A good friend of mine posted a thought provoking blog entry here: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=61722914&blogID=335836399

It's about how lame our current set of Presidential candidates are and how they all seem to be taking us closer to socialism.

I happen to agree (except there is one candidate that has my attention) and here's my response...

May I add that in my opinion it is the responsibility of the CHURCH to take care of the homeless and hurting, not the government? However the church has failed to fulfill its God given role. Jesus said, "Love God, Love your neighbor." Pretty simple statement, huh? But right after that he was asked, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus then taught the famous parable of the Good Samaritan. Yet, even after clear teaching like that, the church (by and large) does not care for the homeless and helpless. Don't get me wrong, there are many missions and ministries that reach out to the down and out, but as a whole we've abdicated our responsibility to the government to provide for the welfare of those who are unable to do so themselves.

Note that I said "unable". The "unwilling" should not profit from their "unwillingness". Those who will not work shall not eat.

The preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America reads as follows: "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

I don't read anything in there that calls for universal health care, or any kind of welfare other than promoting the general welfare. There's nothing in there that talks about social security or anything like that either. So I completely agree with you in your premise that it is NOT the job of the government to do these kinds of things.

By the way, promoting the general welfare means creating an infrastructure to allow for legal commerce to thrive. It has nothing whatsoever to do with what we know as welfare today.

An old French proverb asks, "Is the government a watchdog to be fed or a cow to be milked?"

It never fails that when a society turns from limited government providing basic services to an entitlement mentality it fails shortly thereafter.

Winston Churchill once said, "We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."

Part of the reason the church is not doing its job is our overbearing tax system. When people are over taxed, they are loathing giving as they ought. That's one of the reasons we need a flat tax system, so we can free the money once again and put it where it belongs.

Government needs to be limited, not expanded, but our system of representation is such that those who promise to "give, give, give" get the votes, votes, votes.

Like you said, we need a candidate that's going to have the guts to stand up and say, "Hey! The government is not going to coddle you. Get off your rusty dusty and make something of yourself."

President Robert F Kennedy once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." He was saying the same thing and we loved it!

I think the people of this country are dying to have a candidate tell them the truth. We've had our fill of empty promises. Give it to us straight. Tell us we're going to have to work hard, make sacrifices and be innovative. We're Americans, we're not soft. We can take it. Those kinds of character traits made this the greatest country in the world. America is the country that everyone clamors to get into.

It is believed that Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America says (in part), "I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers - and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce - and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great."

There is a great deal of controversy surrounding the origins of this quote, but setting all controversy aside, the statement remains true.

America's greatness lies in her goodness. Her goodness is derived from her roots in her Judeo-Christian ethic. It is the job of the church to care for her citizens who cannot care for themselves and it is the job of the government to clear the way for that effort, not get in the way of that effort, and certainly not to replace that effort.

That's why I'm not afraid to say that I'm endorsing Mike Huckabee for President.

http://www.mikehuckabee.com

I'm in good company.  Chuck Norris has also endorsed Mike Huckabee for President.