Soul: Finding Joy in the Little Things

 by David Keating

The Keating Files – December 31, 2020

 

A few days ago, I finished watching the Pixar movie Soul and really enjoyed it. The reaction among critics and audiences alike seemed to be pretty positive. The movie itself focuses on a man that has a near-death experience and, in an attempt to escape death, must mentor another “soul” as it makes its journey to earth. 

In the film, a soul can only make its way to Earth upon finding its “spark.” The main character in the film misconstrues “spark” for “purpose.” Through the adventures that he and his pupil have, he discovers that a “spark” is really about finding joy in whatever it is that you are doing. The message of the film is that one doesn’t need to become famous or important in order to find joy in life, but instead joy can be found in an appreciation for all of life’s little moments. Most importantly, joy stems from the relationships that we have with our cherished loved ones, friends, and our family.

 

I came away thinking that Pixar hit the mark in terms of what they had set out to convey. Imagine my surprise then when, among various clergy friends, there seemed to be quite a bit of controversy surrounding the film. Most of the complaints among my Christian brothers and sisters stemmed from the fact that the movie wasn’t theologically accurate in terms of its view of the soul. 

 

This seemed, to me at least, to be a remarkably thin criticism. I don’t think that Pixar was setting out to craft a theology or philosophy for themselves. Instead, through a somewhat abstract lens, they seemed to be aiming to tell a tale that contained a moral that many Christians, and in particular pastors, would find helpful and encouraging. 

 

What do I mean? At the climax of the film, our main character assumes that by playing in a jazz quartet of some renown, he will finally find purpose for himself. To his surprise, he finds playing with the group to be enjoyable, but not as meaningful as he had hoped. 

 

What ends up providing meaning then? This character also doubles as a band teacher and his sense of purpose and meaning seems to stem more from teaching his students and mentoring the lost soul that he encounters, instead of becoming a famous and important musician. 

 

Why do I think this is applicable and perhaps encouraging to pastors? Most pastors are not going to be great theologians, professors, or authors. But, many that I meet also want to do something religiously significant having drawn inspiration from Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Martin Luther. The reality is, there are very few Luthers, Bonhoeffers, or Melanchthons out there in the world. But this doesn’t mean that the work each pastor does is meaningless! Instead, we understand that our vocation is important because it’s what we have been called to and because a pastor doing something as simple as teaching just one confirmation student makes all the difference in the world. Is it a small thing? Yes, it often is. The encouraging thing is that these small acts of kindness and of teaching can have all the meaning in the world for the person who is learning.

 

So, take a deep breath. Pixar’s Soul may not be a perfect theological treatise. Much of our entertainment isn’t. When last I checked, Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel were not meant to inform our theological worldview. But these movies can still provide us with entertainment and occasional insight. The message of Soul certainly proved encouraging to me given that my work won’t change the world or the country. It might not even impact my community all that much. However, it can still be a joy because it is in small moments like preaching to a few people or teaching a Sunday school class that a “spark” can be found. 

 

__________

 

The Reverend David Keating is pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Curtis, Nebraska.

 

Recent by Pastor Keating…

 

“The Pivotal Players – Models of Faithfulness for Catholics and Non-Catholics”

 

“Watchmen: The Miracle in One’s Life”

 

“How Does DC Comics Wrestle with Theodicy?”

 

“Arrival: If You Knew the Ending, Would You Embrace the Journey”

 

“Star Wars: What the Rise of Skywalker Got Right”

 

“Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper and Dante? In the Tradition of Christian Art”

 

“Faith and Family in Fargo”

 

“Death and Resurrection in Game of Thrones”

 

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes with Ray Keating – Episode #84: What Government Needs to Get Right to Help the Economy

 Ray Keating explains what limited government needs to do so that the economy functions properly.

Conventional Wisdom and Those Twelve Days of Christmas

 by Ray Keating

The Keating Files – December 26, 2020

 

(The following column is included in Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York. It originally was published in December 2005.)

