Paul's Passing Thoughts

For the most part, Americans, and American Christians in particular, suffer from TDD. ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) is a mere symptom of TDD (Thinking Deficit Disorder). This disorder is most prevalent among Christians because they think reason is antithetical to faith; after all, if we knew everything we wouldn’t need faith, right? “Gee, I don’t know, I have never asked myself that question before.” Right. Ignorance is a banner of love over us; we know nothing so we cannot judge ourselves or others, and stupidity is a sure proof of our humbleness.

America is a historical anomaly because the biggest sword always ruled until the American experiment put “We the people” in charge. We have now experienced the results of the American experiment for over 200 years, and unless those who want to destroy America move slowly and carefully, the American dream will not go away quietly. For the first time in world history, freedom can’t be taken away by killing more people than those who disagree with you, so another angle has to be taken.

It all boils down to the competence of the individual: is government for the purpose of expediting human potential? Or is government for the purpose of controlling the incompetence of mankind? Until the American experiment, the latter was the dominate ideology of history; viz, the mindless following of the masses is critical for social justice and the collective wellbeing.

Hence, public schools stopped teaching us how to think critically. The church stopped doing that well before the public schools did. Christian parents continually boast that their children “at least know the Bible well” even though they have little knowledge of the liberal arts. After all, the word, “liberal” is in there. The next step is to offer us free things that pose as life improvement, and for a while may serve that purpose, but are designed to lead us back into the same bondage that has always dominated world history.

“Don’t worry we will feed you if you are out of work” eventually ends up as, “There isn’t anybody who can create jobs, we gave all their money to you, there is no more money, so if you want to eat you must work, and oh, by the way, it will be the job that we give you whether you like it or not.” Ever heard of a place called, “China.”

So, as a country, the push to raise minimum wage to $15.00 an hour exemplifies the fact that inability to think below the surface of initial brain chemical reactions is well in place. Entry level workers see this as a good thing; why? Well, because they will be making more money. And initially that is true in the same way that cheese on a mousetrap is initially good for the mouse if he can get a couple of bites.

A $15.00 an hour minimum wage will make the rich richer and the poor poorer while the poor think the opposite is true. This same satanic gig just keeps working over and over and over again throughout history. As a longtime small business owner, I am not speaking completely out of school here; if it’s back in the day and I still own a business, what am I thinking?

“Ok, $15.00 an hour is good money, so I am going to get my money’s worth. Bye, bye inexperience; bye, bye immaturity that you can live with at $7.00 an hour; bye, bye to anyone with tattoos or piercings, pretty much bye, bye to anything I don’t like at all because I am not being compensated for putting up with it.”

Hence, this will be good for older, experienced workers. High school students looking for work during the summer? They can forget about it. Not happening. And with the job market already in the tank, there is an abundance of older experienced workers waiting in the wings after their long journey in the desert of age and price discrimination. Bottom line: entry level employees are going to be all but totally out of luck. Businesses in general are going to want bang for their buck.

The first step towards an enslaved populous is the lost art of thinking. And in this case, the thinking doesn’t penetrate any deeper than that of a mouse running for the cheese on that funny-looking table with a large metal bar above it. More and more as one who counsels people from time to time, I find myself teaching them how to think for themselves and then sending them away to “take on the day.”

We live in the age of the expert because a thinking serf is like handing a child a loaded gun in our minds—that has always been the mentality that precedes tyranny. “Do they think we are stupid?” Yes, in fact, that’s exactly what they think, and we think anything more is faithless humanism. That’s why I am not much for marriage counseling anymore. All any marriage needs is what Ephesians chapter 5 states: Christ and two thinking people. Conspicuously missing is the pastor and expert. Good marriage counselors teach couples HOW to think, not WHAT to think, and that’s probably true of life counseling in general.

paul