Randy

SaveCalifornia.com Blog//

Archives for the ‘Money’ Category

Time for California conservatives to come out of the closet

Friday, December 7, 2018, 3:35 pm | Randy Thomasson

It’s spiritually dark in California. Are you motivated to bring out your moral “flashlight”? Because average people desperately need the light that you shine with SaveCalifornia.com.

First, because there’s an aggressive new attack on your moral and family values

Two powerful, wealthy homosexual activists in California are launching a two-prong war to try to scare people of faith into silence.

Homosexual-activist TV producer Ryan Murphy says he’ll spend millions of dollars in his goal to defeat family-values candidates and elect pro-perversity replacements, in California and around the nation. And Tim Cook, the homosexual-activist head of Apple, says he’s increasing his censorship of “those who push hate [and] division” from Apple’s platforms.

Yet I ask, what about those who hate truth, hate facts, and hate pro-family people that leftists call “haters?” And what about liberals who try to “divide out” moral Americans and ostracize them? In their tyrannical attack upon free speech, these homosexual activists are showing their hypocrisy. They want their First Amendment, but want to deny you your American birthright.

These tyrannical attacks remind me of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi government oppressing and persecuting the European Jews. Remember, before being deported to concentration camps where 5-6 million Jews were killed, the Jews living under “The Third Reich” suffered nine years of increasing, systematic elimination of their basic rights. Their free speech, religious rights, political rights, business rights, consumer choices, education choices — all gone.

Similarly, homosexual-transsexual activists want to eliminate your constitutional rights (religious freedom, free speech, freedom to petition and protest) and your pre-constitutional rights (ownership rights, parental rights, etc.) Ultimately, they want to shut you up — so they’ll never hear the loving, rescuing facts that their behavior is unnatural, unhealthy, unbiblical, and destructive, and that they can escape it as thousands have done.

This is why Apple banned me from iTunes. And it’s why, I expect, under Tim Cook’s blatant censorship, you’ll see other pro-family voices banned. Ready to give up your iPhone?

The threatening tyranny of the “LGBT” agenda is one of your big reasons to stand strong with SaveCalifornia.com. As God gives us breath, neither I nor SaveCalifornia.com will stop helping people understand why marriage is only for a man and a woman, why children do best with a married father and mother under the same roof, why there are only two sexes (male and female), and why there’s no such thing as “transgender” since a male has an inherited Y chromosome and a female doesn’t — and this cannot change.

Second, because Democrats in control of state government have an evil agenda

With California’s ballot-box-stuffing “blue wave,” Democrats now control nearly 3/4ths of the State Legislature. And they want to pass some expensive, mind-blowing bills:

1. Free community college: While the first year is already “free,” Democrat politicians want the next year “free” too. Which means you and other taxpayers would be taxed more.

Average people have to realize that it’s not “Democrats are for the poor,” but “Democrats make you poor.” Because to be a Democrat politician these days, you must believe in one foundational agenda item: take from the responsible to give to the irresponsible. This is the Democrats’ lie-based, thieving worldview. So they a) grow big government all the bigger, b) shirk good-government priorities, and c) when it comes to “free” community college, they tell 18- and 19-year-olds that holding a part-time job is “too hard” for them.

2. Government healthcare for illegal aliens: California’s Democrat politicians also want to give “free” healthcare to illegal aliens, which could cost $3 BILLION per year.

With un-American policies like these, I can only conclude that Californians who vote for Democrats are either big-government liberals, dumbed-down college grads, prostituting government workers, or foolish people who trust the TV news and who never think critically. These radical Democrat bills are just a taste of what you and I must publicly expose as wrong and also must explain the good that should be done instead.

3. Gavin Newsom’s big, expensive liberal dreams: As veteran political columnist Dan Walters explains, uber-liberal Democrat Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom’s promised agenda includes these expensive items:

“Guaranteed health care for all. A ‘Marshall Plan’ for affordable housing. A master plan for aging with dignity. A middle-class workforce strategy. A cradle-to-college promise for the next generation. An all-hands approach to ending child poverty.”