 

Is the Christmas season really over once we pass December 25?  That’s what conventional wisdom tells us, but as is so often the case, it is just plain wrong.

 

The conventional wisdom actually has the Christmas calendar backwards.  Retailers, for example, say the Christmas season kicks off some time around Thanksgiving and wraps up on Christmas Eve.

For Christians, however, Advent, which begins the fourth Sunday before Christmas, really is a period of waiting. Often noted is what Jeremiah said: “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:26)  This contrasts quite sharply with how hectic daily life usually is leading up to Christmas.

It is the twelve days of Christmas, as referenced in the carol of the same name, that mark the Church’s celebration.  The true Christmas season starts on Christmas Day and ends with the feast of the Epiphany on January 6.  

 

And what about that song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”?  Again, the conventional wisdom seems to view it as a silly, indecipherable tune.  But it is rooted in Christianity.  Historic Trinity Lutheran Church in Detroit explains on its website: “The carol originated in England during a time when Catholics were persecuted. Seeming to be nonsense, each verse, in fact, contains coded symbols for ancient Christian themes associated with the days of the Christmas observance.”  For example, “four calling birds” refers to the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and “twelve drummers drumming” are the twelve doctrinal points in the Apostle’s Creed.

 

The Christmas season, whether properly defined or not, also is widely viewed as the easiest time of year to be a Christian.  While everybody can be Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, it seems like almost everyone, in some way or another, celebrates at Christmas time. 

 

Part of that is simply the appeal of giving gifts and being with family.  But the Christmas season also brings many Christians back to church because they love the idea of a baby being born in order to save the world, as they should.  And at the other end of the twelve days, Epiphany reveals Christ to the world, as the Magi, or three wise men, bring gifts to the Lord.

 

It is easy to warm up to the most innocent of babes and wise men bearing gifts, especially compared to what Holy Scripture and the Church have to say at other times about, for example, sin, the need for forgiveness, suffering, death and redemption.

 

However, a closer look at the Church calendar between Christmas and Epiphany might reveal a couple of surprises. One day is set aside to remember St. Stephen and another marks the Holy Innocents.

 

Stephen was the first Christian martyr.  He was stoned to death for speaking the truth about Jesus Christ.  The Holy Innocents were the boys two years old and younger in Bethlehem murdered by Herod in his attempt to kill the newborn King.

 

These two festivals during the twelve days of Christmas remind us that the birth of Jesus Christ does not mean that Christians will experience no suffering, loss and sadness.  In fact, as Stephen made clear, the mere public act of proclaiming the faith can bring down the wrath of others.  And the death of the Holy Innocents reminds us that evil is still very much at work.

 

The birth of Jesus provides the strength to carry on no matter what challenges we face.  After all, this baby would experience the most brutal of deaths as well.  But it was a death packed with significance for all. 

 

As the angel said to the shepherds: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)  What does that mean?  Well, before he died, Stephen said: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56)  It means salvation.

 

__________

 

Ray Keating is a columnist, novelist, economist, podcaster and entrepreneur.  His new book Vatican Shadows: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel is the 13th thriller/mystery in the Pastor Stephen Grant series. Get the paperback or Kindle edition at Amazon, or signed books at www.raykeatingonline.com. 

 

The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right?

 

You also can order his book Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York  from Amazon or signed books  at RayKeatingOnline.com. His other recent nonfiction book is Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know.

 

One of the best ways to enjoy Ray Keating’s Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries is to join the Pastor Stephen Grant Fellowship! For the BEST VALUE, consider the Book of the Month Club. Check it all out at https://www.patreon.com/pastorstephengrantfellowship

 

Also, tune in to Ray Keating’s podcasts – the PRESS CLUB C Podcast  and the Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast  

 

Check out Ray Keating’s Disney news and entertainment site at  www.DisneyBizJournal.com.

A Season for Journeying Into Music and Faith

 by Ray Keating

The Keating Files – December 24, 2020

 

(The following column is included in Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York. It originally was published in Newsday in December 2002.)

