No Political Party is Home for me

I have long supported the Republican Party because the platform was mostly pro life, and pro traditional family.  President Trump’s pragmatic populism has opened the door to acceptance of non-traditional families, and abortion.

Now please DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND, the Republican platform does not actively promote those issues as does the Democrat platform, but acceptance usually leads to the embracing of an issue.

MANY OTHER ISSUES. The administrative state, the military, border security, the economy, the rise of China’s influence in the Southern hemisphere, the radical Muslim agenda, rogue nations with destructive weapons, support for Israel, the judiciary, the DOJ’s use of lawfare against political opponents, Second Amendment rights, autonomy of local churches, & the mobilization of artificial intelligence are all issues about which I have great concern and about which the Republican Party continues to hold firm.

Most voters are motivated by one or two issues, and those are what politicians use to energize voters.  Abortion and traditional family have been those energizing factors for multitudes of Evangelical Believers in Christ as LORD.   Now, cracks have appeared in what has heretofore been a solid front against the lowering of standards by the pragmaticism overtaking the Elephant Tribe.

NO HEAD IN THE SAND PHILOSOPHY.  Though I disagree with portions of the Republican platform, I will exercise the opportunity to cast a meaningful vote to prevent the current administration from retaining control and continuing the precipitous slide toward socialistic anarchy. I will not waste my vote on some obscure party which has no chance of victory, and usually has just as many objections as the two major parties.  I WILL VOTE FOR THE REPUBLICAN TICKET!

NO PLACE TO REST MY HEAD.  I do not now believe, nor have I ever believed, that President Trump is a doctrinaire conservative.  He seems to be a pragmatic conservative whose beliefs are shaped by the prevailing winds of the electorate.   I’m not saying that is bad, because the President ought reflect the positions of the electorate, but that leaves conservative Evangelical Believers without a dependable bastion of political influence.

RE-EVALUATE LOYALTY.  I’m not sure that losing political influence is all that bad.  We who are American Believers must understand that we live in a culture unlike any the world has ever known.  We’ve had blessings without political interference, and we’ve prospered beyond anything ever imagined by the early church, as well as most of the contemporary Believers scattered throughout the world.  Yet, some in our tribe seem to have placed an inordinate amount of trust in this political party, and are experiencing extreme “buyers remorse,” without adequately pondering the full implications of the situation.   THE BELIEVER’S LOYALTY MUST BE FIRST TO JESUS CHRIST!  We must understand that it is not the government to which we owe our first allegiance.  God, in His own unfathomable way, is the one who has been gracious to provide through the government, and it is God who will allow us to either wallow in the sin of self-pity as oppression inevitably comes, or will deliver us from that oppression through a fresh sense of His presence in our lives individually and collectively.  

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS.   I fear that the failure of American Believers to appropriate the blessings of God to live effective Christ-like lives in the midst of plenty, while indulging ourselves in the things of this world to the point that Jesus Christ is hardly an afterthought in the minds of many who claim to be His disciples is bringing upon us the judgement hand of God.  

I will vote the Republican ticket because it is the best of the worst, but I have no home there!

President Biden's most Presidential Moment Ever

President Biden said that the voters must decide whether, or not, to stop President Trump from regaining the White House.  

That is the nature of America, and it is the reason we hold elections and submit ourselves to years of campaigning.   It is too bad that President Biden's comments come ONLY on the heels of rulings by SCOTUS which scuttled numerous efforts to keep President Trump off the ballot.  

If the Dems can convince enough people that the course America is set on is the correct one, then they will prevail.  However, it seems strange that they so fear the former President, that they don't trust their arguments to defeat him.   They have been deterred by numerous  constitutional roadblocks in their frenzied fight to avoid placing their agenda in the hands of the electorate.

President Biden might have been chaffing under the lash of SCOTUS' whip as he made his recent remarks following the debate which revealed to most of the world his cognitive decline and his dancing to the strings of unseen and unnamed puppeteers.   HOWEVER, he was correct.  LET THE ELECTORATE DECIDE! 

Death of the Chevron Legacy

 Ian Millhiser, writing on VOX, follows the typical liberal drift each time the "deep state" agencies and staffers lose a little control when he writes, "The Supreme Court handed down what is likely to be one of its most consequential modern-day decisions on Friday."   While I agree with him that this is likely to be a very consequential decision, I disagree with his conclusions that the decision is bad.  Rather, I believe it is a much needed correction.  

