Sketching Biblical Principles for Government Debt

The U.S. federal government has run up a $1.4 trillion deficit in just the first nine months of Fiscal Year 2026, reported the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in its June 2026 “Monthly Budget Review.”  The deficit has risen from $1.2 trillion in May, putting it on track to potentially reach $2 trillion by the end of September.  That is just counting the deficit — the annual difference between revenue and expenditures — on top of a total federal government debt that now exceeds $39 trillion.

What are the impacts of this soaring deficit?  Some in Washington prefer to believe that there are none, that Uncle Sam can spend his poor nephews’ pennies in perpetuity. Others are willing to act, but only once the deficit is shown to cause practical harm. Readers of this blog may instinctually perceive that there are deeper principles of biblical wisdom and morality at play, but they would likely struggle to articulate them. This posting is this author’s inexpert attempt to do just that.

One biblical principle is that those who contract debts should try to repay them. “The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives” (Psalm 37:21).  Technically, the U.S. government has never failed to make good on its loan repayments.  Uncle Sam borrows money from Peter and promises to pay him back on a certain date, and every time he does so.  But Uncle Sam now pays back Peter by borrowing from Paul.  Uncle Sam is not paying down his debt but merely shifting it from one creditor to another.

This becomes “a vicious cycle,” observed FRC President Tony Perkins, “because as the government borrows more money, they have to pay more interest on the debt.”  Uncle Sam borrows $100 from Peter and promises to pay him back $105 on a certain date. That means Uncle Sam must borrow $105 from Paul in order to pay back Peter, eliciting a promise to pay Peter $110.25 at a future date.  And so, the cycle continues.  By merely shifting the debt around and never paying it off, the U.S. government is never able to get free from a burden of debt that only grows.

This aligns with a second principle, that debt is like a form of slavery.  “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender” (Proverbs 22:7).

Readers may have noticed above the personification of the federal government as “Uncle Sam.”  But is this really appropriate?  After all, not everything that Scripture requires of individuals is expected of governments (e.g., turning the other cheek), nor can individuals do everything a government is authorized to do (e.g., bearing the sword). But when contracting a debt, the government acts more like an individual than as a sovereign — a needy supplicant forced to agree to unfavorable terms to meet a present emergency.

In any event, the regime inevitably passes on large financial burdens to its subjects in the form of taxation.  Thus, we read, when Pharaoh Neco required tribute from Judah after the death of King Josiah, “Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh.  He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco” (2 Kings 23:35).  The biblical author does not exactly approve of this oppressive taxation from a ruler with independent wealth, but he does record that it happened.

Likewise, every dollar of debt assumed by the U.S. federal government must eventually be repaid by taxpayers — or never paid back at all.  “When we start talking about hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars, it’s sometimes hard to get our arms around that, so I prefer to break this down to the per-family cost,” economist Joel Griffith, senior fellow at Advancing American Freedom, said on “Washington Watch.”

“Two trillion dollars in borrowed money for the federal government this year … means, for each and every family, that’s another $20,000 to your family share of that national debt,” Griffith calculated.  That is not the total debt burden for each family, but the added debt burden from FY2026 alone.  “We will likely be paying about $1.2 trillion in interest payments on the debt this year.  That’s around $15,000 per family of four.”  Interest payments on the debt have already risen 13% this year, to $857 billion over nine months, according to the CBO.

Beyond the direct cost of distributing federal debt among taxpayers, Griffith identified an indirect cost to consumers that results from federal deficit spending.  When the “federal government borrows capital to run their daily operations, they’re competing with consumers and businesses for loans,” he said.  “There are a number of estimates that suggest that interest rates today are close to 1% higher than they would be, were the government not borrowing such copious amounts of money.  So, think about what that extra interest rate costs you when you’re looking to buy a house, or to purchase a vehicle.”

Prudence exhorts us to proceed cautiously when seeking to bring biblical wisdom to bear on this point.  Griffith points out effects of a policy that are indirect, unintended, and not particularly obvious to the casual observer.  Much of the Bible’s view of economic justice recoils at the horror of the powerful oppressing and mistreating their fellow image-bearers. For instance, Amos 5:11 proclaims, “Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them.” But the intensely personal force of such prophetic pronouncements seems out of place here.

Nevertheless, it is a biblical principle that leaders and those with power should consider how their actions affect those around them.  In a lengthy oracle against Israel’s leaders, Ezekiel compares them to the strongest sheep in a flock.  “Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?  And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?” (Ezekiel 34:18-19).

When leaders make life difficult for the average person, even if only through carelessness and neglect, it is a form of injustice.  And that injustice works to worsen economic conditions, further accentuating the helpless state of the poor.  “The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice” (Proverbs 13:23).

Another biblical principle is that prudence and foresight enable the one who possesses them to escape disaster.  “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it” (Proverbs 22:3; 27:12).  One might imagine a sailor who sees storm clouds approach, or an ancient traveler who ducks into a thicket while marauding raiders traipse past. A modern analogue would be the specter of rising interest rates — a threat to debt that few members of Congress seemed to heed.

“Part of the problem with the longer-term estimates that we saw just a few years ago, when we also were running large deficits, is that the Congress and even the White House advisers — and this goes for Republican and Democrat[ic] administrations — were projecting long-term interest rates on government debt being much lower,” Griffith explained.  “In your personal budget, if you owe $100,000, and you’re estimating, you’re just going to pay a 2.5 or 3% interest rate going forward, it might make it appear as if you can shoulder that burden.”  But, “when you take on a copious debt load, and then interest rates end up being much higher than you projected, that debt burden is much larger.”

Lastly, Griffith concluded, the problem facing the U.S. government is not that it does not collect enough taxes, but that it spends too much money.  According to the CBO, federal government revenue has increased by $142 billion compared to last year, but spending has increased by $178 billion.  The government is spending money faster than it can accumulate it.