 

My enjoyment of music tends to build in a crescendo towards Christmas.  From songs on the radio to hymns sung in church, in recent years, I’ve gained a deep appreciation for the role that music plays during the holiday season. 

Indeed, I plead guilty to being one of those people who starts playing Christmas CDs before Thanksgiving, and not tiring of them by the time the New Year arrives.

 

This was not always the case.  I took music classes in school, but little seemed to stick.  I never learned to play an instrument.  And in my first debate over music, I simply expressed the obvious superiority of rock ‘n’ roll over disco during the late 1970s and early eighties (to this very day I cannot listen to the Bee Gees).

 

Fortunately, though, several positive influences subsequently helped to expand my musical horizons.  My wife, for example, introduced me to country music.  A good friend influenced me to explore both classical music and jazz.  Along the way, I also picked up a fondness for the Big Band swing genre.

 

But thanks to a rebirth of my Christian faith in the Lutheran Church, I developed a love for the music of the Church.  Give me some classic or traditional-style hymns, with a solid choir pushing the congregation forward, and I leave church invigorated. 

Lutherans, of course, have a long, rich history of using music in worship.  Lutheran liturgy is steeped in music.  Martin Luther wrote hymns – including “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” – and declared: “Music has the natural power of stimulating and arousing the souls of men.”  The great 18^th-century composer Johann Sebastian Bach also was a devout Lutheran.  

 

It is at Christmas time, though, when Christian music reaches unparalleled heights and joy.  That was evident this past Sunday, for example, when my family joined other members of our church for caroling.  While none of us will land a recording contract, we had a good time and the people we visited seemed glad to hear us.  And late tonight, on Christmas Eve, a beautiful service of lessons and carols will be held that intermingles Bible readings with hymns like “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful,” “What Child is This,” “Silent Night, Holy Night!” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”

 

Last Friday night, though, the Christmas season was still further enriched.  I had the good fortune to attend a performance of George F. Handel’s “Messiah” at the Congregational Church of Patchogue.  The dozens of voices in the Choral Society of the Moriches offered a marvelous performance of this powerful and uplifting oratorio composed by Handel in 1741.  Indeed, when pondering musical compositions that stir the soul, my experience places “The Messiah” at the top of the list.

 

The biographical materials accompanying one collection of Handel’s music noted that after a performance of “The Messiah” someone congratulated the composer on the “splendid entertainment.”  Handel responded: “I should be sorry if I only entertained them; I wished to make them better.”  

 

A bold declaration, to say the least – some might even call it arrogant.  But when listening to parts of “The Messiah” on Friday evening – particularly the famous “For Unto Us a Child is Born” and “Hallelujah!” choruses – I felt that this exquisite combination of setting (the design of the sanctuary in Patchogue’s Congregational Church is ideally suited for such a performance), music, instruments, voices and Holy Scripture provided an ever-so-brief glimpse of what heaven might be like.  Handel was not arrogant.  In the case of his “Messiah,” his lofty goal was well within attainment.

 

In the end, whether singing the classic Christmas hymns or soaking in “The Messiah,” I am made better by such experiences. Not better in the sense of any kind of superiority, but by feeling closer to God.  But that’s what Christmas is all about – celebrating that the Christ child was born into this world to make us all better.

 

__________

 

Ray Keating is a columnist, novelist, economist, podcaster and entrepreneur.  His new book Vatican Shadows: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel is the 13th thriller/mystery in the Pastor Stephen Grant series. Get the paperback or Kindle edition at Amazon, or signed books at www.raykeatingonline.com. 

 

The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right?

 

You also can order his book Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York  from Amazon or signed books  at RayKeatingOnline.com. His other recent nonfiction book is Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know.

 

One of the best ways to enjoy Ray Keating’s Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries is to join the Pastor Stephen Grant Fellowship! For the BEST VALUE, consider the Book of the Month Club. Check it all out at https://www.patreon.com/pastorstephengrantfellowship

 

Also, tune in to Ray Keating’s podcasts – the PRESS CLUB C Podcast  and the Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast  

 

Check out Ray Keating’s Disney news and entertainment site at  www.DisneyBizJournal.com.

