Spreading the Wealth

So, hubby & I are discussing the current economic situation, and he asks me why the socialist-leaning folks don’t see how their policies have contributed.  Here’s the answer:

If you are coming from a Marxist perspective, you are making certain fundamental assumptions about the nature of work and what motivates people to work hard. 

1) Work is inherently fulfilling.

2) Capitalism alienates people from their work, making it burdensome.

3) Socialism eliminates alienation. 

4) Without alienation, everyone works hard because of the inherent fulfillment and satisfaction of work well done. 

Now, assumptions 1 and 4 are a pretty good description of pre-lapsarian work attitudes, but right now they only apply to those who are lucky enough to love doing something that others are willing to pay them for, or who are rich enough to do what they love regardless of cost.  And even then, they must have the character to keep at it during the inevitable moments of drudgery.  

So, where does that diligent character come from?  How is it developed?  By rewards.  Like money.  Especially enough money to become rich.

In the real world, when you “spread the wealth” you remove the primary motivation for working hard and developing the character that allows people to take pride in a job well done.  Without a reason to push through the times when work is tough, the job is never done, much less done well. 

The really sad thing is that spreading the wealth undercuts building a work ethic at both ends; taxpayers quit working, and tax receivers have no reason to begin.

About steak

Twisted Spinster » Just what it says on the tin . In answer to your question about steak: In short, rib eye.  Here’s why.  The type of steak that will be tender depends on how you like your steaks cooked.  A cut that is good rare may not be good well done, and vice-versa.  Tenderness in meat starts one of two ways: the meat is tender because the animal doesn’t make much use of that muscle, or the meat has lots of fat that melts in the cooking process.  The first type is tender when rare, tough when cooked.  The second is fatty when rare, tender when cooked.  So if you like rare meat, go for a tenderloin and barely cook it.  If you like well-done, go for a well-marbled piece (ie, lots of fat evenly distributed so it looks like the flecks in marble or granite), and cook till the fat has melted.  Rib eye is a good balance between them; it’s a relatively unused muscle with enough fat to stay tender even if it’s overcoooked, but not so much that it tastes fatty when rare.

In all cases, the longer the muscle fibers, the tougher the meat.  So buy a piece of meat that is cut across the grain.  To visualize what that should look like, grab a handful of pencils.  Tap them on your desk or table so the eraser ends are all at the same height.  What you see when you look at the cut side of the steak should resemble what you see when you look at those erasers end on.  Looking at the steak from the side, the lines should be close to perpendicular.  For cheaper cuts of meat (such as you might use for pot roast) tenderness is achieved through a combination of long cooking that melts fat and breaks down collagen (gristle) and slicing the cooked meat at an angle to shorten the fibers.

If you happen to have a cast-iron frying pan, and like your steaks rare, the easiest way to cook them is searing. Get out your (well-seasoned) pan, and put it on the burner over fairly high heat.  While the pan heats, rub/sprinkle whatever seasonings you like on your steak. The pan is hot enough when it almost smokes, and that’s when you put your steak in it.  If your pan heated so quickly that you only got one side seasoned, that side goes down.  No oil needed, just the steak.  Give it two minutes without touching it except to season the other side if needed.  Turn and cook for two minutes on the other side.  Remove and eat.  You need a cast iron pan for this because other cookware may not withstand the high heat.  It’s also a good idea to have your vent fan on and possibly windows open. 

For a more well-done steak, you can use your oven broiler, if you have one and it came with a broiler pan to catch the drippings.  Otherwise, just fry over lower heat for a longer time.  You can also start with searing as above, then reduce heat and cover.

My apologies for not sending this as a comment; I’m still waiting for the registration password to reach my email.

Rev. Wright

OK, I know he’s supposed to be a non-issue, but I am deeply troubled by the implications of Wright’s theology for Obama’s beliefs.  It’s not that he damns America; American sins are surely serious enough to merit damnation.  It’s that he preaches liberation theology.  And liberation theology is simply not Christian, no matter how stridently it claims to be.  Take it point by point from the Apostles Creed.

“I believe in God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth.” Well, liberation theology does not believe in creation, or in creativity.  It assumes economic activity is a zero-sum game, where wealth can only be distributed, never created. 