In "Chevron" the courts and congress ceded to the deep state staffers and agencies the ability to interpret laws, and actually add requirements to the implementation of said laws.

The current SCOTUS reversed that, and returned the policy making responsibilities to the elected congress.   In "Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo" the court gutted a decades old decision which had allowed, and even encouraged the unelected deep staters to actually build up a legislative system by which they issued regulations on nearly aspect of our daily life.

The frustration of the typical citizen with the exponential growth of egregious regulatory has been displayed by the rise of populism and the extraordinary support for reformers like Donald J. Trump.   If liberals really want to defeat Trumpism, they must embrace a return to elected legislative power, however, that would actually destroy liberalism, because most of the regulations being perpetrated on the citizenry would never pass the scrutiny of the legislative bodies.

Both the court and the legislature are responsible for allowing these nameless staffers and agencies which have proliferated over the last forty years to achieve such power, because it is hard work to bring bills to congress and do the necessary leg work to gain passage.   This allows for a "do nothing" legislative body to draw huge salaries, benefits, and retirement with raising the ire of the citizens they are there to serve, because nearly every bill has "pro" and "con" positions.

The folks at American Action Forum report that the economic costs of the regula-holics have reached over $1 trillion in just over three years in Office and that this price tag on private households and businesses is TRIPLE the cost under Obama.  It’s 30 times higher than new regs under Trump.

If we want a return to rationality in this era of regulatory excess, this is a good start and SCOTUS should be applauded for having the backbone to hand down such a decision.

Attacking Southerners Again

I have recently encountered numerous individuals who seem intent on disparaging the  life and work of Robert E. Lee and those who fought for the Confederacy.

I am an American, I've been to war on behalf of our country, and I'm steeped in the patriotic traditions of America.  HOWEVER, though most Southerners were poor, and few owned slaves, and I would never have fought to preserve slavery, I would have fought against the invasion of the South in the war of Northern Aggression.  

While slavery was certainly an issue, the real issue is one which continues to trouble us today.  That is, should an elitist group of intellectuals along the Eastern Seaboard be allowed to dictate their morality, or immorality, to those of us in what has come to be known as "fly over country?"  

Force of arms is never best, until and unless all other options have been exhausted.  The day may once again rear its head when armed conflict between Americans over philosophical, cultural, and political issues is forced upon the land.  I pray it doesn't happen, but more and more forces in the hallowed halls of governance seem intent upon pressing down upon freedom loving Southerners and Mid-Westerners.  

Should such a day arrive, we can only pray that God raises up such a man as Robert E Lee to give leadership and impetus to those seeking a devout leader of men.

One More Socialist

Today I read an article by Harold Meyerson, self-professed socialist and editor at Large of “The American Prospect.” 

In typical liberalese, he validates the farcical trial conducted in New York, and denigrates the followers of Trump as men whose masculinity hangs by a thread.  

Meyerson names deunionization as one cause for the economic slump, and seems to believe that anyone who actually acts like a man is insecure in his skin.  He wants President Trump to affirm the corrupt election of 2020, and agree that the results of most egregious trial in the history of our nation should stand.  

Meyerson’s pseudo-psychological analysis of President Trump’s thought processes seem almost to reflect an inner conflict within himself which can only be exorcised by irrationally attacking the man.

Just one more in a long line of pseudo-intellectuals who seem to have garnered enough following to get paid to write such tripe.

Perverse Democrats and Head in the Sand Republicans

This morning I read an editorial by John Daniel Davidson in which he opined that Republicans should do to Democrats what they did to President Trump.  While I understand the sentiment, I simply do not believe the majority of Republican leaning voters and elected officials have the intestinal fortitude to carry out such hubris.

The members of the Democrat Party have proven over the last seventy years their willingness to sink to any depths to achieve their aim, which is simply maintaining power.  Republicans, on the other hand, seem to desire to exude a gentlemanly benign attitude of being above the fray.  They seem willing to allow the country to completely dissolve rather than engage the dastardly deeds on a level field.

