Alan Keyes
Will America's way of life survive?
By Alan Keyes
Most voters take no interest in the various "'isms" that figure prominently in the discussion of politics. On account of Bernie Sanders' effort to get the Democrats to nominate him for president, "socialism" currently saturates the energy waves – air, electronic, and light. Ben Carson's decision to wipe his cheeks of Trump's contemptuous spittle and endorse Trump puts openly on display the coition (from the Latin, coire, meaning "to go together") of unprincipled pragmatism, which sees the primordial issues of God-endowed unalienable right as "barnacles on the hull" of the sinking ship of state, and unscrupulous capitalism, which thinks it is "a small thing" to lure money-hungry "little people" to pay for a fake "University" education with no purpose but to defraud them of what little they do have.
Such are the fruits of the licentious political intercourse that has infected the GOP with a politically transmitted disease. The major symptom: the party's inability to represent its supportive members as vital issues come to a climax in Congress. The party's disease reflects what all the aforementioned "isms" have in common, which is a concern with achieving results (and therefore power) with no regard for the way they are achieved. Tragically, voters with no interest in thinking the "isms" through will never perceive this, their common characteristic.
They hear Bernie Sanders talk about justice and equality, but never ponder the significance of the fact that socialism actually sees politics exclusively in terms of power. It rejects the notion that there is any way of judging the historic outcomes of the history of power but to determine who ends up controlling it.
They hear Ben Carson mouth pious phrases in respect of God and His precious gift of life, but never ponder the significance of the fact that Mr. Carson thinks "getting things done" (the be all and end all of "pragmatism") trumps the imperative of conformity with right as God has made us to see the right.
They experience Donald Trump's performance of their anger and frustration. They respond with a standing ovation at the polls, expressing their relief that they have finally been allowed an outlet for their sincere outrage against the elitist faction's betrayal of the rights, including liberty, which their government is supposed to secure.
They never ponder the significant fact that the man through whom that outlet is offered has spent his whole life entirely in the company and service of those who have engineered and benefited from that betrayal. They don't think through the fact that, aside from hollow promises of "greatness," undefined, he offers, even now, nothing but what will continue, in a slightly altered disguise, the arrogant abuse of power that has rightly outraged their patriot love of right, including rightful liberty.
The "isms" used to mask the elitist faction's ancient, self-obsessed ambition are all of them at odds with the Constitution that was intended to be the vehicle through which we, the people of the United States, expressed our patriotic love in action. Here again, many Americans have seen and understood the fact that the Democratic and Republican parties, two wings of the same elitist faction, have repeatedly perpetrated, approved, or tolerated violations of the clear, plain language of the Constitution. They have even refused to reject executive and judicial actions that simply discard its provisions altogether.
Thanks to the personality-driven obsessions encouraged by the elitist faction sham, outraged voters act without regard for the true source of these betrayals, which transcends personalities. It lies in the assumption that what happens is all that matters, regardless of the way in which it happens. But constitutional self-government is all about making sure that what is done conforms to the premises of justice and right that are supposed to inform and substantiate the rightfulness of what is done.
The American creed, articulated in the words of the Declaration of Independence, speaks of the just powers derived from the consent of the governed. It does so because injustice, however powerful, is permanently at odds with the God-endowed unalienable rights that human government is instituted to secure. This is why, through all the years of its existence, the people most sincerely loyal to the United States, and most determined to preserve its Constitution of liberty, have not spoken or acted only to defend our lives. They have spoken and acted, even at the risk of their lives, to preserve the American "way of life."
This phrase makes clear that the true American patriots are not those who offer to sacrifice liberty for safety as the GOP's purblind anti-terrorists have done. They are not those who dig the foundations of their supposedly benevolent "welfare state" by excavating the rights made known to us by our Creator, as the socialists do. They are not those who play us with false promises of "greatness," while promoting the establishment of elitist faction rule; or who assert pre-eminent dominion over our choices and our lives, without regard to the justice we owe to our humanity. They are not those who invite us to forget the respect we owe to "the laws of nature and of nature's God," even when we go to war with the bloodthirsty fanatics who attack our innocent lives.
The present sham two-party system isn't bad simply because it typically offers us no choice but between one bad candidate and another. Rather, it often offers us "a choice of evils" because the elitist faction that controls the sham system stands united in rejecting the premises of good and bad, right and wrong, justice and injustice, on which the institutions of our self-government are wholly erected.
Because of this fundamental rejection, even the "best" bad choice the elitist faction's sham politics allows us may refuse to apply the standard, endowed by our Creator, by which we claim the authority as a people to exercise our rightful liberty. Sometimes abusing the Name of God, but with no true respect for His power, this implicit rejection of America's founding creed tempts hearts sincerely seeking to restore our nation's soul to remain instead within the precincts of its impending doom.
Though they may profess the Name that frees all who believe on it from that doom, many lack even the "little faith" required to activate His power. And while they hoard what power they have within the compass of their worldly fears and calculations, will "even that which they have...be taken away"? Or will they finally listen to the heavenly trumpet, certain and true, which they profess to hear, and remove themselves from darkness in time to preserve themselves a nation, God endowed, that is the only one we have worth saving?
