From my thoughts
while sitting here this morning (and checking a few references).
What to make of the political unrest, the seeming injustice and the ongoing trampling of the weak and the poor by the powerful and the rich.
The advantages taken by the liar, the cheat and the thief, over the honest, the fair and the just.
What will become of it all? Will good triumph in the end?
Donald Trump is clearly not wanted by the majority of Americans. And the Filipino people had no idea what they are truly voting for when they put President Duterte in office. Hillary Clinton won 2.9 million more votes than Trump, but because of the way states vote through the Electoral College, he technically won the presidency.
But he clearly does not represent the feelings and beliefs of the American people. We are disgusted and horrified by the man, everything he stands for and what comes out of his mouth.
And yet there is something great happening here, and that is a free democratic process. In real freedom, there is real debate, there are real differences of opinion. The reason it gets nasty is that we don't have any other recourse.
In dictatorships, you win by killing your political opponents (before they kill you.) We are not (yet) in a full scale civil war, like we fought in 1861-1865, in which a million people died. No other war in our history comes close to that number.
After 911, the nation pulled together. The world stood with us. That is called uniting against a common enemy. But then, after the terrorist crisis lost steam, we went back to fighting amongst one another.
It is the great tradition and great sign of the health and strength of democracy. People are fighting out in the open, for everyone to see, rather than under the table, in the dark corners, and in the smoke-filled rooms. Don't get me wrong, that stuff still goes on, and we are working on that. As President Obama said, "It often seems we take two steps forward and one step back, but the long-term trend is up."
The Greek philosophers, who invented "democracy" questioned whether it would ever work. They, as did the Founding Fathers of the United States, limited voting to the "landed", upper class citizens, who in somebody's opinion were qualified to vote. No slaves, women, convicted criminals, children, the elderly or the mentally ill, of course, could vote.
The question that looms large to us again is, whether we as a people, are intelligent enough, well-enough educated, and morally sufficiently grounded, to make democracy work.
But, in any case, democracy is a messy process, compared to dictatorship. Fascism always gains a temporary upper hand over freedom; it is more organized and focused on its goals. Democracy, with all its freedom, is less efficient.
Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time." It was true in his time, and it is no less true today. When politics does not go our way, the people never surrender their social, civil, personal or religious beliefs.
In fact, history shows that persecution tends to make the opposition group stronger. Examples are the Roman persecution of Christianity following Christ's passing. Christianity grew more rapidly than it ever has.
Great Britain's persecution of India gave rise to Mahatma Gandhi, who led them to shake off being a British colony and to freedom.
The United States war in Viet Nam made the Viet Cong stronger and stronger until they threw the United States out, in a stunning defeat of the most powerful nation on earth by a tiny nation. (Granted, they were backed up by Russian and Chinese aid.)
The black population in the United States was persecuted and repressed for 300 years until finally in 2008, we elected our first black president.
And I know on a personal level, cruelty does not make me cry, but kindness often does.
Donald Trump is a power-crazed narcissist who won a temporary victory, but he will not last, and will not have a lasting impression on the United States and the American people.
All throughout the world, there are about 1 good ruler in 5 bad ones, 1 great ruler in 10 disasters. But we the people survive, because we are the community, we are the society, we are the world.
We could erect a matrix of laws against the president's faults. We could make it illegal to spread hate, make it against the law to have questionable conflicts of interest, make it a crime to comb your hair over your bald head ... But that is too restrictive of the freedom we value so much.
We fight a constant battle trying to balance two inconsistent values in democracy: freedom and equality. Too much freedom threatens equal opportunity and equal rights for the people; too much equalization of benefits and rights threatens our freedom.
We walk a tight rope. Society is a balancing act, just like personal life itself. Life is not a straight course; we tack like a sail boat, correcting the course constantly. George Santayana said, "Those who do not learn from history, will be forced to repeat it." We must look at our mistakes and learn from them.
This particular president is showing us a whole new range of learning material. I hope we can absorb it. But we will, because we have survived a lot worse than him.
This nation was born in revolution when we fought England, the most powerful nation in the world, to win our independence from them. Fought them again in 1812. Fought our Civil War, fought slavery and racism, fought World War I and World War II, survived our Great Depression, lived on into the age of nuclear bombs and missiles.
Survived every type of scandal at every level of the society and the government.
Adolf Hitler overran all of Europe because of a couple of things: his willingness to think ruthlessly, his massive preparations for war, the nation’s desire for peace, and his rapid assimilation of new technologies. Nobody could imagine his new brand of evil and were thus unprepared to defend against it.
He took a momentary advantage, and then in his greed and megalomania, greatly overextended himself, attacking the Soviet Union and declaring war against Britain and the United States.
The same dynamic took place for the Japanese in the East. China was not prepared for their treachery and brutality, and the Japanese slaughtered them. But dictators are limited: Emperor Hideki Tojo greatly overextended himself by attacking Pearl Harbor. It was their mistake to “waken the sleeping giant”, the moral and economic power of a free people.
Mr. Trump, despite his momentary advantage, will fail as well. In his pride and mercilessness, he cannot see what really matters in life. He fights, but be cannot ultimately win against the people. And who survives? We the people survive.
Jesus says in Matthew 26:52 NIV "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword."
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:4 NIV, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."
Yes we fight for our rights, values and beliefs, but God determines our course.
All these things just indicate to us that the spirit of the people will survive and achieve the ultimate victory, because God's spirit lives in those who believe.
