We Have Lost Our Way!
Welcome to the New America. Dubbed ‘God’s Comic’ by the New Yorker, for 16-years, Brad Stine has been the comedic trailblazer of politically incorrect, Christian and Conservative comedy. His new show, ‘Brad Stine Has Issues’, covers cultural issues with his signature brand of comedic sarcasm and satire with insight that will be appreciated by everyone who loves laughter, liberty, and the freedom to tell the truth without fear.
Are you successful? Have you accomplished everything you’ve ever wanted? And, have you ever heard the phrase, “You’ve got to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps”? If so, is that an inspiring question or an insult?
What do you do when you don’t know what to do? We are at a unique time in American history. The polarization of Americans is more real, more powerful and more hateful than I have ever seen in my lifetime. In the course of the last 40 years we have seen Americans gravitating to two different ways to see our country. to the progressive we saw a large swath of folks begin to lean severely to the left. They began to demand a whole different way by which society should operate. Because they are influenced by leftist ideology that slowly but surely began to break down the foundations of what got America to become the greatest superpower in human history and then slowly began the perspective that believes that not only did that preeminence need to stop but it also needed to be reversed. We needed to apologize for what we had accomplished and in the midst of that it was only fair to begin to tear down and destroy our accomplishments by destroying our history, our foundations, and our accomplishments as not warranted. We also began to see the Marxist driven philosophy used by leftists that decided that if you were rich, it could only mean it came at the expense of someone who wasn’t. Riches were always suspect and certainly were ill gotten gains. If you succeeded then you owed it to those that didn’t succeed to distribute a % of your profits not only to make it fair but to be able to help them reconcile the fact that they didn’t accomplish anything of value on their own. They mustn’t be reminded of that though because the one continuous through line of all leftist thought is that for a culture to truly be good it must be fair. To truly be fair it must be equal. To truly be equal those that have more must be forced to give away their profit for the sake of those that have less. And the only ones who are worthy of having more are those that demand a society where no one receives more. If you think you will ever see fairness distributed from the income and power of the self- appointed leftist elite by them choosing to sacrifice their own riches and power than you have truly drunk the kool-aid. The kool aid that has constantly been used as a metaphor when referencing Jim Jones and his utopian society that was going to ensure that all those who were part of this cult would all receive equal share in the community. Which couldn’t have been more perfectly illustrated than in its socialist/communist results that the cult would equally share in life and equally share in death and make no mistake if Marx is attached then death is sure to follow. But one of the ironies of leftism is that it claims to want to equal the playing field and dignify those that didn’t grow up with the privilege that the rich and successful did but in the midst of this philosophy they miss two crucial ingredients to their perspective. One is that to the left, the rich are to be envied and jealousy drives them. They see the wealth and the comfort and privileges and then when they see those that don’t possess the same wealth it inspires them to take it from them and distribute it equally. So what component is missing from this philosophy? The missing component is derived from an ancient proverb. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he feeds himself and his family forever. The left always focus on the quick fix but never the overarching problem thus it never ends. You see when I was growing up my Father said something to me I never forgot. He told me that I was an American and that I could be anything I wanted to be if I was willing to work hard enough for it. My father by the way was an auto body repairman, not rich. Yet he told me I could be. I grew up lower middle class with a father that told me when he first got married he thought if he could make a hundred dollars a week he would be happy. This same man bought a van and added a compressor and all his tools and drove to used car lots and began to repair their cars in the back of their building thus saving them time in getting a car to an auto repair shop plus doing it cheaper since he had virtually no overhead. I watched a man take a job that had been done pretty much the same way for years, added an innovation and built a clientele that earned him over a hundred thousand a year. He lived in CA unfortunately and it was only when their leftist policies of govt regulations and environmental extremism was instituted that he had to quit his business because he wasn’t able to meet all the new regulations demanded by bureaucrats who never earned a days wage by the sweat of their brow and the calluses of their hands in their life. Nevertheless, my dad proved his point. Thus when I saw a rich person my feelings weren’t that of inferiority or being left behind. Nor was I jealous or angry at them for their wealth. You know why? Because when I saw them my thoughts were…I CAN DO THAT!! They figured out how to improve their circumstances for the better and because they lived in the wealthiest country on earth they had access to everything necessary to earn a piece of the pie. Wealthy people to me were an inspiration to succeed, not a hindrance. They were a proof of concept that it was possible to raise your station in life and not some pipe dream that was saved only for an elite few. I actually got to observe from every wealthy person I saw that the American dream was true. The founding fathers believed the principles of the Bible were true as well. That is why it was the single most referenced book by the founders during that critical era of America. One of the principles of the Bible is the law of Genesis. Summarized like this “You reap what you sow”. It actually is an anathema to those who disregard the Bible as mythology and henceforth they abandon the possibility of freeing themselves by utilizing its wisdom. One example in the Bible is fascinating in that it teaches us that whatever it is we need, we first need to give away. Keeping with the plant and harvesting theme it basically says you receive a crop only because you first planted a seed. If you need love for example, and who doesn’t, the Bible says go and love first. You need kindness? Be Kind. You need fairness? Be fair. Being fair, by the way, never includes stealing from others in order to reach your dreams. Learning from others did. Have you ever wondered why thieves never get rich but seem to always live in squalor? And the few that might get wealth for a time eventually either lose it or go to prison? I mean they are getting free money every day by taking it from those that earned it so why can’t they keep it? Well the answer is simple. Because stealing is basically harvesting another mans crop without having planted the seeds themselves. Because they have never been taught how to save, invest, wait for their own crop to come in, be patient, and be willing to do with less for the moment in order to understand how to do with more when it arrives. As a matter of fact one of the most difficult reaping and sowing principles is this. If you need money, give money away. The principle of the tithe is part of that truth. If you believe God is real and gives us the ability to get wealth then we owe Him 10% or the first fruits of our harvest. You see people that have wealth have it partly because they use it wisely. They are grateful for it and realize it doesn’t come easy. They earned it by the sweat of their brow and so consequently they are prudent with what they will do with it. They will invest it and let it earn more for them but they will also give portions to those who, and this is an important principle, they will give portions to those that are unable to earn it for themselves as opposed to leftist thought which wants to give to those who are unwilling to earn it themselves. You see the second component missing from leftist philosophy is some people are not ever going to be rich and here is the great reality the left cannot accept. Some people don’t deserve the same outcomes. Why would someone spending hundreds of thousands of dollars as well as years of their lives sacrificing by intense study at college and then medical school, internship and assisting established dr’s to eventually become a surgeon themselves not be expected to be paid more that someone working at Home Depot? You see virtually anyone can work at home depot, but only the self -motivated few can ever become a surgeon. Their investment and willingness to pay the price earned them their reward. So here is the hard truth. If you were born in America or immigrated here then you are privileged. You also are automatically rich compared to most humans on earth. Maybe it’s time to quit whining about your circumstances and make a decision come hell or high water to do something about. A wiseman once told me, You’re an American, you can be anything you want if you’re willing to work hard enough for it. Thanks dad, you were right. Now it’s your turn.
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