In addition to rising interest payments, the other major contributor to rising costs is entitlement programs, Griffith said. “I’m in favor of DOGE.  But the bottom line with that is it only reduced federal spending by around $5 billion.  That’s out of a nearly $7-trillion-budget.  It made virtually no impact on long-term government spending,” he began.  “The difficult choices are the ones that politicians, whether Democrats or Republicans, are trying to kick down the road on entitlements.”  According to the CBO, Social Security spending increased by $62 billion compared to the same period last year, Medicare costs rose by $58 billion, and Medicaid costs rose by $49 billion, in just the first nine months of this fiscal year.

“Even if we were to put in place a 100% wealth tax — which would be, of course, immoral, unconstitutional, and it’s not going to happen even if you were to do that — this would not resolve this rampant spending problem,” Griffith argued.  “The way out of this is to allow our economy to grow.”  Thus, he praised the Trump administration for regulatory reform and tax cuts but criticized its push for tariffs and its affinity for “partially nationalizing companies.”

Yet another biblical principle is relevant here: saving is wiser than expensive living. “One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth” (Proverbs 13:7), Solomon observed.  Even more pointedly, “Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it” (Proverbs 21:20).

By its continued support for unsustainable welfare programs, the U.S. government is pretending to be rich, when in fact it is digging itself — and the American people — deeper and deeper into the hole.  The larder is empty.  Foolish policies have devoured America’s “treasure and oil.”  A course correction is inevitable, but it will involve hard, painful, and even unpopular choices clothed in humility.  That humility — humility to admit our sorry financial plight — may not come until the economic pain of suffocating debt becomes acute and unmanageable.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Social Emotional Learning or Counterfeit Gospel?

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has become one of the fastest-growing initiatives in American education.  What began as a program ostensibly intended to help students manage emotions and build healthy relationships is now embedded in the vast majority of K-12 schools, influencing classroom instruction, teacher training, school climate, and student assessments.  But is SEL as ideologically neutral as supporters claim?

Supporters describe SEL as a research-based framework to improve student well-being, reduce behavioral problems, and prepare children for success in school and life.  Few parents would object to teaching children kindness, self-control, or empathy.  Yet behind these widely accepted goals lies a deeper question that warrants careful examination: What worldview is shaping these programs, and what vision of human flourishing are they ultimately advancing?

That question is especially important for Christian parents, pastors, and educators. Every educational system teaches more than academic subjects; it also communicates beliefs about human nature, morality, identity, purpose, and transformation.  These foundational assumptions inevitably shape children’s hearts and minds.  True Christian education values both academic knowledge and biblical wisdom, as Proverbs 9:10 declares, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Children need rigorous academic fundamentals in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history, alongside spiritual truth rooted in God’s Word, not a false clinical psychology disguised as “emotional learning.”

SEL’s origins trace back to collaborative efforts in the 1990s that drew on New Age influences. The Fetzer Institute, founded by John E. Fetzer with the goal of confirming New Age beliefs through science, hosted key conferences that led to the creation of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) in 1994.  Fetzer was an avid devotee of Alice Bailey, the influential occultist and theosophist who founded Lucifer Publishing Company (later Lucis Trust) and authored “Education in the New Age,” which advocates using schools to prepare children to be global citizens under a new spiritual, eco-political world order and a spiritual hierarchy.

Daniel Goleman, author of “Emotional Intelligence,” co-founded CASEL.  Goleman and the Dalai Lama have co-authored books promoting Buddhist meditation for emotional regulation, viewing Buddhist traditions as desirable, asserting that all religions are one, and embracing Marxist economics alongside diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice (DEIJ).  The Dalai Lama’s SEE Learning (Social, Emotional, and Ethical Learning) program, developed in collaboration with Emory University, extends SEL with compassion practices rooted in his Buddhist vision for globally culturally ethical education.

The roots align with holism (interconnectivity of all entities into one universal whole) and New Age spirituality rather than biblical revelation.  As Scripture warns, “There is a way that appears to be right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

SEL serves as the “human software” for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which emphasize global peace, equity, and unity under centralized frameworks.  These goals present as benevolent, but echo Nimrod’s Babel-like vision of one world government, religion, and economy ruled by self-selected elites — contrasting with God’s design for distinct nations and families with free will (Genesis11; Acts17:26).

This U.N. model parallels Plato’s “Republic,” where philosopher-kings rule for “peace and safety,” and aligns with broader shifts toward state control over education and family life, inverting God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence through extensive surveillance and data systems.  A discipleship system offering a counterfeit gospel, SEL targets children’s souls, imposing false identities and global citizenship while undermining biblical family authority.  It mimics the gospel’s promise of transformation, peace, and community, but it delivers a false path and a destructive end.

1. Replaces Sin with Emotional Dysregulation

SEL frames human brokenness as “trauma” or “dysregulation” or other pathologies, addressed through mindfulness, not repentance, and Christ as Lord.  Healing comes through self-awareness, psychology, or pharmaceuticals, not the cross.  Scripture declares: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23; see also Isaiah 53:6; Psalm 53:2-3; Romans 5:12).

2. Offers Self-Redemption instead of Grace

Children learn “self-regulation,” “self-soothe,” and “self-actualize” — a false salvation by works, rebranded as psychology and Eastern mystical rituals.  This echoes humanism and ancient heresies such as Pelagianism (which denies original sin).  Ephesians 2:8-9 stands in opposition: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works.”

3. Substitutes Emotional Intelligence for the Holy Spirit

CASEL’s five competencies — self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making, replace the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).  These flesh-based skills cannot produce true spiritual fruit.  Jesus promised the Holy Spirit as Helper (John 14:16, 26), not competencies from fallen humanity.

4. Promotes Global Unity over God’s Kingdom

Programs like SEE Learning foster planetary citizenship and worldly universal ethics, prioritizing allegiance to a “global ethic” over Christ’s exclusive lordship.  This conflicts with Exodus 20:2-3 and James 4:4: “Friendship with the world is enmity with God.” Revelation 18:4 calls God’s people to “come out of her.”

