Back to Bondage?
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot (“Four Quartets”)
In a recently posted essay under the Spiritual category, we estimated America’s progression on a seven-stage socio-economic timeline that other major civilizations have gone through in the course of their history. Our basic conclusion was that with our continued apathy and increasing dependence on government for a variety of “benefits,” we are negotiating a slippery downslope somewhere in the sixth stage. The seventh and last stage, of course, is a state of bondage, which is where we started in 1776 – and anyone who survives to the now-approaching bondage stage will be back “where we started and know the place for the first time.”
Normally, the downward slide from dependence to bondage would be a gradual one, but today’s left, especially the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), are bent on accelerating the process with a variety of proposals – like abolishing the Senate, packing the Supreme Court, heavy taxes on wealth, open borders, Green New Deal policies, total gun control, measures to thwart any state abortion restrictions, open borders, adding gender identity to the classes of people protected by US civil rights laws, and even private property confiscation. If all or most of these proposals (and others) become reality, they would pave the way for a final push toward one-world government.
A few of these issues are said to be distractions – gender identity, for example. It may well be, as some believe, that the elite of the left don’t give one hoot about people with gender dysphoria but use it as a counterweight to recent pro-life advances in the states after the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Many conservatives believe abortion is a key issue in the left’s overall campaign to stop Christians from openly advocating their most basic beliefs. Indeed, abortion has been a cornerstone of the left’s growing depravity structure. Christian victories in the states on this issue could reverse the trend and revive hope for a widespread rediscovery of our Judeo-Christian moral compass.
There is little doubt that the still great number of practicing Christians in this country present a large and formidable obstacle to the ambitions of the DSA and other leftists. Their latest assault on Christianity, with the help of the media, is to characterize Christians who are also patriotic (as most are) with a manufactured pejorative term – Christian Nationalist. For example, it’s easier for them to make a comparison of “Christian Nationalists” with “National Socialists” (a.k.a. Nazis). Some of the left’s social media “essayists” condemn the idea of nationalism as leading to a Hitler-like state. Similar connections are more readily made to imperial Japan or Stalin’s Soviet Union.
In truth, a person can be both Christian and patriotic at the same time. The great majority of Americans have been both for almost the country’s entire existence – and it has been considered normal. Nationalism per se, of course, can be either good or bad, depending on the nation. For example, nationalism in Nazi Germany was evil because it viewed the state and Hitler as godlike – and prized only those of “pure Aryan blood,” persecuting and/or murdering those who were not, especially Jews. The emphasis was on the collective culture of pure Aryans.
Communist China is a modern example of “bad” nationalism. Xi Jinping’s government has just passed a law called “Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress,” which seeks to eliminate/blend several subnational ethnic identities into a state collective national identity. Christianity had already been basically outlawed, but the new law means eliminating the cultures and beliefs of Uighurs, Tibetans, Macanese, Hong Kong people, and any others who want to preserve a cultural heritage that differs from what is allowed. And the only “religion” allowed is Communism.
In America, we (still) prize individuals as being free to identify with whatever cultural and/or religious heritage they choose. The majority still identify as Christian – and most Christians are also patriotic. In fact, Christian Patriotism (a better term than Christian Nationalism) has been a foundation of this country from its inception. A few examples:
“The Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen” (John Adams).
“Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus” (Thomas Jefferson).
“That Book, sir, [the Bible] is the rock on which our republic rests” (Andrew Jackson).
“In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, I believe the Bible is the best gift God has given to man” (Abraham Lincoln).
“A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education” (Theodore Roosevelt).
“Throughout the centuries, men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel and inspiration” (Franklyn D. Roosevelt, in a foreword page he wrote for New Testaments that were distributed to all members of the Armed Forces in WWII).
“I read the Bible every day during my presidency” (George W. Bush).
Back to the DSA. Besides seeing Christianity as a great obstacle to their political goals in the US, the DSA also understands that nationalism is the opposite of globalism. In other words, nationalism, whether good or bad, stands in the way of one-world government, whether it’s Christian Nationalism or any other nationalism.
Another DSA proposal that would grease the skids downward for America is revival of the Green New Deal. Previously defeated by a Republican majority, these policies are little more than a left-wing wish list: more regulation, higher taxes, more government, and less fossil fuel production. All those things come with costs to regular people. As we know, it’s not easy to convince people to sacrifice, but it’s almost impossible when many of those advocating these policies are unwilling to join in themselves – e.g., John Kerry, who flies to climate conferences in a private jet; Michael Bloomberg, who owns 10 luxury properties around the world and uses a private jet to travel to them; various outspoken Hollywood types; etc. In the past, an objective mainstream media would be all over these flagrant hypocrisies, but today’s media people are equally hypocritical – they indoctrinate rather than report. It’s hypocrisy and elitism at its finest
Gun control is another issue vital to the left, although DSA candidates and spokespeople have been curiously silent about it. There’s no doubt that a disarmed populace would be much easier to subdue and control. But just the presence of some 400 million privately owned guns in the US probably keeps the DSA and other elites treading very carefully. (Even foreign powers may be hesitant – former Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiao-ping reportedly said that even if a foreign nation could deliver a knockout blow to the United States, the advantage couldn’t be sustained “because there’s a gun behind every blade of grass.”)
Does the Bible condone resistance to government persecution, religious or otherwise? If so, what might constitute Biblically correct resistance? That’s a subject for another time, but here are a couple of observations: Basically, we are called to obey our government officials unless what they impose clashes with God’s law, in which case we resist (Acts 5:29). And what about weapons? As Jesus told the apostles when they would be going out to preach the Gospel after He was gone from them: “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one” (Luke 22:36, ESV). In other words, having a sword, which was the weapon of the day, was not optional. That would apply to our guns today.
In other Western countries, there is already overt pushback by middle class citizens, mainly against most of the same elite policies that the DSA and other leftists promote here – open borders, high taxes, “green” energy policies, government overreach, etc. Such developments abroad should give pause to our own elites. But that won’t happen – so we need plenty of pushback here – to avoid sliding back into bondage.
Norbert J. Kuk