Saturday, August 08, 2015

Regarding "The Donald."


Trump
To my good conservative friends- especially those who support "The Donald." 

In these days of milquetoast (or worse) defenses of conservatism by elected leaders, especially the 'establishment' GOP leadership, it is easy to get excited over a seemingly unapologetic firebrand who finally articulates much of what you and I have wanted to scream from the mountaintops.

I get that. 

But remember what was happening 8 years ago. Many on the left and 'center-left' rallied behind a charismatic, well-spoken candidate who nobody really knew much about.

Not that there wasn't information available. There was information galore about Barack Obama-- from his associations with known domestic terrorists, to his belonging to a communist party in Chicago; from his 20-year association with a preacher who preached hate about the United States, to his being mentored by an avowed communist in his earliest days. The information was available to any who wished to do even a cursory internet search.

Many (myself included) tried to warn people about Barack Obama, how he wasn't the man whom he portrayed himself to be.

But people would have none of it. They looked upon Obama as an open canvas; they looked upon him and projected upon him their greatest hopes, and ignored the reality of his checkered past. They didn't see a guy raised by communists and people who hated America. They saw a guy descending from Greek columns. They saw 'the One"--their own personal messiah the one who would finally deliver them to the "Promised Land" and make the sea levels lower and the earth heal. They scoffed at reports of his past, thinking, "Well, even if he did cut his teeth on communism and Islam, he wouldn't *govern* like one. He would certainly out of a sense of duty and responsibility carry out America's most time-honored traditions." And they elected him anyway. The 'cult of personality' took over. There was no reasoning with people who refused to be reasoned with.

And we all know how that has turned out.

Now, back to Trump.

Donald Trump does an awfully good job at selling himself. He can sell ice cubes to Eskimos. He is very good at portraying himself as larger than life.

He is very good at 'portraying' himself as an unapologetic conservative.

But understand, people. Donald Trump is NO conservative. He has a very long record of taking very progressive stances on everything from border security to abortion to tax policy. He has engaged in crony capitalism, and has been part of the problem all along.

Are we to believe that he REALLY took a 180 on all these issues, just in time for the Republican primary?

Again-- I understand how Donald Trump can be appealing. He is charismatic and unapologetic--something we wish more of our elected leaders would be. But let's leave our passions behind and look at things realistically:

1. Given his long track record of being a crony capitalist and a big-government, pro-abortion progressive, can we reliably count on Donald Trump to actually govern as a conservative?

2. Even if Donald Trump were to attempt to keep his promises (which I have sincere doubts), can he accomplish all that he proposes in a system of checks and balances? Or will he govern with a 'phone and a pen' like our current dictator-in-chief?

Let's not let our passions get in the way of our good judgment. We have an embarrassment of riches in fine candidates such as Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, and Ben Carson who, while admittedly not as charismatic, have long track records of conservative stances and successfully advancing the conservative agenda with reasonable chances that they will govern accordingly.

No more cults of personality, please.

Monday, August 03, 2015

Never Again?



I was watching "Band of Brothers" last week--the episode where the Nazi death camp is discovered.
They (the Nazis) were massacring tens of thousands of people, in a camp located right near their community, right under the noses of those in the community--and they did NOTHING.
After they liberated the camp, the 101st Airborne conscripted the nearby townsfolk to carry all the bodies out of the death camp and to bury them. The people were aghast as they carried out their grisly duty; unaware that such atrocities could occur, right under their noses. They had no answer when interrogated as to why they continued to allow those atrocities to occur.
At some of those death camps, there were even bizarre experiments in dismemberment, disfugurement, and other forms of torture conducted, sometimes on live prisoners.
After WWII, the solemn pledge that arose was the phrase, "NEVER AGAIN!"
NEVER AGAIN! would the world allow such atrocities to occur against a defenseless group of people.
NEVER AGAIN! would the world stand by and do nothing in the face of what is surely evil.
And now, eighty years have passed, and there are now 'death camps' scattered all over America, centered mostly in minority urban centers--these death camps are massacring hundreds of thousands of babies every year. These death camps are also known as 'abortion 'clinics,' most commonly known as "Planned Parenthood" clinics. At a goodly portion of these death camps, bizarre and horrific dismemberment and disfigurement of their victims take place for later experimentation and other uses, sometimes perpetrated on born-alive victims.
These atrocities take place right under our noses. And the powers that be do nothing. People literally whistle past the graveyard. Even our own United States Senate, charged with the Constitutional Duty to protect the Right to Life, today refused to remove the mechanism through which these atrocities are funded and are allowed to continue. Even after the atrocities, thanks to the Center for Medical Progress, had been documented on film ad nauseum, the abject cowards in the United States Senate refused to lift a finger to keep these atrocities from continuing.
We who individually and collectively refuse to defend the defenseless can no longer lay claim to live in a blessed nation. I cannot fathom a Creator who would continue to bless his creation for disrespecting and wantonly desecrating that which was made in His own image, and that we were charged to protect.
A moment of Judgment is no doubt coming... one in which our Creator will force US to view and to confront the horrors which we have wrought, and one in which which we will singularly and collectively have to answer the question, "What did YOU do to defend the defiling of My creation?"
I'm afraid my answer will be, "Not enough Lord...not enough."
Never again?