5. Imposes a New Moral Code via DEIJ

SEL catechizes children in a redefined understanding of equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice that contradicts biblical impartial justice, holiness, and identity in Christ (Leviticus 19:15; 20:26; Romans 12:2).

6. Elevates the State/School over Family and Church

Schools become providers of basic needs, emotional support, and authority — replacing parental authority and discipleship (Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:1-4) and God’s supply (Philippians 4:19).  This fosters dependency on the state rather than the Lord as Shepherd (Psalm 23:1).

7. Replaces Sanctification with Secular Psychology

SEL uses biometric surveillance programs to assess, predict, and diagnose mental and behavioral health issues, and it employs “corrective” secular psychological methods to alter children’s identities, values, and behaviors.  The goal is generational conformity under the veneer of a harmonious global community.

SEL further imports Eastern mysticism through specific Mindfulness curricula: MindUP’s Brain Breaks (Buddhist mindfulness), body scans echoing Vipassana, and other practices that revive heresies such as Quietism, Gnosticism, and Pelagianism.  Curricula such as MindUP incorporate Buddhist Anapanasati breathing practices.

Perhaps the most advanced of the programs is MindLift, which “combine[s] Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Self-Affirmation Theory, and AI technology … to provide mental health program interventions,” with the claim that “[o]ur AI adapts to your unique needs and circumstances” to provide “inclusive support.”  In the K-12 setting, the program says it provides “a student-specific AI-powered mental health assessment and intervention platform.” This platform includes an AI-driven chatbot that assesses student mental health by “create[ing] a real-time, multimodal system that can assess mental health through the use of behavioral pattern tracking, audio tone analysis, facial expression recognition, and text sentiment interpretation.”

When AI mental health programs gain “personalized” surveillance/assessment data from another AI program and then deliver an AI-based remedial program, it is not “student-specific.” It is AI-specific.

While these are only a few of the many mindfulness programs currently used in K-12 education, all mindfulness programs share the same marketing strategy: they come equipped with expert recommendations and numerous studies, making them appear to be the answer to the growing mental health crisis facing many students today.

SEL disguises itself as neutral “well-being” but functions as a rival religion with its own creed (emotional regulation over new birth), clergy (counselors and trainers), discipleship (daily mindfulness, surveillance, and predictive diagnostics), and sacraments (journaling and breathing rituals).  Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and Paul warns against “another gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 1:6-9).

From a biblical perspective, SEL bears demonic fruit by denying sin, redefining identity apart from the Imago Dei, and offering humanist self-salvation without Christ.  It falsely promises peace and unity but leads away from the narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14). Christians must discern and reject SEL, train their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), and provide strong academic foundations paired with biblical wisdom.

A greater proportion of K-12 schools are delivering SEL training to children.  By the 2023-2024 school year, 83% of school principals reported that their schools used an SEL curriculum, up from 76% in the 2021-2022 school year.

In practice, SEL crowds out rigorous academic instruction with endless emotional processing, mindfulness exercises, and social engineering activities.  Far from building mental health, it destabilizes children by fostering emotional fragility, self-focus, and dependence on external validation and state systems rather than on resilience through Christ and disciplined learning. The result is a generation increasingly deprived of real knowledge and left more anxious, confused, and spiritually adrift.  God’s way is perfect (Psalm 18:30); His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9).

SEL is not education.  It is religious deception.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Change the Nation’s Character, and Its Politics Will Follow

Speaking to the rise of socialist candidates within the Democratic Party, House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-R) warned that “the barbarians are inside the gate.”  He went on to explain, “We are fighting right now in Congress over whether we’re going to maintain our status as a constitutional republic ... or go down this dark road of death to communism.”

The Speaker isn’t crying wolf; the threat is real.  But the battle to preserve the Republic will not ultimately be won in Congress.  There will be legislative fights.  There will be elections where your vote could determine the balance of power and whether socialist policies further undermine our freedoms.  But if the barbarians are already inside the gate, we need to ask: How did they get in?  And how do we get them out?

Congress reflects culture more than it creates it.  Laws can restrain evil, but they cannot create virtue.  A constitutional republic depends on citizens with the moral character to govern themselves and families that instill virtue in the next generation.  Culture is ultimately shaped by what people believe about God, truth, and morality.  When those foundations erode, political institutions follow.

To understand how this ideological and spiritual challenge gained traction in America, we have to look beyond politics to the forces that shape a nation’s character.

In his 1983 book “The Gravedigger File,” author and social critic Os Guinness warned that secularization was hollowing out the institution that had long guided Western civilization: the church.  As biblical faith weakened, society’s moral foundations weakened—creating a vacuum secular ideologies would inevitably fill.

A little more than a decade later, Judge Robert Bork approached the same crisis from a different direction.  In “Slouching Toward Gomorrah,” he argued that America’s moral and cultural foundations were being eroded by radical individualism and radical egalitarianism, weakening the institutions upon which constitutional government depends.  Nominated to the Supreme Court by Ronald Reagan in 1987, Bork was rejected because of his originalist view of the Constitution.  Though writing as a constitutional scholar rather than a theologian, he arrived at a remarkably similar conclusion.

So how did the barbarians get inside the gate?  Through the church’s loss of its preserving influence as the salt of the earth.  And how do we secure the gate once again?

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.”  Salt preserves what would otherwise decay. History has confirmed what Christ taught.  The decisive battle for America’s future will not ultimately be won in Congress, but in the church as it once again shapes the nation’s moral character.  Change the nation’s character, and its politics will follow.

“In God We Trust” cannot remain merely a motto etched in stone.  It must once again become the conviction written upon our hearts and reflected in how we live.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

In the Midst of a Fleeting World There Is an Unfailing Hope

Optimism is insufficient to hold you up against the harsh reality of telling your daughters you won’t be alive long enough to walk them down the aisle or letting your parents know they’ll have to bury their son, Ben Sasse shared in The Wall Street Journal late last year.

