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.