Since the last bulletin in which I addressed the jeopardy of the Bush presidency, and the Republican Party, there has been a noteworthy surge of effort on the part of the President to confront the very issues discussed in that bulletin. There is no way that this is in response to the bulletin, because the effort he is now making required a great deal of forethought and planning. This should be interpreted as evidence that he is in touch with the basic economic issues and is taking decisive leadership action in confronting the problems.
Just as stock market analysts must now state if they, or the companies that they represent, own shares of a stock that they are analyzing, I must state my own personal political views for the sake of integrity, before continuing. I am a registered Republican, and for most social and economic issues I am a conservative, but there are some issues in which I am not. As a Republican, I am ashamed that the party of Lincoln did not and does not lead in the great civil rights issues of our time. As a Republican, I am likewise discouraged that the party of Teddy Roosevelt abdicated its leadership in protecting the environment. On these issues I believe that my party has not only made grave strategic mistakes, but moral ones as well.
Disclosure
Having stated my position for the sake of being transparent, I am not writing this for any political purpose. Just as it takes both the right and left wing for an eagle to fly, I believe that the two party system that has evolved in the United States normally keeps the nation on a course between extremes that is most healthy. I would have no qualms about helping any party or any leader in issues that are in the common interest of the nation or the world. I am writing this as a Christian who believes that God cares about the good of all and He prefers mercy over judgment.
Environmentalists Burned the West?
Now I want to address the issue of why this summer’s fires have consumed so much of the precious land of this nation. First, I want to state something that is often overlooked when environmental issues are addressed. That is the fact that man is a part of nature. Therefore, what man does should not be considered “unnatural,” but rather a part of nature. In fact, man is the most important part of nature. God created man to cultivate the earth and to rule over it. When any species is lost, it upsets the balance of nature to some degree, but the greatest tragedy of all for nature would be the removal of man from the earth.
The earth was created with the intention of having mankind manage it. God designed it in such a way that it will not work without our input, our cultivation, and our rule over it. Even so, since the fall and man’s separation from God we are prone to make bad choices rooted in selfishness rather than those that are in the best interest of the whole. However, no input at all would be even worse.
It was interesting the way President Bush tied the recent fires in the West to environmental over protection. He was right, but not entirely right. Though the droughts were also a cause, much of the land that was scorched by these tragic fires would probably not have been if planned and reasonable logging had been allowed. In some areas environmentalists have gone too far and have jeopardized the very balance of nature that they are trying to preserve. Even so, it is frightening to consider the shape that the environment would be in without the Environmentalist Movement. We just need some balance.
The path of life is almost always found between the extremes, and we are on the verge of a considerable reaction to extremist environmental policies. Corrections are certainly needed, but we must not swing too far to the other extreme when making them. The environment needs wise human leadership, not policies forged by reactionary politics on either side.
Mind and Heart
Winston Churchill once said, “If a man is not a liberal by the time he is twenty he has no heart, but if he is not a conservative by the time he is forty he has no mind.” The point is that having a genuine concern is right, but actions that are dictated by a bleeding heart in place of a clear mind often do more damage than good. Even so, we should not have to give up on having a right heart to have a good mind. We need both.
One of the central themes of Tolstoy’s epic novel War and Peace is how practical leadership does much more good for more people than emotional, caring leadership that is not practical. In this story, Pierre is touched deeply by the condition of the serfs. Because of this care, he gives the serfs on his property both freedoms and responsibilities that they had not been educated or trained to handle rightly. As a result, their conditions deteriorate. In contrast, Prince Andrew was a practical man whose sound management resulted in his workers being far better off, and happier, than Pierre’s. Pierre cared more, but Andrew did more. Whose worker would you rather be?
This is precisely why I tend to be a Republican even though many issues that I deeply care about are championed by Democrats. My concern is for results—fruit. I also say here that I “tend” to be a Republican because I have no qualms about voting for a Democrat if I share their views, and perceive them to be practical. It is also true that Republicans can be just as prone to care deeply about a matter but have wrong conclusions about how to achieve or manage the issue.
Lighting the Burning Bush
Now back to the issue of President Bush becoming “the burning Bush” that he is called to be. Like the environment, the economy will not do well without good leadership. The Bush cabinet has strong leadership in Defense, State, and Justice, and is therefore a great war cabinet. It does seem to be thin, or at least less proactive in relation to the economy. This probably reflects the standard Republican view that free enterprise does best when left alone. In some ways this is true in relation to keeping unnecessary government meddling out of the economy, but without question, the economy will only thrive under strong, decisive, leadership from the government.
It is interesting and a divine setup that our President was a business leader in the field of professional sports. This can pay off within him becoming one of the best economic leaders we have ever had because the economy is, in many ways, like a sport.
Consequently, the more important the game, the more important it is to have referees. If you are going to play tennis with your neighbor, or have a pickup game of basketball, you can get along without a referee. However, as soon as you form a league and start playing for more than just bragging rights you will need a referee. The greater the award for winning, the more important the game, and the more professional the referee will need to be. The referees of our economy are the government. No one cheers referees, and in fact you can count on them being blamed more than appreciated, but without them the sport would degenerate into chaos. Likewise, our modern world cannot function without the very government bureaucrats we like to scorn.
Even so, no one wants to have the referees determine the outcome of the game, but rather have the skill, endurance, and wisdom of the players be the deciding factor. If referees are too aggressive, they will stifle the skill and strengths of the very players we pay to watch. Finding the balance to control a game without shutting down the players is a great skill for any referee to have.