Sasse, is a 44-year-old former senator from Nebraska, who was diagnosed with metastasized, stage 4 pancreatic cancer in December 2025 and given mere months to live.  He is also a husband and father of three children.

“I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do,” Sasse said.  “As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come,” he continued.  “Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived.”

Sasse’s response to his diagnosis created shockwaves.  While optimism is insufficient for Sasse, there’s one thing that isn’t: the hope, security, and comfort found in Jesus Christ.

“We [Christians] hope in a real Deliverer — a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place,” he wrote.

For the believer, Sasse’s response is not confusing — it makes sense.  A Christian’s inheritance is the perfect peace of Christ.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (St. John 14:27).

“The way in which the former senator and his family are clinging to Christ in the midst of profound suffering is a vivid reminder for so many of us that a Christian’s hope is not rooted ultimately in favorable circumstances, but really in the character of God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” David Closson, the director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand.

In a recent survey, the American Bible Society asked respondents if they turn to the Bible when they encounter difficulties in life or if they blame God for their troubles and reject any religious expression.  The organization found an increase in Bible reading, which directly results in an increase in hope for those who have put their trust in the Lord.

“From a biblical perspective, this makes sense.  Scripture never promises that Christians will be spared suffering.  In John 16:33 Jesus tells His followers that in this world you will have tribulation,” Closson said.  “But Scripture consistently teaches that suffering has a way of stripping away false securities, and reminding us of our dependence on God, and then we could also say trials often expose the inadequacy of the other things we are tempted to trust in, such as our health, careers, finances, relationships, or sense of control.”

The report shows that those who experience difficult life circumstances and trauma are even more likely to read the Bible and rely on their faith for peace and healing than those who haven’t dealt with hardships.

“Steadfast faith does not deny the reality of pain,” Closson said.  “It rather demonstrates that suffering does not have the final word.”

Bible reading was recorded to be 48% for those who faced a life-threatening illness or injury, like Sasse, compared to 37% for those who have not.

The report also found that 38% of those dealing with a life-threatening illness or injury said that their faith was “a great source of comfort to them” as they navigated “life issues,” compared to 31% of those not experiencing a tragedy.

“The mind regulates more effectively when attention is gently anchored to something safe, meaningful and true,” Joanna Hargreaves, a Christian psychotherapist, posted. “Regular Biblical Meditation soothes your amygdala.  The amygdala is your brain’s alarm system triggering fear, stress, and anger.”

It is the natural tendency of the heart of the believer to turn to God in the midst of trials and tribulations.  It is a mark of spiritual health to lean on the promises of eternity found in God’s word rather than looking to the world for comfort during times of impossible pain.

Closson also observed that unique opportunities for gospel ministry are presented when people are confronted with their own mortality.  “As believers, we should be prepared to meet those moments with compassion and care and share the hope that’s ultimately found in the gospel,” he argued.  “This report confirms something that Christians have believed for centuries, which is that while God does not waste suffering, he often does use it to draw people closer to himself.”

Because of sin, we live in a world where dads lose their lives to cancer too early, where divorce is common, and confusion about gender and sexuality runs rampant.

“The testimony of many believers is the suffering that has become the very context in which the promises of God become most precious.  Bible passages that maybe seemed abstract in times of ease suddenly become more personal when read from a hospital room or while caring for a sick loved one,” Closson mused.

Take heart, for I have overcome the world, Jesus tells His followers.  He calls us not to be discouraged.  Sasse is a living example of what it means to embrace this.  Amid the trial, he understands what we could all benefit from as a reminder: though we live in a fleeting world, there is an unfailing hope.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Look at the Evidence on the Abortion Pill

In his address to the nation on election integrity, President Donald Trump declassified compelling evidence that America’s elections are vulnerable to manipulation, from noncitizens voting to foreign interference.  The president argued that the evidence demands action by Congress to protect one of the most sacred rights of American citizens, the right to vote.

The principle applies elsewhere.  When the evidence is clear, it demands action.

Compelling evidence of a different kind was presented this past week during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing for Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche. More proof was presented that unborn babies are losing their lives through the abortion drug mifepristone, and increasingly, the drug is being obtained through the mail by men who secretly administer it to the mothers of their unborn children.

AL Senator Katie Britt (R) recounted the story of Jona Affholder.  After Jona refused to abort her baby, her boyfriend, Hassan-James Abbas, an Ohio medical resident, allegedly used his ex-wife’s identifying information to obtain abortion pills online to poison Jona and kill their unborn child.  As Senator Britt observed, “Her story is one of many.”

Last month, Army Captain Brandon Jones-Adams was convicted of secretly placing mifepristone into the drink of a junior enlisted soldier he had impregnated, causing the death of their unborn child.

These are not isolated crimes.  They expose the deadly consequences of policies making abortion drugs easier to obtain through the mail with fewer safeguards and less accountability.

Why was this evidence presented during the Attorney General’s confirmation hearing? Because the Department of Justice (DOJ) has the authority to reverse one of the key policies making this possible.

Following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022, the Biden Administration sought to undermine the decision by expanding access to chemical abortion.  It relaxed the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), removing the long-standing requirement for in-person dispensing and medical oversight.

But another obstacle remained: the Comstock Act, an 1873 federal law prohibiting the use of our mail system to send articles intended for abortion.  Rather than enforce that law, the Biden Justice Department issued an opinion concluding that abortion drugs could be mailed unless the sender specifically intended an illegal abortion.  In effect, the government said, “Presume lawful use and ask no questions.”

That DOJ opinion remains in effect today under the Trump Administration.  Unlike the FDA’s REMS policy, which is being challenged in court, the DOJ can withdraw and replace that opinion without waiting for Congress or the courts.

The evidence also shows these cases are part of a much larger trend.  Since Dobbs, abortions have increased by roughly 20% nationwide, with the abortion pill now accounting for approximately 65%.

