Patrick Buchanan recently published a book, “Suicide of a Super Power,” in which he lists some disturbing consequences of our stupidity in turning our great nation from a great Federal Republic to a waning Third-Rate Country. He cites cases going back to the Founding Fathers who warned us of the dangers of not being vigilant, reckless spending, an ever-expanding government meddling in foreign nations’ affairs, undeclared wars, illegal immigration and bad trade policies. Sadly, we are witnessing the fulfillment of these early warnings and appear totally incapable of turning the country around.
Every night our TV sets offer us a parade of experts who try to analyze what is going on and to offer solutions. In most cases, these experts have their own axe to grind and are part of the problem. The media bias allows only talking points agenda items to be discussed, and the truth is ridiculed; many who speak the truth, like Buchanan and Juan Williams have paid a dear price by crossing the line in speaking the truth. In both cases, these men lost their jobs and are pilloried by the Left-Wing Media.
In a similar manner we watch our moral ship slowly and now rapidly disappearing beneath the waters of our moral sewer as we sit silently by and permit loud voices to convince us that we must be tolerant of abhorrent behavior and practices. The foul language now used in radio and television would have resulted in public outrage back two generations ago. I can recall when there was a huge fuss over the word ‘damn’ used by Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind. Today, perverse behavior and language is tolerated as normal.
How did we get to this stage of decay?
In our history books we often read of the fall of great empires and the base causes that lead to the failure. In the Roman case, it began with illegal immigration when the Romans offered sanctuary to people fleeing the barbarians. The saved people, instead of adopting Roman culture as required, kept their culture, and the race over the cliff to the ash heap of history began. This was followed with debasement of the currency and wine, and then on to moral decay as described in the first chapter of Romans by the Apostle Paul. The cheaper wines were more acidic and extracted lead from their pewter drinking vessels, causing brain damage. (Remember Nero fiddling while Rome burned?)
We too can look to a simple cause of our moral, spiritual and national failure in one simple act, where the Supreme Court threw God out of our schools with the Brown v. Board of Education! Since then we have begun our race to the end. This has a precedent in the Old Testament. The Israelites had God for their King. Whenever they set up the tent containing the Ark of the Covenant, God’s presence could be seen as a cloud that hovered above the tent. Then they asked for a visible king, and God gave them Saul. As a result, they threw God out of the tent, and it has been a disaster ever since (1 Sam. 8:6).
When and until we restore God in our everyday life, we must live with the same sense of security enjoyed by the passengers on the Titanic.