On Fridays, we bring you the best of our blog and the best of the web. This week’s roundup includes a Christian response to Hurricane Sandy, a conservative response to poverty, a more meaningful ending to “The Hunger Games” and more.
1. Help Without Hesitating: Brian Fikkert lays out a clear plan for how churches can provide immediate, helpful relief to the communities hurt by Hurricane Sandy.
A timely response is crucial. The victims cannot wait weeks while churches try to think of what they should do and how they can secure funding. Disaster preparedness is essential. What financial, material, and human resources does your church have at its disposal?2. Are entitlements corrupting America?: Grounded in Nicholas Eberstadt’s book, “A Nation of Takers,” this Seussian video depicts the dangerous dependency of entitlements and the importance of liberty. 3. Speaking into the Silence: Conservatives and Poverty: Josh Good unpacks the vision for a conservative response to poverty that Paul Ryan recently expressed in his speech at Cleveland State University.
Congressman Ryan’s speech identifies two important problems. First, despite unprecedented federal anti-poverty spending, “poverty is winning.” Instead of government programs creating a basic safety net (which the vast majority of Americans support), our anti-poverty programs are increasingly becoming a way of life—and one that impedes individuals and communities from flourishing.4. How “The Hunger Games” Should Have Ended: Jaqueline Otto delivers a final addition to our Hunger Games series, finishing the novel with a more meaningful ending.
This is what you think it is! A long-time-coming contribution to the alternate endings of this summer’s featured Hunger Games Round Up. I’ve been very vocal about my opinions, saying in a previous post that “the idea of ‘The Hunger Games’ had the potential of being something truly meaningful, yet Collins wasted her pages on petty teenage drama.”5. Months after Graduation, Struggles Continue: Mike Kubinec sees the difficulty college grads have finding a job in the country’s stalled economy and traces it to one source: economic freedom.
But the current state of employment among young Americans not only coincides with the onset of the financial crisis—it also corresponds with America’s fall in economic freedom. Even though the recession that started in 2007 has technically ended, young graduates continue to experience difficulties transitioning into the workplace. This situation will not improve until we begin to regain our economic freedom.
