So how far have we come? Or, The cyclic nature of Tyranny.
By aaronbg Posted in Life Issues — Comments (36) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
I was reading my Bible the other night, trying to find some strength to persevere, and I came across some great context. I was reading Nehemiah chapter 9 but the earlier chapters tell most of Nehemiah’s story. Nehemiah lived during the time when the Israelites were beginning their return from exile in Babylon.
Read More, trust me ;^)
These times were very difficult for the Israelites. They had come home to crumbling city walls homes in shamble and for the most part defenseless to their enemies that surrounded them. Nehemiah requested of King Artaxerxes, to be sent back to Jerusalem and to be the governor of Jerusalem. The King granted Nehemiah’s request and Nehemiah went on to rebuild the city walls in about 2 months. After the walls were finished Nehemiah directed Ezra and the priests, and levites to read the Book of the Law to the Israelites who had returned from exile. The people rejoice in hearing the law.
Now skipping ahead a bit back to chapter 9. Chapter is labeled as the Israelites confessing their sins. This is not only reconciliation with their Lord but also a lasting statement of faith in the Book of the Law. Ezra goes on to recount the miracle of the exodus and the hardships of their people due to their own pride. Near the end of the prayer for reconciliation a couple of verses stood out to me as not only a warning but also as an affirmation that once again in our modern age of political oppression, THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
This is not the first time in history that a righteous people have fallen away from the core principle that made them righteous. Now, I am not asking you to believe that God is punishing us for not following His laws, but I am trying to paint a picture here so stay with me.
When a society allows its common morality to fade into the distance for the sake of Bipartisanship™ Comity, or "going along to get along" you end up being an oppressed people subjugated by your own lack of principles. We must stand up as a Party on a solid foundation of a common moral law. The Rights given to us by our Creator have certainly been usurped by the ever tightening grip of a Federal gov't that has placed itself as the arbiter of all the Rights of Men. We have lost a enormous part of our foundation as a country. We need more men like Nehemiah and Ezra, willing to stand up to our oppressors. We need to find once again our common moral law, lest we lose our very existence as a moral and decent country. The Shining City on a hill needs to be polished and what better polish than a defined common moral law, adhered to by our party and the people we wish to represent.
Living in exile within the boarders of my native land,
Sincerely,
Aaron Boyd Gardner
I used to say to people back in the 90's that America is indeed the Rome of the new world and just like Rome when our decadence outweighs our morality we will fall. Even if you don't believe in God I think any intelligent person can find an awful lot of historical context in the Bible, that can, when applied, save us from ourselves and our oppressors, which are sometimes the same. Thanks for the recommend. I really wasn't sure how people would look at this. I hope it didn't come off too preachy.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
They were great and powerful for quite a time, and it appeared their dynasty would live forever. But it got to the point where (1) the citizens proxied out all the work.
(2) then they proxied out all their political power and the Roman Republic became the Roman Empire.
(3) They descended, bit by bit, into the worst forms of decadence, then perversion. To the point that finally they used crucified Christians as street torches, and built a Coliseum for the purpose of showing human death matches for entertainment. The proceedings were wildly popular.
(4) as their power waned, powers on the horizon were growing.
(5) the descent happened in stages, but the final collapse of the Roman Empire was sudden, swift, and devastating.
Anybody see shades of the U.S.A. here?
Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated. -- IMAO
or at least, not in any more than superficial way. In the first place, we have seen mighty empires go away without the sudden, violent example of the Romans.
I think that if we lose leadership of the world we will face a gradual and relative decline like the British Empire.
I also think that when you look at the decadence of the USA it is easy to fall into the trap of comparing us to some abstract perfect nation, or to a perfect past which never existed.
I prefer to compare ourselves to other nations on the Earth today.
We still don't look so bad, we still have a strong core of people who believe in upholding some ideals and in peace through strength. Economically we are doing well, even if other nations are catching up to us.
