Honesty and integrity

 

 

Honesty and integrity

 

Honesty and integrity are prerequisites to character. I remember a debate back in the Clinton era when people like James Carvel and George Stephanopoulos who were running the 1992 Clinton campaign succeeded in convincing most of the American people that "character" in a politician did not matter. In fact it was made into a joke with the phrase, "It's the economy, stupid." Of course we all know they really did believe that character did not matter, given the "bimbo" eruptions, stains on the dress, lying to congress and impeachment that plagued the nation for the next eight years after James and George put their man in office. To omit character from an individual is to admit that person has little, if any, honesty and integrity.

 

Recently we followed the politicians in New York running for Mayor who had been charged with "sexting" pictures of personal, unmentionable body parts to young women. Even after having resigned in disgrace the practice continued a year after the resignation. Now, during the election people were to reject the idea of character and integrity in favor of electing the guy to the high office of Mayor of New York City. It seems a case of some people having stratospheric gall, or that people are so gullible as to accept anything pushed down their throats. In either case, when we stamp out character from any walk of life, even political life, we are endangering those around us who must live and work with those who have experienced a "characterdectomy".

It is interesting how those same people are maligning Christianity in today's culture.  Christian living practices honesty and integrity. To accept Christ and His lifestyle is to be "Christ-like" and walk in His ways, not the ways of the world around us. Honesty stands above even riches, glory and fame. To maintain one's honesty and integrity is a far greater calling than to step on others to gain wealth or notoriety.

 

 Proverbs 19 starts by talking about honesty and integrity. The first verse reads:

 

 "Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is perverse in his speech."

 

 Honesty and integrity have been maligned over the past several years. Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking. A life lived with integrity is a life that is deemed honest in all dealings with everyone around us. Reputation is formed and trust is gained. We seek out those whose reputations reflect their honesty; we know that when we do business with those people we are not likely to be cheated. As integrity grows within the person, his way of life becomes obvious for all to see; he is said to have a good and true character.

 

 It is from character that a person's decisions are made. Each day, almost every minute of the day we make decisions. Each decision we make has consequences that result in influencing or affecting another in some specific way. When we have gained a reputation based on integrity and honesty and have formed a character of good report, the direction of our decisions are mostly for the common good of others.

 

 The opposite of that is true as well. When we choose to ignore our "higher calling" and practice the more "perverse" way of life, we fall into a pattern of life-style that leads us into a downward spiral that oftentimes leads to despair and self destruction. The Apostle Paul refers to that "sin nature" and some of those outcomes such as "…hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties…." (Galatians 5:19-21)

 

 Having internalized the Christian way of life by accepting the work of Jesus and His sacrifice by the shedding of His blood on the cross, we are free to yield ourselves over to His leading as He works through us to lead us to this way of life that produces integrity. The good news is that by yielding ourselves to Him through faith, we have His promise that He will continue to provide us the help to grow toward abundant life. He promised never to leave us, "I [Jesus] am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

 

 Christian living should contain elements of:

 

 Submitting your life to Christ;

 

 Being receptive to the leading of His Spirit;

 

 Growing by practicing honesty and integrity in the Spirit;

 

 Giving all the glory to God.

 

 As we examine our politicians or those who govern our lives, isn't it just common sense to expect the person to have a decent level of decorum with a high measure of honesty, integrity and character?

 

 Jim Killebrew

Obamacare: Where is the Adult in the room?

 

The news is full these days of the debacle of the Obamacare  implementation.  Millions of people are learning their policies are being canceled, employer mandates were delayed, but apparently when resumed tens of millions more Americans will find their employer will force their employees into the exchanges for their insurance.

 

Aside from all that, as well as the deception through a series of repeated lies from the President and his Administration, the law is forcing millions of American citizens to purchase insurance products from private providers for products the government has decided the individual needs, even when the individual does not want the product.

 

Now, even the democrats who voted for the law are trying to walk back from their actions.  Especially those who are trying to get re-elected next year.  Why are they trying to distance themselves from their law?  Because the law is toxic and they didn't have to read it first to know that.  The first flaw was the fact they passed it without having read it.  That alone indicates they didn't provide due diligence in the interest of those they were elected to represent.  Blind trust and allegiance to one's party affiliation and the "promises" made by those whose political ambitions will likely profit by passing certain legislation is not leadership nor representation, it is haphazard stumbling into a morass of ever-sinking quicksand.  Our current situation seems to be proving this as a fact.     

 

Even beyond all of that, the President has a long list of scandals basically unaccounted for.  Benghazi, fast and furious, circumventing the laws such as deportation of illegal immigrants by exempting certain classes of those he wants to keep in America even though under the law they would be deported.  He has also changed the Affordable Care Act by exempting many classes of people from the law, all outside of Congressional involvement, and now making promises to the American people they could keep their policy if they liked it, knowing all the while it was an untrue promise; and this was done prior to his re-election during his own campaign.  Through that deception he led the American people who voted for him to vote under a false pretense that led to a possible outcome built on a false promise he knew he couldn't keep.

 

In other circumstances if a person promises people certain levels of services or particular products that are not based on the truth, and do not deliver what has been promised, a crime is committed and the person making such claims and taking people's money based on that claim is usually arrested, indicted, tried, and if found guilty, sent to prison.  In this case, not only are millions of people being vacated from their insurance policy, it is happening because the federal law has precluded those policies because they have failed to meet the standards established by the Affordable Care Act.  Insurance companies are being forced to cancel those policies because the government declared they are sub-standard and in the words of the President, "lousy policies."  This, despite the fact, that the individuals who purchased those policies chose the coverage they wanted based on their preference and budget; notwithstanding the government's mandated requirements.  Consequently they have "changed" and are thereby exempted from being "grandfathered" as was promised.  

 

Each day some new revelation emerges that reveals another building block of information that exposes his promised plan of initiating a "fundamental change" for America leading toward building massive governmental control and socialism.  We are now learning that as the waiver for the employer mandates are lifted, it is likely that the larger majority of insured who receive their insurance through their employer will likely have their policies canceled as well.  The employer will be unable to continue with the premiums since they will rise to a cost-level that will be unsustainable by the employer.  Therefore, the individual employee will likely be forced into the exchange established by Obamacare.  At that point people will not be able to keep their policy, they will not be able to keep their doctor or clinic, but will be subject to the prescriptive healthcare established by the dictates of the various plans designed and implemented by the government.

 

It is time for Congress to take hold of this issue and either delay or appeal the law and formulate a bi-partisan select committee to develop a system that is fair and affordable that allows the individual to have direct input into their personal plan that outlines the provision of their personal healthcare managed in concert with their physician and themselves.  Provisions for portable plans across state lines and pre-existing illnesses should be a part of those plans as well.

 

It is time for the adult in the room to stand and take charge of this situation.  Past events have proven neither the President, his staff, nor the democrats in Congress have the qualifications to be that adult in the room. 

 

Jim Killebrew