Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His loving kindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 100
I was wrong on both counts, regarding the election. It was close and the other guy won.
The experience was worse than anticipated because it made the truth so obvious. There was no way to rationalize it for anything other than what it is: a plurality of tens of millions of Americans knowingly elected a European styled social democrat notwithstanding having lived through four years of a European styled economy while at the same time watching the European social democracies struggle with insolvency with no long-term solution. The past miserable four years were exactly on par with European social democracies, albeit with greater debt to show for it than even our European friends are accustomed to accumulating in their throes of insolvency.
The election defeat was good for clarity of vision. I saw for the first time our consistent progress towards social democracy (socialism light). 2008 we elected the same man, though I thought he had just “fooled” many … the plurality didn’t knowingly elect a progressive, or so I told myself. 2000-2008, GWB’s domestic legislation was as progressive, big government as any Democrat since LBJ. Further, in 2000, the plurality voted for Al Gore, arguably more liberal and certainly less stable than our current liberal President. Eight years of Bill Clinton before that; the man who claimed the era of big government was over, as domestic non-defense spending continually increased…
But wait, there’s more! The European democracies have all long since moved to social welfare democracies. So have Japan and Canada, and the democracies of Latin America are all either social democrat or left-populist.
American was exceptional precisely because it was founded on the ideas of liberty, individualism, egalitarianism and free markets. It now appears however that we’re joining the collectivist pack … indeed, Tuesday night was so painful because it became apparent to me that tens of millions of Americans have for some time now been more comfortable with and supportive of the collective compact than with American exceptionalism. As the Englishman Charles C.W. Cooke eloquently notes, that’s quite unfortunate for the world.
Socialism and social democracy as practiced throughout much of the world is simply not sustainable, as we’re seeing in Europe and as we’ve seen in most the nations south of our border. Further, for reasons beyond this post, the social democracies are rarely “family friendly” in the sense of producing families with children, and they are almost always militant secular humanist societies. Apparently, the “welfare” state does not like sharing power or influence with the church or with nuclear families. Ironic, that.
Tocqueville warned that such an end for democratic experiments was inevitable.
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.
Stanley Kurtz notes, the social welfare state may be inevitable, but the system is impossible to sustain. It will collapse of its own weight, sooner rather than later, regardless or perhaps precisely because it is not obvious enough to a majority of our fellow Americans.
We must keep faith and pray hard for this country, President Obama and the rest of our leaders. The future could be upon us soon. We need God’s grace and wisdom. True power is from Him and for His glory. Let us rejoice in Him and be witnesses to his truth. Pray. Pray. Pray.
Verses upon which to meditate and remember with your family: Daniel 2:21 (God removes and appoints kings), Romans 13:1 (no authority but God and those established by God), John 19:11 (Jesus telling Pilate he only has power because God gave it to him), Matthew 12:25 (divided Kingdom will be ruined; we shouldn’t writhe in anger over those who vote differently), Romans 8:28 (God works all things for good with those who love Him), Matthew 6:34 (don’t fret over the future – be prepared but don’t live in fear), Proverbs 16:4 (the Lord works everything out in the end even the wicked), Joshua 1:9 (be strong and courageous, not discouraged), Titus 3:1,2 (be subject to authority).
We need to be diligent to study the Bible and history so we can be wise. We also are not to be grumbly and complain about authority. Turn away from mourning to focus your hope in Christ, the holder of power and of the future, which future He promises will include His followers and His perfect kingdom.
Sapphire Sky 