What In America Is Happening?

Pandemic. Riots. Racial division. Political militarism. Government overreach. Hatred of patriotism. No, you aren’t in the middle of a nightmare. This is really happening. The Land the Free and the Home of the Brave is at a crossroads. Where do we go from here? Can we ever be what we once were? Can we restore the peaceful state of our Union?

I think the simple answer is “no.” America can never be what it was. We can get back to standing for the freedoms we once cherished, but we can never get back to being the unstoppable force that we once were. We could become “One Nation Under God” again, but we will not be able to rid ourselves of the stench of compromise.

Every day since March 2020, we have shown our weakness. Once weakness is shown, it is exploited. Many people held their noses in 2016 and voted for a president they did not fully know they could trust. For most, this was on the premise and promise of conservative Supreme Court justices who would uphold the values of the Constitution. 

Chief Justice John Roberts betrayed his nation. He ruled that abortion clinics need not have admitting privileges to local hospitals in order to function. This violates the standards of any other surgical procedure, most of which are less dangerous than abortions. Setting aside the murder of the child implicit with abortion, this ruling puts women having abortions in great danger. You probably don’t know this, but some 68,000 women die from botched abortions yearly. Another 5 million suffer long-term health complications.

This ruling by our Supreme Court is just one example of how our elected officials no longer recognize their place and purpose in American society. They work for us. It is not your job as an American citizen to do whatever your mayor, governor, or president tells you. It is their job to serve the people - that’s you. Your representatives are just that. Senators and congresspeople are there to represent you. But too often, the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of our government overstep their bounds and no one stands up to them.

I am blessed to live in a state with a governor who serves his people with this in mind. Governor Asa Hutchinson has done an exemplary job of understanding his role - not to enforce, but to encourage citizens to do what is best. Many are upset that he doesn’t do more to intervene, but I couldn’t be happier. He has his imperfections, but he trusts his constituents to be wise and thoughtful. Whether or not we comply is up to us. That is what democratic government is supposed to look like. 

It is not this way in most states, though. Many governors are mandating wearing masks in public. I understand we are in the middle of a pandemic and that masks may help to prevent the spread, but what are we doing to stop the spread of totalitarianism? Our elected officials are not our rulers. They swore an oath when they took office. It was not an oath to protect their interests or re-election. It was an oath to serve we, the people. This is a perfect picture of government overreach. 

I know as I write this, the take-away for many will be that I am anti-mask. This is not so. I wear a mask in required areas and comply with reasonable restrictions. I am, however, anti-herd mentality. Whether or not you wear a mask should be up to you. If you enter a church, home, private business, or government building, you are required to comply with their particular restrictions. But a blanket restriction provided by an elected official defies their oath to uphold the Constitution.

We have a constitutional right, found in the Bill of Rights, under the First Amendment to freely exercise religion, yet government officials restricted those rights. My church was compliant, not because of government mandates, but because of a unanimous leadership decision from within our own body. Many anti-religious people will invoke what they call “the separation of Church and state.” Are you aware that this phrase is not found in any official founding document, but rather in a letter from Thomas Jefferson? It advocated, not that we could not freely express religion, but to the contrary, that government ought not to interfere with the Church.

The founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams coined the idea by saying that there ought to be a “wall or hedge of separation...between the wilderness of the world...and the garden of the church.” Since the ownership of slaves is the rule by which we judge our historical figures these days, perhaps you should know that Williams was an abolitionist. Jefferson, of course, was a slave owner. How is it possible that a slave owner and an abolitionist could agree on such an issue?

Well, once upon a time, people could disagree on one issue and still be united on another. The principle of not throwing away the baby with the bathwater was alive and well. Today? No the bathwater must go. Sorry baby, we don’t have time to fish you out first. This is what is wrong with America today: everyone believes they must buy into an entire ideology formed by someone else. And sadly, the most commonly taught ideology in our universities today is that of Marxism.

Marxism is, by definition, “the basis for the theory and practice of communism.” If this does not frighten you, it is because you have either never studied, or completely denied the results of communism over the last century. Communism is deadly. It pretends to care for the poor, while, in reality, it controls the poor. It eliminates the middle class. And it elevates the upper class. Under the guise of “fairness,”  communism destroys what private citizens work to build for themselves and their families.

Socialism, the most trendy political stance of the day, is, by the way, the doorway to communism. I know, many would argue that it seems more loving for the government to help those in need, and thus, socialism is best. The thing is, that is not the concern of government. It is our job as human beings to care for one another. The function of government is to protect our ability to be good and free citizens.

The powers that be are currently testing the limits of socialism in America and we are failing the test. If we are not careful, our government will become one of the politicians, by the politicians, and for the politicians. It is time to either regain the American spirit and fight for your freedom or prepare to bow before your new rulers and do whatever they tell you.