Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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Here’s something you probably don’t hear every day: I dislike obedience. Obedience is not something to be encouraged or celebrated; it’s one of the most dangerous human traits there is. Obedient people have caused far more problems than rebels. It’s not even close. The Holocaust can be laid directly at the feet of obedient people -- including people who weren’t otherwise bad, but who were obedient. It wasn’t only the Nazis and those who enabled them, their victims were also too obedient. You may think that’s a rare case; surely obedience is...
To steal a quote from former GOP President George H.W. Bush, the Republican Party of New Mexico is in “deep do-do” these days, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better anytime soon. Already the Republican Party is powerless statewide, since the Democrats control both legislative chambers as well as all statewide offices from the governor on down. But it’s recent news out of Washington, D.C., that has the state GOP stepping in its own mess. Last week the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capi...
The ancient pagans had a circular view of history, where patterns and cycles repeat endlessly. One side-effect of this view is that there is no room for any lasting progress or change. Whatever you might build today will be demolished tomorrow, because that’s how the cycle works. We can’t make real change, because the cycle is coming back around and we’ll be starting over soon. You can see how they got this. Seasons come and go, predictably. Sunrise leads to sunset, and midnight, and then sunrise again. Harvest follows planting, and then plant...
One year into Joe Biden’s first term as president, it’s safe to say the Democrat’s performance has not met lofty expectations. His average approval rating, at 49% according to Gallup, is better than Republican Donald Trump’s was at this point, but that’s not saying much. Trump’s 38% was the lowest first-year approval rating of any president post World War II, and all other presidents since then — except Biden — have averaged 57% or higher. Of course, those presidents didn’t start off in year two of a pandemic that not only has wreaked havoc...
As I write this I am wrapping up my own adventure with COVID-19. It didn’t feel good, but it was nothing worth destroying the economy over. It was not worth any mandates, shutdowns, or other government overreaches. When I think back on the worst illnesses or injuries in my life, this doesn’t even make the top 100 list. Even those experiences in the top 10 wouldn’t convince me to violate your liberty in the tiniest degree to avoid them. If they could even be avoided by violating you, which is unlikely. Your liberty and your natural rights matte...
This nation has been divided over the “facts” for some time now, but does that mean we’re divided over telling the truth, too? Used to be, Americans valued honesty, even if we didn’t always practice it so well. We said things like, “Honesty is the best policy,” “A man’s word is his bond,” and “If you always tell the truth, you don’t have to remember what you said.” But that was then, and this is now. Used to be, politicians and used car salesmen were among the least respected professions, because of their perceived lack of honesty. Now, decepti...
When two of our grandsons spent a few days with us recently, we asked them whether they liked spinach. Both emphatically replied, “Yes!” While helping my wife with dinner by preparing the spinach, I started singing a version of the Popeye song I learned while young. Here goes: “I’m Popeye the Sailor Man, I live in a garbage can. I eat all the worms and spit out the germs, I’m Popeye the Sailor Man.” The grandsons got a kick out of that, and it got me thinking about this article and verses I could make up based on my thoughts. Then, I decided t...
Recommendations from the Biden administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seem to change weekly regarding coronavirus precautions. Americans are justifiably confused and are at risk of tuning out. For a Democratic administration struggling to create the appearance of command authority during an ongoing national crisis, the mixed messaging feeds the Republican narrative that Democrats are incompetent. Americans should, first of all, remember the pandemic response under the previous administration. President Donald Trump...
There’s almost no one more dangerous than a driver who refuses to yield because they have the right-of-way. I’ve known people who got into accidents because the other person was supposed to move over or slow down, and didn’t, and they weren’t going to let the other guy “win.” When two drivers of this sort encounter one another, have your camera recording. Personally, I think it’s more important to avoid an accident than to be “in the right.” I’ve tried to teach my kids that their safety is always their responsibility. Responsibility isn’t fun....
Sometimes politicians govern. Sometimes they campaign. Most of the time, it’s hard to tell the difference. Take, for example, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s legislative agenda for this year’s 30-day session. It’s ambitious and aggressive, and just in time for her re-election bid. In her first three years in office, Lujan Grisham has accomplished a lot, thanks to her party’s domination of both legislative chambers and a growing surplus in state revenues. This combination of power and money gives her the ability to push a big agenda in...
Maybe the most difficult of the Christian duties found in the Bible is forgiveness. We like thinking God has forgiven us, but then we’re told we need to forgive each other as we have been forgiven. As Joan Rivers used to say, “Can we talk?” Can we just admit that forgiving someone who has hurt us deeply can feel impossible? It feels that way a lot. It may not even be a feeling that gets better over time. I don’t have a silver bullet here, to fix this, but I have found that it helps to see what f...
During the late 1970s, American families experienced stagflation — a combination of economic stagnation and significantly higher inflation. By the summer of 1980, unemployment hit 7.8 percent and the economy was actually shrinking. On the year, inflation spiked 12.3 percent. Some fear that today’s slowing economic growth (2.3 percent annualized last quarter) and the steepest price hikes in 40 years portend a return to stagflation. Real weekly earnings have plummeted more than 6 percent since the middle of last year, and the cost of living ecl...
