaves us at a crossroads: Leaders and institutions we historically have relied on to rise to defend such a threat to our representative democracy are proving timid, political, and unwilling. While this debate and the accompanying legal proceedings must be driven by facts and evidence, Malcolm and Michael argue that the American people must now engage in ensuring these allegations of fraud are fully investigated, unveiled, corrected, and 2020 election results corrected accordingly if appropriate. Americans should brace themselves for shocking criminal allegations about the magnitude of broad and coordinated electoral fraud that will emerge in the coming days and weeks. As those allegations emerge in federal lawsuit filings, they cannot be frivolously dismissed by a mainstream media simply wishing to see Trump's departure. There is much more at stake, they say. Finally, tune into America Out Loud for ongoing coverage and analysis of 2020 election fraud allegations. As allegations of unprecedented criminal election interference unfold, America Out Loud will be covering them closely even as mainstream media fail to live up to their historical role of objective coverage on issues this vital to the preservation of America's representative democracy. Listen to Hour One, Viewpoint This Sunday: The United Banana Republic of America - The Most Explosive and Comprehensive Voter Fraud Scandal in American History - The massive voter fraud that emerged from the 2020 presidential election was never meant to be discovered. If left up to the fraudulent power brokers to decide who our elected officials will be and not We the People, as our Constitution guarantees,
In Episode 17 of Viewpoint Presents with Malcolm and Michael Johns, Malcolm and Michael lay out emerging allegations of a vast criminal conspiracy to alter the '20 presidential election, including mounting concerns about Dominion Voting Systems and ties the company and its affiliates have had to election fraud globally and how easily available reports about their systems' susceptibility to illegal foreign or domestic manipulation should have been sufficient to dissuade any state from acquiring them. Yet, 30 states and 2,000 jurisdictions apparently ignored or discounted these reports and acquired them anyway. Malcolm and Michael detail several shocking examples of election fraud and atypical practices, including the arrival of 130,000 bags of ballots exclusively for Joe Biden dropped off in the middle of the night at one Michigan polling facility and what appears to be a nationally-coordinated effort in Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and other cities to deny the legal right of Trump and Republican poll watchers to witness ballot counting. Viewpoint Presents reports on the stories with the goal of offering a unique perspective that challenges conventional thinking. Welcome to the Premier News Magazine. Join WE THE PEOPLE to fight back against FAKE NEWS and Rate the show, leave a quick review, and subscribe to Viewpoint on Apple Podcasts by clicking here. Malcolm and Michael also address the long and laudable public careers of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell and why the allegations they are now making about vast and election-altering electoral fraud deserve to be taken seriously. It is absurdly hypocritical, Malcolm and Michael argue, that some of the very same establishment figures who spent years demanding that allegations of Russia's intervention and collusion with the Trump campaign in 2016, which turned out to be almost universally untrue, be taken seriously while they now simultaneously summarily dismiss 2020 claims, which already are supported by signed whistleblower affidavits and Giuliani and Powell's statements following their review of what they say will prove vast criminal election fraud sufficient to overturn reports of Biden's victory. All this now leaves us at a crossroads: Leaders and institutions we historically have relied on to rise to defend such a threat to our representative democracy are proving timid, political, and unwilling. While this debate and the accompanying legal proceedings must be driven by facts and evidence, Malcolm and Michael argue that the American people must now engage in ensuring these allegations of fraud are fully investigated, unveiled, corrected, and 2020 election results corrected accordingly if appropriate. Americans should brace themselves for shocking criminal allegations about the magnitude of broad and coordinated electoral fraud that will emerge in the coming days and weeks. As those allegations emerge in federal lawsuit filings, they cannot be frivolously dismissed by a mainstream media simply wishing to see Trump's departure. There is much more at stake, they say. Finally, tune into America Out Loud for ongoing coverage and analysis of 2020 election fraud allegations. As allegations of unprecedented criminal election interference unfold, America Out Loud will be covering them closely even as mainstream media fail to live up to their historical role of objective coverage on issues this vital to the preservation of America's representative democracy. Listen to Hour One, Viewpoint This Sunday: The United Banana Republic of America - The Most Explosive and Comprehensive Voter Fraud Scandal in American History - The massive voter fraud that emerged from the 2020 presidential election was never meant to be discovered. If left up to the fraudulent power brokers to decide who our elected officials will be and not We the People, as our Constitution guarantees,
What is happening to the soul of America? It’s a question the whole world is asking as Americans start voting in the most bizarre general election in their history. Yet regardless of who wins the 2020 Presidential race, it’s clear that something is going horribly wrong in the world’s oldest democracy. Tempting as it may be to blame America’s malaise exclusively on Donald Trump, to do so would be naive. Trumpism is a symptom of a disease that’s ravaged America’s body politic for generations. In this episode we meet the American author and political commentator, Jared Yates Sexton to discuss his new book "American Rule: How A Nation Conquered The World But Failed Its People". We explore the myth of American exceptionalism, and how white identity, evangelical Christianity, and conspiracy theories like QAnon are weaponised in American politics. SHOW NOTES If you’d like to do some further exploring of the themes that we cover in this episode, below are some links you may find helpful. The two books by Jared Yates Sexton that are mentioned in this episode are “The People Are Going To Rise Like Waters Upon Your Shore: A Story of American Rage”, which chronicles Jared’s experience of covering Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign in 2016. His most recent book, “American Rule: How a Nation Conquered the World But Failed It’s People” explores the myth of American exceptionalism, white identity, and evangelical Christianity as a powerful political tool. Reply All is a podcast about the internet, but in many ways it’s a show about making sense of modern life, and how to survive it! They’ve recently done two episodes dedicated to Q Anon: episode #165 (The Mold and the Beautiful) and episode #166 (Country of Liars) which explores who’s behind QAnon. Rabbit Hole is an 8-part podcast series produced by the NYT tech columnist, Kevin Roose. The show explores how the internet is affecting us and what can happen when we move our lives online. It doesn’t look exclusively at Q Anon per se but the wider digital environment, and how You Tube in particular has been directing people to extremist content for years. If you’d like to understand more about the Satanic panic of the 1980s, Gimlet Media has produced a brilliant podcast series called Conviction: American Panic. Conviction tells the story John Quinney who grew up in the 1980s and at the age of 10 falsely accused his own father of being the leader of an underground satanic cult that was sacrificing babies and sexually abusing children. What John’s family didn’t realise at the time was that right across America there were hundreds of families being swept up in this religious panic, and by the time it subsided scores of people were in jail on little to no evidence. It’s one of the most bizarre chapters in American judicial history, but it’s also very relevant to today’s satanic hysteria and the cult of QAnon. NPR’s regular podcast ‘Throughline’ explores stories from history that have a modern day resonance, and two recent episodes are particularly relevant to this episode; Conspiracy, which delves into how and why conspiracy theories are fundamental to American life, and how they’re so easily manipulated by political opportunists; and The Evangelical Vote which looks at what it means to be an evangelical Christian in America today and how evangelicals have become a powerful electoral bloc in US politics. Throughline has also just started a new series called “(mis)Representative Democracy” which unpacks some of the myths and popular assumptions about American democracy. The first episode tells the not-so-democratic history of how and why America’s Electoral College was created - the body that elects the President of the USA and which you’re likely to hear a lot more about over the coming weeks and months. The long history of white supremacism and systemic racism in American comes up several times in this episode, although we didn’t have time to explore it in depth. Scene On Radio, produced by the Centre for Documentary Studies at Duke University, is a Peabody-nominated podcast hosted by veteran broadcaster John Biewen. He recently produced and co-presented a 14-part series called ‘Seeing White’ which explores what’s happening in mainstream white identity in America (not the KKK and neo-Nazis) and how the idea of whiteness has evolved over the centuries. The series also has a study guide and fully referenced bibliography for further reading and listening. More recently, Scene On Radio produced a 12-part series earlier this year called “The Land That Never Has Been Yet”. It tells the less well known story of democracy in America going right back to the beginning of the republic. It looks at authoritarianism, voter suppression, gerrymandering, foreign intervention and the role of money in America’s elections. ***FOLLOW THE SHOW*** You can subscribe to Standing Places on iTunes, Google Podcasts and Spotify and please rate, review and share the show so that more people can hear about it. You can also like and follow the Facebook page.
