Government has filled a spot in the American Society that once belonged to the churches. People regularly attended church throughout American history and use the church as a place of instruction, guidance, support, and charity. The government now fills a larger role in American’s lives and at the same time church attendance is diminishing. The government is growing at a rapid pace and the expanded social programs have more influence on Americans than the church. America is a nation of immigrants which most fled from large governments (sometime oppressive) and now the American government is poised to grow larger than ever. The ideas behind the growth of government can have noble intentions, but more often than not results in wasted money and harm to the peoples it intends to help, and is replacing the roles churches once filled as a guiding and supportive structure in peoples lives.
Government spending is a highly debated topic as to how much money should be spent and how it should be spent, but the fact remains government spending is rising each year and will become unsustainable in the future without major changes. Government spending is currently around 40% of GDP as compared to 7% at the start of the twentieth century (Chantrill, NP). Government spending has had ebbs and flows that can be traced since the start of the twentieth century, which include two world wars and a great depression. However, from the 1980’s through the early 2000’s government spending was lower to mid 30% range of GDP (Chantrill, NP). Increase in spending has been seen since the stock market crash of 2008, to the current levels of around 40% of GDP (Chantrill, NP). Various reasons are behind the major increases of government spending, but the “...
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...rams by the federal government a definite decline in the role of the church in American society can be noted. ‘This change has real consequences as the government become more responsible for solving social problems and shapes the lives of American’s as the church once did’ (Messmore, NP). The push from the government is to make a society in which all men are equal. This is impossible as all men are not equal in their gifts, talents, physical appearance, physical abilities, and mental capacities. The Declaration of Independence states that, “all men are created equal” with the rights of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” and this does not mean that we should all have the same jobs or the same income or own the same amount of property. The statement means people should have the opportunity at these rights, if the application is made by the individual.
Wayne Swan 2010, ‘Budget Speech 2010-11’ Australian Government. Retrieved May 20th, 2010, from - http://www.budget.gov.au/2010-11/content/speech/html/speech.htm
The fact that church involvement is voluntary also supports Lipset’s idea of Americans being very individualistic and therefore proves that giving citizens the freedom and choice for religion turns out in even greater religious participation. Once again proving that this individualistic ideology the nation is built upon helps to excel the country and makes it exceptional.
Speaking personally, this excerpt has truly started to make me think more deeply on how the church relates to government and the systems that have been in use before the political activism seen among professing Christians today. Whereas before, I would say that there should be some amount of Christian morality put forth from within government. I now see that it does not have the power to change a nation and its people. Stead points out that the framers of the Constitution had a unique perspective on church and state because they had come out of a society where the church was run by the state. The King was the chief priest as well as the chief political ruler—something prohibited by God (2 Chron. 26). Therefore, the framers were those who supported a separation of duties: to paraphrase, they said “The government is there to protect the nation. The Church can do whatever it wants, as long as it is inside the bounds of the constitutional conditions.” (49)
Government spending is a controversial topic. Even though the government has a set budget each year that Congress and the President of the United States collaborate on, the United States continues to fall deeper in debt. According to U.S. National Debt, the U.S debt has been larger than our total annual gross domestic product since 2012. In other words, our debt is larger than the value of all the goods and services produced in the country within a twelve month period. “It is said that the U.S is currently $19.2 trillion dollars in debt (U.S. National Debt).” As long as Congress and the President continue to run yearly budget deficits, the U.S debt will continue to rise.
It’s so ironic that Harry Jackson and Tony Perkins publish the “Personal Faith, Public Policy” in 2008 when the United States is experiencing such a major shake with the Federal Government. The question was asked, what kind of government do you want (Jackson, Perkins, 2008)? Then the choice was given: honest, efficient government that has security for property, life and personal freedom (Jackson, Perkins,2008). All the above choice is necessary; however, the government is on the Lord shoulder (Isaiah 9:6). God has ordained four institutions of authority: self-government meaning (I Peter1:15-16) the biblical standards of conduct; the institution of family, how it is structure (Ephesians 6:1-4); the institution of civil government meaning
Concentration of power in a political machine is bad; and an Established Church is only a political machine; it was invented for that; it is nursed, cradled, preserved for that; it is an enemy to human liberty, and does no good which it could not better do in a split-up and scattered condition. That wasn’t law; it wasn’t gospel: it was only an opinion — my opinion, and I was only a man, one man: so it wasn’t worth any more than the pope’s — or any less, for that matter. (Twain
‘’All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’’
The sole purpose of needing a balanced national budget is to establish a budget for the country so that all government funding is equally distributed. Because the government gets money from taxes and fees, and spends it on things like national defense, infrastructure, grants for research, education, and the arts, and social programs such as social security and Medicare.
