How do I show my faith: A Parable

In a far away land there was a wealthy farmer with two young sons. He told his sons that he needed to leave for a long time to develop business opportunities across the ocean. While he was away they were each given a farm to take care of. He provided them with two resources if they needed help—a book of instructions and the phone number of their oldest brother who was already a successful farmer. The father said as he parted that if they would trust his instructions, they would have great harvests.

After the father was gone, the two sons sat down and read the instruction manual from cover to cover. They discovered the first rule of farming was to believe their oldest brother would help them and that their father loved them. If they believed this they would become successful farmers.

With this knowledge, one son decided to learn as much about the instruction manual as possible. He went to college and studied the instruction manual until he had it memorized. He taught others the importance of the instruction manual and that they needed to believe his oldest brother would make them successful farmers. Sometimes, he would charge people to listen to his explanations about the importance of the instruction manual. Yet, he never worked on his farm. He called his oldest brother, but never followed his advice. The important thing he thought was simply believing the instruction manual was true and believing his oldest brother had good advice.

His teachings convinced many to neglect their farms. They understood that working on their farms was not the key to being good farmer. You could work on the farm if you wanted to, but it was not required. It was not important to follow the instructions in the manual. It was enough to state the belief that the manual was good and that the farmers oldest son would make them good farmers. And from believing, it would become true.

The other son decided to follow the instructions in the manual as closely as he could. Soon, he found the tasks required to make a successful farm were too difficult for him to do alone. This depressed him a lot, until he remembered the phone number of his oldest brother. He called his brother often. From these phone calls he was given further instructions, training, and encouragement. Sometimes, when the son couldn't finish a task correctly, the oldest brother would personally come and help. From his hard work, his farm began to prosper and he grew wealthy.

Others saw this son's prosperous farm and wanted to know the secret. He gave them copies of the instruction manual, his oldest brothers phone number and told them the key to success was work. Those who believed him, followed his example and also had prosperous farms.

The question is which son really had faith in the words of their father.

James 2:17-18

"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works."

Unions are beneficial

We often hear about the top 1% or the middle class, but what about the disenfranchised classes in the United States. Those who are immigrants or second generation Americans; those unable to earn a High School Degree; those who have mild mental illnesses; those with no ambition; or those who are just unlucky.   Traditionally, the democratic party defends these workers through supporting Unions. However, the political agenda of Unions is often at odds with the political view of its members. This disconnect between union members and union leaders creates an opportunity for employers and conservative politicians to capitalize on in order to break union power.

The power of Unions comes from its members. Unions garnish paychecks of its members for union dues. For example, a small teamsters office of three or four employees will take roughly $50 a month from its 400 members at one food processing plant. This amounts to at least $20,000 a year. This is just one source of income as the union represents several factories of workers. Union leadership also offers various types of insurance and credit cards to its members. Thus another stream of revenue from its members for its political agenda. These revenue sources are used to enrich the union’s lawyers and representatives as well as to promote the socialist agenda of Union leaders in Washington, D.C.

If the Unions are using money from its members to lobby in Washington D.C., its members should agree with its positions. Some do, maybe even most, but not all. Many enjoy the benefits of working in a Union, while voting conservative during elections. Most union members do not influence politics by voting. Some are legal residents, but not citizens, and cannot vote. Others choose not to vote because they do not believe their one vote makes a difference in our broken political system. The latter is most prevalent. So again the question arises, can someone take its members money and use it for political purposes the members oppose or at least do not support?

And what do they do to earn this income? When an employee feels mistreated by management at the factory, then they file a grievance with the Union to rectify the injustice. But whatever the outcome of the grievance process, employees are never satisfied. If the employee is reinstated in their job, then others will feel the employee took advantage of the system. This perpetuates the idea that unions protect the worst employees at the expense of others. Hard working employees see the union garnishments as an imposition because they have never needed to file a grievance. While other employees feel the union should defend their rights with more vigor. These employees believe the unions are not stronger because union representatives worry more about factory management than about employee rights.

Is it better to work in a union factory than a non union factory? The answer is yes. Union factories provide slightly better pay. The biggest advantage to working in a union factory is that the union provides more security. Although, members argue about the usefulness of unions, it seems that in a union factory, management treats its employees with more respect. Even though union members still get terminated, it is usually for very serious offensives, and sometimes not even then. Workers at the factory, even if they don’t like management and their union representatives, they have a greater sense of job security. That sense of job security is very valuable. More valuable than the $50 monthly union dues.

