Political leaders

thirty biblical reasons to vote democratic in 2020: #26 Lack of excellence

/ Apple Hill Cottage / 5 Comments

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. — Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

I saved this verse from Philippians because it is one of my favorites. When I worked at a private k-12 school as the librarian, I had this poster on my bulletin board for years.

Finally a student helper in the library told me I should really change that bulletin board… But what I loved about that poster is that it took the bored Whatever to a noble and pure and lovely level. Just listen to all those adjectives! True, right, admirable, praiseworthy, excellent….

Yes, those are the things we should be thinking about. I have to confess: it’s been difficult to keep my mind on those things this past year. Because each day there is something that comes from the White House that is Un-excellent, ignoble, or just plain false. There is no excellence from the top, and the lack of excellence has trickled down throughout society. Correction: It’s been more than a trickle; it’s been a tidal wave…

I could write forever on this lack of excellence, but I will instead refer the reader to something important that happened two days ago. 489 Generals, National Security officials, Military personnel, and Ambassadors signed an Open Letter to America endorsing Joe Biden for President. Part of the letter reads, “The current President has demonstrated he is not equal to the enormous responsibilities of his office; he cannot rise to meet challenges large or small. Thanks to his disdainful attitude and his failures, our allies no longer trust or respect us, and our enemies no longer fear us.”

Here is the link to read the letter for yourselves. Please check it out: “An Open Letter to America”

We need a leader in the White House who will take responsibility for their actions. Not like the infamous quote of DJT: “No. No. I don’t take responsibility at all….” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cs_1iYWIhI

 

thirty biblical reasons to vote democratic in 2020: #25 Boasting

/ Apple Hill Cottage / Leave a comment

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. — Romans 12:3 (NIV)

Have you ever spent time with someone who is constantly boasting and bragging about themselves? It’s distasteful, wearying, and obnoxious.

image from SquareQuotes.church

According to himself, the president has done an incredible job handling Corona Virus (gives himself an A+); he has done an incredible job on the stock market; he’s done an incredible job of building the wall; he’s been incredible at calling up heads of states and having perfect phone calls; it’s been incredible what he’s done for the black community and the Hispanic community, and the military (don’t forget the military!); his administration “has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country” (direct quote from his speech before the U.N. in 2018); he is the only one standing between the American Dream and total anarchy (even he said that was an egotistical statement); and he is very good at predicting what will happen… (Most of these statements were taken from one very rambling speech at the Council for National Policy Meeting on August 21, 2020 in Arlington Virginia. You can read it here…)

“People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular,” Trump wrote in The Art of the Deal. “I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration, and a very effective form of promotion.” Jill Colvin wrote “The Art of the Boast: Trump’s a Master in October of 2019, and found more than 1200 mentions of the words biggest, best, and smartest in his Twitter feed.

This way of looking at exaggeration and “truthful hyperbole” might be fine if one is a Celebrity Apprentice Reality TV star, but it looks less well on the President of the United States.

And that’s not an exaggeration…

Kara Baker on Flickr.com

thirty biblical reasons to vote democratic in 2020: #24 Corruption

/ Apple Hill Cottage / 2 Comments

“Can a corrupt throne be allied with you–a throne that brings on misery by decrees?”–Psalm 94:20 (NIV)

The New Living Translation puts it this way: “Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side— leaders whose decrees permit injustice?“

While claiming God is on His side, he has:

  • Updated the immigration enforcement laws which massively expanded the number of people who were detained or deported
  • Made friends with autocratic dictators, while alienating our long-standing allies
  • When it was made public that Putin offered bounties for American soldiers, he DID NOTHING. In fact, he seems to serve Putin’s Russia. Susan Rice, former National Security Advisor, says it is unthinkable that no-one in the president’s close circle informed him of this. You might like to read her op-ed, Why Does Trump Put Russia First?
  • Passed tax reform act that mostly benefited the wealthy and large corporations
  • Rescinded the DAPA program that would have offered a pathway to citizenship to parents of children who are American citizens
  • Continued to profit from his businesses while acting as president, which is in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution
  • The Secret Service has spent over half a million dollars on golf carts protecting the president who has spent almost one out of three days playing golf at one of his resorts
  • Set up ICE detention centers for immigrants where the conditions are appalling and it is estimated that over 1,000 people have been separated from their families
  • The two private prisons that house more than half the immigrant detainees have doubled in stock value;  the prison groups (GEO and CoreCivic) have donated approximately a million dollars to Trump and his campaign
  • Encouraged his supporters to vote more than once to throw suspicion on our democratic election processes
  • Lied to the American people about the severity of the Corona Virus, and has never really shown remorse for over 200,000 American deaths. Instead, he has said repeatedly, “It will all just go away…” (He gives himself an A+ for his leadership on the pandemic).
  • His cabinet is filled with corporate executives and lobbyists who now oversee the companies they worked for: a coal lobbyist heads up the Environmental Protection Agency; a big pharma executive runs the Dept. of Health & Human Services; a shipping heiress drives the Transportation Department; ex-Goldman-Sachs partners run the SEC and the Treasury Department; the owner of a dozen agribusiness companies directs the Agriculture Department… that’s only a few. Look ’em all up. He said he would drain the swamp — instead he’s quadrupled the size of it… (For a jaw-dropping look at the corruption see this article: Mapping Corruption, Donald Trump’s Executive Branch by Jim Lardner.

When a not insignificant number of Americans are willing to bypass the Constitution to keep a demagogue in power, that’s a grave threat to our republic. In 50 days—or sooner, if your state allows—we must vote in overwhelming numbers in defense of our Constitution and encourage others to do the same. —Evan McMullin, The Topline, 9/14/20

Indeed, the corruption and injustice of this administration has brought misery by its decrees; this corruption, deception, incompetence and slothfulness in the office of the highest ruler in our land should frighten us. Just read Proverbs 16:12: “It is an abomination for kings to commit wicked acts, for a throne is established on righteousness.”  The fame, fortune, and future of a civil government depend on righteousness. For a longer discussion on this proverb, you can check out this commentary.