America has never been a country of one person, one vote. And that's by design. Our system was built by a select few, for a select few. We were never all supposed to get a say. In this series, we'll take a close look at voting in America, and how that's shaped what American democracy is, what it was meant to be, where it's failed, and what it might become.
On this episode of The Grapevine, Kulja and Dylan explore the elitism of ‘branch stacking' with Marija Taflaga. The Lecturer at ANU's School of Political Science and International Relations breaks down the implications of political corruption being symptomatic of a two-party system in Australia's democracy.Then, Journalist and author of ‘Peace Crimes', Kieran Finnane, gives a glimpse behind the curtain of national security, and the five-eyes intelligence community alliance through the story of six non-violent activists, The Peace Pilgrims, who were arrested breaching the perimeter of the joint US-Australian defence facility Pine Gap.
We discuss the nature of Parliamentary Politics and Representative Democracy; why we as Anarchists reject them, and what we think should replace them. If you are interested in finding out more about anarchist communism or are interested in the Anarchist Communist Group (ACG), please visit: https://www.anarchistcommunism.org with links to all our socials.
As the founder and CEO of Business for America, Sarah Bonk is on a mission to strengthen representative democracy. Business for America is a business group dedicated exclusively to educating and engaging the business community to help advance popular, bipartisan political reforms and technology solutions that strengthen and reform representative democracy. In this episode, I speak with Sarah Bonk about her mission and the impact Business for America is making in the world. Let's dive in! https://www.bfa.us/
As the founder and CEO of Business for America, Sarah Bonk is on a mission to strengthen representative democracy. Business for America is a business group dedicated exclusively to educating and engaging the business community to help advance popular, bipartisan political reforms and technology solutions that strengthen and reform representative democracy. In this episode, I speak with Sarah Bonk about her mission and the impact Business for America is making in the world. Let's dive in! https://www.bfa.us/
With the AV referendum gaining 68% votes to keep the FPTP system of representative democracy and the Brexit EU referendum that caused political unrest, it is crucial to consider and provide an argument for both sides of the story.
Cambridge historian and host of the Talking Politics podcast, David Runciman, has put forward a radical proposal to extend the vote to children as young as six. Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens discuss whether this is just what is needed to recover a healthy democratic culture.
Watch The KrisAnne Hall Show on YouTube If you want to discover why American politics is sinking so quickly in America, look no further than who society chooses to listen to and where we consider our facts. Partner with The KrisAnne Hall Daily Journal and be a part of the force that will restore Americans with their Constitutional Principles! To JOIN with us just simple text- impact2020 to 33777 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-krisanne-hall-show/support
Hi. My Name is Alan Lee. I live on Long Island, NY. I am an INDEPENDENT, Running for President. I seek that Office because compared to ANY other position on the planet, it has the Highest Potential to - HELP PEOPLE. - Hasn't there been Far too Much SUFFERING and Adversity already? - There has also been Far too Many who have already, DIED. - (Not to mention that PLANETARY, Ecosystems and Food Chains are falling apart and HUNDREDS, of Species are Endangered or Already, EXTINCT). Members of Congress, as Representatives OF The - PEOPLE, are SUPPOSED To ABIDE By, IMPLEMENT, And ACT Upon, the Hopes, Wishes, And (at the Very Least), the BASIC, NEEDS, OF The - PEOPLE. Seems like they haven't been too great at that have they? Those members who DON'T, Have NO Right to BE, In Congress. We voted them in, We can also vote them OUT. I'm not picking on Congress. That Principle holds True for ANY, Public Servant, INCLUDING - The PRESIDENT. As - PRESIDENT, if I were to Violate Your TRUST, and Not do what YOU want and NEED me to do, then I'd RESIGN. And if I don't, then Please Feel free to Impeach me (as is happening with Trump) because that means - I Don't Deserve to sit in that chair either. The Opinion of the PEOPLE is the - ONLY, one that Counts. YOU - MATTER. YOU - Decide. NOT - Congress. NOT - The President. NOT even - me. Over the YEARS and even, DECADES, has Your LIFE, Your FAMILY'S Life, Your KID'S LIVES been getting Better? Have These things been getting Better: Our SCHOOLS? Our HOSPITALS? Our ENVIRONMENT? Our JOBS? Our HOUSES? Our TAXES? Our BRIDGES, TUNNELS, HARBORS, RAIL SYSTEMS, and the Ridiculous POT-HOLED ROADS? Has - ANYTHING, at ALL gotten BETTER? ANYTHING?? Few - if Any. "GRIDLOCK". You know, ALL the other candidates Forget the Most Important thing. Their (Excellent) Ideas mean absolutely NOTHING, if they can't get through Congress. Now someone CAN get them through. Me. I've Developed a (Multi-step) Formula to do so. In brief, (by Utilizing Current Technology), it "tweaks" our Representative form of Government by adding an "ACTIVE PARTICIPATORY" Element. (The details are listed on my Website). This simply adds a Direct Component to our Representative Democracy requiring NO Consitutional Amendments or changes in Laws whatsoever. Want to bring everyone TOGETHER? This does. FINALLY - The PEOPLE, Will Decide on Issues. NOT - Congress NOT - The President NOT - even me. This pretty much solves almost every major problem. FINALLY. Yes, for REAL. I - Implore You...... Please, Help me do this. I am not seeking "Fame and Fortune". They are both Beneath me, Irrelevant, and just plain Stupid. I'm asking You to Please tell Your FRIENDS and FAMILY about me. Please do it for Your Family, and mine, too..... Please don't just dismiss me. People are - DYING.... CHILDREN, are - DYING.... Still almost a Full YEAR to go before the Election! Yes I am the underdog. So? Initially, so was Barack Obama. Initially, so was Donald Trump. People are DYING. Our PLANET is DYING. My SINCERITY and HONESTY, and LONGING To Help, are BEYOND MEASURE..... EVERYTHING, is at stake... EVERYTHING.... Please.......? Thank You. -Alan Lee. Honest, REAL, (and poor) guy4president P.S.: It's REAL Easy to find me. Just GOOGLE SEARCH: Honest REAL and poor guy4president (Please Click on Google Sites) Or: https://sites.google.com/site/honestrealandpoorguy4president/home --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/alan-lee2/message
Representative democracy is in crisis once again and another example of it was demonstrated in the country of Bolivia , where three term president Evo Morales was accused of election manipulation and was forced to resign. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/AFDD/support
Tune in as Author Joshua Schmude and renown Talk Show Host Susan Brender interview American Priority event organizer Alex Phillips to discuss politics, media and everything in between. Do our representatives in Congress really represent us? Does mainstream media tell the truth? What about climate change, is it real? If so what can we do about it? Learn all this and more in today's special mind blowing episode. Topics Include: 1. Representative Democracy, What Is It & Do We Have One? 2. Trump: Champ or Chump? 3. The Cyclicical Nature Of Government 4. Passage Of Law And Term Limits On Congress 5. Solutions For 2020 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/joshua-schmude/support
Second episode baby, starring Callum Chapman. we got content, we got laughs and we got imagination, now with a healthy dose of sketchy editing. if u have suggestions for segments, email me at redgumnews@gmail.com - max
We discuss whether direct or representative democracy is better. The former might give elites a bloody nose but can also intimidate minorities, while the latter might allow for compromise yet can create an aloof political class. Referendums are not the answer, but Nick argues that other forms of direct democracy could complement representative institutions and strengthen democratic legitimacy.
