“How has American changed in the last eight years and do we want it to continue that way?”
That was the key question The Master’s University’s “Truth Matters” Summit attempted to tackle during the Wednesday night discussion of politics and current events.
“We’re walking through a historic election with mixed emotions about all these things. Never has been there an election like this,” said moderator Jack Cox, president of The Communications Institute, to the crowd of more than 1,100 people.
The event had a stark conservative lean on social, economic, legal and political issues as well as a basis in Christian teachings and values.
Panelists Soeren Kern, John MacArthur, John Stead and Gregg Frazer discussed issues facing the U.S. economy, national security, rule of law in society, and ethics and values during the summit.
“One thing that is really unique in this campaign is that you have a large group of citizens believe that the government no longer works for them,” said Stead, vice president of Academic Affairs and professor of history and political studies at The Master’s University.
The discussion quickly moved to a conversation of socialism, capitalism and globalism in regards to the future of America.
“You look at the different political fault lines in the United States, one of the greatest ones facing us today is nationalism and globalism,” said Kern, distinguished senior fellow at Gatestone Institute and senior analyst at Strategic Studies Group. “That’s what the candidates in this campaign represent.”
Kern said every sub-issue in American politics could be examined through this lens.
MacArthur, president of The Master’s University and pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church, argued that capitalism is the “least selfish of all economic ideas.”
“Capitalism mitigates greed and it mitigates sin and it mitigates depravity by saying, ‘I’ll do something good for you, if you do something good for me,’” he said. “Socialism says, ‘You do good for me, or I will do harm for you.’”
In terms of immigration, Frazer, a professor of history and political studies at The Master’s University, said he does not support Hillary Clinton’s “path to citizen” idea or Donald Trump’s deportation idea.
“We have two candidates for presidents with very different views for what to do about immigration or not,” he said. “The first thing that needs to be done is stop the flow of illegal immigration.”
Frazer suggested his own middle-ground idea, which consisted of deporting illegal immigrants who commit a crime, developing procedures that make it difficult to hire illegal immigrants and cutting off funding to “sanctuary” cities.
Kern stated that the issue of immigration is important in terms of security and that people who enter the country should be known and vetted.
Kern also spoke to the growing impact of ISIS and radical Islam, conflicts abroad, Americanism and global security.
“The world is on a precipice. The conditions in the world are chaotic,” he said. “The U.S. really needs a leadership that will reassert military power and reassert some sort of order in the world.”
At the end of the summit, Frazer and MacArthur urged attendees to vote for an ideology instead of a candidate.
“A vote is not a mystical, sacred thing; it’s a means to an end and it’s the end that matters,” Frazer said.
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