And God will never abandon us, even though we abandon Him.
What to make of the political unrest, the seeming injustice and the ongoing trampling of the weak and the poor by the powerful and the rich.
The advantages taken by the liar, the cheat and the thief, over the honest, the fair and the just.
What will become of it all? Will good triumph in the end?
Donald Trump is clearly not wanted by the majority of Americans. And the Filipino people had no idea what they are truly voting for when they put President Duterte in office. Hillary Clinton won 2.9 million more votes than Trump, but because of the way states vote through the Electoral College, he technically won the presidency.
But he clearly does not represent the feelings and beliefs of the American people. We are disgusted and horrified by the man, everything he stands for and what comes out of his mouth.
And yet there is something great happening here, and that is a free democratic process. In real freedom, there is real debate, there are real differences of opinion. The reason it gets nasty is that we don't have any other recourse.
In dictatorships, you win by killing your political opponents (before they kill you.) We are not (yet) in a full scale civil war, like we fought in 1861-1865, in which a million people died. No other war in our history comes close to that number.
After 911, the nation pulled together. The world stood with us. That is called uniting against a common enemy. But then, after the terrorist crisis lost steam, we went back to fighting amongst one another.
It is the great tradition and great sign of the health and strength of democracy. People are fighting out in the open, for everyone to see, rather than under the table, in the dark corners, and in the smoke-filled rooms. Don't get me wrong, that stuff still goes on, and we are working on that. As President Obama said, "It often seems we take two steps forward and one step back, but the long-term trend is up."
The Greek philosophers, who invented "democracy" questioned whether it would ever work. They, as did the Founding Fathers of the United States, limited voting to the "landed", upper class citizens, who in somebody's opinion were qualified to vote. No slaves, women, convicted criminals, children, the elderly or the mentally ill, of course, could vote.
The question that looms large to us again is, whether we as a people, are intelligent enough, well-enough educated, and morally sufficiently grounded, to make democracy work.
But, in any case, democracy is a messy process, compared to dictatorship. Fascism always gains a temporary upper hand over freedom; it is more organized and focused on its goals. Democracy, with all its freedom, is less efficient.
Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time." It was true in his time, and it is no less true today. When politics does not go our way, the people never surrender their social, civil, personal or religious beliefs.
In fact, history shows that persecution tends to make the opposition group stronger. Examples are the Roman persecution of Christianity following Christ's passing. Christianity grew more rapidly than it ever has.
Great Britain's persecution of India gave rise to Mahatma Gandhi, who led them to shake off being a British colony and to freedom.
The United States war in Viet Nam made the Viet Cong stronger and stronger until they threw the United States out, in a stunning defeat of the most powerful nation on earth by a tiny nation. (Granted, they were backed up by Russian and Chinese aid.)
The black population in the United States was persecuted and repressed for 300 years until finally in 2008, we elected our first black president.
And I know on a personal level, cruelty does not make me cry, but kindness often does.
Donald Trump is a power-crazed narcissist who won a temporary victory, but he will not last, and will not have a lasting impression on the United States and the American people.
All throughout the world, there are about 1 good ruler in 5 bad ones, 1 great ruler in 10 disasters. But we the people survive, because we are the community, we are the society, we are the world.
We could erect a matrix of laws against the president's faults. We could make it illegal to spread hate, make it against the law to have questionable conflicts of interest, make it a crime to comb your hair over your bald head ... But that is too restrictive of the freedom we value so much.
We fight a constant battle trying to balance two inconsistent values in democracy: freedom and equality. Too much freedom threatens equal opportunity and equal rights for the people; too much equalization of benefits and rights threatens our freedom.
We walk a tight rope. Society is a balancing act, just like personal life itself. Life is not a straight course; we tack like a sail boat, correcting the course constantly. George Santayana said, "Those who do not learn from history, will be forced to repeat it." We must look at our mistakes and learn from them.
This particular president is showing us a whole new range of learning material. I hope we can absorb it. But we will, because we have survived a lot worse than him.
This nation was born in revolution when we fought England, the most powerful nation in the world, to win our independence from them. Fought them again in 1812. Fought our Civil War, fought slavery and racism, fought World War I and World War II, survived our Great Depression, lived on into the age of nuclear bombs and missiles.
Survived every type of scandal at every level of the society and the government.
Adolf Hitler overran all of Europe because of a couple of things: his willingness to think ruthlessly, his massive preparations for war, the nation’s desire for peace, and his rapid assimilation of new technologies. Nobody could imagine his new brand of evil and were thus unprepared to defend against it.
He took a momentary advantage, and then in his greed and megalomania, greatly overextended himself, attacking the Soviet Union and declaring war against Britain and the United States.
The same dynamic took place for the Japanese in the East. China was not prepared for their treachery and brutality, and the Japanese slaughtered them. But dictators are limited: Emperor Hideki Tojo greatly overextended himself by attacking Pearl Harbor. It was their mistake to “waken the sleeping giant”, the moral and economic power of a free people.
Mr. Trump, despite his momentary advantage, will fail as well. In his pride and mercilessness, he cannot see what really matters in life. He fights, but be cannot ultimately win against the people. And who survives? We the people survive.
Jesus says in Matthew 26:52 NIV "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword."
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:4 NIV, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."
Yes we fight for our rights, values and beliefs, but God determines our course.
All these things just indicate to us that the spirit of the people will survive and achieve the ultimate victory, because God's spirit lives in those who believe.
And God will never abandon us, even though we abandon Him.
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