Cambridge historian and host of the Talking Politics podcast, David Runciman, has put forward a radical proposal to extend the vote to children as young as six. Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens discuss whether this is just what is needed to recover a healthy democratic culture.
You probably already know that Blockchain is the technology that supports Bitcoin. But there's more to it than that. Blockchain is like a huge book where all the bitcoin transactions that have taken place all over the planet are registered.
Lowell Ponte, THE SWAMP, WILL ‘TURNCOAT’ JOE BIDEN SAVE HIS SOUL?, Corrupt Demon-Rat Democrats Proceed with Pseudo-Impeachment, Public Image Death by 1000 Cuts in Media vs. Trump, Biden Fool vs. Patriot Trump, Hyde Amendment Biden Flip, China Flip No Danger in Trade, Idiot Not in Chief, End of Representative Democracy,Dr Bill Deagle MD AAEM ACAM A4M, NutriMedical Report Show, www.NutriMedical.com, www.ClayandIRON.com, www.Deagle-Network.com,NutriMedical Report Show,THE SWAMPWILL ‘TURNCOAT’ JOE BIDEN SAVE HIS SOUL?Lowell Ponte outlines choices former VP can make between good, evilWND.com, June 9, 2017 URL: https://www.wnd.com/2019/06/will-turncoat-joe-biden-save-his-soul/ For information regarding your data privacy, visit Acast.com/privacy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
For more than 25 years, Jim Jonas has helped craft strategic, award-winning communication campaigns and projects for high-profile corporate, public affairs and political clients. He's been a pioneer in independent political reform efforts including co-founding Unity '08 and managing Greg Orman's US Senate campaign in 2014. Jim got his start in politics managing winning congressional campaigns in his native North Carolina before joining Ailes Communications as a writer and producer of political advertising for clients including Bush/Quayle '92 and many other federal and state campaigns. He served as communications director for Sen. Lamar Alexander's early campaign for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination and as the in-house media consultant for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Since moving to Colorado in 1997, Jim has worked with a variety of independent political organizations and Fortune 500 corporations to solve public communication challenges. Jim and his family live in Denver.
Phil Magness joins us this week to teach the radical nature of Lysander Spooner. Spooner’s legal career started in an apprenticeship under 2 lawyers and he was best known for his support for the Abolitionist movement. His philosophy of liberty heavily influenced his law practice as well as his activist lifestyle.Who was Lysander Spooner? Is there a connection between his post office activism and his abolition activism? What radical politics did Spooner practice? What is the secret six? How does natural law relate to slavery?Further Reading:Two Treatises on Competitive Currency and Banking, written by Lysander SpoonerJohn Brown and the Secret Six, Massachusetts Historical SocietyRelated Content:Cannibals All!, with Phil Magness, Liberty Chronicles PodcastAn Essay on the Trial by Jury: Juries vs. Representative Democracy, written by Lysander SpoonerLysander Spooner on Natural Law, written by George H. Smith See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Every state capitol is unique—but with some interesting similarities. We’ll dive into traditions, symbols and decorative features you can find in these impressive structures across our country. Our two guests have extensive experience and will share their knowledge with us on this episode of “Our American States.” First, we talk with G. Paul Nardo, clerk of the House for the Virginia House of Delegates and the Keeper of the Rolls of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He’ll discuss traditions there, including the mace used in ceremonial procedures. Then, we will hear from Karl Kurtz, former director of the Trust for Representative Democracy, and now principle with LegisMatters. Kurtz has seen every U.S. capitol, including those in the territories and commonwealths. We’ll get his perspective on domes, artwork and legislative traditions. Additional Resources Transcription of Episode 46
If the only evidence of Christian growth in our lives is that it is changing the way we deal with politics, then we aren't actually experiencing Christian growth—we're impersonating it. This episode features exclusive content that didn't make it into Christian Civics Executive Director Rick Barry's recent presentation at the Gospel Coalition Mid-Atlantic Conference. The topic of his talk was "Radical Responsibility: Fostering a Culture of Mercy in a Representative Democracy." For more information or to sign up for a one-night-only Christian Civics event in Washington, DC, visit christiancivics.org.
USA USA USA! Wait what government is the United States actually? Democracy? Republic? Both? In this podcast, I'll go into detail about one of the most successful forms of government ever.
Air Date: 6/29/2018 Today we take a look at the multi-pronged campaign to prevent as many people from voting as possible and what we can do about it Be part of the show! Leave a message at 202-999-3991 Donate or become a Member to support the show! Visit: https://www.patreon.com/BestOfTheLeft Episode Sponsors: Amazon USA| Amazon CA| Amazon UK Support Best of the Left on Patreon! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: Karen Hobert Flynn on Census & Citizenship - CounterSpin - Air Date 3-30-18 Ch. 2: David Daley: SCOTUS punted two opportunities to help fix gerrymandering nationwide - Bradcast - Air Date 6-18-18 Ch. 3: The case for automatic voter registration - Sunday Civics - Air Date 1-22-18 Ch. 4: Black Representation in North Carolina - The Gerrymandering Project - Air Date 12-14-17 Ch. 5: The failure to fix gerrymandering chips away further at faith in our democratic system - Amicus - Air Date 6-23-18 Ch. 6: Build the Blue Wave: Confirm, Prepare & GOTV for Midterms 2018 - Best of the Left Activism VOICEMAILS Ch. 7: Tree Votes For The Axe - Alan from Connecticut Ch. 8: Final comments on the danger of gerrymandering and the value of voting TAKE ACTION 5 Steps & Resources to Build the “Blue Wave” for Midterms 2018: 1. CONFIRM VOTER REGISTRATION: rockthevote.org“Voter Registration Lookup Tool” 2. LEARN/SHARE VOTER ID LAWS: VoteRiders.orgState Voter ID Law Info Cards 3. LEARN/SHARE CUTOFF DATES/DEADLINES: rockthevote.orgState Information 4. HELP OTHERS register, check registration, learn dates. Share information in person and on social media! 5. JOIN A LOCAL REGISTRATION/GET OUT THE VOTE EFFORT: Rock The Vote | NextGen America | ACLU(& check local chapters) | NAACP | NARAL | League of Women Voters | Let America Vote Written by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman MUSIC: Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr The Silver Hatch - Rayling (Blue Dot Sessions) Cloud Line - K4 (Blue Dot Sessions) Waterbourne - Algea Fields (Blue Dot Sessions) Line Etching - Marble Run (Blue Dot Sessions) Insatiable Toad - Origami (Blue Dot Sessions) Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for listening! Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Support the show via Patreon Listen on iTunes | Stitcher| Spotify| Alexa Devices| +more Check out the BotL iOS/AndroidApp in the App Stores! Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Review the show on iTunesand Stitcher!
