Friday, January 11, 2013

On pendulums, human nature, and Biblical morality

There are many hopeful souls among conservatives who believe the pendulum will always swing and will eventually swing back to their direction.

The reality is there is no more pendulum.  It stopped swinging with the last election.  It had swung so far left and with such force that it is lodged into brains of the majority of Americans who are devoid of information, thinking skills, and initiative.

There is no rational reason any more why the pendulum will swing to the right within the next several presidential elections if not the next century.  Yes, it is possible for a republican – one like Chuck Hagel, an Israel-hating socialist to the left of most Democrats – to be elected.  But most conservatives agree that there is little difference between the Democrat and Republican parties.

It is human nature to be self-centered, egotistical, greedy, lazy and selfish.  A prevailing spirit of personal responsibility that propelled our nation to success and prosperity during its first two centuries has been replaced with a spirit of entitlement. 

Most Americans have discovered “push ups.”  Instead of providing for themselves or being responsible for their own problems, they now expect someone else to do it.  So they “push up” their former personal responsibilities to the next level – to the city, the county, the state or to the federal government.  Too many individuals lack motivation.  Too many families are broken.  The individual is the smallest, most local level of governance – self governance; personal discipline.  And next is the family.  Self governance and self-discipline have all but withered.  They are in shambles.  So next higher levels take the brunt:  neighborhood, than the town, county, state, then federal, then world government (United Nations) being the “ultimate.”  Every one of these levels of governance, from the individual through the state and federal, have assumed the panacea of “pushing up” responsibilities to the next higher level.  Bigger and higher levels of government  have become the solution of choice for the majority – not just the majorities of individuals and families, but of a growing number of local, county and state governments.  They are all seeking a handout or a bailout from the next higher level of government – the city from the county; the county from the state; the state from the feds.

With every push up, individual liberties are eroded – liberties are exchanged for someone else doing the hard stuff.  But doing the “hard stuff” doesn’t come cheap.  There come higher, unsustainable expenses, higher taxes, more regulations and controls and fewer freedoms, and an oppressive environment that stifles creativity, motivation, and productivity.  Collapse of society WILL result.

The safeguard against unchecked negative tendencies of human behavior has been a universally agreed upon morality.  Our nation came close to that universally agreed upon morality, although not perfectly, in the decades leading up to its founding and extending 150 years thereafter.  That common morality was based on Biblical principles as promoted by a strong church comprised of dozens of faithful and mostly orthodox denominations.

It is no secret that belief in the Bible and in the Biblical morality our nation’s successful governance relied upon has all but disappeared from our laws, court rulings, and habit and preference of our electorate over the last several decades.  When once “unity” was seen as a positive and esteemed value, we have now embraced “diversity”, the opposite of unity.  That promotes an attitude of “tolerate everything” – no value is better or worse than another.  We have become a nation of amoralists – those who see no need for traditional morality.  Expression of such morality is now seen as hateful, bigoted, intolerant or mean spirited.  Our “natural” human nature has been unleashed to do whatever it damned well pleases.  And what it damned well pleases has led us to where we are today.

This is a megatrend that will take more than a minority conservative party to reverse.  The momentum of our public education system, the university system, and the entitlement “let government do it” attitude of a majority of our population will ensure that this megatrend  continues well into the distant future.

What will eventually reverse this megatrend?  Economic collapse, intolerable repression, and eventually, revolution.  Occupation by a foreign power will become increasingly likely as our nation weakens under the weight of our immorality, dependency and loss of our work ethic.

How long will it be before this reversal occurs?  Many commentators give us a decade or two to reach a point of collapse.   A “black swan” event could easily push us over to collapse and anarchy well before that.  It could take another generation or two beyond that to recover our former national spirit, if ever.

If we couldn’t recover our nation during the last election when there was no excuse for the level of ignorance our electorate exhibited, then the rocky shoals of an oppressive, manipulative government and anarchy provides little hope for reestablishing our former glory.

Faithful Christians see this scenario as God lifting His hedge of protection from our nation as a consequence of our unfaithfulness.  Others see it as “fate”; still others see it as “progress.”

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