The United States’ national debt is $18 trillion and increases $16,692 every second (“National”). This debt amounts to $56,704 per citizen (“National”). The government plans to spend $3.9 trillion in the year 2015 (“Federal”). This money comes from taxpayers. When the government does not raise enough revenue to cover their budget, the U.S. Treasury borrows more funds. The government creates many problems for the United States when they spend money that increases the national debt. The most important problem in the United States is the government’s financial spending.
There must be a defining line where religious beliefs and political views are deemed discordant and separated by topic, not by an entirety. In other words, there should not be a full separation of Church and State, but rather an understanding of when politics should and can be affected by religious beliefs. The separation of Church and State in America is an evolving dispute and is constantly redefining itself. We have come to the point where we are less inclined to criticize individuals that are different and more inclined to embrace each other’s eccentricities in most cases. However, religion has always been a sensitive topic in the United States. Separation of Church and State functioned as a primary concern even during Thomas Jefferson’s Presidency and remains current today. Today the headlines focus on President George W. Bush and his proposal to use faith- based organizations to provide social services to the public. Issues regarding the separation of Church and State frequently resurface. The first time this issue was made known to American citizens was when the Supreme Court removed prayer from the public school system (Engle v. Vitale 1962). Last year, the Supreme Court made another decision in regards to this same concern, but with a slight
Democracy has been the root of a limited government, the system of which government powers are distributed so that one group of leaders do not have too much influence. The limited government has been structured to keep peace amongst all parties that are involved in the government. And under the U.S. Constitution, citizens are given ultimate power by their right to choose their representatives through the democratic process of voting. Each levels of the government are limited as they have their own responsibilities. The city government has the most local level of government as the residents elect a city council and mayor to represent their interest at the city level. All city governments establish housing and health regulations, and are responsible
In the U.S many believe that their living in a land that the founding fathers considered to be a land where the basic rights will be implemented and every can live in a nation that is filled with piece, however it’s not exactly like that despite what some people might comprehend. For instance, in the article, “ Reframing the Argument on Gay Marriage,” it states, We are not a religious nation, no matter how many of our citizens consider themselves to be. Our founding fathers- - in both the Constitution and the Treaty with Tripoli -- ensured this as a means of guaranteeing autonomous government and the right offer all people who might come to our shores.” This quote is to show that this nation was suppose to free without any restrictions on how a person should think or act. Without this, all of the ideas and aspirations that were written in the Constitution would only be signed off as false hope and that their isn’t true basic rights or even pursuit of happiness, because shouldn’t the same sex also pursue those same rights as any other american.
The spending by the government has elicited controversial discussions regarding how to ensure that the economy is affected positively. The government spending is a bad way to stimulate the economy. This issue is described by various persons especially the impact the government spending has on the economy of the United States of America. The point of discussion of this paper focuses around the quote made by Thomas Sowell, an American economist and a political philosopher.
The federal government has a budget. This is called the Federal budget, and is made up of five important steps.It goes through a period called “fiscal year”. It begins October 1 and it ends September 30 of the next year.The budget can become very complex, just because of how many parties are are involved, and how big the budget is.This period can begin in any 12 months chosen for keeping accounts.
The Effects of Government Spending and Borrowing Government borrowing can be inflationary because the government borrows from banks, which increases the money supply. Banks assume that consumers will not take more than 10% of their savings out and on that basis are able to lend to the government. This increases the money supply because the government has borrowed from the bank but the consumer’s savings stay the same and therefore there is more money in circulation. According to monetarist beliefs an increase in the money supply will directly increase inflation. Inflation can lead to unemployment, as people demand less due to higher prices and therefore demand for labor maybe decreased.