Potemkin-style democracy

A lot of what goes on in government seems designed to give the appearance of democracy. Potemkin institutions and procedures put in place to give the veneer of choice, but not really.

Scot McKnight on Bonhoeffer on Church and State

His proposal at the end is a good start. However, he should speak for himself in his opening sentence: "We don’t think enough about the relationship of the church to the state; we assume what exists in our world is what is supposed to be." 

Theonomists and Reconstructionists have been on it for decades. McKnight, in 2012, recommended a response book to "Dominion theology."  

A conversation between two Christians on government supported by videos

An argument between two devout Christians went like this:

Me:  Biblical government would be so small.

Friend:  Yes, but I don't think the secular public wants a biblical government. And I (a Christian) don't want really overly religious government either. They are bad at times.

Me:  I don't care about religious governments. (I don't defend general religion or general theism.)** And you don't believe in all religions anyway.  If you're saying that the kind of government that your God prescribed is not good enough, then what is?

Friend: I think a limited one is good. And you are just assuming that all the people in the country would want our God's government. That's why we formulated the original version of this government -- to prevent tyranny in all forms, secular and religious.

Me: The problem with that is that the U.S. Constitution itself was always an assault on Christianity -- a coup d'etat on our decentralized, overly Christian (religious) federation.***  I'm not the one defending tyranny here, although what you have in mind as our original government is admittedly a step up from what we have now. But so is tea in comparison to soda. That still doesn't make it water.

Friend: I don't see the Constitution as an assault on Christianity. I see it as a resistance to religious tyranny like radical Islam and the Inquisition of the Catholic Church in the Dark Ages.

I then sent him the above video. I should have sent the one below too.



*This was a text conversation that I edited for grammar.
**Words in bold were added for clarity. In fact, the text original read: "I don't care about relgious governments. U don't believe in all religions anyway. If your saying that the kind of government that your God prescribed is not good enough, then what is? (spelling preserved)
***By this I mean in the same way Gary North meant it.  Gary North puts it this way:

"In 1787, the states, with one exception (Rhode Island), were explicitly based on faith in God. In most cases, elected state representatives were required to swear their belief in the Trinity. The new Constitution made all such oaths illegal for Federal office (Article VI, Clause III). By means of the 14^th Amendment (1868), the U.S. Supreme Court has applied this prohibition to state governments, completing the transformation in the case of Torcasso v. Watkins (1961)."

House Blocks Obama Executive Order That Quietly Raises Congressional, Government Salaries

The House of Representatives blocked a pay increase that was the result of an executive order issued late last year.

As a result of the executive order, members of the House, Senate, and the Executive Branch would have received a small bump in pay thanks to an executive order given five days before the New Year.

The increases for U.S. lawmakers were small, ranging from several hundred dollars to a little over a thousand, in comparison to what government officials were previously making overall--but are much bigger than the increases of military members' salaries and government employees' salaries.

The Executive order, signed on December 27, 2012 by President Barack Obama lifted a year-long government-wide pay freeze on federal salaries, including those of various high government officials, Congress, government employees and the armed services members.

The changes wouldn't have went into effect until March 27, and wouldn't have effected the pay of outgoing members.

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.), Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) all oppose the pay increase.

Here's a list of some of the changes in pay:

-Vice President Joe Biden's salary would have went from $225,521 to $231,900--a $1,200 increase.

-All members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives would have received a $900 pay increase from $174,000 to $174,900.

-The President Pro Tempore of the Senate would have received a $1,000 increase in pay from $193,400 to $194,400.

-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would have received a $1,000 pay increase from $193,400 to $194,400.

-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would have seen their pay rise from $193,400 to $194,400--a $1,000 increase.

-House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) would have seen his $223,500 salary increase to $224,600--a $1,100 increase.

Christian Academic: We reject the utopian delusions of no state and of an omni-competent state.

We reject the utopian delusions of no state and of an omni-competent state.

Why Christians favor small goverment | The Washington Post

[Editor's note: The man never makes his case against anarchism.

Although I linked to the Jesus Radicals page, I vehemently disagree with their "Economics" sub-section under Anarchism which advocates socialism. The reason for linking to their description of anarchism is because it provides a coherent explanation of the relationship between Christianity and anarchism.

That's it.]

Little Leviathians need to be monitored, too

The conservative focus on the federal government is understandable, considering the way it affects all citizens. But as the population increases, it becomes imperative that we pay equal attention to the Little Leviathans that arise at the state and even local levels of governance.

Joe Carter, The Limits of Limited Government