Classic Christmas Films As Meant To Be

 by Ray Keating

The Keating Files – December 23, 2020

 

(The following column is included in Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York. It originally was published in Newsday in December 2005.)

 

What’s a classic film? My personal definition is that it had to be made before I was born. Of course, this is based on nothing more than growing older, but I’m sticking to it.

 

So, why do many of us love Christmas films produced before we were born? The Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor provides a welcome reminder this week.

Starting tonight and running through Friday, Bay Street will show five great seasonal movies. Scheduled are It’s a Wonderful Life tonight, Babes in Toyland: March of the Wooden Soldiers tomorrow, Miracle on 34th Street on Wednesday, White Christmas on Thursday, and Scrooge on Friday evening.

 

Michael DiSanti, Bay Street’s associate producer, said the theater started showing classic films in October 2004, but this is the first holiday movie series. As DiSanti spoke, it became clear that this is an undertaking by and for film lovers. The movie package each night will include old Mitch Miller sing-a-long, bouncing-ball Christmas carols, movie trailers, and music from the era playing in the lobby.

 

Best of all is how the movies will be presented. Most of us have only seen the Christmas classics at home on small television screens. DiSanti pointed out that with a few exceptions, “Nobody ever does the American classics on the big screen anymore.”  He added: “This is the way they were meant to be seen, these movies, on a big screen.”

 

The wall-mounted, flat screen television might be nice, but it’s still not good enough. There’s something about watching movies in a public theater (as long as people are quiet and polite, which unfortunately is becoming an increasingly elusive expectation), and on a large screen.

 

But why is the idea of seeing Christmas films on the big screen particularly appealing? It goes back to the fact that the best holiday movies provide special links to the season. And this can be accomplished in various ways. Three of my favorites will be shown at Bay Street, but they couldn’t be more different in style, content and impact. 

 

For example, it’s hard to imagine lighter fare than White Christmas. But who cares? This movie serves up high-energy dance numbers, corny jokes, romance, lots of singing, including Bing Crosby leading the way on “White Christmas,” and a Vermont inn with the perfect fireplace that I still long to find. It’s wonderful escapism, and thereby ranks among the simple joys and delights this time of year.

 

Meanwhile, Miracle on 34th Street recaptures a bit of the magic and mystery that arrived with each Christmas as a child. I almost always begin the film recognizing, with some regret, the cold logic of Doris and her young daughter Susan regarding Kris Kringle, but then unfailingly get swept away. Even the rather materialistic and calculating Doris eventually acknowledges: “Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.”

 

Faith carries over to my top-rated It’s a Wonderful Life. If one hasn’t watched the film for some time, it could be forgotten that this isn’t exactly warm and fuzzy fare. Most of the movie focuses on the frustrations of George Bailey – broken dreams, feeling trapped, staring into the abyss of financial ruin and possible prison, and contemplating suicide. But all of these woes give way to how each life touches others; the virtues of sacrifice and compassion; the incalculable value of life, marriage and family; and the importance of faith.  After all, It’s a Wonderful Life opens with family and friends around Bedford Falls earnestly in prayer.

 

So, what makes a Christmas classic is not its age, but how it fits with the spirit of the holiday. I expect that seeing these films as meant to be on the big screen will only enhance their value. 

 

Merry Christmas, and pass the popcorn.

 

__________

 

Ray Keating is a columnist, novelist, economist, podcaster and entrepreneur.  His new book Vatican Shadows: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel is the 13th thriller/mystery in the Pastor Stephen Grant series. Get the paperback or Kindle edition at Amazon, or signed books at www.raykeatingonline.com. 

 

The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right?

 

You also can order his book Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York  from Amazon or signed books  at RayKeatingOnline.com. His other recent nonfiction book is Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know.

