People make mistakes which should be expected but that doesn't mean everything they say is bad. Yes, we should consider their view points in other areas so we know to be cautious. Like you pointed out, what does a organization that does economic research have anything to do with global warming? But, if they are talking about something like business cycles, cost of living, retirement, etc. you can find important information. Maybe they, like many universities who started as a bible college and turned into a secular university, are going the same route. But, you can still learn how to be a very successful accountant at one of these universities. In fact, you can even become a better accountant at some secular universities than a Christian one because they may have a better program. We shouldn't make a bad and good line and sort everything out to either side.

For instance, if you know someone who is clearly mentally disabled, you may have already subconsciously made up your mind about them and decided what you can trust. But, they can be completely above par to the rest of society in other aspects. For example, I have a friend who is disabled and a few weeks ago we were talking about our birthdays. One girl told him her birthday after he told his and he gave her the exact day she was born on.  Then, each of us began telling him our birthdays and he told us what day we were born on. He is like freakin rainman! Pure genius!

I think we constantly run into faulty logic by trying to group people into categories instead of seeing each person as a individual. Even Rick Warren said he is not left winged or right winged, he sees himself as part of the whole bird. We should always put checks and balances within our own thinking just as the Bereans did in Acts. Personally, I think that this country is run by individuals with money who don't care about the nation. People who run corporations, who do things like outsourcing, push their agendas in politics with their wealth and brainwash the majority of the population to make them think they have a choice. You can only go democratic or republican. Everything else is going to lose because of their control over powerful influences like the media. They have set up the system so you must choose their way or their way. Anyone who is honest and won't be swayed by money will just quietly fall to the side and be ignored because they won't get the same backing as the others. In this country, I am taught to vote for what is best for me instead of considering society as a whole and my personal needs. I think that the majority of people with power do what is best for them and could care less about everyone else. I think it's dangerous to be caught in any type of political system. There is good and bad from both the conservatives and liberals because these are individuals who all have different personal experiences and knowledge unique to their own path in life.

It's always good to reevaluate what we believe and why. God constantly uses evil sinful people everyday to communicate to us and teach us. As long as we keep going back to Him to keep things in check, I don't see any need to group people into a category and shun everything they say.

Well, I'm sure I COULD fault them. But in this particular regards... you know.

I'm talking K-12. Feel free to disagree. I won't argue with you about that


Such a system has never existed. Does your government personally come to you and gather information on your specific needs for the day? The month? The year? Is your gov't totally uncorruptable? Have they ever wasted a DIME of tax payer money?


great.


Where in your constitution does it say that this is the job of your government? Seriously. Quote it.


It's not a matter of the government getting rich. It's a matter of waste and spending money on people who don't really need it. When individuals are in charge of giving, they give more and give in a manner that helps the individual in a more meaningful and... corrective way than the government does or can.

Has the number of people receiving these types of benefits gone up or down over the past 10 years? Does everyone on the system really need to be on it or are there some people who are milking it?


Not to through down the communist question, but... Cuba provides all of this. Would you be happy living there? What's the real difference? How much are you willing to turn over to the government?


Um... some, if not all of the things I listed are some of the most important things you will have to deal with in your LIFE. What the government is doing is allowing you to be irresponsible and ignorant in regards to your own life.


Are they getting help that makes them more or less able to live independent of the governments influence? Again, per your constitution, is it the job of the government to provide these services?

Sorry, I got set off.

Anyway...  here's a decent "plan" to fix things in our "not-so free" free market. Like all good plans, it identifies the problem well, discusses the cause, looks at how the system is suppose to works, verifies the integrity of the system and so on... before proposing a solution.

Jesus rocks...
and yes, firsthand experience in different cultures (and economic/political systems) is really cool. one of the reasons i think american christians in general have just a hard time understanding God in a lot of ways is because we dont have a monarchy (we talk about Jesus as King, yet none of us has been under king... it is intresting). /smallrant
its really nice to go into a culture and see the good parts about it. pretty much every system has at least a few good points that the rest can really learn by. look at the queen of england, she has been there for SO many years, she has so much wisdom. in america, we dont have anyone like that. no one is respected the way the queen is.

Our economy is fine.  Global warming is a myth.

Hmmm... Kevin called me when I was starting to watch the first video. So... I sit corrected.


A BUNCH of the ppl pushing it are anti-capitalists. So... that's why it's such a huge deal.


Sometimes. I know what you mean though. I've gotta work on other stuff now tonight, but yeah... Whoops. I'm a moron.

These discussions CAN be so good, once we get over ourselves. lol.

Dave, I just want to add a couple of thoughts. Again, about perspective. Just trying to challenge your concepts a little, as usual I'm talking in broad concepts here.

You've spoken about the fear of your CAT scan going to Mexico, and not having any say in education, and so on. (A lot of the same fears were displayed in Sicko, so you're not the only one who fears this).
The thing is my friend, honestly, these fears are not rational in Finland, or even Canada to a degree. The fact of the matter is, Finland's public education system is ranked top in the world, year after year. The literacy rate is 100%, US is 95%. The health system is excellent, we can still choose our own doctors, and there's a private system available. In the US there is roughly 347 patients per doctor, in Finland 315. (By the way, I think it's crucial for there to always exist a private sector in health, education, whatever. There has to be choice.) Life expectancy here is just slightly higher than the US. Again... I'm not bashing America, just keep reading.

And the issues with people living off the welfare system, I totally understand that, and it's terrible. Canada has the same problem.
But what if people weren't leeching? This is one of the strangest things about Finland, the population in general are givers, not takers. There's a law here about Everyman's Forest: it means anyone can go into a forest, and take stuff, greenery, bushes, nuts, whatever. It's free. In Canada, such a law would destroy the country, because people would just take and take till all the resources were plundered. Finn's understand how that would destroy a forest, and so it's not an issue. Nationwide.

That difference, fundamentally, is what allows this country to run the way it does. For reasons I don't understand, the population of this country is socially and economically responsible, and not leeches. No one has to be told why you need to recycle, everyone understand it, and we recycle garbage into at least 5 different categorized bins. People LIVE waste not, want not.

The concerns you have raised are totally valid within the population you live in, and as relates to the people that run your country. It's very possible that the kind of social ideals prevalent in Europe could not thrive in America. But isn't that what America was about to begin with? Let's start again and do things "free".

So I'm not coming down hard on America, far be it from me. I'm trying to point out a social democracy that WORKS. Front to back, works.

Here I find I have everything I need, forget fears about the government handling it wrong... what if they handled it RIGHT? So I've got everything I need, for raising a family, growing old, etc. I don't feel I've lost any freedom, I haven't had choice taken away from me, because I'M THE ONE who moved to Finland, I chose this. So with those aspects of life taken care of, I am free to go and pursue business, art, sport, whatever else. And it's not like the Finn's are suffering under this system, their technology is everywhere, their sports players are everywhere, their amazing education system means they grow up incredibly smart and go on to great things.

To summarize again, because I want you to understand my heart. My point is not to preach about the greatness of this nation or the failings of another. I just want to expand your horizon a bit; I've tried to explain how your fears are not necessarily valid, once removed from your current circumstances. And I'm not trying to actually change your mind about capitalism. I'll leave that to the Bible

Aaahahaha....

BTW, stats taken from Encyclopedia Britannica.