Common voters contribute to this malaise when they shun discussions of a political nature for fear of inciting emotions and creating an uncomfortable atmosphere.  These “Head in the Sand” people seem to want to pretend that as long as they avoid any confrontations, they can enjoy their peaceful lives.  Wringing their hands over abuses in their small enclaves of like-minded individuals, they seem to believe their avoidance of controversy and confrontation is some sort of moral high ground.

I am reminded of King Hezekiah in 2 Kings, Chapter 20, when God healed him and extended his life Hezekiah sinned greatly in God’s eyes, and God punished him,  16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord: 17 'Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,' says the Lord.  18 'And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"   

Hezekiah’s response was that no matter how it affected those to follow, at least there would be peace in his days.  19  So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!"  For he said, "Will there not be peach and truth at least in my days?"

These “Head in the Sand” people seem only interested in avoiding personal discomfort in order to spend their days in peace.  It is manifested in both elected officials, and in the voting public.  

How long can the Republic stand with these attitudes?

Sham Trial in New York

My heart is heavy this morning as I ponder the outcome of the sham trial in New York.  As I’ve traveled the world, and been welcomed into homes in many diverse cultures, I’ve found the people with whom I’m visiting enamored with the greatness of America.  That greatness resides, I believe, in the fact that God’s hand has rested so heavily upon the governance of the land, and that governance was distinguished by justice in the highest levels of the land.  

Certainly abuses have abounded, and certainly when those abuses were exposed, justice was meted out.  HOWEVER, in all my readings, I’ve never seen such abuses of power as those exercised by the judge and prosecutor in their transparent attempt to prevent President Trump from being re-elected.  

“Banana Republic” is the phrase most often postulated to describe the high-handed actions of the political elite who seem to fear losing their positions so much they will resort to the most base of actions, even to the demeaning of the court system, in order to achieve their aims.

I do not know what tomorrow, or next year holds for America because once these walls have been breached, it will certainly result in more and more breaches until the walls fall, leaving only the “strongman” who is able to surround himself with loyal adherents, or a dissolving of the Union.  

I know that my peace is not dependent upon political action, but I also know that just as God led to the dissolution of the British Empire, so He can lead to a new union of like minded states joining together to build another independent country based upon the principles of His Word.   I pray for Revival, but if revolution comes, it will not take me unaware.

The Coming Election

 On Halloween Day in 1864, congress admitted Nevada to the union as the 36th state.  Nevada failed to meet the required number of citizens, 60,000 by fully one-third; however, her rich silver mines and her promise to support President Lincoln in the 1864 election carried the day.  

We are nearing a national election which could very well turn on whether or not genuine Believers are willing to set aside personal considerations in order to insure that a candidate whose stated positions are so contrary to Biblical principles is not elected.

Time and again the citizenry are disheartened as elected officials allow political expediency to trump their campaign promises.  However, now is not the time to crawl into a virtual cave and give in to the sense of hopelessness which continually whispers, “What is the use anyway?”  Rather, now is the time to dig down deeply and stand up for your faith based principles.  Every Christian Citizen must become a sacrificial statesman willing to put his future, his wealth, and his life on the line for the cause of truth in these days.

Compare the stated positions of the two candidates: (1) One Supports abortion without limits–the other does not. (2) One candidate openly supports an organization which is instigating mass civil disorder in many cities while one calls for the arrest and prosecution of those who are destroying property.. (3)  One candidate favors statehood for both Washington D.C, and Puerto Rico, while the other believes that such political dependencies should not become states. (4) One candidate believes the failed socialism of Europe & South America should be tried here–the other is a strong proponent of free enterprise. (5) One candidate believes the way to curb violence is to confiscate legal guns from the citizenry, while one believes strongly in the Second Amendment.  (6) One candidate believes the government can more effectively use your earnings than you and wants to repeal tax cuts while adding additional taxes–the other candidate believes the American people can be trusted with the funds they earn, and that increased taxes is counterproductive to strengthening the economy. (7) One candidate believes that he can legislate the way churches and religious communities exercise their worship, while one believes that Freedom of Worship should not be abridged by government.

 

Now, I’m not going to tell you who believes what.  You have several days to ascertain which is which.  The time has come to stand up and be counted by determining the truth, and voting in a manner consistent with Biblical principles.