Peter Van Doren joins us again to discuss his time on federal jury duty. On February 20th, 2018, Van Doren reported to the Federal District Court and was selected for jury duty. It was an MS-13 murder case involving an ongoing criminal conspiracy. We discuss conspiracy law, the nature of jury duty and the qualms of the criminal justice system. Further Readings/References:More about Peter Van DorenCato book Jury NullificationNancy MacLean and the Lazy Jury Fallacy by Trevor BurrusAn Essay on the Trial by Jury: Juries vs Representative Democracy by Lysander Spooner See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Arizona lobbyists Kevin DeMenna and Joe DeMenna join the podcast to talk about how lobbying works, the use of technology in political strategy, the changing usefulness of polling data, and the political landscape in Arizona.
Thank you for joining me in the third episode of Season 2 of Real Democracy Now! A podcast. Season 2 is looking at representative democracy and today I am talking with three academics who take different approaches to evaluating representative democracy. These three approaches are by no means the only ones, in fact there are many indexes and evaluation frameworks in existence. Which is why Dan Pemstein with his colleagues Stephen Meserve and James Melton created the United Democracy Scores to integrate a number of these into one measure. First up, I speak to Professor Leonardo Morlino who is a professor of political science and director of the Research Center on Democracies and Democratizations at LUISS, Rome. Prof. Morlino is a leading specialist in comparative politics with expertise on Southern Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece), Eastern Europe, and the phenomenon of democratization. He is the author of several books and more than 200 journal essays and book chapters published in English, French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Chinese, Mongolian, and Japanese. In 2015 -16 he has been conducting research on how the economic crisis affected South European democracies and on the economic and fiscal choices of democracies in the same area within an EU Horizon 2020 grant. Professor Morlino talks to us about the analytical tool he has developed to allow comparison of democracies. Next, I talk with Professor Wolfgang Merkel who is the Director of the Research Unit: Democracy and Democratization at the WZB Social Science Research Centre Berlin, as well as heading up the Centre for Global Constitutionalism and a number of other projects. He has written widely on democracy, democratisation, social democracy and democracy & capitalism to name but a few in academic and non-academic publications. Professor Merkel is a co-project leader of the Democracy Barometer. This project developed an instrument to assess the quality of democracy in 30 established democracies and is the focus of my discussion with Professor Merkel today. Finally, I spoke with Daniel Pemstein. Dan is an assistant professor of political science at North Dakota State University. He is a methodologist who specialises in measurement and builds statistical tools to answer substantive questions in comparative legislative studies and political economy. He is involved in a number of statistical projects, including two I’ll be talking to him about today: the Varieties of Democracy Project and the Unified Democracy Scores. Thanks for joining me today. We’ll be hearing from Professors Morlino and Merkel again later in Season 2 when we look at the challenges facing democracy and the relationship between democracy and capitalism. Next week’s episode covers a topic mentioned today, that is ‘non-Western democracy’. I’ll be speaking to Associate Professor Benjamin Isakhan about democracy in the Middle East and Zelalem Sirna about Ethiopian democracy. I hope you’ll join me then.
In today’s episode, I’m talking with Dr Roslyn Fuller and Professor Nadia Urbinati. Dr Roslyn Fuller (dipl. jur./erstes Staatsexamen, Goettingen; PhD, Trinity College Dublin) is a Canadian-Irish academic and columnist, specializing in public international law, and the impact of technological innovation on democracy. Her latest book Beasts and Gods: How Democracy Changed Its Meaning and Lost Its Purpose explores the flaws of representative democracy and how they could be addressed through the application of ancient Athenian principles of demokratia (people power). Her work has appeared, among others, in OpenDemocracy, The Nation, The Toronto Star, Salon and The Irish Times, as well as in many scholarly journals. She is currently a Research Associate at Waterford Institute of Technology and founding member of the Solonian Democracy Institute. Like Professor Cartledge in episode 1 Roslyn is interested in what we can learn from the democracy of ancient Athens and like him, she sees technology as providing a way to scale up direct democracy. Nadia Urbinati is a Professor of Political Theory and Hellenic Studies at Columbia University. She is a political theorist who specializes in modern and contemporary political thought and the democratic and anti-democratic traditions. Nadia has written extensively on democracy including two books: Representative Democracy: Principles and Genealogy, Democracy Disfigured , and Mill on Democracy: From the Athenian Polis to Representative Government. Nadia takes us through a potted history of representative democracy and explains four key elements of representative democracy and why they are crucial for an operating representative democracy: Sovereignty of people expressed in electoral appointment of their representatives Free mandate for representatives Electoral mechanisms to ensure responsiveness by representatives Universal franchise. Nadia identifies the dual authorities of citizens - our vote and our judgement - which while distinct and different are equally important. If you would like to hear more from Roslyn and Nadia visit my YouTube channel where I have included videos of other presentations and interviews by these guests. In next week’s episode, we will hear about a couple of the many different approaches to evaluating representative democracy: the Varieties of Democracy project, the Democracy Barometer, the Unified Democracy Scores and the work done by the Research Centre on Democracies and Democratizations in Rome. I hope you’ll join me then.
