Guest Post: To Joe the Plumber from Scott the Preacher
Scott Lohse, pastor of St. Martin’s United Church of Christ in Dittmer, Mo., won our “Five Minutes with a Candidate” contest and will guest blog here through the election.
I guess you are experiencing a wildfire of instant and fleeting fame after being referred to so much in Wednesday night’s presidential campaign debate! In fact you may or may not realize this, but I just looked at the web site CafePress.com and noticed they are even selling Joe the Plumber T-shirts already.
The shirt I liked the most says, “Support Joe the Plumber because our economy is in the toilet.” A close second, however, is the shirt that says “No more drips in the White House.” I suppose you have already heard all of the plumber humor that you can bear.
You were selected as a prototypical person who might be able to succeed in your own small business if the U.S. tax code were to provide the proper climate for you. You have not made an endorsement yet in the current campaign, but you have made it pretty clear that if you ever were to earn a quarter-million dollars a year, you would not want for it to place you into a higher tax bracket.
Joe, I have to tell you that I feel your pain. I actually know a number of small business owners and they feel that a good deal of hard earned money constantly goes for operating expenses. As difficult as it can sometimes be to earn a living in this climate, I have to say that I have always subscribed to the notion that the customer is No. 1.
By that, I mean the best thing for the small business owner would be a healthy economy. That would help the greatest number of people fare well, so they have the resources they need. And they can feel like they can afford the services and goods you have to offer them.
Here is the thing Joe: I am looking for something new in the tax structure of our great nation that will stop awarding the best breaks to just a few people at the top and building on the backs of the majority.
I hope you do get your license to become a plumber Joe, and that you do make six figures.
I wish you well, but I believe that the current mess that our economy is in is due to people who already have more than they need always seeking to get more. Meanwhile, others, who cannot even afford health care and do not have any one to speak up for them, truly suffer.
Our system is broken, Joe, because the numbers of the poor and those on food stamps are growing while those who are wealthy continue to get more exclusive. Take heart, Joe, this economy is a drain on all of us.
So, here’s the question: Do you think that Americans have it within ourselves to look at the current state of affairs and ask, “What is best for everyone?” and not just, “What is best for me?”
Guest blogger Scott Lohse is the winner of our "Five Minutes with a candidate" contest and will post guest blogs through the election.
He is the pastor of St. Martin's United Church of Christ in Dittmer, Mo. He has also served United Methodist Churches in Eastern Missouri towns over the past 30 years including Kennett, Bonne Terre, Jackson, Creve Coeur and Manchester. Scott has also worked as a hospice chaplain and a radio broadcaster. He is also an amateur magician.
Scott has been married for 30 years to his wife Lin. They have three children. He is an avid reader, a news junkie, and he spends more time online than he cares to admit. 
It is not over STL. If the ‘it’ you refer to is our country and our economy. It is changing, though, and that is certanily the source of the angst we are sharing in this forum. My post was just expressing the hope that as we do what we must do to sure up our way of life (and I don’t doubt that we will) we don’t just rescue bankers, brokers and business people. Someone needs to help us to remember the uninsured, the working poor, and the disenfranchised. One of the things which scripture does to find assurance when it is not clear where the future is going is to remember the past and mine from it the stories about where deliverance has come before. That is a practice which can help us to keep the faith. Keep the faith STL. Even if you take the scripture out of the equation we have observed how difficult times have brought out the best in people and caused us to pull together. The birth of something new always means that something old is over after all.