So what is the lesson learned for politicians and managers who want to break unions. The answer is that companies need replace the unions by providing the feeling of security for its workers by treating them with more respect. Companies need to be increasingly more loyal to their employees. Thus undermining the key benefit of unions. If employees do not feel a need to file grievances, then unions will be inconsequential. A more involved government would more objectively arbitrate these grievances than a politically motivated union in collusion with management. This is not to say some workers don’t need to be directed into new occupations, but that a worker should not be arbitrarily terminated because of management’s whim or need for a scapegoat. To terminate someone, management needs a legitimate reason. An employer should no longer be able to terminate an employee at will. By replacing unions with more government involvement and companies treating workers respectfully, unions will not be needed. Without the need for unions, unions will be unable to gather money to push their political agenda. This would be a win for conservative politicians as well as for companies hindered by unions.

　

　



　

　

　

Dog Attack...oh I mean Incidental Contact with a Dog

This morning went as all my recent mornings go. I wake up. I take a shower, shave and brush my teeth. After which I eat my sugar enriched cereal. Then I open the front door and head towards my car. And as usual, the neighbors pitbull is there to greet me. He snarls with blood dripping from his teeth. I haven’t seen our cat recently and wonder if its her blood that is dripping. I feint left and right trying to reach my car before the dog reaches me. Most days I am successful. But today I was not so lucky. He latched onto my leg fangs digging deep. Under the delirium of pain, I  smash the dog soundly with my heavy, but antique, briefcase. The dog is stunned and runs back to the safety of my neighbors yard.

Enraged, I call the police. All the time pain surging up my leg. They seemed very concerned, but took several hours arriving to investigate. After I told the officer what had happened, he expressed sympathy. Then explained why they could not take the dog away.

“It is not the dogs fault he bit you. “ the officer began. “Dogs only do the bidding of their owners. If we take the dog away, the owner, who by the way is jealous of your new car and sent the dog to bite you, will find another way to bite you. He could even just bite you himself.”

“Well then go and arrest the owner,” I suggested.

“Oh we could do that, but we are sure your neighbor will not be home. You see, dog owners are very hard to find.  When we search for one, they just disappear and we can never find them.  When ever we do find a dog owner, we arrest them.  It is just so hard to find all the dog owners of pitbulls.  Sometimes the pitbulls are disquised as other dogs and so it makes it even harder to find all pitbull dog owners.  Last year we even killed one of the dog breeders, but that still hasn't stopped owners from buying more of these vicisous dogs."
On and on the office and I argued. The officer never making any more sense. And I just got more and more irritated until, I just threw him our of the house. Unfortunately for the officer he landed in my juniper bush. He found out why my family has nicknamed the bush, the "spider bush."  As he brushed off spiders with a fair amount of cursing, he climbed into his cruiser and left.

I have nothing against dogs. I love dogs. I have one in the backyard with all of her pups. She is a beautiful golden retriever and has had many litters. However, this last litter seems odd. Many of them just lie down and wait for me to bring them their meals of pork ribs. Others strut around as if they own the yard, my house and me. The most interesting part is that none of the pups look alike.

It must be those coyotes fault I thought. I built a huge fence around my backyard to keep out unwanted suitors like my neighbors pitbull. But all the mangy mongrels in the neighborhood seem to find their way into my backyard to court my golden retriever. They could not find the way in at first, but eventually the dogs lead by the coyotes tunneled under the fence. As I watch the pitbulls, mixed breeds and coyotes jumping around barking and playing, I wonder if there is some other reason they tunnel under my fence. Maybe other dog owners don’t give their dogs the best part of the pork like I do.

Just to help ensure I do not get bitten again, I have donated large sums of money to pitbull breeders throughout the country. Telling them it would be nice, if they could breed some kindness and respect into their dogs. When they show signs of being uncomfortable, I quickly add that even if they are not successful in making nicer dogs, that I will still give them money. Then the breeders smile overjoyed with my generousity.

After the officer left, my leg still ached with every heart beat. I decided to go to the doctor. This must have been strange day because the doctor made less  sense then the officer. After bandaging the teeth marks in my leg, he explained how dogs were very sensitive.

“That is why.” he said, “ we don’t call these dog attaches, but incidental contact with dogs. “

He insisted I never mention I was attached by a dog, because that would make not only dogs, but their owners mad. And then they might just send all their dogs to attach us.

“Incidental contact with a dog.” he repeated as I left his office grateful the bite felt better, but confused about why people were treating dogs and their owners so delicately.

When I got home later that night. I went to the back to feed my dogs. Again I thought about the pork and decided my dogs needed a higher carb diet. In about a month it worked, the neighborhood dogs did not come by so often. So it wasn’t the golden retriever they wanted, but the pork. However, the change in diet has still not stopped the pitbulls from entering my backyard or chasing me. So far I have just been lucky I haven’t been bit again.