As I drove to work November 7, 2008, I marveled at how normal everything looked, where in fact everything had changed. Obama had just been elected President on the promise of “hope and change.” We got the change, and this almost destroyed our hope. However, we didn’t protest in 2008 as paid anarchists do now in big cities. Perhaps we cried inside, but we went to work, rather than asking our bosses to let us off like “cream-puff” college kids who are asking their professors to excuse them from class to mourn Hillary Clinton’s defeat.
Empathy is projecting yourself into another and to feel as they do. I am not gloating over Trump’s historic victory because I know how Democrat-liberal-progressives, “Never Trumpers,” the media and the “Ruling class” must feel. I felt similarly many times over the last eight years.
This was going to be my last essay for the Focus. I had begun to feel “What difference does it make?” For the last several weeks I’d been thinking about what I’d say after ten years of weekly columns. The title was to be, “It is Finished.” Though I had hope, history and pragmatism led me to believe that nothing would ever change, and my hopes would again be dashed by leftists and feckless Republicans.
And then the walls of Jericho (Washington) came tumbling down when one man refused to bend a knee to the tyranny of progressives and the ruling elite. Donald J. Trump acknowledges that he only leads the movement. He recognized that 70% of Americans believed the country was going in the wrong direction, perhaps because he saw as they did. Trump was able to explain in simple terms what was wrong and offer an alternative to those Hillary Clinton called “deplorables” and Obama referred to as “bitter clingers” (to our guns and religion).
Donald Trump is a leader defined as someone who has fundamental principles, expresses a clear vision, and is able to gain consensus. He rose to the presidency as the personification of a movement that ultimately defeated the world’s “rulers and powers and forces of darkness.” His opposition was legion. With the exception of a few groups every sector of worldwide power hated Trump except We The People.
I wish I believed that Hillary Clinton was sincere in her excellent concession speech wishing Trump success. And I wish I believed Obama was similarly sincere. I hope that Paul Ryan and Republicans will coalesce around the President-elect, and will use the greatest power this party has possessed since the 1920s for the good of American’s freedom and prosperity. We’ll see. Republicans captured The People’s House in 1994 and offered the Contract with America. They faltered and failed. And nothing was done to oppose Obama after the people gave Republicans the House in 2010 and then the Senate in 2014. I agree with the experts and Trump who say that now the work begins to reverse the damage done to the country. Mr. Corker, Mr. Alexander and Mr. Duncan, WE THE PEOPLE are watching and it’s time to step up and be counted. No more excuses.
Hollywood, the resident communist of CNN, Van Jones, and the anarchist and puppet-master George Soros and his MoveOn.org certainly have not expressed any bonhomie for Trump. In fact, MoveOn has organized hundreds of protests already, despite the fact that as yet Trump has no power. Nor has he any responsibility for the mess Obama and the Democrats have created. Perhaps they all fear a man of resolve and the 60 million who support him and the “new American revolution.”
Tolerance is often necessary in a civilized and multicultural country like America. I tolerate college neophytes and disengaged zombies who only follow the Kardashians, whose minds are so easily twisted by the dishonest media, indoctrinating professors and George Soros propaganda. After all, Joseph Goebbels proved that “the big lie” works. However, sometimes intolerance is both necessary and appropriate. I am intolerant of slavery, liars, Nazis and anarchists.
A materialist believes that only what he can understand or observe exists. A theist believes in a much greater reality, one which even encompasses materialism. How could the “experts” be so blind and wrong about the Trump phenomenon? Perhaps they refused to see. Of the many statistics in this Presidential contest, two stand out for me. First, Clinton received 6 million fewer votes than Obama in 2012. Many like Colin Kaepernick didn’t vote. Perhaps some of these are assuaging their guilt and earning a paycheck on protest lines.
The second fact is that evangelical Christians came out in droves against Clinton’s abortion policy and to effect future Supreme Court choices. Like many Christians, I prayed for a miracle along the lines of 2 Chronicles 7:14. I see the Trump miracle as Providence in action through his/her/Spirit’s human foot soldiers. Yes, I know there’s no materialist proof of this. But there’s also no proof against my interpretation of prayers and events.
As I consider the events swirling around me, perhaps it would be easier to embrace a monastic life and be oblivious to the world and its evils. However, to paraphrase the Master, to whom much is given, much is expected. St. Augustine was once asked to explain why there is so much evil in the world. He challenged the skeptic by observing, if there is no God, why is there so much good in the world?
Apparently, retreat is not my destiny, especially now that I asked for and witnessed a miracle. God’s words to the prophet Micah (6:8) now resonate even stronger with me as I consider justice and mercy and a humble heart.
In the first few weeks of his presidency, Obama told Paul Ryan, “elections have consequences.” Yes, the country is due for a correction, but the world will not end with the election of Donald Trump, just as it didn’t when President Obama was elected.
As a theist, I embrace the notion that there is a purpose and a plan beyond our abilities to comprehend. Hillary Clinton said, “We are stronger together,” and she’s right. We are also stronger if we keep looking up. I have a hierarchy for prayer concerns. Cub fans might be shocked that I didn’t ask for God’s intervention. However, if you consider the majesty and mystery of the universe, I just wonder if a recently departed “Cubbie” might have influenced the Almighty with a Chicago Cubs baseball cap.
