2008 California Election Forum

As Christians, helping the poor is a Biblical mandate.

That's why individuals and churches are the largest and most generous people in the world with their time, resources and money.

That's individuals, not government.

Political candidates often talk about helping the poor with government aid, not through the private sector. But their policies have the unintended consequence of hurting the poor.

That's because government can't create wealth. It can only redistribute wealth.

What creates wealth? What raises the standard of living faster for the poor—and everyone else?

Capitalism. Free enterprise. The market economy.

Government taxation and welfare redistribution programs create distortions in the economy. It lowers productivity, creativity and business growth. It's filled with waste, abuse and inefficiency.

Just look at the Department of Motor Vehicles—or any other such bureaucracies.

Fortunately, nations worldwide are slowly moving away from government-run enterprises, regulations and high taxes.

Even France is trying to free itself of socialism. China, too. And many other nations.

Capitalism has dramatically raised the standard of living in the U.S., helping lower the number of impoverished and making our low poverty level the envy of the world.

And the poverty levels in the rest of the world? In communist nations like Cuba and North Korea, severe poverty continues. And in socialist nations such as Africa and South America, poverty continues to grow.

But look what capitalism has helped do, despite government taxes and regulation retarding economic growth:

• In 1981, 40% of the worlds population lived on less than $1 a day. Today, that is only 25% adjusted for inflation. It's estimated it will be cut in half by 2015.

Only government economic interference with taxes, regulation and control can reverse this trend.

Be careful about politicians and their advocacy of government programs to solve poverty.

Only more economic freedom can accelerate economic growth and lift people out of poverty.

Unions have been among the biggest sources of money, telemarketers and volunteers for liberal candidates.

In fact, they are the most powerful special-interest group today.

Now the Los Angeles County Labor Federation, representing 850,000 members, is warning state, county and local politicians to follow their dictations or lose the election.

Maria Durazo, the executive secretary, made the threat in light of the upcoming election.

Something is wrong when a group having so much power if it can elect politicans who will increase taxes for its own self-interest.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is suing the Salvation Army thrift store because they require their employees to speak English only on the job.

When two employees definitely continued to speak Spanish, they were fired. The EEOC says you can't discriminate.

This is a clear violation of the First Amendment. A Christian organization should set any rules it feels is appropriate. In fact, as a small business owner, I should be able to set my rules without a federal government bureaucrat telling me I can't.

The U.S. Senate did try to stop this crazy action. Unfortunately, liberal Democrat Congressman Joe Baca and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi of California stopped any congressional action.

Let's pray this travesty is resolved in favor of the Salvation Army.

In case you missed it, TIME magazine issued its 100 most influential people list—leaving out Christians and conservatives...and even President Bush. Who is more influential than President Bush?

Osama bin Laden and Chinese Communist leader Hu Jintao, were on the list. And so were entertainers such as Justin Timberlake, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tina Fey, Sacha Baron Cohen, and yes, Rosie O'Donnell. Give me a break!

FEMA is a typical government bureaucracy: slow, inefficient and wasteful. FEMA's failure in New Orleans is well known.

Now it's come out that they overpaid $485 million of taxpayer money to those impacted by the hurricane. Christian and private charity donations to hurricane victims, on the other hand, was quick, efficient and cost effective.

Plus, it's a one-on-one approach that brought emotional and spiritual healing to the victims.

I’ve already warned you about not falling for direct mail or TV and radio commercials trying to trick Christians into voting against their values.

The liberals have been very worried about the Christian vote and its potential impact on judges and initiatives.

The bottom line is…that if Christians vote, we can accomplish more powerful good at the polls and prevent some powerful harm.

Charitable giving in 2006 set an all-time record. That’s not surprising, since some of the wealthiest were at the top of the list. For example, investor and entrepreneur Warren Buffett gave a $31 billion donation to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose focus is curing the world’s 20 most fatal diseases.

This is what America is all about—volunteering and giving help to those in need—not forced giving through confiscating tax policies.

We hope you found this article to be informative. To visit more articles and for additional information regarding the upcoming elections, please visit www.ElectionForum.org.