How do you preach the gospel at a Residential Contractor’s Continuing Education Class? Until recently I’m not sure how I would have answered that question. But one possible avenue presented itself after my instructor commented on the direction of our society in relationship to state regulations that had about seventy general contractors like me thoroughly exasperated.
Two years ago I became a certified lead paint renovator. Laws recently enacted forbid contractors, and in many instances, homeowners, from disturbing more than six square feet on a home built before 1978 unless they comply with stringent guidelines and practices. Remodeling regulations are deemed necessary because lead may be present in aging paint. These laws are “for our own good” if we believe the Bloomberg-esque propaganda in which they are neatly packaged.
This year at my continuing ed. class we were informed of the next likely code requirement in our trade: single family dwelling residential fire suppression. Yes, sprinklers in every home, again, “for our well being”. After listening to the history of fire codes all the way back to Nero’s pre-Christian empire to implicitly justify this proposed legislation on the basis of the lives it is likely to save… I finally raised my hand.
“I assume nearly everyone in this room is opposed to these regulations because of their implications for our languishing industry, but I want to offer another good reason to oppose them. Next time you call your state representative, talk to your neighbor, or write an editorial, simply raise the question: “What is the purpose of law in the first place?” Is it to eliminate risk, save as many lives as possible, and manage households? Or is it strictly to uphold justice when, for example, our property is violated by a thief?”
The instructor responded insightfully: “This brings up an interesting development in our country these days; we are proceeding as if law can perfect our world.”
To which I immediately responded: “And here we are, a million regulations later and instead of building heaven on earth, it seems hell is encroaching by the minute, and if anyone thinks that law is our salvation, I can keep preaching this sermon right now!”
As the class proceeded, I had flashbacks to my teenage years. It’s as if we are being threatened with losing our allowances or other privileges if we dare question the surrogate paternal state. I wonder if our new state parent has the same goal my biological parents had. My parents’ measure of success in governing their family was to raise children who were responsible enough to govern their own lives and homes one day. The idea was to avoid fostering a parasitic dependent who could not be trusted to his own judgment in any situation regarding risk.
The nefarious agenda behind lead paint legislation is far more serious than nanny state nagging however. This becomes imminently clear when laws of this stripe are ironically juxtaposed against the presence of toxic heavy metals in government endorsed and mass produced vaccines, dental fillings, and CFL light bulbs which all contain dangerous levels of mercury. The regulatory prohibitions affecting construction are poisoning the private property rights of individuals….(not to mention the economic implications for the beleaguered housing market). Meanwhile medical propaganda, pharmaceutical interests, and government subsidies, all promote products poisoning the body directly! Fortune 500 companies, like ethical zombies, are loath to resist capitalizing on Washington’s centralized power. On the contrary, fascistic collusion with the state via lobbyist has become the economic bread and butter of choice.
Our social policies are fundamentally illogical unless one presumes complete philosophical rebellion against Biblical ethics. Thus we connect the following dots…
Whereas the ends justify the means, we pass laws appealing disingenuously to the livelihood of the individual to justify running roughshod over private property. We nevertheless remain religiously devoted to the deified humanist collective. The high pressure sales pitch of goodwill toward men is obviously nothing more than cheap marketing veneer as we remain incorrigible to evidence of deleterious health effects due to ingesting mercury and other synthetic chemical compounds. In regard to lead paint, are we truly concerned with the public good, or have we have lied in order to steal property rights? In the case of mercury, quality of life propaganda is proven intentionally misleading. Injury and destruction of innocent life via medical and judicial malpractice (abortion, poisonous vaccines, etc.) are in fact the modern blood sacrifice demanded for our new godhead: the civil government. This new vision for omnipotence is morally disintegrate, an insatiably rapacious law unto itself. Thus the skull of the God-ordained, yet state-forsaken, property steward becomes a convenient step stool for elevating the jackbooted humanist oligarchy by hook, crook, or legislation.
Does anyone remember what we threw in the dumpsters outside schools and courthouses in recent years? The Ten Commandments were condemned as social blight. This outdated refuse of public remodeling projects was promptly deposited in America’s landfills.
Every year builders like me are informed of new regulations coming down the pike affecting housing, construction, permitting, building practice, liability, property, energy codes, warranties, market fundamentals, employees, taxes, insurance, state registration, product application, contracts, mechanical codes influenced by OSHA, EPA, HUD, IRC, UN, FDA, on and on, with seemingly as many acronym permutations as a 26 letter alphabet will allow. If one remains alert in class and loyal to the absolute moral law of scripture, he can read between the lines and identify the institutes of positive law perverting and replacing The Decalogue as our guideposts for social order.
In fact the constitution of North Korea is very helpful in understanding the new and “improved” principles establishing the legal trajectory of this country. I’m certain if any objective legal expert could possibly review the tens of thousands of laws enacted in this year’s first session of congress at any depth in his lifetime, he would discover far more corollaries with the 10 principles of ‘juche’ than with the law of Moses.
Our laws are also reminiscent of the Roman idols Augustine so thoroughly routed in “The City of God”. The Roman religious system was so convoluted, confusing, and contradictory that coherent unified worship was impossible and eventually this religious cacophony was the death of the order.
According to the EPA- 200 ppb (parts per billion) of mercury constitutes hazardous waste…while the CDC declares the flu shot is safe which contains 50,000 ppb of mercury! No common sense, right? My explanation is to assume complete antipathy to the law of God in these policies. The EPA regulations are best understood as a Trojan horse to overrun private property, while the CDC regulations are a Trojan horse to poison the great “malignant eco-tumor”: man himself. Blatant disregard for “Thou shalt not steal, and thou shalt not kill”! If Moses were here, he would pulverize the marble buildings that house nearly every bureaucratic acronym in Washington D.C. and dump them into our nations water supply….Oh wait…we may have already beat him to the punch with fluoride, unfiltered prescription medications, and birth control residue…
If we are the enemy, only repentance can save us. I pray God could show us mercy without compromising His glory. This prayer begs the question that haunted Sodom and Gomorrah: Is there a righteous minority worthy of this country’s salvation? Borrowed time will tell.
-Ken Carlton