The conveniences of the modern world are all around us all the time, but I don’t think I’ll ever take them for granted. One of my grandmothers grew up in this area during the Dust Bowl days. Her big family was crowded into a two-room, dirt-floored shack without indoor plumbing or electricity. They traveled by horse-drawn wagon and their water was dipped from a cistern; they didn’t even have a windmill. They picked cotton by hand, dragging the heavy sacks behind them. She grew up living basically the same life as someone born in this regio...
New Mexico’s 30-day session begins Jan. 18, and while its emphasis will be on the state budget, the governor can add to the legislative “call” and already has. On the first anniversary of last year’s attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that she and Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver will be pushing for voting rights legislation similar to what’s been languishing in Congress since last year. In the U.S. Capitol, Republicans are holding up the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, but here in N...
New Year’s Day was just four or five days ago, and I suspect many resolutions already have been broken, especially those that had to take effect on Jan. 1 (for example, resolving to never have evil thoughts again). “Always” and “never” always should be avoided and never used because statements or claims including them are seldom true unless you’re talking about God and his promises and attributes (James 1:17; Joshua 24:14; Matthew 28:18-20; Hebrews 13:5-8; 1 John 4:8; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Even taking evil thoughts captive to conquer the...
Here’s the second most important message that the jury in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial delivered in finding her guilty of trafficking minor girls to be sexually exploited. It comes courtesy of a statement by Florida state Sen. Lauren Book, of Broward County: “The brave women who testified in the trials against Maxwell and [Jeffrey] Epstein not only held their own abusers accountable, but also paved the way for other survivors to come forward with the knowledge that they, too, can be heard and believed. “Times have changed: No matter how rich...
I’m libertarian, uncapitalized, to separate the ethical philosophy I follow from the political party I can’t. A Libertarian, capitalized, is a member of the Libertarian Party. Ethical libertarianism is based on the recognition that no one has the right to use — or threaten — violence, personally or politically, against anyone who isn’t currently violating the life, liberty, or property of another. This is the guiding principle that distinguishes a libertarian from anyone else. Follow it and you’re libertarian; don’t and you’re not. “Classical l...
It’s New Year’s again and time to hope for a happier future. Last year at this time we were hoping for a better year in 2021, but that sure as heck didn’t work out, did it? Forget the damage done to the economy by the hapless and relentlessly clueless “Joe Biden” regime. Forget the Biden-made disasters at the Mexican border and in Afghanistan. The worst mistakes the Biden administration made were in its failed “War on COVID.” Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the blue state governors, the Centers for Disease Control and the government’s...
It’s been a rough month for several families in our little congregation. We are grieving deaths, fighting illness, and mourning other heartaches. Others, though, are adjusting to life with new babies, while a few cruise along pretty normally, doing business as usual and enjoying the holidays. We are a single church with members who seem to be walking radically different paths, at least in some ways. The commonality with us all is that, as it says in Psalm 25:10, “All the paths of the Lord are st...
When Joe Biden took over as president, millions of Americans were relieved to finally have a leader who could be counted on to consistently shepherd the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in a coherent and fact-driven way. But Biden’s record has been far from spotless. Yes, any president was going to struggle with a political movement that bizarrely conflates getting vaccinated against a deadly disease with surrendering personal freedom, and whose leaders include the governors of the second- and third-most populous sta...
Once upon a time, the word “liberal” was used to describe people who were “generous,” “open-minded,” and “accepting of other opinions.” It was closely related to the word “liberty.” This description no longer applies to political liberals. Describing their backward-thinking as “progressive” or their nightmarish denial of reality as “woke” is equally ridiculous. This doesn’t mean they are always wrong. I agree that everyone has value, but their value has nothing to do with superficial features like sex, race, or ethnicity. They have value be...
Seems to me, 2021 began on Jan. 20. That’s when Joe Biden was sworn in as president. Because of Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results, opposition to Biden’s election turned into an attempted coup on Jan. 6, followed by the most hurried and justified presidential impeachment in U.S. history (that’s what should happen whenever a sitting president tries to remain in office by force). By the time Biden’s inauguration came around, Washington, D.C., was a fortress of security — the violence had been quelled and the nation bega...
Depending on how one views it, as of the date on today’s newspaper, there are at most only three shopping days left until Christmas. I remember stores posting signs showing the number of shopping days until Christmas as a warning that time and, possibly, inventory was becoming limited. The rush to increase sales and minimize year-end inventory through Christmas shopping is so great that the shopping season starts earlier and earlier every year. This year, because of projected supply-chain issues, we were encouraged to buy early, even at the b...
The true cost of President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan is emerging, and it isn’t pretty. Nor is it fully paid for, as the president and Democrats contend. The Congressional Budget Office last month issued a scoring on the plan that concluded it would add $367 billion to the federal budget deficit over 10 years. While certainly a lot of money, it wasn’t horrible for a roughly $2 trillion spending package. But then Republicans asked for a redo. They wanted the CBO to score the bill under the assumption the myriad social spending...
There can be a difference between what a person likes and what they are willing to force on others. Most of my preferences lean conservative: liberty, family, and keeping government out of my life. The difference between me and political conservatives is that I don’t believe it’s ever ethical to use government or legislation to force my preferences on others. Therefore, I can’t be politically conservative. Another difference is I’m no fan of the Constitution. A fatal mistake was made when the founders established a political government where l...