The evidence demands action.  If evidence of election vulnerabilities justifies action to protect the right to vote, then evidence that existing federal law is being ignored to the detriment of women, unborn children, and the laws of nearly half the states demands action as well. President Trump should direct the DOJ to review the Comstock Act, withdraw the Biden policy, and enforce the law as Congress enacted it.

If safeguarding the right to vote is fundamental, and it is, safeguarding the right to life is foundational.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The New Name for the UMC—Ichabod

A common trope from classic cartoons featured characters sawing off the tree limb on which they were standing.  Last month, the United Methodist Church (UMC) tried to pull the same stunt in real life.  At a closed-door meeting in Nashville, TN, from June 17-18, the UMC University Senate decided to remove Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY, and Northeastern Seminary in Rochester, NY, from its approved list of seminaries.

The UMC University Senate is the denomination’s organ for determining which institutions of higher education meet the criteria for affiliation with the UMC.  It is comprised of 27 voting members, who are elected from among faculty at UMC-affiliated institutions and who meet twice yearly.

“The decision to delist both institutions followed findings from their respective quadrennial reviews, which included an examination of the curriculum and direct dialogue with institutional leadership,” said Roland Fernandes, a top executive for the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, which assists the University Senate.  “The University Senate’s decision is intended to ensure that United Methodist candidates for ministry are formed in settings clearly aligned with United Methodist teachings, theology, leadership and values.”

“The Senate’s requirements, particularly those related to the UMC’s 2024 Social Principles concerning ‘Human Sexuality’ and ‘Marriage,’ are not aligned with Asbury Theological Seminary’s institutional ethos and the historic witness of the Christian faith,” responded Asbury Theological Seminary President David Watson on June 25.  “We affirm marriage as sanctioned by God, which joins one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union for life, as delineated in Scripture, and provides the sole context for sexual intimacy, helping to ensure the blessings of that relationship as God intended.”

Asbury Seminary’s “Ethos” also affirms “God’s design for holy living” and “that Scripture clearly prohibits certain acts, including but not limited to … engaging in sexual relations outside the bonds of marriage (including but not limited to premarital sex, adultery, and same-sex sexual behavior).”

On the issue of transgenderism, “We believe God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as either male or female,” Asbury declares.  “We do not affirm theologically the adoption of a psychological identity discordant with one’s birth sex as a result of the tension between one’s biological sex and one’s experience of gender.  Similarly, we do not affirm attempts to change one’s given biological birth sex via medical intervention in favor of the identity of the opposite sex or of an indeterminate identity.”

This stand on biblical principles is part of the reason why “Asbury Theological Seminary was first approved in 1946 by The Methodist Church, one of the predecessor bodies of the UMC, to educate those seeking ordination.  Beginning in 1981, Asbury Theological Seminary received approval from The United Methodist Church.”  The university was only founded in 1923, meaning that it has been affiliated with the UMC for most of its institutional history.

Strangely, however, the denomination seems to be drifting into liberalism more rapidly than the seminaries — reversing the ordinary trend.  Since 1972, the UMC had affirmed that “the practice of homosexuality… is incompatible with Christian teaching.”  But, in 2024, the United Methodist General Conference removed that language from its Social Principles, redefining marriage “within the church” as “a sacred, lifelong covenant” of “two people of faith, an adult man and woman of consenting age, or two adult persons of consenting age.”

The UMC’s updated Social Principles also declares that “Human sexuality is … expressed in wonderfully diverse ways from birth to death” and “shaped by a combination of nature and nurture.”  It continues, “We further honor the diversity of choices and vocations in relation to sexuality.”  To further signal their cultural capitulation, the document also recognizes “that families come in a variety of sizes and forms.”

With regard to transgenderism, the UMC now states, “We support both gender equality and gender diversity as important goals” and “promote the leadership of all people, regardless of gender.  We also urge governments, businesses, and civil society to enact laws and policies to ensure that all members of society are afforded equal access, opportunities and protections.”

These ethical statements differed so sharply from the biblical ones expressed by Asbury that the UMC decided it could no longer associate itself with the school.

The UMC’s 2024 revision of its principles to approve homosexuality and transgenderism is directly traceable to the 2022 schism in American Methodism, which resulted in the liberal churches kicking out orthodox congregations.  From 2019 to 2023, more than a quarter of UMC churches left the UMC to either become independent or to join the new conservative alternative, the Global Methodist Church (GMC).

According to its website, “The Global Methodist Church exists to spread scriptural holiness across the globe and to carry forward the faith once delivered to the saints.” The UMC apparently stands for this faith no longer.

No symbol of the UMC’s decline into liberalism is more poignant than its dissociation from Asbury Seminary.  The school was founded in 1923 in a conservative response to the growing liberalism in older Methodist seminaries.  Ironically, this time it was the seminary that stayed faithful, while the denomination strayed into a theological mush indistinguishable from the culture.

The school is named after Francis Asbury, a prominent Methodist preacher during the Second Great Awakening.  From its theological roots to its recent revival, Asbury (both the university and seminary) retains the Wesleyan tradition’s spirit of holiness and obedience to Scripture.

In other words, Asbury has stuck to its guns, which makes it different from the culture at large. That very difference makes it attractive.

The UMC’s total break with Asbury Seminary will have a minimal immediate impact on either institution.  The UMC currently runs 13 seminaries and has approved education at 25 other schools.  Asbury associates with dozens of denominations, and only 9% of its student population is affiliated with the UMC.  These students (and any starting this fall) will be grandfathered into the UMC.  Meanwhile, Asbury remains approved in the GMC and other denominations.

Nor will the change make much difference to Asbury in the long run.  “Our theological commitments, including our commitment to Scripture, remain unchanged,” Asbury President Watson pledged.  “As an independent, multi-denominational seminary in the Wesleyan tradition, we have remained steadfast for more than a century in teaching the unchanging truth of orthodox Christianity.  Our mission and values are the same today as they have been for more than a century.”