Translated, this means that Newsom and the Democrats intend to replace:

1. Parents (with a government “nanny”)
2. Your private business (with socialism regulating job-creators to death)
3. Your own money (with even higher taxes)
4. Your personal merit (with racist/sexual favoritism)
5. Your medical choices (with government-run healthcare)
6. Personal responsibility (with more “welfare” handouts)
7. Citizenship (with equivalency to being an illegal alien)

Lesson: Democrat politicians = government owning you by another name (Communism in disguise).

Do you see why, together, we must expose what the Democrat politicians are doing? This is why you need SaveCalifornia.com and SaveCalifornia.com needs you. Because each time the average person hears about a shocking, new Democrat bill and thinks “ouch,” you and I need to be there to explain how the “hurt” is not helpful, but harmful.

And third, because love for others requires decisive action

What gets you going in life? Or what inspires you to donate to a cause? The usual motivators of life are Self-Interest, Fear, Anger, Love, or Faith. But when dealing with the pain and complexity of politics and culture, your motive must be Love. Yes, our Love for God and people must propel us. For love has staying power in the face of opposition and when suffering for the sake of righteousness.

Want to stand firm? Want someone to help you resist evil and promote what’s right in God’s sight? SaveCalifornia.com is here to help you. Your values will be strongly represented with your gift today.

Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?
Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,
speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
Those who refuse to gossip
or harm their neighbors
or speak evil of their friends.
Those who despise flagrant sinners,
and honor the faithful followers of the Lord,
and keep their promises even when it hurts.
Those who lend money without charging interest,
and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent.
Such people will stand firm forever.
Psalm 15

Voter revolt: 3 big propositions on your November ballot

Friday, July 13, 2018, 7:34 am | Randy Thomasson

I was hoping for 5 big, good propositions on California’s November 2018 ballot, but I’ll take 3.

Sadly, not making the deadline to qualify is a very good initiative to crack down on crime, especially by restricting which convicted criminals are eligible for “early release.” However, the “Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act” has qualified extra early for the November 2020 ballot. So please plan to vote yes in two years.

Also not on the ballot (despite qualifying for it) is a much-needed initiative to protect family finances by greatly strengthening the two-thirds’ vote requirement for taxes to be raised. This fantastic proposition would have also defined new fees as new taxes, stopping this deceptive theft by big-government “pimps and prostitutes.”

So why isn’t this good initiative on this year’s ballot? It was withdrawn before final certification. One of the backers told me their coalition just didn’t want it on this year’s ballot (and I don’t know why). Nonetheless, please join me in hoping that fiscally conservative interests will bring it back in 2020.

So what’s worth voting for on the November 2018 ballot? Here are the 3 big, good propositions that have officially qualified, which California families should like:

PROPOSITION 5: Keep pro-family people in California by allowing homeowners 55 and older to buy a different primary residence anywhere in the state without triggering higher property taxes. You can stop the tax code from both penalizing home sellers and discouraging the number of available houses.

PROPOSITION 6: Get ready to save your family or business money by repealing the unnecessary and corrupt gas tax hike and DMV fee hikes of the Democrats and Jerry Brown. With unreasonably high gas prices, you can roll back the liberal politicians’ 2017 money grab that have made California’s gas prices the highest in the contiguous 48 states.

PROPOSITION 9: Finally, you can firmly tell the Democrat power structure that you are dissatisfied with how they’ve ruined many things in California. You can cast a powerful symbolic vote (non-effective unless Congress approves it — which it highly unlikely) to rebuke the existing “rulers” of California state government. The specific reform demand is for California to be divided into 3 new states that have the power to make their own rules and ignore all the bad laws of the Democrat-controlled California State Legislature from the last several decades. Most people don’t understand this initiative yet, or recognize how everything bad in California can be placed at the feet of the ruling Democrat politicians, who’ve controlled the State Legislature more than 50 years. But if you want to send an unmistakable message that the current California government is unacceptable, please vote yes on Prop. 9 to fire another shot that’ll be “heard around the world.”

I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing,
and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President

Rescue your family from the lie that debt is acceptable

Saturday, January 20, 2018, 8:32 am | Randy Thomasson

PROBLEM: We’re raising a whole generation that thinks debt is acceptable.