 

One of the best ways to enjoy Ray Keating’s Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries is to join the Pastor Stephen Grant Fellowship! For the BEST VALUE, consider the Book of the Month Club. Check it all out at https://www.patreon.com/pastorstephengrantfellowship

 

Also, tune in to Ray Keating’s podcasts – the PRESS CLUB C Podcast  and the Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast  

 

Check out Ray Keating’s Disney news and entertainment site at  www.DisneyBizJournal.com.

Enjoy Christmas with Convicts

 by Ray Keating

The Keating Files – December 21, 2020

 

As a classic movies fan, I love discovering gems from Hollywood’s past. This time of year, it’s especially pleasing to find an enjoyable Christmas movie from decades past. Well, on Sunday night, I settled in with the family to watch – and as it turned out enjoy – two Christmas movies that I had not previously seen, one from 1940 and the other from 1955.

Courtesy of TCM.com

The first entry in our double feature was Remember the Night (1940), which starred Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. That’s right, the duo who would four years later pull us into the film noir classic Double Indemnity. Remember the Night is a romantic comedy in which Stanwyck’s character, Lee Leander, is a shoplifter who gets arrested, and MacMurray’s John Sargent is the assistant district attorney supposed to put her away. The case gets delayed over the Christmas holidays, and Lee winds up spending that time with John, and his mother and Aunt Emma in Indiana. 

 

Well, you can figure out where things are headed, and it’s enjoyable journey with the couple. 

 

Since I knew MacMurray first as the father via reruns of My Three Sons, I’m always pleasantly surprised when seeing him on the silver screen. Meanwhile, Barbara Stanwyck always seems to take over the scene no matter what type of character she happens to be portraying. Here, we see Stanwyck as the criminal who was dealt a tough hand in life, but thanks to MacMurray’s John Sargent, and the love displayed by his family, she winds up as a different person in the end. And speaking of the end, without giving it away, it’s not your typical conclusion to this kind of movie. A Hallmark ending, it ain’t.

 

And speaking of being untypical, the second movie in our double feature was We’re No Angels, starring Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov as three escaped convicts from Devil’s Island. This ranks as one of the quirkiest, most delightfully surprising Christmas comedies I’ve seen. 

Courtesy of TCM.com

There’s an underlying dark humor that seems to be ahead of its time in certain ways. The convicts weren’t wrongfully convicted, but instead, two are murderers and one a swindler. And they know who they are, who each other is. This is not about excusing or justifying their crimes, but instead, it’s a story in which their backgrounds are used to comic delight. Here are three criminals helping an innocent family facing tough times celebrate Christmas and deal with devious relatives, and the characters themselves are quite aware of how odd the entire situation is. 

 

Bogart might seem an odd choice for this role, but he excels. While I enjoyed him in the romantic comedy Sabrina (1954), he far surpasses that performance in We’re No Angels.

 

But it turns out that Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov rank as the best parts of this film. The two bring unique, offbeat performances that outshine everyone else in the movie.

 

Director Michael Curtiz directed many fine films, but he ranks among my favorite directors for two films in particular – Casablanca and White Christmas. And if those two pictures weren’t different enough, I now discover another gem in We’re No Angels, a quirky, delicious Christmas comedy.

 

Yes, these two films are now on the Keating Christmas list of movies to watch each year – in particular, We’re No Angels.

 

__________

 

Ray Keating is a columnist, novelist, economist, podcaster and entrepreneur.  His new book Vatican Shadows: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel is the 13th thriller/mystery in the Pastor Stephen Grant series. Get the paperback or Kindle edition at Amazon, or signed books at www.raykeatingonline.com. 

 

The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right?

 

You also can order his book Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York  from Amazon or signed books  at RayKeatingOnline.com. His other recent nonfiction book is Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know.

 

One of the best ways to enjoy Ray Keating’s Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries is to join the Pastor Stephen Grant Fellowship! For the BEST VALUE, consider the Book of the Month Club. Check it all out at https://www.patreon.com/pastorstephengrantfellowship

 

Also, tune in to Ray Keating’s podcasts – the PRESS CLUB C Podcast  and the Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast  

 

Check out Ray Keating’s Disney news and entertainment site at  www.DisneyBizJournal.com.