Furthermore, we are not facing a huge invasion or barbarians, propelled by other barbarians further away.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
Barbarian hordes are to Rome as , the ACLU is to America
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
We are not in the military and economic decline stage. But we are decaying from the inside out - and as to the comparisons outward, that's a mixed bag, IMO. The decadent pop culture is not only consumed inside our borders but exported vastly abroad. Large sections of the world view the US as the center of all things corrupt and morally bankrupt, and I don't just mean the Wahabbists. We do have enemies whose power is on the rise while our congress loads up on the hand cream to diddle itself 24x7. I refer specifically to the failure to fund our troops that is past critical and nearing disaster phase.
Once we start declining and cede super-power status to China, neither you nor I are qualified to say whether the final demise of the US might or might not be catastrophic. We just don't know. Only the US saved Great Britain from extinction in 1940-1941.
I don't predict certain doom. I DO, however, say that there's no time like now to steer away from the cliff.
Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated. -- IMAO
an old preacher I used to listen to in the 1960's. As long as I have been alive, and my Dad tells me as long as he has been alive we have heard the same old doom and gloom,
We are always the next Babylon, or Roman Empire, we are always going to hell in a handbasket, we are always our own worst enemies, except somehow, we still manage to muddle through.
There is no good, honest, or perfect time, people, place, nation, century, or race. Things always look bad if you look hard enough.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
the results of failure is humility.
I Peter 5:5 ".. for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble."
Perhaps the moral decay has ACTUALLY been in gear since the 60's, just like the preacher said. Hippies, pot, LSD, and free love from the 60's has progressed to 40 million-ish abortions, 3rd-graders being taught about homosexuality, and it's gotten to the point that you can't watch a TV show at 7pm without at least one erectile-dysfunction commercial and a KY jelly commercial.
I bet the doom-sayers in Rome didn't get alot of respect.
I'm just saying, the internal decay in the US is real. The direction it leads us in is real. Because we are quite aways from the cliff does not mean that it's overly chicken-little to decry the situation and work for a change in direction.
Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated. -- IMAO
What do I mean by that? Well, Pat, in his own strange way loves our country and has been screaming about our demise for years. But after looking only at the bad, and not the good for so long he has gone so far down the path that he now seems to take delight in our troubles and waits in nearly orgiastic anticipation of our great comuppance.
That is the trap for all prophets of doom.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
Where you seem prophecy of doom I see historical context for hope, and a road map to get there. Can you not see the difference? Pat Buchanon has gone so far off the reservation that he has started indicting individuals and groups who should not be the focus of blame. So comparing my diary and EPU's comment to Pat seems a bit extreme don't you think"
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
just as you and E are only "warning" America of the possible future, I am only warning you of the danger of too much negative thinking.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
I got your point Kyle I am just confused as to where you see, in EPU's comments or the diary itself, "too much negative thinking". I am really concerned because that was not the intent of this diary.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
"We are not in the military and economic decline stage. But we are decaying from the inside out "
and
"I am starting to wonder if people can even see the the demise of our great nation. "
Like I said, its fine to point the way toward danger, but if it gets too negative it begins to sound like the stuff I have heard for all my life. If I begin to believe that things are so bad, then really what is the point of going on, might as well give up.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
Kyle point is to expose the bad so that it can be dealt with. To ignore the FACT that we are in a state of moral decline in our country or the FACT, and I point to your onwn comments as evidence, that some people cannot see the demise is more of a statement of giving up. Do you disagree?
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
A Biblical case study would be Balaam (Numbers 22-24), who is prominently mentioned several times in later texts (including the NT) as a warning.
Usually he is viewed as simply a prophet for hire (which he was) and also a spriritual seducer. But you've opened up a deeper insight.
After all Balaam had prophetic status even before the Numbers episode: he had credibility or else Balak wouldn't have wanted to hire.
