5 responses to “Ideas Have Consequences AND a Time-Delay”

1. 

   Abraham

   June 11, 2009

   Thank you Chris for always sharing such jewels of information and thoughts. I haven’t the time yet to dig myself and find such treasure, as I am an enslaved being still working for others. I appreciate all your time keeping this blog and have picked up a fe titles you have thus promoted. I trust your recommendations and am greatful to have your thoughts easily accessed here on the web.
   How great it is that you and Orrin and the rest of the PC and RT have been envisioning what Art Carden wrote about in his essay. We are so proud to be part of Team and feel the purpose and design on our hearts to pursue such significance to make an impact:
   -Today- for we can encourage hope and share truth;
   -Tomorrow- for many others are living in bondage and fear we can actually show them the route to freedom;
   -Generations to come- for we do not earnestly drive ourselves for the greatest impact of today, but for the generations to come, to ensure the freedoms of those yet born, that maybe we might hold off the Vandels and secure a brighter future for the pursuit of possibilities.
   We feel the Lord building Himself and army and have faith that Team has had and will continue to have such an impact. God bless you and the leaders that are and are to come.

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2. 

   John Dickinson – Team One Purpose!

   June 11, 2009

   Chris,
   “These are dark times, but the foundation has been laid for a classical-liberal renaissance.”
   I love the concept behind the story because it talks about having a long-term view of the future.
   Sometimes I feel like I am pushing a giant ball of yarn up a muddy hill, but I know the momentum of ideas will progress faster as more people learn truth.
   I think a lot of us want the results of changing instantaneously. What the majority of the people don’t realize though is we CANNOT change our destiny overnight, but we CAN change our direction overnight.
   I think traditional history (history taught on the conveyor belt), teaches people microwave history. For example, conveyor belt history textbooks teach the American Civil War started one day when all of the Northern states decided to free the slaves of the Southern states (this is what my conveyor belt history textbook taught me).
   What the textbook doesn’t teach is what this article is about. the Southern states were feeling economic pressure from the Federal government many decades before the onslaught of the Civil War. This is an example of the many years it takes for ideas to be brought into public policy.
   It’s good to know that I am doing my part to help lay the foundation for a classical-liberal renaissance.
   Thanks for teaching us “how” to think!
   John

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3. 

   Lydia

   June 11, 2009

   Carden quotes Keynes, “I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. Not, indeed, immediately, but after a certain interval; for in the field of economic and political philosophy there are not many who are influenced by new theories after they are twenty-five or thirty years of age, so that the ideas which civil servants and politicians and even agitators apply are not likely to be the newest. But, soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good and evil.”
   I agree. It is ideas which are dangerous. Think of the idea that we evolved from a pool of slime. That life has no meaning. Think that has anything to do with depression and suicide? Think of “there are no moral absolutes.” Is it any wonder that our country is slowly destroying itself with immorality?
   I remember being taught in a sociology class in college, to write down all my thoughts in a journal. My Judeo-Christian worldview worked against my grade on that one. Now I realize the indoctrination that was taking place, and the effort that was being made to teach me to articulate the socialististic ideas I was being taught in class. Today those ideas are being tolerated if not accepted in our culture. We have reached the point of apathy in the cycle; we have somehow been convinced that there is nothing we can do anyway.
   But I’m also encouraged by this article, since communication today takes place largely outside the walls of academia. Social networking, the internet and blogs like yours and Orrin’s have leveled the playing field of ideas. Now ideas can be expressed and circulated by media outside the control of the elite. You and I can make a difference–not only by speaking and writing, but by bringing people into an environment where current thought is challenged. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a part of that.
   May the Best Men and Women Win!
   Lydia

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4. 

   Cathy – Team Rascals

   June 12, 2009

   Chris,
   Thank you for this article. It was most interesting. I particularly appreciated the mention of the questions of President Buchannan about people’s writings and ideas, and the graph on their future consequences.
   That ideas have consequences and a time delay is nothing new for a serious student of history. It is simply the normal progression of things.
   For example, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenburgh, Germany. It took a lot of time and public debate among the church-based acedemia of the day before the Reformation burst into full flower first in Germany and later in England with the marital conveniences and connivings of Henry VIII.
   Our own American Revolution was a progression of ideas, starting with the Mayflower Compact, when the colonists realized they had darn well better be self-governing because of the distance they were from what they had called “home.” It took all those many intervening years of time and gradual shifts in thought toward the concept of colonial self-governance before the Continental Congress voted to sever the colonies’ relationship with Mother England in 1776.
   This concept has negative consequences, too. The idea of individual rights can be taken over time to be interpreted as being what we see in our culture today, a willey-nilley mish-mash of selfish self interests who are no longer the least bit interested in what used to be called the “common good.” Others have been mention by other posters, so I won’t waste time and space mentioning them here.
   My point is that while ideas do have consequences and a time delay, it’s a two-edged sword. It has been used in acedemia over the past 40 to 50 years against traditional families and values. However, because of the growing influence of the power of sharing ideas on the internet through social networking sites, blogging and so on, as well as the Media War, there is no reason I see why we can’t now work to share our side of the story with the world and swing the pendulum of truth and public opinion back in the other direction.
   Our weapons are the eloquence of our ideas under the compulsions of our powerful convictions that we are doing what is the best and right thing for us, our children and our society. We go armed with historical fact to face the rhetoric of socialistic jargon. And we are shielded by the truths of God’s Word against the lies of the powerful and degreed. We fight bold missions to rescue captives of negative thought, creating new warriors for truth as we do it. For any that would say they would have preferred to live in a time when more exciting things were happening, I declare this: Welcome to your Great Adventure. Welcome to your romantic battle. Welcome to the Media War!!

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5. 

   Greg Oesch

   June 13, 2009

   What sacrifice was involved, how many people, how long, and what Divine intervention did it take, being influenced by the right ideas, to create a country that has become the super influencer for freedom and good will worldwide? I see a million people being influenced, plus time, sacrifice and Divine intervention, producing positive ideological and practical change in all ages, countries, and cultures of people worldwide, because of hope inspired by positive results in health, finances and relationships, all the basic problems we face. GO TEAM!!! The future always looks bright to those who trust in the Great Creator Savior of the world. I think I have a vision for the future. I think I know the end of this story. And it is only the beginning. We didn’t come this far for nothing. I have a purpose. We all have a purpose. Thank you Chris for inspiring us to think and encouraging us to write what we think.

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