'Hiding Behind Jesus'

J

Josiah

Senior Member
Location
50 miles east of Cincinnati, OH
Recent goings on in my state of Ohio. John Kasich (R) is the current Governor of Ohio. I recently saw the headline:

Kasich Attacked By GOP Govs. For 'Hiding Behind Jesus' On Medicaid.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) was criticized by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) for "hiding behind Jesus to expand Medicaid" according to a report in The Atlantic.


The two Republican governors confronted Kasich at a donor forum hosted by the Koch brothers in Palm Springs.


A source at the event told The Atlantic, "It got heated."


Kasich was the fifth Republican governor to accept Medicaid expansion through Obamacare. Kasich has previously cited his "personal faith" as a motivator for choosing to expand Medicaid in Ohio, putting him at odds with most Republicans who strongly oppose Obamacare and Medicaid expansion through the law.


Citing God is something Kasich has done numerous times. Recently, the Ohio governor said he's waiting for a sign from God on whether he should run for president.
 

My observation is that I hope the ethical teaching of Jesus, particularly in regard to his concern for the poor, will influence more Republicans to support legislation that benefits the poor.
 
I think it's that pesky Matthew 25 31-46 that gives Republicans the most trouble.. They simply do NOT like that Chapter... It makes it hard to screw over poor people.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25:31-46&version=NIV


[SUP]44 [/SUP]“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
[SUP]45 [/SUP]“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
 

It's right and proper to be magnanimous and generous in support of the poor when dealing with one's personal money, it's not right and proper to be so when dealing with the state's general fund. There are qualifications and limits placed on recipients of state funded charity for good reasons.
 
marinaio said:
It's right and proper to be magnanimous and generous in support of the poor when dealing with one's personal money, it's not right and proper to be so when dealing with the state's general fund. There are qualifications and limits placed on recipients of state funded charity for good reasons.
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By the same token... I don't want MY tax dollars going to fund War.. and subsidies to Corporations. I would MUCH rather the money be spent helping the poor..
 
marinaio said:
It's right and proper to be magnanimous and generous in support of the poor when dealing with one's personal money, it's not right and proper to be so when dealing with the state's general fund. There are qualifications and limits placed on recipients of state funded charity for good reasons.
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Is it your contention that Christian charity is limited to individual charity? What's all the GOP hub bub about ours being a Christian nation?
 
Call me crazy, but I would much rather have my taxes raised and have the money go to responsible and legitimate charities, or whatever you want to call the services, than having numerous people calling me on the phone all the time asking for charitable donations.
 
My statement and your's reflect the fact that we live in a democracy, we each represent one vote out of hundreds of thousands and from what I've read our votes would offset each other. The expenditures needed to maintain a safe and viable infrastructure should be primary, other expenditures should be as expressed as desirable by the voters but too often they are based on the personal opinion of some fat-headed. ideological or crooked politician.
 
This is off subject but not too far off. David Brooks, a columnist for the New York Times has a new book out, "The Road To Character." I haven't read the book yet but I plan to. I have read some of David Brooks columns and would perhaps have read more of them but I get only a limited number of articles I can read on the Times without subscribing. I say this because I feel much of Brooks comments arise because of his stand on a foundation of morality, perhaps influenced by his faith. I thought it might be an interesting read and I suppose it's not too far fetched to say some politicians might also stand on some firm bedrock of moral implications. Just saying we all struggle with the person inside us.
 
Forget about the "Obama Care" issue. We have a Governer here who makes decisions for people based on "signs from God". He wants to be our president. I thought we just did that a little while back. Didn't work out too well.
Might as well be deciding the fate of the world by examining the intestines of a chicken.
 
drifter said:
This is off subject but not too far off. David Brooks, a columnist for the New York Times has a new book out, "The Road To Character." I haven't read the book yet but I plan to. I have read some of David Brooks columns and would perhaps have read more of them but I get only a limited number of articles I can read on the Times without subscribing. I say this because I feel much of Brooks comments arise because of his stand on a foundation of morality, perhaps influenced by his faith. I thought it might be an interesting read and I suppose it's not too far fetched to say some politicians might also stand on some firm bedrock of moral implications. Just saying we all struggle with the person inside us.
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Isn't this just another republican lecturing us about "morality"? Judging by the David Brooks interviews I've seen, I'll pass on the book.
 
I consider David Brooks one of the most thoughtful, least doctrinaire of the moderate Republican journalists and I compliment drifter's willingness to explore both sides of these complex issues. On the other hand I understand where Glinda is coming from. I just read a Krugman column which articulates her "lecturing us about morality" comment very well. See
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/opinion/paul-krugman-race-class-and-neglect.html
 
I wasn't trying to be complicated or political, or lecture. Simply a comment to add to the discussion. For the record, if I have not heretofore made my self clear, I am a life long democrat. I'm a simple guy and it is easy for me to get in over my head. Yet in an attempt to keep my head above water, I read both those with whom I agree and those I don't. I often feel the best course of action politically is somewhere between the extremes of both right and left. We cannot please one side and ignore the other. That doesn't seem to work either.

Shalimar, I believe clear thinking leads to clearer, better writing and I admit to being dull-headed when I said we all struggle with the person inside us. Our personal, professional, and creative lives are inthertwined. They are not alway in agreement. The person inside us is symbolic of our internal struggle with that left-right brain thing and our realizing and knowing the best thing to do and when. We know we should no doubt do things a certain way but we yearn for an alternative course of action. We struggle with success and failure, what’s the right and wrong of it. We struggle for acceptance or to keep our moral compass intact, we struggle to raise children, to make a living, or to keep our marriage intact. Life is not always rosy; sometime it’s a struggle. The person inside us is a metaphor, something symbolic, how we handle decisions and the struggles of life.
 
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Drifter, I agree. Life is not simple, and neither are you. Much as I am unhappy with some of our politicians, the truth is that, as with all things in life, every solution to a problem creates other problems. I would not want the job. Thankfully there are enough egos around craving satisfaction.
The brain is the most complex thing of all. There certainly is a "person inside us" that I talk to all day. Its not a metaphor. Its a real thing. We are our brains, and I do mean "We".
 
We are our brains, it is true, but we are also more. As the brain begins to deteriorate, deep inside we are still there, and still more than the sum of our decaying neurons.

As a young person I was very impressed with brains. Later I discovered that there is something else called "heart" that can be found in the brain damaged and can be absent from the intellectually gifted. "Heart" does not lie in the pump that moves our blood around. Where it comes from and where it abides is a mystery but it is what makes humans human. Perhaps it is just a metaphor, but a metaphor for what exactly?
 
Well, Drifter, Underock, and DW, your deep posts have certainly given me something to think about. All of them strongly resonated with me, and I admit to feeling somewhat bemused. Much pondering needed before I come up with a response to any of this. :confused:
 

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