Should God visit upon us a season of chastisement as He occasionally did National Israel by raising up a leader contrary to His way, we should not despair.  We stand by His grace and not by our strength, riches, or ingenuity.  I believe God has blessed America because of our willingness to export the “Good News” of Jesus Christ.  The opportunity to continue to utilize our bountiful resources to that end could cease as we become more and more pre-occupied with own comfort and prosperity.  The season of chastisement would be occasion to re-evaluate our priorities and turn once again to the ultimate calling of all genuine Believers found in Matthew 28:18ff.

Nevada would eventually have become a state, but political expediency caused the bending of rules and suspending of hard and fast criteria to insure the re-election of President Lincoln.  Let us not compromise Biblical principles for the empty promise of a life of ease where everyone sits on his own ivory couch under his own fig tree.

What Next From SCOTUS?

Early Christians were willing to face any amount of torture rather than agree that the state (Caesar) held authority over Christ’s Church.  They understood that there could only be one LORD.  Either Jesus Christ is LORD, or the state is.

During the first three hundred years of Church History, the state dominated the political, economic, and cultural environment.  However, in the early fourth century, an emperor arose who wed the state with the church, and the Holy Roman Empire was birthed.  Now, Rome had been the predominant world power for about four hundred years, but now ostensibly the state and Church would share power.

The result of this marriage was a thousand years of darkness where churchmen became rulers of men through their dark alliance with various governments, so that tyranny under the papal clerics was worse than any under secular governments. 

The American Founding Fathers understood that government and religion could not be wed.  They incorporated into the Constitution guarantees for the free exercise of religion, even while establishing secular government as the political and economic power.  Religion had no authority over the state, but neither could the state subsidize, limit, or show preference to religion. 

The Supreme Court of the United States has affirmed that position time and time again until Friday, May 29, 2020.  The decision of John Roberts to join with the liberal wing of the SCOTUS and allow the state of California to limit church attendance in effect, authorizes the state to define what does and does not constitute a church.  Something heretofore steadfastly opposed by SCOTUS.

What does it mean in practical terms?  Local municipalities will be energized to limit churches, they might even go so far as to determine that enough churches exist and prohibit the establishment of new ones.  In times past local entities have tried to define churches by the number of attendees and/or income.  One entity in a Mid-Western State went so far as to say that a body was not a church unless such and such percentage of the income was for pastoral support.  The SCOTUS rejected each and every attempt to define church by government entities UNTIL YESTERDAY.

Conservative churchmen have long felt that the time is rapidly approaching when Genuine Believers will be separated from the cultural christians which seem to make up a large portion of church memberships.   With the advent of radical feminism, the homosexual agenda, metooism, and now the pandemic fear; the stage is set for the state to define legitimate church activities by the degree with which the church agrees with and practices what the state promotes.  The rumblings can already be heard within the bowels of once staunch Biblical bodies, as more and more justification for acquiescence to state edicts are expounded from once sound pulpits across the land. 

That Believers in America have become soft, lazy, and ineffective ambassadors for Christ is almost without dispute.  Socially acceptable pastors, and deacons invited in the debauched settings without a word of rebuke being raised demonstrates the weakness of the so-called spiritual leaders of today.  Each time I consider the lives of those who stood for Biblical principles and the consequences they paid, I shudder to think in America today, the most celebrated of men are often pulpiteers who stress blending to the extent that they are almost spiritual Neville Chamberlains.  “It is only a little bit, this compromise we make,” they opine. 

Time and again, I return to the analogy of my Grandfather’s pasture gap which was sealed by five round poles resting in notches in the fence post.  At one point someone was in a hurry and failed to replace the top pole, well that wasn’t bad because there were still four and the cows were still contained.   Then one day a boy broke the current top pole while climbing over it.  Again, there remained three poles to restrain the cows from wandering from the pasture.  However, that very afternoon, one of my uncles ran over one of the poles and broke it.  Now, only two poles remained, and new poles needed to be cut because now the cows could just step across.  That is exactly what happened, the cows always thinking the grass was richer and greener outside the pasture, were soon in Grandmother’s garden.  When the boys returned with the poles, they had much, much bigger problems.  Winter’s food was being devoured by the cows which were simply doing what comes naturally to them.

In much the same way, government is naturally inclined toward control.  As long as government is contained and limited by the Constitution and those limits are supported by SCOTUS, people are mostly safe and prosperous.  But once those poles in the gap begin to come down, they are almost impossible to put back before irreparable damage is done.

EVEN SO, COME LORD JESUS!