This Sunday we witness the fallacy that is the Bayside democratic system. We’re also joined by Big Gus Fun-gus Aounghos Ó Lochlainn. Mr Belding pumps some fantastic Iron and Mr Dewey learns to go deadpan. Episode: “The Election”
Conférence présentée dans le cadre du colloque "Civic Freedom in an Age of Diversity. James Tully's Public philosophy". Le colloque s'est tenu du 24 au 26 avril 2014 à l'Université du Québec à Montréal. Pour plus d'informations: http://www.creqc.uqam.ca/spip.php?article580
Introduction: The Man Without a Country I'd like to ask that you take your Bibles and look at Romans chapter 13. This is the third part of three in this series on the Christian and Government. Really, it's just one sermon in three parts. And as we come now, having understood already, the first two parts in Romans 13:1-7, we're coming to some ethical questions about how Christians relate to government. Now, it's difficult to find a tale charged with stronger patriotism than that written by Edward Everett Hale in 1863, entitled "The man without a country." It was written at the height of the civil war and Hale's passion for the United States of America breathes in every line. The story is a compelling one about a man named Philip Nolan, who was unjustly charged with treason in 1807. And during that trial, he cried out, "Curse the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again." The court was shocked, since many of those sitting in the court martial had fought and risked their lives and their possessions for the American Revolution. And so the judge icily granted Nolan's request, and exiled him to sail for the rest of his life on a series of naval vessels. The sailors having been commanded never to mention the United States to him, or give him any news of his former home country. Though defiant at first, Nolan eventually, bitterly regretted his rash words. A painful moment occurred for him when he overheard someone reading Sir Walter Scott's famous lines, Breathes there the man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said ‘This is my own, my native land!’ Whose heart hath ne’er within him burned, As home his footsteps he hath turned, From wandering on a foreign strand By the end of his life, Nolan was probably the strongest patriot in the history of the country. Even though he had never been permitted to hear the name of the United States again, he had an estate room, a shrine with an American flag draped around a picture of George Washington. And he said to a sailor, "For your country boy, and for that flag", as he pointed to the ship's flag, "Never dream a dream but of serving her as she bids you, though the service carries you through a thousand hells. No matter what happens to you, no matter who flatters you, or abuses you, never look at another flag. Never let a night pass by, but you pray God to bless that flag. Remember boy, that behind all these men... Behind the officers and government, and people even there is the country, herself. Your country. And that you belong to her as you belong to your own mother, stand by her boy, as you would stand by your own mother." Now, Hales intense patriotism is reflected in people all over the world. It's the same way that German people feel about the Fatherland, and Russian people feel about Mother Russia, and Chinese people feel about what they call the Middle Kingdom and what Japanese people feel about the land of the rising sun. It's their own, their native land. And if you've ever traveled and been abroad for a long period of time, I think you can relate to what Walter Scott said... "It feels good to be home." The Call to Look to a Better Country But I'm calling on us as Christians today to look to a better country. To a distant country that hasn't come to us yet, to embrace the words that the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:20. When he said, "Our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." Our citizenship is in heaven and we're waiting for the time when we will be there, and we are homesick, at least I am homesick, for a place I have never seen. I'm homesick to come home to heaven, aren't you? And in the meantime while we can embrace patriotism at one level, and our native land and it's good to be home, those feelings, I believe are just a dim reflection of something that's going to be elevated to a much higher level, when at last, we see the Savior. When at last, we come into that new heaven and that new earth which is the home of righteousness. And so understanding our relationship to our own, our native land, begins with properly understanding our status as aliens and strangers in this world... That we are just passing through. It starts even above that with understanding what it means that "Jesus is our king". He is ultimately our government. It starts were living a life of faith that sees a future country. A better one, a heavenly one, as it says in Hebrews 11:13-16, of the faith-filled people. It says there, "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things, show that they're looking for a country of their own, a heavenly one. Now, if they had been thinking about the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they are longing for a better country, a heavenly one, and therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them." The city of God, my friend... A better and heavenly country. We are citizens of that if we're Christians. And what's so beautiful is that's true of people all over the world, from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. One of the greatest evidences of the truth of our faith is, you can sit in an airport and find a man from Nigeria, or a woman from China, or a child even from Germany, and you can talk to them if you can get past the language issue. You can talk to them, and if they're Christians, you will have more in common with those people than you will with non-Christians from America, because that is our true home country. I. Government in the Bible: Review of Basic Principles Now, we've looked at Romans 13. And I just want to review what we've already learned about government, human government. We've seen that God is Lord of Heaven and Earth. He rules over all things, but that he delegates some of his sovereign power, his authority, he delegates to created beings. And he's going to judge those creative beings, governors, kings, rulers for what they do with their power, and he's going to judge those who are under their authority, about what they did with the relationship, as well. We've also seen that although God has delegated his power, it doesn't mean he has released his sovereign control of the ebbs and flows of history. But God actively rules over the rise and fall of nations. We've seen that good government, as reflected in Romans 13, is a blessing from God. We've also touched on the fact that bad government, as revealed I think in Revelation 13, is a curse from the devil. And therein lies the problem. The pure and high picture of government in Romans 13 is not always the case. Seems to me that God has put human government... In history, he's put human government on display. And even the best governments have been tainted by human sin, have they not? And then there are the horrendous governments that have been openly embracing human sin. And so we've had our chance to rule, and Utopia has never come. There's never been a perfect society in this world, but there will be some day when Jesus rules. Amen? And we're yearning for that day and looking forward to it. So we've seen that, and from these basic principles, we have two commands coming from Romans 13, one through seven. First, we are to submit to the governing authorities. And we saw that submission is a glad humbling of oneself below a God-ordained authority, for the sake of God and for his glory. We talked about that. We've also talked about the need and the command that Paul gives to give to government, whatever we owe. Whether taxes or honor, respect, those things that are listed in Romans 13, we've already seen that. II. Six Key Ethical Questions Now, we began last week to look at some ethical questions that flow from Romans 13. Six ethical questions. Now, my purpose this week is to survey the terrain of the rest of these questions. That's right, to survey the terrain of the rest of these questions. Not finally to answer them. You all have the expectation to get out of here at a reasonable amount of time. Am I right? Okay. And we've got five more of these questions, and if I were to give suitable time to each one, we would be here for hours and hours. Books have been written about these things. What I want to do is, I want to lift up some of the main issues that come connected with these ethical questions, and try to show you how Christians have thought on both sides of some of these issues over the time. I'm trying to refrain from giving my own opinion on these matters. I'll try to share with you what I think as a Christian, but I tell you this... My word will not be the final word on these questions. What I do want you to do is, I want you to understand how Christians have discussed these things. I want you to have respect for other Christians who disagree, and I'd like the discussions to continue. We live in a time when this country is at war. And these issues are majorly on people's thoughts and minds right now. The issue of the patriotism and of our responsibility to human government. 1) Limits to Obedience: Is submission to government absolute or are there limitations? Now last week, we saw limits to human submission to government. We asked the question, is submission to government absolute or are there limitations? We answered yes, there are limitations. We saw the example of Peter and John, having been commanded by the Sanhedrin, not to speak or teach it all in the name of Jesus. This ran on direct contradiction to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. And so, the answer very clearly, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you, rather than God. We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." Now that's a key issue. When it comes down to this, judging for ourselves whether it's right to obey a human government rather than God, that word "rather" is key. And when we are brought to a place where we must choose, we must choose to obey God, and we saw therefore that our obedience to human government is limited. 