Episode Details

This is CrossPoliticNews’ Weekly Roundup sponsored by Christian Business Leaders Network. If you want to find out more about this network and its efforts to connect Christian business leaders so that they can more effectively help their businesses and shape culture, visit businessmakers.network. Again, that’s businessmakers.network.

Why is the soundtrack Epic which is about Homer’s Odyssey, suddenly so popular? Our writer Clarissa Alexandria created an article about this, and we can see that there are a few different reasons that could explain Epic's success, varying from the soundtrack’s content to its audience. For example, the music itself is good and fits the story, but that’s not the only thing. It also seems like the soundtrack has become popular for both what it is saying and to whom it is saying those things to. Epic centers around the story of the Odyssey, which deals with story themes that easily resonate in our world, as our writer Clarissa Alexandria points out: "It follows themes of exile, temptation, descent, and eventual renewal that should feel familiar to anyone who has studied the Scriptures or consumed a good story of any variety in their life." (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/an-epic-alternative-to-woke-hollywood) Our broken culture relates to these themes because they understand the journey of Odysseus. His character lives through their own problems and experience, so people gravitate towards his story. For example, they understand his longing for home, because so many people feel the lack of real, good homes in our world. And yet while this cultural tie is strong, Epic also contains themes that are found in the Bible, which is also why these stories are so effective. After all, they align with how God designed the world. 

Meanwhile, on a different note, our reporter Justin Chartray wrote about how the State of Washington is having trouble trying to figure out how to deal with its taxes because while the liberals want to raise taxes, they are meeting opposition from the governor, even though he’s also a liberal. So, what’s going on in Washington State? Well, we can see that it has been very liberal recently in respect to their recent recognition of Muslim holidays, their attack on gun rights, and their unlawful orders against parental rights, but, as I just mentioned, its government can’t decide what to do with taxes yet. One of the reasons this tax issue is important is because Washington State needs a $12-15 billion deficit in order to uphold its current programs and bureaucracy. 

In order to pay for all this, Republicans want the state to withdraw from areas that the government should not concern itself with, such as education and immigration. Unsurprisingly, the democrats don’t want to lower the budget this way, though. Instead, they would prefer increasing everyone’s taxes, specifically targeting property taxes and rich people. With these property taxes, Washington State's government would want to keep changing the amount of taxes in order to match the growth of society and other outside conditions. But there’s a problem here. If the amount of taxes changes continually because it is dependent on variables that frequently change, then there is no truly objective wall or limit that could stop its government from demanding very heavy taxes. 

Nevertheless, these increased taxes would seem to meet the $15 billion budget deficit, but it would be through taxing people uninvolved with that deficit. However, while most of the liberals in power seem eager to adopt this strategy, the newest governor of Washington, Bob Ferguson, has rejected this plan. It appears that he doesn’t want to raise taxes to make the money they need. Despite his previous liberal actions, such as trying to sue the presidency of Trump almost a hundred times during Trump’s first ti