The Truth Will Only Set You Free If…
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This morning, I was listening to sound bytes from the Occupy Wall Street protests and trying to wrap my head around what the participants want to accomplish. Their message seems to be pretty straight forward. They want to end capitalism once and for all. Of course, they are really missing the mark because the free market is not to blame for the problems they have addressed. It’s not the government in and of itself either. There is an extremely unhealthy relationship between big business corporations and government and that has caused the problems.
I like what Anthony Gregory wrote about this:
We have seen this paradox at work in the aftermath of the 2008 financial collapse. The left-liberals blame Wall Street and Big Finance for betraying the masses out of predatory greed and for being rewarded for their irresponsibility by Washington’s bailouts. At the same time, the Left appears reluctant to oppose these bailouts outright, seeing the spending as a necessary evil to return the global economy to stability, however inequitably. What’s more, left-liberals fail to call out President Obama and Democratic leaders for their undeniable hand in all this. They blame Goldman Sachs but see their president, who got more campaign money from the firm than from almost any other source, as a helpless victim of circumstance, rather than an energetic conspirator in corporate malfeasance on top of being the enthusiastic heir and expansionist of George W. Bush’s aggressive foreign policy.
The tea-party Right is also hesitant to examine the corporate state too closely. These conservatives detect an elitism in Obama’s governance but are loath to earnestly challenge the economic status quo, for it would lead to uncomfortable questions about the warfare state, defense contractors, US wars, the whole history of the Republican Party, and all the typical right-wing assumptions about the inherent fairness of America’s supposedly “free-enterprise” system. By refusing to admit that economic fundamentals were unsound through the entirety of the Bush years, the Right is forgoing its chance to delve beyond the surface in its criticism of Obama’s reign.
Many on the Right call Obama a “socialist” as many on the Left accused Bush of being a “fascist,” neither group seeing the stark similarities in almost all of their policies. Meanwhile, the more mainstream forces on both left and right refuse to countenance such “extremist” rhetoric and insist that both political parties, for all their differences, have the best of America’s interests at heart. In the Left’s unflinching loyalty to social democracy and economic intervention and the Right’s invincible love for the military and support for corporate America we see why we are allowed to decry corruption and special interests, but not dig too much deeper than that, lest we be relegated to the periphery of respectable discussion.
In other words, there is a level of dishonesty on both sides of this debate. If the Wall Street Protesters were serious, they’d also be protesting the headquarters of the Council on Foreign Relations and, of course, the New York Fed. But they’re not because they place the blame squarely on corporate America. On the other side of the coin, we have those that blame government and seem to intentionally ignore the greed and shady practices of so many American corporations. I have watched liberal-made documentaries on this and I’m screaming at the TV saying, “Well, what about government’s involvement?” Then, I’ll watch a conservative-made documentary and scream, “What about the corporations’ involvement?”
The thing is both sides of a debate like this are trying so desperately hard to lay out the facts and convince the other side of the truth. But I’ve had a bit of a revelation. What if the truth doesn’t matter? I’m not asking a philosophical question. What if you are trying to persuade a person based on what you believe to be the truth and that person doesn’t care about the truth? What if that person wishes to remain ignorant?
Last week on the podcast, I laid out another defense for Ron Paul and I even went as far as to say I’m not in favor of the conservative favorite, Herman Cain. I believe Cain is a fiscal conservative and he’s obviously a sound business man, but I worry about him because he has no specifics in his plan when it comes to cutting spending. I know he makes the argument that he really can’t get into specifics until he gets into office and sees the numbers for himself. Maybe that’s a valid point. Or maybe that’s a way of providing himself a safety net so that if he gets into office and doesn’t do anything to cut spending, he can say, “Well, I’ve looked at the numbers and I’m afraid there’s nothing to cut.” I don’t know. It’s a bit of a moot point anyway since no president has the power to legislate, but I would at least like to see some ideas.
The other thing I’m worried about with Cain is his foreign policy or lack thereof. Again, he says he’ll have to get into office and talk to the experts before he can make any decisions. There’s a problem with that plan though. Name me one general in history–even America’s history–that has proposed either withdrawing from a war or not going to war to begin with. It’s their job to assure the Commander in chief they are capable of leading troops into battle and ultimately winning that battle. It goes against the nature of their position to suggest we bring troops home or not be militarily engaged.
Of course, let me pause to remind you as I talk about Herman Cain or Ron Paul I’m not really suggesting any of these men are going to be a savior to the country. If you have time, go back and listen to episode 60 of this podcast. It was titled, Unrepentant America. I think I pretty well express in that episode what I believe will fix our nation’s problems. To give you the short version, it will never be politicians or new laws. Never. However, I am focused on the upcoming presidential election simply because I believe we absolutely need to do something about our foreign policy. That is something a president actually has control over. In every other issue, his hands are tied by Congress. When it comes to the military, he’s the Commander in chief. I support Ron Paul because he’s the only one talking about making serious changes to our foreign policy and that’s exactly where a president is most effective.