2) Christians and War: Should a Christian fight for secular governments? Now, let's look at this question of Christians and war. The question is, should a Christian fight for secular government? I want to bring before you two opposite case studies that have been in my mind over the last two weeks. Imagine, case study number one... You come upon a situation in which an innocent man is being bludgeoned to death along the road by some muggers. In effect, you've come on the scenario Jesus describes in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Only, he's not already lying by the side of the road bleeding, the mugging is actually going on. The question you have to ask is, "How could you rescue that helpless victim from the situation without using force?" And if you can't rescue the person without using force, are you obligated or allowed to use force to rescue him? And if the answer to that question is "yes," you're on the road to what we call a "just war approach." That Christians are obligated, in some cases, some will answer, or allowed to use force to rescue the innocent from human government. Let me give you an opposite case. Imagine that you came upon two Christians who are arguing bitterly, and you knew them well and it seemed like they're very upset with each other. Would you make any effort to be a peacemaker in that situation? I would hope to think you would. You would make an effort to be a peacemaker. Suppose while it's going on, they got even more aggressive and started pulling out weapons and wanted to kill each other. Would your desire to be a peacemaker increase or decrease in that situation? Well, I would think it would increase except you have one thought, and that's you'd like to get out of it alive. But you would desire to bring peace between the two Christian brothers, who seem to have lost all perspective. And now want to kill each other. I assure you, Jesus did not have this in mind at the time of the foot-washing. Is it okay, though if they're wearing uniforms of opposing countries during a time of war? Can you have one spirit-filled Christian sighting along a sniper rifle at another spirit-filled Christian also sighting along a rifle at you, at each other. Is this even possible? This is a logical absurdity. Is one of those two Christians failing to hear God correctly? And if you answer yes, you're along the road to pacifism. Herein lies the problem... Should Christians be involved in war? Now in World War I, this scenario that I described to you actually happened. There was a time in which British Christians and German Christians met in no man's land and celebrated Christmas. And so they had a little celebration under a flag of truce, and they enjoyed that time of worship together, and the next day they went back to fighting again. What a strange scenario. How do we explain that? Are one or both of them hearing God wrongly? Absurdity number one: The Good Samaritan stands idly by, waiting for the mugger to finish his work, so that he can begin his work of mercy. That's strange. Absurdity number two: The Spirit helping one Christian to kill another Christian while the same spirit is helping the other Christian to kill the first. That's an absurdity, and herein lies the problem... We're dealing with the tangled mess and irrationality of sin. And it leaves Christians literally not knowing what to do. Three Different Positions: Activism, Pacifism, Selectivism Now, there have been, in church history, three different views on this question. First, there's the view of activism. Basically, it's my country right or wrong. If the country says go to war, you need to go. Regardless of what you think about the cause, you go. That's called activism. Then there's pacifism, that basically a Christian should never be involved in war, for New Testament principles. Usually the arguments are made from the Sermon on the Mount, saying, We should not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, you should turn the other also. And then there's thirdly the view called selective-ism, the idea that Christians should get involved in the right wars for the right reasons, but not in the others. This is what you call The "just war" theory. Now, in the Old Testament, there's ample evidence that war and the involvement of the people of God in war, is not in itself evil. In Genesis 14, Abraham gets 318 of his trained men and rescues his nephew Lot in the war of the seven kings, king of Sodom, and all those others, you can read about it, that's the first war described, and Abraham is right in the middle of it. God clearly commands Israel to participate in war as an agent of his wrath during the time of Joshua, when they took over the land of Canaan and drove out seven nations and destroyed them. God actually judges King Saul for not finishing the conquest of the Amalekites by leaving King Agag alive, and Samuel kills him and it's clearly in the text, pleasing to God that Samuel did it and displeasing that Saul didn't do it. God blesses David for killing Goliath who was defying the armies of the living God. And David celebrates God's training of his hands for war in Psalm 144, verse one. It says, "Praise be to the Lord, my rock who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle." Nehemiah rebuilds the wall of Jerusalem with the sword in one hand and the trowel in the other. God blesses Israel by defeating their enemies again and again, in answer to prayer or with the courageous actions of godly men. From this, it is clear that the Old Testament at least, does not call participation by the people of God in war itself and evil or wicked thing. Now in the New Testament, nowhere is this basic idea openly contradicted. There are no commands anywhere for Christians not to be involved in warfare. John the Baptist, when speaking to soldiers... Soldiers come to John the Baptist and say, "What should we do?" he doesn't say, "Resign in position... Stop being a soldier", but he urges him to act morally and with integrity, as soldiers. Jesus himself uses a military analogy, about counting the cost. If you want to become a Christian, you have to count the cost and he says in Luke 14, "Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king, will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with 10,000 men to oppose the one coming against him with 20,000?" Jesus doesn't there say that the enterprise of war is evil or wicked, he shouldn't be doing that, what he's saying is he shouldn't do it, if he's going to lose. And he should figure out whether he's going to lose and if he can't, he's going to sue for peace. And so also, you should decide ahead of time if you've got the commitment that it takes to follow Christ right to the end of your life. At the end of the Book of Revelation at the end of the world, Christ is portrayed as riding at the head of the armies of heaven, who are clothed in white linen and his robe is dipped in blood, and on him is written, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords", and he comes conquering. Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, celebrates... Again, this is in the New Testament, giving these examples of faith... Celebrates Old Testament warriors. This is Hebrews 11:32-34. It says, "What more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Sampson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, all of those were involved in warfare. They're all listed together. And the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength, and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies." This is right in the New Testament a display of faith. The Apostle Paul uses a military analogy for the Christian life, being like the life of a soldier. He said in 2Timothy 2, "Endure hardship with us as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs. He wants to please his commanding officer." And so there's that military analogy. However, there are some key changes as well, in the New Testament. Christ example as the Prince of Peace, he lived out the turn-the-other-cheek mentality. When he was about to be arrested in the garden, and Peter wanted to use the sword to deliver him from that, he said, "Put your sword away for all who draw the sword will die by the sword." And then he said, "Do you think I cannot call on my Father and he would at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? But how then would the Scripture be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?" he chose not to. Clearly, he had the power to do it but chose not to. And even more significantly, is Christ's statement to Pontius Pilate, when he said, "So you are a king?" And he said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest from the Jews. As it is, my Kingdom is from another place." Therefore, Jesus said his kingdom's different than any other kingdom that's ever been. Those kingdoms advanced by conquest, military conquest. His kingdom advances differently, and you find out from his teaching and from church history, Christ's kingdom, his true kingdom advances, not by killing, but by being willing to die. By taking up the cross. Daily in following Jesus. Christ commands on the Sermon of Mount have already been listed not to resist an evil person, to turn the other cheek. Paul makes a statement that our warfare is not earthly warfare, but heavenly. He says, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we're ready to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." He says openly in Ephesians six, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world." And then there's the issue of the worldwide advance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, basically it was clearly an us versus them situation. If they're across that stretch of land, they are bad people who don't know anything about the living God. Very clear, the Philistines or whatever. But in the New Testament era, the Gospel is commanded to be preached to every creature under Heaven. That Jesus is making a claim on every nation and that the Gospel must be preached to every tribe and language and people and nation. That command, brothers and sisters, was not given last week. For 2000 years the gospel has been permeating the world. There is no political nation on earth where there are not churches worshipping Jesus Christ. And therefore it's not so clear anymore who's across that space. We don't know who's over there. And therefore that absurdity that I talk to you about actually has happened again and again. Not just in World War I, but in the Civil War and in other wars. Most European Wars that was very much the issue. C.S. Lewis Now C.S. Lewis in 1941 published a strong tract on the issue of Christians involvement in war. He said that the Christian faith has made two great contributions to the issue of war and participation in war. First, pacifism, and second chivalry. Pacifism, he says, is an honest theological mistake. Now, he's writing, having been a soldier in World War I and it was in the height of the struggle between Great Britain and Germany, Nazi Germany at the time. He says that pacifism is an honest mistake and he says so because it's leaving the dirty work to others, that's the way he argued. Instead he argues for chivalry. Now what is chivalry? You might think of Sir Galahad or Sir Lancelot or something like that. The formation of a chivalrous knight who's going to fight what we call the just war in the just way. And so the chivalrous knight is going to