Picayune Gods & Those Who Market Them

It appears that your paranoia about the left and "globalists" (whatever the hell that is supposed to be about ... other than yet another dog whistle like "evolutionist") is blinding you to the actual threat to your wellbeing in retirement and before. And what faction in the government would endanger that? The left who created the social safety net that includes Social Security and Medicare and who supports the continuation of those and other programs that try to get affordable health care and job and housing security to the people? No, rather it's the so-called "Right" who have openly advocated for the elimination of that social safety net (refer to Rick Scott's draft of the GOP policy), who pushed for "repeal and replacement" of "Obamacare" solely by eliminating it without any hint of a replacement (nor any attempt to even begin to plan for one), Republican governors refusing federal funds to expand Medicaid benefits to their state (which resulted not only in individuals and families going bankrupt due to medical bills, but also many rural hospitals to close thus eliminating access to medical care even for those still able to pay for it), voting against every bill for reducing medical costs or for getting inflation under control, etc. First, nobody is talking about mandating that, though the "Right" is by default wanting you go give up everything for the good of their corporate donors (eg, blowing a huge hole in the deficit under Trump with their massive "tax cut" for the upper fraction-of-one-percent).My mind keeps circling back to medical costs. I should be safe since through my military retirement I have good medical benefits at no cost to me (outside of the regular premiums for Medicare Part B and federal employees' dental and vision insurance), though GOP ideologues will undoubtedly try to hold that funding hostage over bullshit as Sen Tuberville is currently doing with national security.Medical costs can mount in an instant and wipe out a family's financial security. I've had three hospitalizations since 2011. The first one cost $65,000, the second one cost $81,000, and I have not yet noted the cost of the third. All three were covered by my medical insurance, but if I had to pay that entirely out of pocket that $146,000 (not including the third) would amount to an entire new mortgage which would take 30 years to pay off. And that amount is small compared to the medical bills that other families could rack up. Without medical insurance (which for most is only available through work, assuming you're not working a company like Walmart who limits work hours in order to avoid paying for medical benefits), one bad medical issue can bankrupt the family potentially sending them out on the street (or under the bridge in your case).There are government programs to help, but eligibility and administration is mainly on the state and local level. Thanks mainly to Republican state governments, in many red states one is not eligible for such aid so long as one has any assets. You are literally required to lose everything before you can even begin to qualify for help. And if your family is trying to care for you, then they must lose everything as well -- hence, families are being required by red states to basically abandon their family members.The left tries to keep that from happening.Of course that needs to be fact checked, but it does describe what the "Right" (a better name would be "The Wrong") keeps pushing for and voting for. What the fuck are you talking about?

I tried and tried to make sense of the pair of paragraphs containing that excerpt, but in the end I failed and so left them out of my response.--Percy

He has no idea what that even means. Just RWNJ words he heard and parroted.

RWNJ Words? I doubt if I picked it up from there. You've all basically heard the old apocalyptic narrative about a one world government, haven't you? Currently the concept is a long way off, but were there to be a global crises, be it environmental, food, or lawlessness, the consensus would coalesce quite suddenly. Of course the US is a traditional leader in such a diplomatic emergency, but what if the crises were here and we became preoccupied with our own internal problems?

You are always a voice of reason around here. You explain all of your anecdotes in detail and you are also a rational patriot (as opposed to a fake January 6th one)As a Christian, I might point out that the strongest Christians in the world come from the global south where real persecution, poverty, and oppressive governments are far more common than up north with secularized Europe joining the weak "wokeness" of the United States. We do have a lot of good people left, however. The United States corrupted the whole concept of organized religion through the fake preachers, weak churches, and the ill fated marriage between politics and religion which tore out our true heart.Its not that I do not believe in a secular government. Its that I believe in freedom of religion and believe that Jesus not only belongs in every heart but in every mind.This does not mean that you or your family must support Him. Jesus was never a political figure way back when nor should He be one now. What we need is moderate leadership who has the integrity to not have to use Him on their platform.What we also need is for people to learn how to think.

