A pastor visited a church congregation where his friend played the
piano. The piano was dead center in the front of the sanctuary. Yes, it was in
front of the cross, the altar, and the baptismal, and the pianist didn’t like
it. The church leadership refused his request to move the piano somewhere less
central so it wouldn't supplant the visual cues many believers find helpful in worship.
It was a couple of years before the pastor was able to attend this
church service again. Most pastors have their own Sunday morning commitments
and attending a service in another congregation is a rare treat. This time the
piano was off to the side. After the service, the pastor asked his friend how
he got the piano off to the side.
His answer: “One inch a Sunday.”
One inch a
Sunday.
Let’s turn to the midterm elections. This is an election cycle short on
issues but significant—very significant—on the future of liberty. Some states
have a real chance of electing socialists to a variety of offices.
America seems to be struggling through adolescence. A sizeable number
of Americans, mostly younger Democrats, think socialism is the solution, even
though they can’t articulate the problem.
Socialism sounds cool. Each according to his ability and each according
to his needs sounds pseudo-biblical. Ronald Reagan said it best. The only place where socialism might work is in heaven where they don’t
need it or hell where they already have it.
But it sounds so cool. Everybody gets what they need. No problem,
right?
Right, except that the quest for power is much stronger than an unsuccessful
philosophy. Power abhors a vacuum, and that is the only place that socialism
might succeed.
But capitalism seems unfair. The rich seem to get richer, and the poor
get poorer. The latter part seems contrived, since the poorest American is far richer than over half the world’s population. Being richer
than 70 or 80 percent of the world's people wouldn’t be much of a
stretch.
But socialism is about bettering people’s lives. Our Constitution does not
do that. No matter how many times people repeat it, it’s just not true. I
suggest rereading our most fundamental document. It’s right up front: Promote
the general welfare. This republic has one of its founding principles as promoting better lives for its people.
It’s not perfect. Things move slowly. Some things just don’t seem fair,
but in the end, we still make progress without surrendering our liberty. Ditching
slow progress for the illusion of progress at the expense of liberty is
immature.
It seems that America is struggling through adolescence. When a child
goes through adolescence, they reach a point where it seems like their parents
became geniuses overnight. The eighteen- or twenty-year-old kid asks their
parent, "How did you get so smart?"
Illusions and delusions, fantasies without facts or substance, give way
to reality and common sense. Life is no longer a video game. The values those
old, unreasonable people known as parents espouse suddenly make sense.
When the nation is delusional, it risks losing liberty not only for
this generation but for many that follow. It will not be reclaimed without paying
a significant price in American blood.
But what could it hurt to see what happens in a few states? If it doesn’t
work out there, they could always vote the other way next time. Really?
Consider the piano that moved an inch a Sunday. It’s the How to Boil a Frog story. It’s an old one. I probably heard it
for the first time fifty years ago.
Put a frog in boiling water, and it jumps out. No way that creature is
staying in that water. Get another frog (you won't catch that first frog again)
and put it in a pot of room-temperature water, then slowly turn up the heat
about one degree every couple of minutes. In a couple of hours, you will have
boiled frog.
It was just a degree here and there. It just felt a
little warm. It’s still warm; it even seems a little warmer than before. Must
be climate change, perhaps El Niño. Nothing to see here.
No more roleplaying the rationalization process of the frog in the pot
of water. Small changes that go unnoticed or are otherwise dismissed become big,
sometimes irreversible changes.
That is the case with adolescent America, except most voters should
have left their juvenile phase long ago. The something-for-nothing lure has
worked for so long, and is branching out with new venues.
But I hate Trump. How can I vote for anyone he endorsed? This might
sting a little. Suck it up, buttercup!
You’re an adult now. You don’t get to vote for homecoming queen
anymore. This isn’t the student council election where the main, perhaps only,
issue is popularity. This is your nation's future. It is the future of your children
and their children. That should be enough to move beyond hate to the real consequences of how you vote.
Today, you have actual liberty—more than most of the world. In twenty
years, those in power will promise you a little liberty in return for not
rioting. It won’t be delivered, and riots will be met with domestic violence from
the unapproachable government on a scale not seen since Pol Pot.
Two decades from now, adolescent America will awaken and wonder how
those dreaded, conservative, even MAGA people knew this would happen. How could
they be right and I miss it?
They lived lives that loved liberty and did what was needed to preserve
it for their children’s children. They lived with eyes wide open, studied
history, and many put their lives on the line for a place like no other in history.
They saw that power indeed corrupts, and the model ordained and established in
our Constitution was the best the world has ever known at keeping government
authority in the hands of the people.
Individual liberty is not just doing what you want. It’s doing what is
right and necessary without being subjugated to a person or council who decides
what is right and worth doing without your input.
America is far from perfect, but before the baby goes out with the
bathwater, we might want to note the incredible progress this nation has made,
while remaining a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people, at
least for a little while longer.
C’mon kids. Grow up a little, at least for November. You can resume
your TDS rants in December and still have your liberty intact for Christmas and
New Year's.
I know adulting isn’t always fun, but try it this November. The
republic, your liberty, and the lives of your grandchildren’s children are at stake.