learn how to display extreme fierceness and extreme meekness and will have extreme wisdom to know when to do either one. And so he argues for chivalry. The just war fought in the just way. Now, I say to you, first of all, only a just society can produce a just warrior. Only the church ultimately can produce somebody who could fight a just war in just a way. If it's to be done at all, it has to be done by the church. This would include soldiers being willing to not get involved in a war because it's unjust or if they're in a just war, disobeying an unjust command in the middle of that. Being willing to be court martialed. Say, "I will not bomb a civilian target, I will not gun down those POWs? I will not violate the principles of chivalry." Well, then you're going to be court martialed. They would actually welcome it because in this way they could be salt and light in their own society and prevent their society from becoming corrupt as any pagan nation might. Thus the chivalrous soldier is willing to lay down his life in a different sense so that his society will not become corrupt. Now my strongest argument for Christian involvement in warfare is the need for Christians to be precisely that. Salt and light to prevent immoral decisions and actions and war. Without Christians acting as Salt to retire the spread of corruption, the gung-ho blind patriotism of some Marines or bomber pilots or rangers or Navy Seals or covert operatives coupled with their overwhelming weapon systems and their natural violence and their pride and their desire to use those weapon systems, will bubble over into wickedness. Only if there are Christians they are to retard it, will a conscience be maintained in the Army, the Navy, Air Force and the Marines. My strongest argument for Christians not being involved in warfare is the ever-increasing complexity of the modern scene. Urban fighting against non-uniform terrorists who use women and children as shields or even participants, makes fighting with chivalry very difficult. So you're saying, "What's the answer?" Well, I didn't tell you I was going to give you an answer. I respect pacifism, but I think in the end the Christian is called to fight for the helpless who can't fight for himself. He's called to defend his wife and his children, he's called to defend. In the end I think this is right. Just war. I'm just saying it's getting harder and harder and harder. 3) Limits to Opposition: Is armed opposition to government ever permissible? Now what about the questions of limit to opposition? Is armed opposition to government ever permissible? Now we've already seen that Christians must disobey evil commands given by their government. That's already clear. But here we're arguing something else. Should we go beyond disobeying evil commands given by a government to organizing ourselves militarily to try to topple what we perceived to be an evil government? That's a different question. And what bothers me is, any arguments or defense of revolution tend to start with an individual case like the Hebrew Midwives or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego or Peter and John in front of the Sanhedrin. And argue from that to complete revolution, overturning of the government. You can't draw that. The Hebrew Midwives continued submissive to Pharaoh, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego continued submissive to Nebuchadnezzar. So did Daniel submissive to King Darius. And Peter and John as they could be submissive to the Sanhedrin. So you're saying, "Well, what about the American Revolution? It may be on your mind. Our country was started by people who felt it right to overthrow the power and authority of King George. I've had numerous people come to me over the last two weeks, say, "What are you going to say about the American Revolution?" Well, we're just about out of time here actually as we're moving along and... I said at one point, it's not looking too good for the American Revolution at this point. I will say this, there was a saturation of pastors and religious leaders who were in the forefront of the revolutionary movement. And who made strong and elaborate arguments. And they understood English law and the relationship between the king and Parliament and the people better than I do. There are limits even for pastors on how much we want to study Political Science. Okay? So as I read, I say, "I can see the arguments." They basically said that the government had been set up so that the king's power was in check by the Parliament and he didn't have absolute authority. 1688, the Glorious Revolution, set that up. So the Parliament was strong. And thus they were making this argument, no taxation without representation, saying basically the king had broken the Covenant. But does that argue that the King should therefore be toppled and no longer have authority? That's a big leap. It's a leap I'm not able to make, but others are and I can respect them for that. And I also think that God can bless something that isn't born according to his will, but then after that flourishes in a wonderful way. But others disagree and say, "No, they were... " They can make a very strong and elaborate case for the American Revolution. There are other issues like in the 20th century in Nazism, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, had wrestled with his sense of loyalty as a German citizen to the regime, but he realized the regime was satanic, was wicked. And he didn't know what to do at first, but it became clearer and clearer that he needed to oppose Hitler. And so he was involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler. He was caught, his involvement was uncovered and he was hanged three weeks before the end of the war in Europe. This has been an issue again and again. Now, to resolve this, I think the answers end up being similar to the answers on pacifism or just war. The argument is, should Christians band together to try to defend the defenseless militarily? Some will say, "No, we should be willing to let the sovereignty of God rule and we will preach the Gospel and we'll be willing to die." And I can respect that. But others say, "How do you interfere and help someone who's being destroyed if the destroyer is government? Some argue you should never get involved unless you think you can win. They actually go to Jesus’ statement in Luke 14 that I mentioned earlier, you've got to count the cost and see if you can win, other than that it's just slaughter. But some argue they're saying they're willing to do it. Ultimately from just war views, some people argue in that sense that revolution should occur. The one question I would ask of those that argue in that way, why do we have no examples or commands or even hints in the New Testament that Christians should band together to throw off Caesar who was wicked and evil and ungodly. Actually, Paul's continually saying, even in Romans 13, we should submit to governing authorities and seek to do right while refusing to obey individual and wicked commands. 4) Capital Punishment: Does government have the right to take human life? On the question of capital punishment, does Government have the right to take human life? Simply put, yes. It's very clearly taught right here in this verse. Look at the verse 3-4, "Rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you for he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong be afraid for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant and agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer." Recently my family and I were on a tour in Washington, DC and we came to the Rayburn Building which is the congressional office building. And on the cover of your bulletin there's a picture of the statue that's out there, it's called the Majesty of Law, that's what it says engraved in the block of granite on which the statue is seated and so it's this intimidating looking guy with a long beard and he's holding a huge sword. That sword is a symbol of government's authority and specifically it's right to take life following due process of law. In Genesis 9:6, after the flood, God spoke these words, "Whoever sheds man's blood by man's blood shall his be shed for in the image of God has God made man." What is capital punishment? Well, it's an execution of a criminal under legal authority, due process of law having been followed. Now, the Old Testament is filled with examples and laws concerning capital punishment. When the law of Moses was given on Mount Sinai there was a barrier put around the foot of the mountain and the law was given, if anyone jumps the barrier and goes up in the mountain, he will be put to death, no hand will be laid on him, but he'll be stoned or shot with arrows. Two chapters later, there is many capital crimes established in the Law of Moses, Exodus 21:12, "Anyone who strikes a man and kills them shall surely be put to death." Exodus 21:15, "Anyone who attacks his father or mother must be put to death." Verse 16, "Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells them or still has him when he is caught, must be put to death." "Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death." And so clearly in the old testament, capital punishment is established. Now, there are some arguments against capital punishment. They will say Israel was a unique nation of theocracy and its law is going to be reduplicated here. Some will say that Christ's death has forever displayed justice and therefore remove the need for capital punishment. Some say that Christ behavior toward the woman caught in adultery shows a pattern of mercy triumphing over judgment. Some Christians just simply point to the Ten Commandments and say, "You shall not kill." Which bothers me because I think the real command there is, "You shall not murder." Don't take it upon yourself not having been moved by God's command to take another human life, that's murder. But clearly there is killing commanded throughout the Bible that God commands people to do. Also they say that capital punishment is frequently unjustly applied, perhaps to minorities or people who don't have means to hire a good lawyer. And they say therefore it should be removed because it's never being justly applied and then they will say, "There's no way to fix an error if a person is unjustly executed." And that is true, but still the Bible establishes this. Finally they will argue the capital punishment is no deterrent. Now, do you think that's true? That seems ridiculous to me. Are you telling me in the midst of a fight somebody doesn't think, "If I do this, I might actually be executed." Of course it's in their mind. Besides with the Bible openly says that it's a deterrent. After commanding in Deuteronomy 13 that no Israelite should lead Israel to pursue other gods, this is what it says, "They shall be surely put to death." And it says "Then all Israel will hear and be afraid and no one among you