*sighs*... No, just ranting I guess. What if there were a crises, though? Maybe its just that I fear crises! Point taken. Im trying to slow down my habit of anxiety and process my response better. Its a blessing to have a wife like that. One of my fears is that I live alone and have nobody to take care of me. Mom is gone, i'm nearly 64, and have no Mrs. Damselfly in the nest. Its just me and Jesus. Maybe I need to listen to Him more often. Good news! Ive been sober 34 days now from compulsive gambling! According to experts, it will take a long time to heal from this damage. Sometimes I think that my prefrontal cortex was addicted to chaos and crises as well as slots and action.

Right Wing Nut Job.
What if interstellar overlords decided we are in rhe way if an off ramp for galactic highway? What if the moon really is cheese? What if cats slept with dogs?
I rest my case.

Define wokeness.

I suppose gay marriage and trans people are a "crisis" in your eyes. Also, that BIPOC will shortly outnumber classic "white" people.

Where did this global authority stuff come from? Some kind of apocalyptical conspiracy theory?This is about you behaving like Christian. Doing what Jesus asks of you. None of you do it, but you're all happy to pray and talk to him. Funnny how he never tells you to help a few immigrants.

Where did this come from? I've never said not to help immigrants. All I have hinted at is that I am against open borders.

Yeah you did. Lying doesn't help when you posted it on this very same thread.

I'm like a moth drawn to a flame of imbecility. I can't help myself. The YouTube videos you're always watching are mostly from RWNJ's. I never heard of it, and I'll step out on a limb here and say no one else here has heard of it, either. Where did you hear about it? Don't ignore this question, answer it. Where did this obsession with a one world government and its associated evils come from? Why is it your persistent belief that that's what we all want? It's more than just a long way off. It isn't even a slight trend or a minor tendency. The U.K. recently withdrew from the EU. Some years before that Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Sudan split into South Sudan and Sudan, Indonesia spawned off East Timor, Ethiopia spawned off Eritrea, and the Belgium Congo became the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo. Before that Cyprus split into the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. After WWII Korea split into two countries, and China split into the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan). Before WWII Ireland split into the Republic of Ireland while the northern portion remained in the U.K.All the evidence points to the world experiencing a strong trend toward countries dividing into smaller countries. There is not any sign anywhere of countries joining together to form larger countries. Germany and East Germany don't count since they were originally one country before WWII and the Iron Curtain. The last example of two countries merging was over three centuries ago when England and Scotland merged to become the United Kingdom, and Scotland's been trying to leave ever since.So please stop with the ridiculous one world government nonsense. There's no sign of any movement in this direction. If you hear it mentioned in your RWNJ YouTube videos then recognize it for what it is. They're just trying (and succeeding) to get you riled up. But it isn't real.And also please recognize how dangerous these videos are. They played a role in convincing the January 6th attackers that what they were doing was patriotic and was protecting the nation's government and constitution when they were actually doing the opposite, some of them drawing 20 year sentences.Recognize the power of these videos, because they hold you under their thrall, and while that lasts you will not recognize that you are. You're likely reading these words and dismissing them. Even if this weren't so vague as to defy interpretation, it would still be wrong. You and your "what ifs". If you have some concrete possibility that you can express with reason and can tie to the real world then talk about that. Otherwise please stop talking about this and get on topic. One world government has nothing to do with marketing picayune gods.--Percy

I think you lost the right to call yourself a Christian long ago. Your every use of the word "woke" or "wokeness" emphasizes how deeply you've fallen for conservative orthodoxy. Verifying my understanding of the word "woke" against dictionary.com, it means an "awareness of systemic injustices and prejudices" against minorities, but you use the term as one of disparagement. This means you've bought into the conservative nonsense that calling out racism is racist. The best I can say about this is that it's grammatical. It fails completely as a description of anything in the real world. I think it's that none of your beliefs are coherent or grounded in reality. Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. In this country government should not promote any religion, but many conservatives believe we are a Christian nation and that Christianity should have a role within government. If it is part of your religious faith that Jesus belongs in every heart then that is fine. But if you believe part of government's role is to bring people to Jesus then that is wrong. The irony is strong in this one.--Percy