A blank check for power

Greetings Drs. Mann and Ornstein,

Thank you for your editorial and concern for our country.  I share some of your concerns.  When I stood for election to the Virginia Senate last year, I did not take Mr. Norquist's pledge, and I agree that it is limited in its usefulness.  Additional debt is no acceptable political escape route from increasing taxes or closing loopholes/deductions/etc.

While you acknowledge that "Democrats are hardly blameless," there is one significant basis in particular by which I cannot agree with your characterization that "the Democrats may have moved from their 40-yard line to their 25" while "the Republicans have gone from their 40 to somewhere behind their goal post."  

The 2010 health care law has far and away been "the force behind" the recent widening of the ideological gap.  This was not the work of "centrist protectors of government, reluctantly willing to revamp programs and trim retirement and health benefits to maintain its central commitments in the face of fiscal pressures."  

It is becoming increasingly clear this was a blank check for power, and we are finding out just how far the current Administration is willing to go in the use of that power.  We need look no further than its disregard for religious liberty in its handling of contraception and the mandating of abortion.  

This Democratic party bears sole responsibility for the 2010 health care law.  There is nothing "status-quo" about this law and this Democratic party.

Tim

12,746 days

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Europe

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Latin America

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It is God's nature to remove barriers

On Sunday, the third day after Jesus' death, Mary Magdalene went to visit His tomb.

When Mary arrived, the heavy stone that covered the opening of the tomb—a stone that could be moved only with extraordinary strength—had been rolled aside making it possible for everyone to see for themselves that Jesus was no longer inside.

When Jesus came back to life, He certainly could have left His tomb without moving that rock.

But it's God's nature to remove barriers to our understanding and believing.

John 20 describes the miraculous setting in detail so everyone would know that the body had not been stolen.

No Jew or Greek would have unwrapped a dead body just to carry it out. The dead body would have contaminated them.

And the Roman soldiers would not have stolen the body since they were supposed to guard the tomb to prevent that from happening. In fact, Jesus' disappearance meant certain death for them.

And no one would have taken the time and effort to unwrap the linens from the corpse, yet the wrappings were found neatly folded, as if someone had tidied up before leaving the site.

The headcloth had been rolled up in a separate place.

Nothing in the passage indicates that there was anything rushed or chaotic about Jesus' leaving the tomb.

It was not by accident that Jesus rose on the third day.

When the disciples saw the empty tomb and the linens, they realized that Jesus had risen from the dead. They remembered the Scriptures said He would come to life again.

From there, they would eventually change the world!

Inner State 80, pp. 372-373.