Inauguration Day - A rare politcal/social/spiritual commentary for this space...Psalms 75:7 But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.
We have a great and wonderful tradition in this country of a peaceful transfer of power from one leader to another. People that were once political opponents on this day find a way to set aside those differences to change the guard. Even so, not all change is good.
Change for change sake doesn’t necessarily bring forth good fruit. Sometimes men trade in their wives for a younger model for selfish reasons only to find they (as my friend Byron says) traded in their “treasures for toys.” I fear we have done this as a nation.
Change should never be the goal. The goal for the journey is progress. Progress is not found in slogans or even “hope.” Hope is the passive emotion of most cowards. A message built on it alone is empty platitudes. Faith, however, is substantive. Progress is found in wisdom mixed with faith working in concert with corresponding action. Absent any of those ingredients, failure is assured.
Looking back at the Bush presidency, there were many failures that led us to this moment in history. For many conservatives, President Bush’s support of campaign finance reform, (illegal) immigration reform, and his unwillingness to openly defend the war effort cost him their support. These 3 points alone not only cost he and the republicans their base of support,but ultimately the congress and the Whitehouse. The other grave unintended consequence may be final dissolution of American capitalism. For a conservative this is unforgivable.
There are many things Bush did right as documented in this article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/4241865/History-will-show-that-George-W-Bush-was-right.html With the promise of “change” starting today, we can be sure that the tectonic shift of political power will result in policies that will have the ignorant swelling with pride as our country swells deeper into debt. To some this has the sinister scent of a totalitarian conspiracy driving us headlong over a socialist cliff where only the centralized government can be the end-all answer to any problem we face. It seems we may have already arrived.
The young messiah is preaching his sermon of government bailouts and salvation to the masses, while the rest of us go about our business working and producing. The promise of free healthcare, free school lunches, free college education, free homes, free cars, free gas, free this, free that , etc., etc., is a myth that for some is too much to resist.
Anyone who is in the target zone of being told how to run their business, who they can hire, or how much more they will have to give to others understand the price. The very policies that brought us the economic crisis and failures of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the very policies that are being prescribed to treat the illness. That is like prescribing arsenic to treat arsenic poisoning.
So here we are at the place or “equality.” A President elected because of race and “destiny” unscrutinized and lionized by a biased media that I dare say will refuse to criticize when the real crisis takes place. Instead they will just blame Bush because after all, to them he is evil incarnate. Well, just so you know, I will be here as the faithful opposition to socialism and the advocate of capitalism. The former has never worked and the latter always has, so why we would try to “change” that is beyond me.
For my “moderate” friends who sort of shrugged and said “He sounds nice I think I’ll vote for him,” or whatever other “core convictions” that don’t drive your decisions, might I remind you that John McCain was very much the “moderate” you all supposedly desired. So what is it that caused most of you to vote for the other guy?
Regardless, the peaceful transition of power is a pretty unique thing in a world wrought with regime change and unrest. Unrest we will always have as long as the peoples of the planet look to a human being for their well-being. The “change” must come from within based on our personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe. The created have fallen and we can’t get up without His eternal help. To look elsewhere for the answers to life’s problems is a futile exercise ending in frustration and disappointment.
I shall pray for our new President, first and foremost that his confession of Christ will be matched by his actions and policies. We’ve seen what professing Christian Presidents do when they compartmentalize their Christian ethics; we get such things as unregulated partial-birth abortion and an intern with a stained blue dress. Maybe this one will be better. I “hope” so.
My thoughts. I covet yours.
Tim