However, the decision may have a great long-term impact on the UMC.  By cutting its future ministers off from one remaining light that holds to the true gospel, the UMC has stifled the possibility that a conservative minority might remain to object to further leftward slide.  With this move, the UMC may have hastened its decline.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Seduction of Artificial Certainty

A pastor and Christian author recently described an experiment that left him deeply unsettled.  While researching church history and biblical doctrine, he spent hours questioning two of today’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) systems.  Their answers arrived almost instantly. They were articulate, persuasive, supported with hyperlinks, and delivered with remarkable confidence.

Then he did what every careful researcher should do.  He opened the cited sources.

In case after case, the references did not support the claims AI had confidently presented. Some sources were incomplete; others were mischaracterized.  In one exchange, the AI offered three different answers to the same question, each with its own supporting citations — then admitted, after repeated challenges, that it could find no reliable evidence for any of them.

His conclusion was not that AI is useless.  Quite the opposite.  It proved remarkably helpful in organizing information and accelerating research.  His concern was simpler — and far more important.

“How many people,” he asked, “would simply accept the first answer as fact without ever checking the sources?”

That question deserves the attention of every Christian.

In the spring of 2025, OpenAI publicly acknowledged that one of its flagship AI models had grown “overly supportive but disingenuous,” and withdrew the update after concluding it had optimized too heavily for user approval rather than truthful responses. Nearly a year later, researchers from Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University published a peer-reviewed study in Science examining 11 leading AI models.  Stanford’s own report on the research found that the systems affirmed users’ actions 49% more often than human respondents did, even in situations involving deception or morally questionable conduct, and that users who received the more agreeable answers grew more convinced they were right.

Researchers call this phenomenon what is now known as AI sycophancy.

Christians should recognize it immediately.  The issue is not simply AI. The issue is human nature.

From the Garden of Eden onward, Scripture has warned that the greatest spiritual dangers rarely announce themselves as obvious lies.  They come clothed in plausibility. They sound reasonable.  They flatter our assumptions.  They reassure us precisely when we most need correction.

The serpent did not begin by openly denying God.  He began by questioning God’s word and offering an attractive alternative: “Did God actually say...?”  The temptation succeeded not because it was outrageous, but because it sounded convincing.

The Apostle John warned believers to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1), because persuasive falsehood would always outnumber the obvious kind. Paul cautioned that a day would come when people would accumulate teachers who told them what they wanted to hear rather than what they needed to hear (2 Timothy 4:3-4). The Bereans responded differently.  They listened carefully and even to the Apostle Paul, but then searched the Scriptures daily to determine whether what they had heard was true (Acts 17:11).

Notice the pattern: Scripture seldom warns us about ridiculous falsehoods.  It repeatedly warns us about persuasive ones.

AI has introduced a new dimension to this ancient temptation.

Never before have billions of people had immediate access to a conversational system capable of speaking confidently on almost any subject.  It can summarize books, explain theological positions, compare historical events, and organize enormous amounts of information within seconds.

These are remarkable capabilities, but they are not wisdom.

Modern AI excels at retrieving information, recognizing patterns, and generating persuasive language.  It possesses no conscience.  It cannot repent.  It cannot worship. It cannot pray.  It cannot receive the illumination of the Holy Spirit.  Most importantly, it cannot exercise biblical discernment.  That distinction matters because Christians now turn to AI not merely for information but for guidance.

Questions once directed to pastors, parents, teachers, or trusted Christian friends are now posed to algorithms.

“What does the Bible teach?”

“How should I respond to this conflict?”

“What should I believe?”

These questions require more than information.  They require wisdom.

Solomon understood the difference.  When God invited him to ask for anything, he did not request more information or greater knowledge.  He asked for wisdom to govern God’s people rightly (1 Kings 3:9).

Information has always been abundant.  Wisdom remains a gift from God.

To be fair, the AI industry recognizes this challenge.  OpenAI’s public rollback demonstrates that researchers are actively trying to reduce excessive agreeableness. Engineers understand that systems designed primarily to satisfy users may unintentionally reinforce false assumptions rather than challenge them.  Their efforts deserve encouragement.

Even so, the larger spiritual challenge will remain.

AI systems will keep growing more articulate, more personalized, and more deeply woven into daily life.  They will come to resemble trusted counselors rather than search engines — their reasoning ever deeper, their confidence ever more convincing.

The greatest danger may not be that AI becomes more intelligent.  It may be that human beings become less discerning.

Use AI.  Appreciate its remarkable capabilities.  Allow it to accelerate research and broaden your understanding.  But never surrender your discernment to it.

Before accepting an answer, weigh it against Scripture and historic Christian teaching, verify the sources, and bring it before God in prayer.  Seek the counsel of mature believers who can test what a machine cannot.  The Holy Spirit convicts, guides, and sanctifies.  An algorithm only predicts words.

The pastor eventually uncovered the errors because he refused to stop at the machine’s first answer.  He examined the evidence.  He tested the sources.  He kept asking questions until the truth emerged.  That is precisely what the Bereans did nearly 2,000 years ago.

AI may become one of history’s greatest research assistants.  It must never become the Christian’s final authority.

The oldest temptation has never been merely believing a lie.  It has been accepting a persuasive voice without testing it against God’s truth.

Listen: AI did not create that temptation.  It has simply digitized it.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

U.S. Population on Track to Shrink by 2054

The U.S. population is already close to peaking and will begin to shrink in less than 25 years unless urgent action is taken to reverse the country’s rapidly collapsing birth rate, according to a newly released in-depth demographic study.

Recently, the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) released a thorough analysis of fertility data stretching back to the 1800s, finding that the U.S.’s current record low birth rate of 1.6 children per woman has caused the country to enter “its third historic period of extended below-replacement-rate fertility.”  “Importantly,” the report emphasizes, “this current period of decline is already longer than previous declines, has fallen to lower lows, and is more widely shared around the country.”