SOLUTION: We can teach children to be financially wise. Then they’ll “own” money instead of money “owning” them.

Does it concern you that the average U.S. household with credit card debt owes $15,654? Or that average households with car loans owe $27,669? Or that the average household with student loan debt owes $46,597?

And how about the sad fact that nearly 7 in 10 Americans have less than $1,000 in savings? When an unexpected need arises or an emergency hits, they’ll suffer hardship and loss.

You know, we can’t blame all of this on big government that taxes us too much or stupid government that depresses jobs and the economy. No, a strong, personal ethic on money, work, and savings is the key, and it’s developed young.

That’s why I urge you to train your children and grandchildren to have a right view of money, work, their needs, and their identity. Let me tell you how I was trained:

1. Money: When I was a child, I had to earn money by doing daily and weekly jobs around the house and yard. My small allowance was “payment,” and I knew it. Later, when I was earning more money, I got a small bank account and began socking away monthly income. Saving money and enjoying work eventually enabled me to buy a piano with cash at age 17 (and now I play the piano and compose for several minutes most evenings).

2. Work: At age 8, I began delivering newspapers two days a week with my older brother. I had to go to bed on time to get up early to fold and rubber-band papers and then get lots of exercise riding my bike and slinging papers onto people’s porches and driveways. Within a year, I got my own paper route. Looking back, it taught me industry and perseverance. And I hardly ever viewed work as bad, but learned to experience work as a good thing.

3. Needs: I’m a son of an expert “garage-saler,” and Mom bought used clothes for us mostly. Except for shoes, nearly all my childhood clothes came from garage sales and thrift stores. To her credit, Mom even bought used underwear for us boys, washing them in very hot water with bleach. All our material needs were met. I never had an electronic toy, but read books and played in the backyard and the street. Did I lack financially? No. But why, oh why, do I hear mothers in stores asking their children “What do you want?” Those careless words blur the line between needs and wants in a child, and train children to be selfish and foolish. Needs versus wants is a regular financial discussion in frugal homes. Today, I try to buy less than I need in order to avoid materialism and waste.

4. Identity: I didn’t learn my true identity in Jesus Christ until adulthood when I studied and believed God’s word. Over the years, lots of suffering and various “identity tests” have helped refine me (and I still have lots of room to grow). So today, I’m not very tempted to find my identity in money, possessions, status, race, or other people’s opinions. Instead, I want an identity that’s willing to be tortured and die for Jesus, if necessary. I want to “lose my life for His sake,” to be His obedient child and faithful servant, who loves Him and loves people, and to bear as much fruit as I can. Have you learned what I’ve learned, that avoiding a worldly identity will help you to be both frugal and generous?

To be completely candid, I’m so frugal today that I don’t have any car loans, no credit card debt, have clothes that are several years old, and have a goal of reaching half a million miles on my car. Am I weird? Perhaps. Am I financially stupid? No, I’m free from financial bondage. And along the way, I’ve learned more wisdom whenever I’ve repented of my foolishness and pride.

Check this out — here are my four-year-old shoes that I finally replaced with the exact same “model.” I put my shoes through the wringer! And I’m going to use a healthy insert to make the new shoes last as long or longer.


Hopefully, what I’ve shared will you encourages you to raise your children — and influence your grandchildren — to be hard-working, thrifty, debt-free adults. Building good character in regard to money, including teaching children that God owns it all, will pay you “dividends” as you watch your little ones grow and thrive.

Here’s a powerful way to teach your children that “money comes from work and about the importance of giving, saving and spending.” I encourage you to seize this opportunity!

The Joy of Work: As parents we must communicate to our children not only the necessity of working (Proverbs 13:4; 14:23), but also the benefits (Ephesians 4:28b). We make a terrible mistake if all we are able to instill in our children is an appreciation of employment for the sake of acquiring things (Proverbs 16:26). Work like everything else ordained of God is intended to affect our character. What we must communicate to our children is the “good” in work and the joy that it brings.
Teaching Values: A Work Ethic