Re: CONSPIRATORIAL vs PHILOSOPHICAL (or Ideological)

[Damian (Instructor)]

As Mark Levin likes to say: Try to follow the bouncing ball here.

Free markets mean equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. Socialists and Marxists think that they can artificially dictate – tyranny – an equality of outcome through redistribution of wealth.

However, as a Conservative and free market Capitalist, I believe in equality of opportunity, and not equality of outcome.

This is why people flock to America – for the opportunity. Any person with half a work ethic and some self-confidence knows that given the opportunity, the outcome is inevitable. However, we have a class of people who have been, and are, being conditioned to not even aspire or pursue opportunity. This is the evil of Liberalism, it destroys the dignity of a man’s drive to succeed by telling him he’s a helpless victim who must wait on his bureaucratic saviors like a beggar waiting for scraps of food.

An intellectual I think of as a person who puts their faith in their own understanding. The greatest intellect’s understanding is pitifully miniscule in the light of God’s infinite glory and truth. God expects us to use our brains, of course. But there is so much we must accept by faith.

There is a verse that says, “trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding.” In other words, no matter how much you know, or think you know, you ain’t seein the whole picture, so you need to stay open to that inner voice to guide you. Intellectuals are their own gods. They’ve got everything figured out. They’re the brilliant ones. The all-knowing elitists whose omniscience qualifies them to run your life for you.

There is another verse that says, “knowledge puffs up.” Intellectuals tend to be very arrogant due to their accrued knowledge, which doesn’t necessarily translate to wisdom. Wisdom is a perspective. A guy who thinks he knows it all doesn’t have the proper perspective.

Another verse that says, “we walk by faith, not by sight.” Any successful person has had to walk by faith, and not by sight, when it didn’t look like they were going to make it, but they kept forging onward by faith.

God cannot be quantified, yet He can be believed.

Your [u:3mcf5rto]fake article[/u:3mcf5rto] perfectly encapsulates the mind of an intellectual. That was a brilliant exhibit of my point, and thanks for the visual aid.

Even those who deny God operate by faith. Ironically, even intellectuals operate by a twisted kind of faith.

When I say faith in God and not intellectuals, what I am saying is that I place my faith in God which empowers me with the knowledge that I cannot fail to succeed, because He created me with a purpose and assignment. I *do not* place my faith in some distant cabal of elitist intellectual bureaucrats to micromanage every damn aspect of my life and the economy like Soviet central planners.

We’ve got a class in this country that’s been conditioned to worship government as their saviors. That’s what I’m talking about.

Faith in God is the ultimate in empowerment. God took the time to think up the idea of me, and then created me with a mission in mind. Knowing this – believing this – fills me with confidence as well as a sense of duty and responsibility that I must achieve my purpose and pursue my assignment.

People need to stop hating on rich guys and powerful people, by the way. I mean, someone’s got to have these positions. Someone’s going to have the ambition and drive to reach these pinnacles. And just like our self-righteous asses, they’re still going to be human and prone to the mistakes of ego and bad judgment.

Here’s another truth to keep in mind: You will never become what you resent. If you hate the successful and the rich, you will prevent yourself from learning from them in order to achieve what they achieved.

I used to look down on pop stars like Britney Spears, for example. Then one day I had the epiphany that Britney Spears was a *success.* In other words, instead of focusing on my dislike of her music and judging her like a thirteen year old girl – although a thirteen year old girl would like her….whatever – I realized I should focus on her success because in all success there is something to learn.

Take an evil guy like Adolph Hitler. I look at this guy and I think, “imagine if he had used his genius for good instead of evil.” There is so much to learn from Adolph Hitler that can be applied for good instead of evil, if you are a person who can look at success objectively, be it good, evil, or something you just don’t like.

Another reason I don’t hate on the rich and powerful is because I’m going to be joining them in the near future. To hate on them would be to hate my own future.

Class warfare in this country teaches people to hate their own potential. Think about it: A rich person is a walking testament to the potential that lies in *all* of us. To hate or resent a rich guy is to despise your own God-given potential.

But, it’s easier to resent and bitterly judge than it is to get off one’s ass and press onward toward triumph.

There is nothing more liberating or empowering than faith in God. Faith in God destroys fear and reveals destiny. I’ll take faith in God over a cabal of intellectual windbags anyday.

And there is absolutely *nothing* wrong with wealth and power. Nothing. But there is everything wrong with envy. Wealth and power are not immoral. Envy is. “Thou shalt not covet.”

Wealth and power, just like violence, are not good or bad. They are simply tools. And these tools, like all tools, are wielded by flawed people who share with us the same human nature.

Faith in God keeps me humble, so that when I am rich and powerful I won’t abuse the blessing.
[/url]