If current fertility trends continue to drop at their current rate, the IFS report warns, the U.S. population will peak at around 351 million in the year 2054 — “decades ahead of forecasts.” However, “if fertility rates stabilize, population will peak around 366 million and begin declining in the 2080s.”

The report was released just a week after news broke that America’s cousin across the pond has already begun depopulating, with deaths in the U.K. now outnumbering births for the first time in 50 years.  The country’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) has predicted “450,000 more deaths than births over the next decade,” with the U.K.-based Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) observing that despite the vast majority of British women expressing the desire to have children, “three million women aged 16 to 45 were projected not to have children.”

As highlighted by the IFS report, this same phenomenon is currently occurring in the U.S. as well.  “[T]he gap between actual fertility rates and the number of children Americans report desiring is rising to high levels,” with surveys showing that “Americans incorrectly think they will have about 2 children each and aspire to have 2.4 children each” when the actual birth rate is currently at 1.6 children per woman.

Experts say the demographic consequences of the dwindling fertility rate will be severe. “According to our modelling, the U.S. population will peak in the 2050s, followed by a precipitous decline, if fertility trends continue,” Peter Foreshaw Brookes, a research associate at IFS and coauthor of the new report, told The Washington Stand.  “As of 2025, over 65s already required over three times as much spending per head as the population average, but the number of over 65s will only continue to increase under current trends.  With falling working age populations, there will be fewer young innovators and entrepreneurs enabling the productivity growth needed to support a growing elderly population with fewer young people.”

The outlook for the U.K. is even more dire, according to CSJ’s Sophie Ladd. “England is set to have 300,000 fewer nursery and primary pupils by 2030, which is roughly 1,150 schools’ worth of children,” she noted in an email shared with TWS.  “This isn’t just affecting families but also putting jobs at risk with an estimated 34,000 to disappear as a result.  And to add to the situation, the OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility] warns public debt could reach 270% of GDP by the 2070s as the costs of an ageing population mount.”

Still, Ladd believes that the birth rate in the U.K. can be boosted in part by government funding reforms, including “frontloading support to the early years, cutting wedding admin costs, and reforming tax to reflect the cost of raising children” as well as reforming pension funding in order to “redirect resources toward young families.”

The IFS report also argues that lawmakers in the U.S. can find effective ways to encourage larger families, including baby bonuses that won’t “break the bank.” “[G]enerous baby bonuses worth five or six figures can be paid for with less than 1% of the federal budget; in fact, they’re cheaper than recently proposed child care or parental leave expansions,” the report argues.  Other pro-natal policies mentioned include child caregiver credits, marriage tax law reforms, and increasing the construction of family-friendly housing.

Most experts say that a cultural shift toward having more kids is more likely to reverse the birth dearth than policy reforms.  The IFS report notes that “peer culture is a key factor associated with fertility,” explaining that having “very helpful versus relatively unsupportive friends can increase desired family size for young Americans by nearly an entire child per family and can increase couple intentions to have another child by about 10 percentage points.”  Additionally, a pro-family celebrity culture is also important, with the report stating that “fans of celebrities who have more kids themselves want to have more children as well.”  “[A]n admired celebrity having one extra child may increase an individual’s desired family size by as much as 0.15 children,” the research found.

At the end of the day, IFS’s Brookes argues, “It’s also easy to forget that this is a human tragedy: low fertility means fewer people having the children they would like to have (putting them at greater risk of depression) and fewer lives lived.”

“But there are lots of things we can do to address the fertility freefall and support people to have the children they would like to have,” he underscored.  “Many have suggested that there is a conflict between cultural and economic solutions, but we at the IFS think that this is a false dichotomy.  Our report talks about the importance of cultural role models and supportive friends at the same time as pioneering a proposal that would bestow large financial support for future generations of parents at a sustainable fiscal cost.”

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Education As It Was Meant to Be

The purpose of education has been strategically redefined—one of the greatest tragedies of our nation’s 250-year history.  We have abandoned the moral formation of children in favor of an institutional process mandated by the state.

Dictionaries record how a culture understands its words.  By tracing the definition of education across two centuries, we see far more than changing language—we witness a profound philosophical shift in our culture.

Our forefathers understanding of education stands in stark contrast to that of today’s leaders. The evolving definition of education reveals how far we have drifted.

The Original Intent of Education

In 1828, 52 years after the founding of the United States of America, Noah Webster published an all-encompassing definition of education for our new republic. It read:

“Education comprehends that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.”

The priorities could not be clearer.  The formation of the heart was of utmost concern. Knowledge was inseparable from moral formation.  How children interacted with others was paramount.  Preparing children for their purpose in life was the goal.  And parents were directly responsible for the education of their children.

A decade later, Horace Mann (the “father of public schools”) introduced a new perspective on education that de-emphasized biblical teaching of morals in favor of a more universal understanding.  That shift laid the groundwork for the institution to increasingly replace Scripture as the primary moral authority in public education (and would ultimately reshape the definition of education itself).

In 1864, Webster’s refined and clarified the definition:

“Education, properly a drawing forth, implies not so much the communication of knowledge as the discipline of the intellect, the establishment of the principles, and the regulation of the heart.”

This understanding remained anchored in biblical teachings of the heart as the wellspring of thought, behavior, attitudes, and affection.  The “communication of knowledge” was not dismissed as unimportant, only incomplete by itself.

Knowledge answers the question, “What can I do?”  Principles answer the more important question, “What should I do?”

Facts could fill the mind, but they could not direct a life.

The Rise of Progressive Education

As public education expanded, the shift Mann initiated gained momentum.  We moved further away from the Bible as the foundational textbook and increasingly turned to the works of psychologists.

The “father of progressive education,” John Dewey, gave us “Democracy and Education” in 1916.  While many of his assertions had merit, the underpinning of his beliefs rested on assumptions contrary to Scripture.