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes with Ray Keating – Episode #83: Lessons on Consumers, Christmas and the Economy

 

Ray Keating explains that even amongst all the talk about the Christmas shopping season, the consumer actually isn’t the engine of economic growth.

Guest Column: Lighthizer Interview Should Be Required Reading for Econ Students

 by Bryan Riley

The Keating Files – December 18, 2020

 

A recent BBC interview with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer should be required reading for economics students. Amb. Lighthizer conveniently repeats several major misconceptions about international trade.

 

For example, according to Amb. Lighthizer, “We want strong communities in the United States. And if that means that T-shirts cost another nickel, then T-shirts will cost another nickel.” 

 

That may sound good in theory, but it is not remotely close to how things work in the real world.

 

If it is more affordable to buy an imported T-shirt than one made in the U.S., the money that Americans save is spent or invested elsewhere in our economy. On top of that, the dollars Americans spend on imports are either used to buy U.S. exports or to invest in the United States.

 

Denying American families and businesses the freedom to buy affordable goods does not create strong communities. It simply empowers the federal government to pick winners and losers within the economy based on who has the most political clout.

 

Amb. Lighthizer: "We're proud of what we have done.... what we tried to do was reorient the purpose of international trade more towards working people in the United States and less towards outsourcing and corporations." 

 

The 8.5 million Americans who work for foreign-owned corporations probably have a more positive and realistic view of the impact of global investment and corporations. Since 2009, jobs created by foreign corporations choosing to invest in the United States increased by 44 percent. Americans would benefit from more international investment, not less.

 

Moreover, as Pulitzer Prize-winning business and economics columnist Steven Pearlstine wrote in 2012: “Those savings and those extra profits [from outsourcing] aren’t put under the mattress. Most of it is spent or invested in the United States in ways that are hard to track but have surely created hundreds of thousands of jobs in other companies and other industries. Those who hold those jobs would have no reason to know that they are beneficiaries of the process of outsourcing and globalization. But in a very real sense, they are.”

 

Amb. Lighthizer: "We had lost millions of manufacturing jobs, we had enormous trade deficits, not just with individual countries... but with the whole world, going up every year to the point where it was $800bn, and really something that's not sustainable.” 

 

From 2010 to 2019 the United States added nearly 1.4 million new manufacturing jobs, a trend that began years before President Trump took office. After China joined the World Trade Organization, U.S. manufacturing output increased and manufacturing layoffs declined. According to economist Michael Hicks, “[t]here are major misunderstandings among the public and the media about the manufacturing sector. The U.S. manufacturing base is not in decline, and we have recovered from the recession. Nor are jobs being outsourced because American manufacturing can’t compete internationally.”

 

Because the Trump administration failed to comprehend the cause of trade deficits, its efforts to reduce them through tariffs were doomed from the start. According to the Congressional Research Service, “[r]ecent empirical research studying tariff adjustments in a panel of countries supports this theoretical framework and finds no significant evidence of tariffs improving a country’s trade balance.”

 

The Peterson Institute’s Gary Hufbauer and Zhiyao (Lucy) Lu explained the economics: “[T]he United States is bound to run an overall trade deficit with the rest of the world when combined U.S. savings of the household, business, and government sectors are negative, as they have been for some years. To finance the trade deficit, the United States is obliged to borrow or attract investment from the rest of the world, making a global U.S. trade deficit inevitable.”

 

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as economist Walter Williams pointed out: “Our nation has registered current account deficits throughout most of our history, from 1790 right up to our modern period. Over that interval, we went from being a poor, relatively weak nation to the richest and most powerful nation in the history of mankind.”

 

Amb. Lighthizer: "China has a very clear plan. They have a state controlled economy, and they do what's in China's interest."