March 21, 2016
Most voters take no interest in the various "'isms" that figure prominently in the discussion of politics. On account of Bernie Sanders' effort to get the Democrats to nominate him for president, "socialism" currently saturates the energy waves – air, electronic, and light. Ben Carson's decision to wipe his cheeks of Trump's contemptuous spittle and endorse Trump puts openly on display the coition (from the Latin, coire, meaning "to go together") of unprincipled pragmatism, which sees the primordial issues of God-endowed unalienable right as "barnacles on the hull" of the sinking ship of state, and unscrupulous capitalism, which thinks it is "a small thing" to lure money-hungry "little people" to pay for a fake "University" education with no purpose but to defraud them of what little they do have.
Such are the fruits of the licentious political intercourse that has infected the GOP with a politically transmitted disease. The major symptom: the party's inability to represent its supportive members as vital issues come to a climax in Congress. The party's disease reflects what all the aforementioned "isms" have in common, which is a concern with achieving results (and therefore power) with no regard for the way they are achieved. Tragically, voters with no interest in thinking the "isms" through will never perceive this, their common characteristic.
They hear Bernie Sanders talk about justice and equality, but never ponder the significance of the fact that socialism actually sees politics exclusively in terms of power. It rejects the notion that there is any way of judging the historic outcomes of the history of power but to determine who ends up controlling it.
They hear Ben Carson mouth pious phrases in respect of God and His precious gift of life, but never ponder the significance of the fact that Mr. Carson thinks "getting things done" (the be all and end all of "pragmatism") trumps the imperative of conformity with right as God has made us to see the right.
They experience Donald Trump's performance of their anger and frustration. They respond with a standing ovation at the polls, expressing their relief that they have finally been allowed an outlet for their sincere outrage against the elitist faction's betrayal of the rights, including liberty, which their government is supposed to secure.
They never ponder the significant fact that the man through whom that outlet is offered has spent his whole life entirely in the company and service of those who have engineered and benefited from that betrayal. They don't think through the fact that, aside from hollow promises of "greatness," undefined, he offers, even now, nothing but what will continue, in a slightly altered disguise, the arrogant abuse of power that has rightly outraged their patriot love of right, including rightful liberty.
The "isms" used to mask the elitist faction's ancient, self-obsessed ambition are all of them at odds with the Constitution that was intended to be the vehicle through which we, the people of the United States, expressed our patriotic love in action. Here again, many Americans have seen and understood the fact that the Democratic and Republican parties, two wings of the same elitist faction, have repeatedly perpetrated, approved, or tolerated violations of the clear, plain language of the Constitution. They have even refused to reject executive and judicial actions that simply discard its provisions altogether.
Thanks to the personality-driven obsessions encouraged by the elitist faction sham, outraged voters act without regard for the true source of these betrayals, which transcends personalities. It lies in the assumption that what happens is all that matters, regardless of the way in which it happens. But constitutional self-government is all about making sure that what is done conforms to the premises of justice and right that are supposed to inform and substantiate the rightfulness of what is done.
The American creed, articulated in the words of the Declaration of Independence, speaks of the just powers derived from the consent of the governed. It does so because injustice, however powerful, is permanently at odds with the God-endowed unalienable rights that human government is instituted to secure. This is why, through all the years of its existence, the people most sincerely loyal to the United States, and most determined to preserve its Constitution of liberty, have not spoken or acted only to defend our lives. They have spoken and acted, even at the risk of their lives, to preserve the American "way of life."
This phrase makes clear that the true American patriots are not those who offer to sacrifice liberty for safety as the GOP's purblind anti-terrorists have done. They are not those who dig the foundations of their supposedly benevolent "welfare state" by excavating the rights made known to us by our Creator, as the socialists do. They are not those who play us with false promises of "greatness," while promoting the establishment of elitist faction rule; or who assert pre-eminent dominion over our choices and our lives, without regard to the justice we owe to our humanity. They are not those who invite us to forget the respect we owe to "the laws of nature and of nature's God," even when we go to war with the bloodthirsty fanatics who attack our innocent lives.
The present sham two-party system isn't bad simply because it typically offers us no choice but between one bad candidate and another. Rather, it often offers us "a choice of evils" because the elitist faction that controls the sham system stands united in rejecting the premises of good and bad, right and wrong, justice and injustice, on which the institutions of our self-government are wholly erected.
Because of this fundamental rejection, even the "best" bad choice the elitist faction's sham politics allows us may refuse to apply the standard, endowed by our Creator, by which we claim the authority as a people to exercise our rightful liberty. Sometimes abusing the Name of God, but with no true respect for His power, this implicit rejection of America's founding creed tempts hearts sincerely seeking to restore our nation's soul to remain instead within the precincts of its impending doom.
Though they may profess the Name that frees all who believe on it from that doom, many lack even the "little faith" required to activate His power. And while they hoard what power they have within the compass of their worldly fears and calculations, will "even that which they have...be taken away"? Or will they finally listen to the heavenly trumpet, certain and true, which they profess to hear, and remove themselves from darkness in time to preserve themselves a nation, God endowed, that is the only one we have worth saving?
To see more articles by Dr. Keyes, visit his blog at LoyalToLiberty.com and his commentary at WND.com and BarbWire.com.
© Alan KeyesThe views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