Thus, to connect him modern day gloom-and-doomers like Pat Buchanan, these folks have credibility, but then they fall into the trap that their identity becomes wrapped up in their message and they become invested in looking for gloom-and-doom to denounce, because that's where they get attention from, that's how they make a living from people who are willing to given them a TV program or to write columns.
And sometimes they may even get sensual (or perhaps even sexual) pleasure from their denunciations. Similar to the glee and sensual pleasure that some preachers in times past would arouse in themselves by extravagant descriptions of the terrors of Hell and the punishments and torments of the damned.
Something worth reflecting on...
But preemptively lumping EPU's comments and my diary into the same realm of Pat Buchanan is quite a stretch. Should we never acknowledge our former prestige and the steady walk away from the principles that allowed us to gain it? I am an optimist despite of the all the wrongs I see. This is about historical context and the warnings from the past. We have to recognize first where we are before we can start to get where we want to be. I am not screaming from the corner with a cardboard banner that the end is near. I am just saying we need to take advantage of the time we are giving and apply the lessons of times gone past. No doom and gloom, just exposure, planning and correction. Seems more hopeful to me than others I suppose. I may be biased though since I did write this ;^)
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
There is a boundary between firm land and quicksand which is rarely well-marked, and kyle8 had a good insight as to how people who start on firm land end up in quicksand.
I was primarily responding to his insight, not addressing as to whether you and EPU had crossed onto this quicksand.
I do agree we need to challenge those aspects of our country and people that are headed in directions that historically have had bad outcomes.
But I appreciated kyle8's reminder that one can start glorying in finding evidence of depravity in our culture - we see plenty of examples on the left, but the right (e.g. "social conservative" extremists, Ron Paul cultists) are not immune since this is a trap that we can all fall into if get too wrapped up in our pet ssues such that we lose perspective of the larger picture.
It's perfectly sound to say the if the shoe fits, wear it, but I really didn't follow the thread closely enough to comment on the shape of all your feet - I just wanted to comment on kyle8's insight.
The other thing I wanted to point out was that we sometime look at our own time and nation with a jaundiced eye while looking at the past with rose colored glasses.
There was just as much trashiness and sin going on when I was growing up in the 1960's. But the difference was it was more hidden.
You know the priest pedophile scandal? started as far back as the 1960's
Also back in the straight laced 1950's a famous study was done by a major New york hospital where mothers, fathers, and newborns were all routinely given blood tests. They had to discontinue it because on third of the babies did not belong to the fathers! And of course there was the way we treated minorities back then.
we were never perfect.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
And I would like to also add that I was not looking back at better times but rather the hardships of time past and the way that the people of that time overcame despite their own moral failings by recognizing those very same failings. I don't want to say we are down in the dumps as a nation but I must recognize the moral decline in order to correct my own behavior. Otherwise introspection becomes zero sum.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
That's a good point, but have no fear, I shall not go down the Pat Buchanan road.
Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated. -- IMAO
The time for self analysis as a nation is today because we are not guaranteed tomorrow.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
I certainly did not mean for this diary to be taken as basking in despair. I really meant this to be more of a show of historical context of how we can be vigilant, how we can recognize the lessons of the past so we can indeed persevere and continue our trek towards being the "Shining city on the hill" that Reagan mentioned. If you have taken this diary to be anything else I apologize and humbly request your critique.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated. -- IMAO
I am starting to wonder if people can even see the the demise of our great nation. Have we become to jaded that we can no longer even recognize the immorality that surrounds our everyday lives? I fear our nation has been inching towards the tipping point for quite some time. But even in my worries I am comforted, because I believe we will reach a moral renaissance before we reach the edge of the cliff.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
from potential demise. We survive nonetheless, often despite ourselves.
Moses led the Jews out of Egypt, and folks started worshiping an idol shortly thereafter. Left to ouw own devices, we never would have made it this far.
We just need to try to the best of our capabilities and hope for the best. Man has never deserved his continued existence, and while American Exceptionalism is truly exceptional, even America has more than it has earned.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
But didn't they also do away with the gold standard for the denarius?
