Down and Out

Its been over a month since the last posting here. Nothing to say? No, that's not it. No time? No, we make time for what is important. So what has happened?

The last entry was July 4th ("Independence Day"), a day to celebrate freedom and liberty. Please forgive the excuses, but I am in shock at the state of the nation. I have fallen and I can't get up. The daily decrees and declarations out of Washington has numbed the mind. Liberty? Independence? No, I am drowning in socialism. The depression, the sadness, it comes from this: many of the people with whom I speak about these issues fall into one of three categories which include ignorance, apathy, and assent.

The ignorant ones are people that simply don't know. They are like children. A child cannot think past his or her own wants. He wants a toy and he wants it now. He does not compare his parents' income and expenses to determine if it is a prudent purchase. He does not consider how it will affect his welfare or that of his siblings. It is tunnel vision. The child's scope of awareness does not extend beyond Freud's Id. "I want that GI Joe action figure now. I need it." To these individuals, Marx's "to each according to his need" concept is all that is necessary.

The second group is one of apathy; its membership simply doesn't care. Those under this umbrella have social sites overflowing with fantasy applications and top ten lists. Ask them for the name of the recently confirmed Supreme Court nominee and prepare for a blank, glassy stare. Ask them what new sitcoms come out in the fall and be prepared to stay for a while. Rome is burning, yet they have no idea because they are in the basement watching the Home Shopping Network.

The third group terrifies me the most. The assentors are those who see what is happening, understand that principles of socialism are antithetical to those of liberty, and this is what they choose. To them, maybe Marx was more right than Jefferson and Madison. They perceive freedoms posed by capitalism and free markets as the root of all evil. These seek to bring a Utopian balance to the world through "good intended" impositions. Identifying their policies in the Communist Manifesto are no longer met with contention, rather prideful concession.

There actually is a fourth group, and it is surreal. It often includes those in the first three. It is religious in nature. It's prophet and leader is the current US President. Underneath him are myriads of priests who conduct ceremonies in their temples: the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are other temples around the world: the UN, the British Parliament, the World Court. Underneath the clergy are uncountable minions and sycophants. They worship the creation but not The Creator. They have a "form of godliness but [deny] its power" (II Timothy 3:5).

Of all the groups, it is the third and the fourth for which a physical solution remains hidden to this writer. A tenacious campaign of intellectual discourse and debate may win a very select few, but when the majority not only disregards logic and reason, but rather loathes them as obstacles, elements of argument are sterilized. Ultimately and fundamentally, the only thing left to do is what God asked us to do, that is to pray.

I will continue to write, but most importantly, I will pray.