State of Oregon - Measure 118

Vote ‘NO’ on Measure 118.

This will increase the taxes on businesses and corporations in Oregon. It is a sales tax! The additional costs (taxes) will increase the cost of goods and services in Oregon. The companies cannot, and will not, absorb the higher taxes. These costs will be added to the prices of the goods you purchase.

Many companies and establishments will be forced to close down. Their sales will drop to the point they can no longer stay in business.

One of the evils of this measure is the legislature is bribing you. They say their will bring in so much money that you will get a tax rebate. Your cost of living will jump up because of the increased taxes - and they will give it back to you. Yeah! Right! This is a bait-and-switch promise. There may be a rebate after the first year, but then the Legislature will absorb all that money to increase the budgets of the state funded activities. And guess what - there just isn’t any left for you the tax payer.

Vote ‘NO’ on Measure 118.

State of Oregon - Measure 117

Vote ‘NO’ on Measure 117.

The main effect of this measure is to steal your vote!

In our present system, whichever candidate gets the most votes tallied, wins. It may not be a majority, especially if there is more than one candidate. It’s been done this way for many years, probably since the start of our nation. I understand that my candidate may not win. I can accept that (I may not like it, but at least my vote was ‘heard’).

In the proposed new system, if no candidate gets a majority of the votes, there is a complicate process that determines the ‘winner’. It works something like this: a committee takes the votes cast for the last place and shifts them to the next-to-last place candidate. You, the voter, have no say in this! This process is repeated until a candidate is bequeathed enough votes to have a majority is reached. Got that? Someone for whom you did not vote now has your vote to make a majority. My vote is taken from me and handed to another.

The opportunity for election fraud and cheating is too easy to ignore. Who knows what machinations will occur behind those closed doors? This is so complicated the government is going to spend millions of dollars to devise the system and to ‘educate’ us.

Why would you be surprised is fraud is perpetrated? Doesn’t this sound suspiciously like the way the Democrats decided who their presidential candidate would be? A person who did not win a single nomination election or a single vote cast was handed the presidential candidacy, while actual candidate was shoved aside.

Another reason to vote “NO” - the City of Portland is adopting this balloting system to elect their new governing body. If the City of Portland likes it, it must be bad.

By-the-way: A run-off election between the top two voted-for candidates in the field is simple and cheaper than this monstrosity. Plus, you will know your vote is counted - win or lose.

Vote ‘NO’ on Measure 117.

State of Oregon - Measure 116

Vote ‘NO’ on Measure 116.

This ballot measure provides for an ‘independent’ commission to set salaries for some of Oregon’s public officials - Governor, Secretary of State, etc. There are no checks and balances for this commission. The Legislature has no recourse or input on the commission decisions. The salaries set by the commission take place immediately, without review.

This is a power grab. There is no one or nothing to stop the setting of exorbitant salary increases.

Vote ‘NO’ on Measure 116.

State of Oregon - Measure 115

Vote ‘YES’ on Measure 115.

It provides of impeachment of state government officials that mirrors the U.S. Constitution.

Moral State of Our Leaders

Reading the Bible recently, in 1st and 2nd Kings, there is a main theme running through these historical writings: The moral state of the king directs or determines moral state of the people. The spiritual nature of the leaders is seen in the populace. The people follow the king’s lead. For example, king Jehoram “did what was evil in the Lord’s sight”. The king set up worship of idols of false gods! The people began to worship, nationwide, the idols, so the nation slid into evil.

Note: the religious leaders did little to try to stop the descent of the nation into sin. To be sure, there were prophets who spoke out to “turn from their wickedness and their wicked ways”. Occasionally there were towns or cities who did not follow when the king turned against God. For example, the town of Libnah did not approve the king turning to worshipping idols, and did not do the same. The kings and priests did not heed the prophets’ warnings.

This behavior was not (and still is not ) limited to Israel and Judah. Now this principle - people follow their leaders in all cultures are nations, to this very day. Leaders who operate without regard to the Lord and His ways rule with harshness, terror, and death.

This is a truism for all civilizations. Seldom, if ever, do the people rise up and demand to be led better. Looking at history, kingdoms and tribes on every continent have devolved into evil and damaging practices - both religious and secular.

For example, the Aztec empire was one of torture and death - early explorers found huge mounds of bones and skeletons surrounded their ‘temple’. In the Middle East, the nations’ religious ceremonies sacrificed their children, killing and burning them. In the Greek pantheon of gods, cult prostitutes were common. Rome was especially cruel in the way they treated subjects - the ‘Circus’ was battles between prisoners, and was famous for the statement, “We who are about to die salute you” - ‘games’ in the coliseum with killing, death, and crucifixion of any who would oppose their rule.

The French Revolution ended in a brutal war, with beheadings (including their queen and several of the leaders of the revolution). During the ‘Great Enlightenment’ there were riots, murders, the rebels turning on each other, death by guillotine with crowds cheering at each grisly death.

And then there is everyone’s bogeyman - Hitler - who turned a mostly peaceful nation into a horrifying Nazi regime which sent people to death camps. Plus look at any communist nation with millions and millions and millions of people killed by their godless leaders.

You might say we have grown and matured. Really? It isn’t hard to find cruelty and awful practices all around us. Consider the criminal gangs and cartels in South America and Mexico. The feckless leaders in Canada are not beacons of hope and morals.

Our country is being led by people who do not do right. We do not have a king, but the President is our national leader, mostly secular; but in truth, the actions of the President (or Vice-President) display the spiritual depravity of the USA’s leaders. No longer do they feign to do right while going in the wrong direction. They openly and brazenly lie. Our news organizations do not call attention to the truth. This is a version of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’. We are told they are doing a wonderful job, except it is not a story, but is deadly and dangerous. We hear, “He is the smartest, sharpest president in our history” (paraphrased), as we watch him stumble and bumble and stare blankly into space. We are told, “This is the best economy in 100 years”, except the cost of every thing is 15-50% higher than four years ago. Another lie, “The mask will protect you from Covid,” when you know the virus would have to be the size of a golf ball to be stopped by those paper masks. How about the call for ‘reproductive rights’? These boil down to ‘let us kill your babies!’ We are descending from off-base or wrong, down to corruption and open evil. And not the least is the ‘sexual revolution’ where we see our children being groomed to perversion, or mutilated and permanently harmed trying to turn boys to girls, or vice-versa.

These are not isolated incidents. These are just a few examples of the corruption and depredation that is happening right now in our

We do not need to follow these leaders who would take us away from Judea-Christian principles. We need to speak up, stand up and let people know there is a better way to live. We are all sinners and in need of Jesus Christ in our lives. It is important for us to be heard in the public square, and championing life through Jesus Christ.

We have a great opportunity. Some polls and surveys have shown that the USA is becoming more and more unchurched, or unaffiliated with churches. Perhaps the largest ‘church’ in our nation is worship of self. I don’t know if people are merely unchurched and uninterested in having a religious faith, or if they are becoming hostile to Christianity. I do believe the modern media - both entertainment and news - are working hard to turn people against the church. That is our opportunity - to share Christ and what He has done for us personally. It’s not about church, but it’s all about Jesus Christ.