“And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.”  Liberation theology, with its classification of every person into either oppressed or oppressor never will challenge its adherents to be “More Christian than African-American” (to quote the title of a book I read many years ago), or more Christian than any other category.  If being a Christian means anything, it surely means loving Jesus enough to seek to obey Him in everything. (No, I’m not saying Christians succeed in this.  But there’s something wrong if you call yourself a Christian and reserve areas of thought or life in which you won’t even try to obey.)

“Who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.”  For liberation theology, it doesn’t matter whether these things really happened. The myth is more important than historical truth.

“He descended into hell. On the third day He rose again from the dead.  He ascended into Heaven, where He is seated at the right hand of the Father, from whence he will come again to judge the living and the dead.” For liberation theology, only this world matters.  Judgment is in the hands of men, and heaven is a mere distraction from the serious business of “justice.”

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting.”  Liberation theology makes group membership most important.  Forget being part of the Church, never mind communing with Christians from other groups, throw out those saints (unless they can be used to further the Cause). Because liberation theology is fundamentally materialist, there is no room for supernatural interventions.  Even prayer is only good for comforting the pray-er.

Because this is the root of his pastor’s theology, I wonder whether the Christ Obama embraced is the resurrected Lord Jesus, or a mythical redeemer pointing the way to distributive justice.  That is what troubles me about the Rev. Wright and his church.

Memorial Decals

RR Reno’s essay http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=978 this morning reminded me of something I’ve been wondering about: suddenly, I’m seeing lots of vehicles with memorial decals in the windows.  So I googled them, and found an interesting article:New memorials: t-shirts, websites, auto decals | csmonitor.com.  If this is how we are dealing with death now, what does that say about our culture?  The article quotes people saying this is a way to connect with others who share and understand their loss.  Which implies that we are no longer connected to the lives of the people who are geographically closest to us; we cannot assume that our neighbors know what we have suffered.  Yet, we need to share our grief, to know that we are not alone in our loss.  Graveyards hardly exist, are seldom visible, seldom accessible.  The tradition of whole communities tending to their graves on Memorial Day is little more than a memory itself.  Jody Bottum examined the political and cultural isssues surrounding death in http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=5917&var_recherche=Death+in+Politics and again in http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=976 .  What does it say about our culture, about our future, that the new rituals of grief are built on the assumption that we are surrounded by strangers?

Political principles

I’m not likely ever to be in a position to decide or even to influence public policy, but I want to take my citizenship duties seriously, so I’ve given some thought to foundational principles that I could refer to when deciding how to vote.  So far, I’ve come up with two:

1. Government is not God.  I’m still unpacking all the implications of this.  One is that nothing government attempts to do should require god-like powers.  Hence, I oppose hate-crime laws, since only God is competent to judge motives.  We can’t even judge our own accurately, much less anyone else’s.   Another implication is that government should not be worshipped.  There is no politician, no policy, no bureaucracy that can solve every problem: Only God can usher in the Kingdom of Heaven; only God can save us.

2. Tax policy should not be based on covetousness.  My neighbor has a right to keep what he has earned or achieved by his talents and lawful efforts.  Any politician who tells me that I should envy those who are richer or more successful has lost my vote.  It’s fine to want to have more.  It’s not fine to get it by taking from others, whether by confiscatory taxes on “fat cats” who supposedly have too much, or eminent domain seizures of property in poor neighborhoods.

Did Bill Sink Hill on Purpose?

 Isn’t this what the Anchoress (http://theanchoressonline.com/) has been saying for months?

The Agitator » Blog Archive » Did Bill Sink Hill on Purpose?

Last Advent Phrases

Yes, I know Advent is over.  But anyway, here they are:

19. More angels came.

20. and more angels,

21. and more angels came.

22. They left their sheep

23. and went into Bethlehem

24. A star showed the wise men where to find Jesus

25. They all came to see Jesus, the Savior.

Today’s Advent Phrase(s)

17. Shepherds watched their sheep near Bethlehem

18. An angel said “Unto you is born this day a Savior which is Christ the Lord.”

Today’s Advent Phrase(s)

10. They had no place to stay

11. They stayed in a shed

12. Wise men set off to find the Savior

13. They probably rode camels

14.  They brought gold

15. Frankincense

16. And myrhh

Advent Calendar

As I read these phrases in isolation, I am struck by how much the final choices were influenced by the pictures I had available.  For instance, there are no Christmas cards showing Mary pregnant, none showing Elizabeth or that first recognition of the Savior’s coming. Oh well, maybe someday I’ll make another advent calendar, and get it closer to the original idea.