 

Many U.S. trade actions have also been in China’s interest, whether it was quitting the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), picking trade fights with our allies in Europe and North America, or, most recently, threatening to impose tariffs on Vietnam, thereby discouraging companies from relocating from China.

 

Amb. Lighthizer: "There's pretty much a bipartisan consensus that we're moving in the right direction. I think that the Democrats as well as the Republicans realise that we needed to shift the paradigm on trade more in the direction of working people in the United States.”

 

That might surprise many of the country’s hard-working farmers, who have been forced to depend on unprecedented federal support payments to offset trade war-related losses.

 

It’s true that there is a bipartisan consensus on trade. That consensus is overwhelmingly in support of trade. See for example Gallup’s Lydia Saad: “Trade enjoys strong bipartisan support in the U.S. today, with roughly eight in 10 Democrats (82%) and Republicans (78%), in addition to 76% of independents, seeing it as more of an opportunity for growth than a threat from imports.”

 

History will show that the Trump administration failed to shift the paradigm on trade. Instead, it demonstrated how a failure to understand basic economics can inflict significant harm on Americans.

 

____________

 

 

Bryan Riley is Director of the NTU’s Free Trade Initiative. This column was originally published here.

 

Bryan also was a guest on the PRESS CLUB C Podcast.

Embarking on an Exciting Adventure in Lutheranism

 by Ray Keating

The Keating Files – December 14, 2020

 

I’m thankful for being a Christian. I love being a Lutheran. And I love my church, i.e., the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). And I’m excited about a new travel vlog from a pastor whose goal is to see all of the churches in the LCMS.

No doubt, someone out there did a double take, asking: Did I read that right – visiting all of the congregations in a church of about 2 million people? That’s right. More on that in a moment.

 

Is my church, the LCMS, perfect? No. Nothing this side of heaven is. And there’s plenty to complain about in every church. After all, we live in a fallen world. But the LCMS has so much to offer in terms of Word, Sacraments, and theological substance –  and all most critically in service of spreading the Good News about Jesus Christ. 

 

I like the way the LCMS sums up its mission (from the LCMS website): “In grateful response to God’s grace and empowered by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments, the mission of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is vigorously to make known the love of Christ by word and deed within our churches, communities and the world.” Adding a bit later: “The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) is a denomination that confesses the historic, orthodox Christian faith, a faith built on ‘the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone’ (Eph. 2:20).”

 

Good stuff. I’ve long said that the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has the beef, and we need to do a better job at letting the world know.

 

Hence, my excitement about a venture – actually, it’s more accurate to say an adventure – being embarked upon by a friend, Pastor Tyrel Bramwell. He has started an online video series – a travel vlog – called “See the Synod” with the goal to visit every church in the LCMS. How cool is that? By the way, there are 5,998 LCMS congregations in the U.S.

 

This is a fantastic and fun way to see the congregations, pastors, people and missions in the LCMS, and to let the world know about the vital work the LCMS does within the larger Christian Church.

 

I’m on board with Ty for this journey, and I hope you are as well!

 

Make sure you subscribe to Ty’s YouTube channel, and check out his first visit to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

 

Here’s to many more visits to churches with Ty in coming weeks, months and years!

 

__________

 

Ray Keating is a columnist, novelist, economist, podcaster and entrepreneur.  His new book Vatican Shadows: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel is the 13th thriller/mystery in the Pastor Stephen Grant series. Get the paperback or Kindle edition at Amazon, or signed books at www.raykeatingonline.com. 

 

The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right?

 

You also can order his book Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York  from Amazon or signed books  at RayKeatingOnline.com. His other recent nonfiction book is Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know. 

 

One of the best ways to enjoy Ray Keating’s Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries is to join the Pastor Stephen Grant Fellowship! For the BEST VALUE, consider the Book of the Month Club.  Check it all out at https://www.patreon.com/pastorstephengrantfellowship

 

Also, tune in to Ray Keating’s podcasts – the PRESS CLUB C Podcast  and the Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast 

 

Check out Ray Keating’s Disney news and entertainment site at  www.DisneyBizJournal.com.