The Denarius took the Romans from a bronze coin system, the AS to a siver coin system. The Denarius and the Punic Wars ended up deflating the value of the AS system, then Augustus introduced the gold coins called Aureus.
Here is some simple info on the monetary system of the Republic and later the Empire.
In the Republic money was minted in the Temple of Juno Moneta on the Capitoline Hill (our word "money" comes from Moneta). Responsibility for minting coins lay with the Senate, in the hands of junior magistrates called tresviri monetales. During the Empire minting took place in several different cities. The emperor had sole responsibility for minting gold and silver coins, while brass and copper coin mints were located throughout several provinces.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
Though not a practicing Christian myself, I'm well enough aware of the Bible to know of some of the stories which are told in it. Like how two cities got burned by God in punishment for their extreme decadence and how He warned a thoroughly righteous man and his family to get out of one of those cities before His wrath could be brought to the scene.
I see the United States as just on the cusp of following Rome into the realm of tyranny. Like Rome, the US is now divided by factions which appear to have their own interests at heart rather than those of the citizens who presumably elected them to representative posts in the Republic. Like Rome, we're becoming more and more accustomed to lives of luxury and relative ease withou considering what might happen if it all gets taken away at some point by enemies intent on plundering it from us as soon as they see the opportunity.
Part of the motivation for the barbarian invasions during the 4th and 5th Centuries AD was lust after the wealth and plenty that Roman provinces still possessed at the time. Gaul (now modern France) was first occupied by wandering Visigothic tribes which had sacked Rome itself and ultimately settled by the Franks who would give rise to its modern name. Rome, at least in the western half of its old empire, ceased to become a major player in worldly affairs (although the Catholic Church would at least maintain its laws and language in religious forms). What was left was a bastard stepchild based in the Greek city of Byzantium which soon split off from its former master to assume its own identity and eventually end its history getting run down by the rising power of the Ottoman Turks.
The decline of western Rome in that period had many of the same elements of decadence and aristocratic slothfulness that seems to embody life in the United States today, but the decline actually started well before the birth of Jesus. The Roman republic was contested by arrogant Senators star-struck by the riches of plunder taken from the Hellenistic kingdoms and city-states of the East and from the defeated rival empire of Carthage even before the rise of such personalities as the Gracchi Brothers, Marius, Sulla, Pompeius Magnus and Julius Caesar. It would die after a long series of civil wars fought in large part by partisans devoted to these rival leaders, ultimately put down by Caesar's nephew Octavian, who began the reign of Princeps dictatorships under the title of "Caesar Augustus".
Is America headed in that direction? I honestly don't know. Its decline might end up being a very quiet affair, as we get whittled down to little more than a heartland dominated by soon-to-be-warring city-states governed by virtual strangers who might not even have an inkling of the awareness of our history that we or our forefathers had. Or it might be burned out in one catastrophic wave of invasion by a foreign enemy whose influence on disaffected parties within our borders is far greater than our ability to respond to it. However, such thoughts are best reserved for theoretical speculation.
I prefer to keep an eye out for trouble, in case it's not too late to act. Which is why we ought to be taking a very vigorous approach to unseating the entrenched factions within our own legislature, so that they do not get to carry us down the road to destruction...
"Straight Talk Express"? My bum feet! -- Me, on Senator McCain and other "moderates"
that was a side benefit, He attacked because the Romans, lied to him, betrayed him, stole his tribes children, and tried to starve them to death.
The Romans were not just decadent, they were evil, and had become stupid. As I said before our similarities are superficial. You could just as well compare us with any other empire or mighty nation of the past and find many parallels.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
I could go on awhile into Nehemiah stuff that would take it outside the scope of this diary. But you make a keeper of a point here. America has (in large part) abandoned that which made her great. A large part of that was a moral compass.
Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated. -- IMAO