Likewise, we do not want the government meddling and micro managing the economy. That is what communism tried to do and it will never work for very long without the tragic consequences of ultimately shutting down. However, our economy needs the confidence that comes from strong, decisive leadership that is engaged and fair. President Bush can be the strong decisive leader that is desperately needed for the economy during this time. He may not be there yet, but he is engaging, and he has both the experience and the instincts to do the job very well. He also has the instincts to recognize good referees and place them properly throughout the economy.
If anything has hampered the President’s economic leadership for a time, it may well be the fact that he entered the Presidency after having been a governor for so long. This may have helped him in some ways to move into the Oval Office, but slowed him down a bit in some other ways. By its nature, government plods and rambles, which can wear down anyone’s leadership abilities over time. Even so, President Bush was a business man, and a good one in a most difficult business—as owner of a professional baseball team. He had to evaluate and acquire talent, which usually comes with supreme egos, and then hire coaches that could build these egos into a team. Then he had to motivate the public to buy the product by coming to the games.
However, as any team owner realizes, all of the advertising in the world will not fill the stands like winning does. As Leonard Ravenhill used to tell us, “You don’t have to advertise a fire!” If a team gets on fire and starts winning the people will come. We can talk all we want to about how strong the economy is with some results, but when the economy lights off and enterprise starts winning—the people will come running.
To lead a team to victory you have to allow competition for positions, while at the same time building the esprit de corp. There is another level of leadership that takes the team and imparts the confidence to win against competition. No team will win without taking the risks required to go to higher levels of performance. You have to somehow keep the team on the edge, going for more, pressing beyond our comfort zones. Economic leadership requires these same things.
Just as every good screenplay has a protagonist with a noble purpose, and an antagonist determined to stop them, our nation and our economy, now finds itself in another such script. Every good screenplay also quickly motivates caring and sympathy for the protagonist and causes the audience to identify with the purpose. Our President must now capture the attention of his audience the same way. We are in need of a more clearly defined and noble purpose. We also need to more clearly identify and understand the antagonist.
Know Your Enemy
As President Franklin Roosevelt prophesied, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” We must recognize fear as our greatest enemy. We must recognize what it is trying to do to us, and why. We Christians must also always keep in mind that we are not warring against “flesh and blood,” but against much greater powers that are behind the events and perpetrators of evil.
Just before the stock market panic this past month, Wanda Davis had a dream about a bear rolling down the street. It was a mean bear, and in this dream she stood up to it demanding that it turn back. Her interpretation was that this bear was the “bear” market, and that we had authority to stand up to it and demand that it turn around. We immediately started praying that way. I also determined that I was not going to be subject to the fear that was gripping the markets, feeling that it was from the same source as that which the terrorists are seeking to use to yoke the world. I responded with faith in America and the economy by buying stock while others were panicking. Immediately the markets turned around. I do not presume that this was just because of us, but I think many others determined the same thing. By the way, this faith paid off quite handsomely too.
Know Your Team
The American economy is probably more healthy right now than it has ever been in its history. In this I am not just speaking in faith, but from observation as well. It is precisely because of the .com tech market crash that Silicon Valley is now one of the most healthy business environments in America. There was a time when if you had a Silicon Valley address and you had an idea you could have an IPO (Initial Public Offering of stock) and the whole world would throw as much money at you as you could carry. Tech stocks rose far beyond their true value. Now the pretenders have been washed out and those that are left are much stronger, and in many cases, seriously undervalued. Even so, now if you have a Silicon Valley address you must have more than just a good idea, or even a good product, you must have a sound business with solid management and distribution. You will also most likely have to show a profit before you can have an IPO and persuade anyone to buy your stock. It is a much more healthy and real environment, forcing the innovators to join with good management in order to prosper. Because of the corporate accounting scandals we can now add that it requires solid, honest, management to prosper.
I have heard it said that the enemy will build you up in order to tear you down; truly, the Lord will tear you down in order to build you up. Greed inflated the stock markets so they had to come down. I have been telling friends for years that I did not trust the present generation of brokers because they had never been through a bear market. Now they have, and now is not the time to abandon them. They are just now getting good. Now real solid portfolios can be built.
It is interesting to look back into the 1980s when the Dow Jones was at about 1500 and began to rise at a consistent upward direction, had it continued at its initial rate it would now be at about the 7,000 to 7,500 level. That is probably the true value of business in America at this time. Greed fueled a delusion that pushed it up to 12,500 for a time, but it has come back to a much more honest and healthy level. Leadership will determine which way it goes from here and we have some very good leadership in place throughout the nation.
President Bush can be as strong an economic leader as he is a war leader. If he engages the way that he can and seems uniquely prepared to do, not only can he be re-elected, he may lead the United States and the world, to a position of strength and health that is unprecedented. This will give us more time and should be taken as grace from the Lord.
If President Bush also becomes proactive in the areas of justice, civil rights, and the environment, he will lead the Republican Party far away from the abyss that it is now close to and start retaking the high ground on these important issues of our time. This could also lay a strong foundation for addressing the other great moral issues of our time, such as the recovery of true religious freedom which has eroded, the right to life, the right to live well with quality health care, and a social security system that honors our fathers and mothers so that the elderly can live with dignity and quality of life.
America is already the most generous nation in the world and in history, but we can do more. There is a revival coming that will cause Americans to return to the ultimate purpose for which man was created—to walk with God, and to cultivate the earth with godly wisdom. The ultimate reason for the “burning Bush” that is now our President is to be the place where the calling goes forth to set God’s people free. We cannot settle for anything less than this.