will do such an evil thing again." To me that settles the issue of, is capital punishment a deterrent? Clear indication in scripture is that the government has a right to capital punishment, it's established and upheld by God. 5) Christians Participating in Government: How much and in what manner may a Christian participate in government? Fifth, Christians participating in government. How much and in what manner may a Christian participate in government? Some Christians have openly embraced a union of church and state, direct role of Christians and secular government. A desire to see as much of the kingdom of God enacted in the laws of the state as possible. They generally come at it from an Old Testament point of view and they want to see Christ exercising dominion over every area of life and so they're going to argue for a complete union of church and state. They look to the Emperor Constantine who after he became a Christian just organized the church along the lines of the Roman Empire. Charlemagne, who created a unity between the Frankish Kingdom and the church that came to be known as Christendom. John Calvin who shaped Geneva as much like a theocracy as he could. And then the Puritans that followed him whether under Cromwell in England or in New England. They were not seeking a separation of church and state, but rather that God would be glorified in every area of human society, in government, in the church, in every area. In the marketplace they wanted Christ glorified. Abraham Kuyper was a Dutch reformed scholar, professor and church leader. He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands in 1901 and 1905. He said this, "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign overall, does not cry, 'Mine.'" And so Kuyper is arguing that Christ says all things are his and therefore Christians should exercise dominion over those things and be involved in government. However, there are Anabaptists and others, or Baptist forbearers, that argue very strongly for a separation of church and state. The first Anabaptist Confession, The Schleitheim Confession of 1527 basically argued that Christians should never participate in government at all for governments are armed with steel and iron but the Christians are armed with the armor of God and with truth, righteousness, peace, and faith. You may not know this, but historically it was Baptists who argued for the separation of church and state during the time that the constitution was being founded and established in our country. Now, America is a Representative Democracy. We are able to influence things in our country. We are able to vote, we are able to lobby, we are able to influence decisions made by government, we can remove corrupt officials and presidents and we can impeach presidents. These things can happen. And so therefore Christians are asking different questions here. To what level should I be involved? Should I give my whole life to government issues? Should I be constantly writing letters? Should I be constantly picketing? What should I do? It's a question of stewardship. There's been a rather unpleasant public debate between John MacArthur and James Dobson, two of the kind of stars in the Evangelical firmament in America. And they disagree on this issue. John MacArthur wrote a book entitled, Why Government Can't Save You. And basically he's saying that the best Christian response to abortion, homosexuality, drug abuse and other symptoms of moral decline in America is to preach the gospel. And what he said is, McArthur wrote this, "God does not call the church to influence the culture by promoting legislation." His theological basis for that is in Galatians 3:21. There it teaches that righteousness does not come by the law. It says, "For if a law had been given that could impart life then righteousness would certainly have come by the law." And what does government do but establish one law after another? Or argue the merits of a law. And what MacArthur is saying is righteousness doesn't come that way. So Christians should not be involved. Dr. Dobson responded through Tom Minnery who wrote a book, Why You Can't Stay Silent. And he argued that Christians must speak out and get involved in the government process to the maximum amount because that's how we can be salt and light. There is a big problem with this complete involvement in politics. Take the issue of abortion or perhaps homosexuality or something like that. If you're going to get involved, you're going to try to build as big a coalition as you can. Because just Representative Democracy you're trying to get as many votes as you can, you're going to influence... Try to influence as many people as you can. Phillip Johnson said, "This is a problem. When your political agenda involves forming alliances with Mormons, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Moonies and all kinds of humanistic moralists, you simply cannot afford to speak frankly about the exclusivity of Christ. It's an issue you can't bring up. You have to stifle the truth about justification by faith alone, because Roman Catholics who are your political allies reject that doctrine. You're better off in fact not to mention the name of Jesus Christ at all. Because Jewish people who are our political allies are sensitive about that. And so the Gospel is stifled as a consequence whenever people become political activists. They begin to trim away the offensive parts of the Gospel, it's the natural and inevitable consequence of moving to fight in the political arena. It happens all the time." And so what I would urge as Christians, you should look to the issue of calling. I believe some Christians are called to get involved in lobbying the government. I think some Christians are called to be judges, policemen, congressmen, perhaps even presidents. I think each one of them should recognize the limitations of human government. It is only here to restrain evil until the Gospel can finish its work. If you don't understand that, you're gonna misunderstand. You're gonna think you're gonna go for utopian society that government can in the end save sinners and it cannot. So I think Christians should be involved as salt and light. But understand the limitations. And I think the rest of us should be faithful and preaching Gospel knowing that the issues of abortion and homosexuality and poverty and all the other issues that people try to address through legislation can only be solved by a transformation of the heart by the power of the Gospel and therefore that is the church's real power. But I say to you, we should not judge someone else's servant. If God is calling that brother or that sister into an arena, you should support them and encourage them and not say, "they ought not to be involved in it." 6) Persecuted Christians: What should Christians do about governments who persecute Christians? The final question is the question of persecuted Christians. Satan has had three greater attacks on the church over history. They are persecution, worldliness and false doctrine. Usually you get one of the first two, not both. Either the world surrounding the church is friendly toward the church and therefore lures it into softness and immorality and worldliness or the world surrounding the church is hostile to the church and persecute and attacks it. In both settings false doctrine can be involved. Do you perceive a shift in the relationship between the church and surrounding American culture over the last 30 years? I hope you do. If you trace it out, we are heading toward a hostile relationship with our surrounding culture and with the government. We have to be willing to be persecuted by our own government, not just the Christians in Sudan or in Persian Gulf states or in communist countries. Not just there, but even here. And I say to you, this is the normal relationship of the church and government. All over the world and throughout most of time, the church has had a hostile relationship with the host government. And so Jesus said very, very plainly in Matthew 10, "Be on your guard against men. They will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account, you'll be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time, you'll be given what to say for it will not be you speaking but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." Be ready to give a defense, be ready to stand for the exclusivity of Christ. Be ready to stand for righteousness. I think we're gonna have more and more opportunities as time goes on. Now, what if the persecuting government is not our own government? What if it's another country like in Darfur or in a Muslim country or communist country? Well, first of all, recognize your limitations, how much can you do about that? Well, I think you can do a lot on your knees. And therefore it says in Hebrews 13:3, Remember those in prison," that means in prayer. "Remember in prayer those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." And remember them by supporting them financially, sending a help to them. As the apostle Paul said, when he was in prison people came to him and brought him food and clothing and supported him and were willing to risk their lives to do so. American Christians need to do that as well. III. Summary and Application Now, I have traced over these issues quickly. There's far more that we could say. My desire is that you would, having had a heightened awareness and needs to these issues, be able to talk to one another. The Scripture says, "As iron sharpen iron, so one man sharpens another." I'm in one sense glad that James Dobson and John MacArthur having this discussion because both of them have something valuable to say, frankly. And so they can sharpen one another. It's a very big temptation for someone involved in lobbying government to let go little by little on the salt and light of the Gospel itself and stop preaching Christ to their Jewish co-lobbyists or they're Muslim co-lobbyists. We need to share the Gospel boldly and stand for Christ. But all of this, you know what it's done? It's made me hungry and thirsty for Jesus to come back. These things are a mess. How can we finally resolve any of these things? It's too difficult for us. And so I say, come Lord Jesus, set up your throne and rule over me and over all my brothers and sisters and over the world, that's what I say. I yearn for the day when Christ will come. Because Jesus shed his blood on the cross. Sinners like you and me can have our sins forgiven and we can enter a perfect kingdom where we won't have to wrestle with these seemingly insolvable problems. And so I'm going to finish with this quote from Isaiah. Chapter 9, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will rule on David's throne and over his kingdom from that time on and forever the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this." Close with me in prayer.
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