American Politics and Society: Virtue, Venality and Victory

“The diminution of public virtue is usually attended with that of public happiness, and the public liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals.” Samuel Adams, Revolutionary Founding Father

“To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.” James Madison, Father of the U.S. Constitution

The word “virtue” is practically meaningless in our culture.  This should not surprise since it is so rarely seen anywhere, especially in ruling elite.  We’ve become a nation of operators working angles across a landscape strewn with lies.  We’ve fallen so far, we see little kids shooting up schools, women dumping babies in trash cans, and men raping children.

And then, thankfully, we see virtuous men being raised up to speak out, men like Phil Robertson, Duck Dynasty, and Marcus Luttrell, Navy SEAL, and Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator from Texas, and Rand Paul, U.S. Senator from Kentucky.

Virtue.  It once meant something honorable, admirable, praise worthy.  It’s come to mean success in gaming the system, getting away with crime, insisting on government handouts, or piling up wealth through corruption and licentiousness. Consequently, this experiment in liberty is failing.  The people are increasingly infected with things like political correctness and moral relativism, both hailed virtuous. In reality, they are the enemies of virtue.   The people, like stray sheep, are encouraged by their leaders in the ways of selfishness and indulgence.

The Pope tells us to stop focusing on the abortion holocaust and to downplay biblical admonitions to behave virtuously in our sexual lives, as if the two are disconnected.  He is hailed “man of the year” by a magazine committed to the destruction of virtue, no wonder.

Leaders in Protestant churches emphasize “personal growth”, the healing of infantile memories, and prosperity, ignoring the heart of the Gospel which is repentance leading to virtue by the power of the Spirit.  Consequently, we see one scandal after another, church splits, and general morass celebrating the ordination of professional sinners in the pulpit.

A complete misrepresentation of the 1st Amendment by hordes of media and political operators insist separation of church and state is salvation, when in truth, cultural salvation depends upon virtue, delivered by our Judeo-Christian traditions.  We have a President who actively works to destroy those traditions, claiming virtue the centerpiece of his administration, one marked by the greatest corruption and lawlessness ever seen.  The traitor in chief funds terrorists and denies  they exist.  He then goes on to insult our men and women in uniform, sending them to fight in causes he does not support.  He is the enemy within, and yet, 40% of the people still worship the hollow man at his wax altar.

Politicians bought by powerful interests no longer blush, their lies becoming truth in their own eyes. Conscience is dead.  The President speaks about income disparity as his net worth quadruples in the last four years.  He makes empty promises to help the middle class even as ObamaCare destroys the middle class.  He whines about the privileged, then caters to them, accepting their praise and their campaign contributions.   He beckons the poor, then makes their plight worse.  He demands support from the black community, then ignores them, as they decline economically.

We have a majority leader in the Senate competing with Caligula. The Speaker of the House appears a double-minded tear jockey.  The Secretary of State, a Vietnam-era traitor, is found on his knees again in the face of the enemy while he insults allies.  The Secretary of Defense can’t articulate a complete sentence. He specializes in gutting the military, and losing wars.  The Attorney General breaks the law instead of enforcing it. The Chief Justice of an incoherent Supreme Court rules without regard to the Constitution or the Lawgiver. A woman with presidential ambitions responsible for decades of corruption and demoralization launches a speaking tour on the theme: “restoring good government”.

The high and mighty commit felonies without consequence, but let some commoner steal an apple and it’s prison time.  WWII vets and grandmothers are beat to death in the streets, but the main topic of conversation among talking head liberals is a traffic jam in New Jersey, not the latest Hollywood or D.C. scandal.  Four dead in Benghazi:  ignored.  IRS targeting private citizens: ignored.  The imperial presidency and illegal domestic surveillance: ignored.

The pulpits are silent.  Politicians say nothing, loudly. Soldiers, alive and dead, weep.  Real heroes like Navy SEALS are denigrated: real cowards and traitors like Obama and Kerry and Clinton and Reid are celebrated.  

Still, take heart.  Spiritual revival is coming, the counter revolution is growing, and the King of the Universe will have the final word.

Image: Courtesy of: http://hellnotesforbeauty.blogspot.com/2010/08/evil-eye-el-mal-de-ojo.html