I know most on the right don’t agree with the foreign policy views of myself or Ron Paul. I have tried over and over to explain why I believe what I believe. I have tried to explain how the War on Terror–not that it shouldn’t be fought–but how we need to take ten steps back and look at everything with the right perspective.
The attacks on 9/11 did not happen in a vacuum. It wasn’t a completely random event without provocation. We’re not talking about some people in the middle of Africa that attacked us. We’re talking about people who live in the Middle East where there is oil and Israel. It is for those reasons–primarily oil–we’ve been involved there since the 1920s. We have staked claims on their resources. We have overthrown governments. We have backed one nation over another and then pulled our support and backed the other one. We have incited riots and revolutions. We have used the United Nations to backdoor our way into these countries. We have threatened them with nuclear warfare. We have staged terrorist attacks within their borders. Is it any surprise they despise us and did what they could to attack us?
But when I start pointing fingers at the United States’ involvement before 9/11, I am accused of blaming America for what happened. No, I’m not. I am pointing out some of the causes. Everything that happens has a cause. Cause and effect. The effect was 9/11. The cause was our constant involvement in the Middle East. That’s not the same thing as blame though. I don’t blame the United States for the attacks. The blame falls squarely on the terrorists who murdered thousands of civilians. Even in a declared war that is unjustified though I am well aware the United States has done the same. Even so, the United States is not to blame but they are a large part of the cause.
This goes back to the revelation I’ve had. I have tried to explain this to so many people and they remain steadfast in their position that America has–I don’t know–an obligation to wipe Islam and Islamic nations off the face of the map. Sure, it costs us more than we can afford to spend. Sure, America’s done plenty to provoke them. Sure, thousands of American lives are lost in the process. Sure, it doesn’t make us any safer. Sure, it has resulted in a multitude of new laws and policies which trample over our liberties as American citizens. Sure, the President himself has declared he has the power to execute us without trial if he deems us a threat. But we have got to fight terrorism, right?
I have become convinced that truth does not matter. It’s a revelation that changes everything. I haven’t even begun to consider the implications of this. I remember when I was a lot more conservative than libertarian and I would argue against liberals and think, If only I could show them the truth. If they knew the truth, not only would we finally agree with one another, their lives would be forever changed for the better. But what if someone doesn’t care about the truth? What if they would rather live in ignorance?
I think this is something we can all relate to. Have you ever had someone ask your advice about something? You give them your honest response and they completely ignore what you told them. Then you think, Why did they even ask me? The truth is they already knew what they wanted to do and they were just looking for affirmation from you. Since you didn’t give it, they went their own way.
I have shelves and shelves of books filled with political commentary in my office. Most of them are trying to prove to the reader their political ideologies are right. They are defending their positions with numbers and statistics and facts. They want the reader to acknowledge the truth they are presenting. However, with all of the books that ever been written, with all of the debates that have ever been had, people are still disagreeing with one another. When we can’t get the other side to agree, we accuse them of being ignorant and we continue trying to educate them. If only we can get them to learn. Maybe they have learned. Maybe they know the truth and just don’t care.
For instance, America’s intervention in the Middle East is undeniable. It’s all in our history in black and white. It is also obvious to anyone with a working brain that human nature dictates if you push someone around long enough they will push back. Furthermore, anyone who can read a newspaper can plainly see lots of bad stuff has happened to us domestically as a consequence of the War on Terror. Yet, it rarely changes anyone’s opinion of the conflict. America is right. Our enemies must be destroyed.
This is actually a very biblical lesson, by the way. Jesus said, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” In a similar lesson, Jesus taught His apostles to simply leave a place when the people didn’t accept the truth they were preaching. He said, “Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.” In other words, you can tell people the truth in a million different ways and as often as you’d like, but the reality is some people simply don’t want the truth.
Why would anyone want to ignore the truth? Well, the truth often has implications that are undesirable to us. I’ll leave you to consider this further.
“Willful Ignorance | 068 Coffee & Cigarettes” Transcript
In a Relationship, and It’s Complicated | Lew Rockwell | June 2, 2011
http://lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory216.html
About The Author
Jeremy Sarber
I'm the pastor of one of the most blessed churches in all the world. I'm married to the most wonderful woman to walk the face of the earth. I'm host of possibly the most unconventional podcast on the Internet. I am thankful because I deserve none of it. Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email