Influenced by Charles Darwin and the pragmatic psychology of William James, whose writings laid the groundwork for the concept of self-esteem, Dewey argued that education should be grounded in human reason rather than biblical truth.  It is no surprise he was one of the 34 original signatories of the 1933 “Humanist Manifesto.”

With Dewey’s proclamation that “the educational process has no end beyond itself,” the purpose of education shifted to the transmission of information rather than the acquisition of wisdom.  By the 1940s, progressive education had become firmly established, widening the formation gap between intellectual development and the education of the heart.

Meanwhile, Webster’s retained the original intent of education in condensed form.  The 1940 edition defined education as:

“the training up of youth for their station in life in the areas of mental, physical, and moral development.”

The Acceleration of Change

As education moved further from its original intent, heart formation was relegated to the margins.  Children were given facts and figures without moral anchors.  More information, less wisdom.

The 1950s launched a wave of educational programs to improve academic achievement and manage behavioral issues.  While a few were beneficial, others caused profound changes that left disappointing — if not devastating — consequences.  The old adage, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything,” aptly describes the continual reinvention of modern education.

In 1966, Webster’s adopted a more mechanical definition of education.  Education was now defined as:

“the systematic study of the problems, methods, and theories of teaching and learning.”

Any mention of the heart disappeared.

Philosophical Shift in Our Culture

Today, Webster’s 2026 edition defines education as:

“the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning in schools.”

This modern definition is not the cause of our educational decline; it is the evidence of it. All process, no purpose.  It explains how education operates but not why it exists.  The question is no longer, “Who is this child becoming?” but “What does this child know?”

We fill the mind and forget the heart.

Listen: Without heart knowledge, head knowledge is dangerous.

The results speak for themselves.  We are producing generations more informed than ever, yet increasingly anxious, divided, disrespectful, and uncertain of who they are. Information alone cannot cultivate integrity.  Knowledge cannot produce self-control. Academic success cannot substitute for moral wisdom.

Long before Noah Webster, Scripture taught that the attitudes, desires, convictions, and loves of the heart determine how knowledge is received and used.  (read Proverbs 4:23, Luke 6:45, and Matthew 15:18-19)

The heart is not peripheral to education.  It is the foundation.

If we hope to reverse the troubling trajectory of our children and our nation, we must restore education as it was meant to be:

“…to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations.  To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.”

Perhaps the greatest question facing America after 250 years is not whether we can improve education.  Rather, it is whether we have the courage to reclaim it.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Restoring the American Dream from Myth to Reality

For generations, an ordinary and flourishing American life was beautifully simple — work hard, buy a home, raise a family, and retire comfortably.  It wasn’t a utopian fantasy, it wasn’t just some dream, it was a reliable and easily calculated reality.

Today that feels like a distant and outdated relic.  For the modern-day family, the markers that once defined a stable, self-reliant adulthood have been priced far out of reach.  We are witnessing a breakdown of the traditional dynamic of reward for hard work.  The math no longer adds up for the working class.

The American Dream’s erosion can be tracked through several abysmal economic shifts over the last couple decades.  The trajectory of the housing market is evident of this: in the 1960s, the average cost of a home was about twice the average annual salary. Today, that stability is gone, with the average home costing nearly six times the average income.  What once was a normal milestone for the average worker to achieve in their 20s is now a debt trap that levies decades of financial strain.

Higher education has adopted an even more predatory direction.  Tuition, which at one point consisted of a mere couple hundred dollars, allowed students to work a summer job and independently work their way through school.  Today, that same degree will cost a student tens of thousands of dollars, ensnaring young Americans in excessive debt before they make their first paycheck.

The most devastating consequence, however, is felt inside the home.  A singular income traditionally had supported a family.  Now, it commonly takes two full-time jobs just to scrape by.  The once-normal traditional family structure has been severely strained as parents are forced out of necessity to spend more time working to outpace inflation than raising their own children.

The events that have led us here are in no way accidental.  They are the direct result of a series of catastrophic policy shifts.  From Richard Nixon’s fateful 1971 decision to suspend the conversion of the dollar into gold, launching runaway inflation, to George W. Bush’s decision to admit during the 2008 financial crisis that “the market is not functioning properly,” government intervention has distorted the natural economy.

If we want to preserve the foundation of our nation, the crisis must be understood in the context of the structural problem that it is.  A reality in which American families can flourish requires four essential policy shifts:

The first is building more housing.  You can’t have affordable living if government red tape stifles the construction of new homes.  Local zoning laws, slow permitting processes, and other bureaucratic hurdles all choke the housing supply and drive-up prices.  Practical solutions require reform in zoning, permits, and more supply so that the market has a chance to naturally correct itself.

Second is fixing the education pipeline. The cultural myth that every American needs a traditional degree to achieve a good life must be debunked.  Higher education has evolved into an inordinately expensive, ideologically-captured gatekeeper.  Trade schools must be expanded, tangible skill sets should be rewarded, and student loans should be directly tied to real-world career outcomes instead of academic accolades.

Third, attack health care costs head-on.  The current American health care system is riddled with a lack of regulatory capture that protects corporate middlemen while costing patients.  Real price transparency, increased market competition, and bringing an end to the regulatory protection that keep consumer prices high are what’s needed to restore trust in private institutions and encourage human flourishing.

Lastly, hard work must be rewarded again.  The middle class carries most of our system’s economic burdens.  A pivot must take place in government policy that backs the lowering of the tax burden on middle-class families, encourages the growth of small businesses, and cultivates economic environments where upward mobility is framed as entirely possible, not unattainable.

“The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man.  The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become,” President Ronald Reagan once said.

The American Dream was never convoluted and has always been based in simple logic. It rested on a stable framework that prioritized honest effort yielding a predictable reward — a reward that encourages thriving families and dynamic self-governing social groups. It worked once, and it will work again.  But it won’t just happen by accident.  A dismantling of the bureaucratic hurdles hindering the next generation is inevitable — and when it happens, that dream will become reality again.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel