Christianomics: A blog on economics, politics, and law

We are halfway through December. This is the busiest time of year for companies like UPS, Fedex, and Amazon. And the question on everyone's mind is, “Can I get my package delivered by the 25th?” All of this is going on, just like it does every year, and yet….my local Post Office had one solitary person working the front desk. This would have been irritating on its face, but to add insult to injury, an older woman next to me heralded the Post Office’s “efficiency” and assured everyone that we would be in and out “quickly.” While I recognize that patience is a virtue and a Fruit of the Spirit, the Post Office was not efficient and after waiting 45 minutes (with a long line of people still behind me), I can also say it was not quick. Looking into the Post Office’s history reveals a long line of inefficiencies. They haven’t made a profit since 2006 and in 2019 alone the Post Office lost 8.8 BILLION dollars (that’s $8,800,000,000)(1) What’s the deal? Why does this happen? The Foundation...

  “None is righteous, no, not one; … All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” - Romans 3:10,23 Christians (as opposed to someone like Rousseau who claimed people are inherently good) should have an advantage when it comes to discussing economics and politics. After all it’s an easy conclusion that human politicians will inevitably sin. And that sin will inevitably take the form of corruption. Fortunately for us, the founders (whether they were Christians or not) had this understanding of human nature. “Even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” - Thomas Jefferson The founders used this philosophy to write our constitution with its system of checks and balances. Their goal was not to make an efficient machine that “Gets stuff done.” Their intent was to delay, hamper, and impede, all for the sake of guarding against corruption. This makes sense because they had just finished fighting a war to es...