Looking Back to See Ahead

From the banning of all things Confederate, to the survival of ObamaCare, to the equal marriage ruling — this past week has been difficult for me. All three affect me as an observer of politics and a commentator on the social morays of this nation.

Starting from the top, banning anything in America, that neither break people’s bones, draws blood or steals their hard-earned money is wrong. Simply put, it’s is an affront to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

But it seems folks either don’t know it or don’t want to know it. I mean what can we expect when a group of freshly graduated high school students are unable to answer the basic question, “When did the 13 colonies declare independence from Great Britain?”

Like it or not, the Confederacy is a major part of our history. This nation, our forefathers, fought a Civil War over states rights on one hand and slavery on the other and came out unified afterwards.

I find this amazing.

As for the U.S. Constitution, it, I am afraid no longer exists. When a justice on the Supreme Court can read, “established by the state,” and create an entirely different meaning from those four words, our system, based on that all-encompassing document of liberty’s finished.

There is no logical reasoning behind this profound misinterpretation. Not even a dictionary can help as each year publishers add slang phrases like ‘Fo’Shizzle’ and ‘Twerk’ to our common lexicon.

These would at one time been considered passing fades and never given a second thought. But because of ‘political correctness’ and the desire for inclusion, we now make exceptions to what was once guided by ‘common sense.’

But the most difficult by far has been the expected ruling on ‘marriage equality.’ This is a subject that splits me into two camps of thought and belief.

The first would be my faith, guided by the Bible which states homosexuality is a sin. My faith also says that I’m supposed to forgive sinners, yet my homosexual brothers and sisters haven’t sinned against me, so I’ve nothing to forgive them for.

My faith also states that it isn’t my job to judge anyone, no matter how I feel about their actions. Furthermore, I’m commanded by my Lord to act in love and treat others as I want to be treated.

I think I’ve lived up to this — but I could be wrong, and I’m sure I’ll hear about it come judgment day.

Viewing this ‘equal marriage’ ruling from a political and societal stand-point: I again ascribe to Thomas Jefferson’s words, which I paraphrase — if it neither breaks my bone nor picks my pocket, what difference does it make to me. Government along with religious orders of all stripes, need to stay out of the lives of the private citizen, this includes to whom each of us chooses to love and to marry.

Finally, life in the U.S. is going to become more difficult. Expect a financial down turn worse than what we saw in 2007 and look for more changes that strike against the ‘societal norm,’ we’ve been accustomed to, and pray that we can once again survive the internal strife we are about to witness.