Back in my parents’ day, which saw them in their childhood fighting the Great Depression and in their teen/young adult years fighting World War II, politics was as much a rough-and-tumble bare-knuckled business as is presently the case. However, there was one noticeable difference between then and now. Those in Washington and various state capitals/local power centers/etc. would and did fight like terriers from 9 to 5. Yet after work, they would go out together for drinks and socialization, setting aside political differences in favor of what was more important. Namely, being human beings who are able to treat each other in the same manner they wish to be treated.
Alas, this went away when Saul Alinsky became the Democrats’ satanic patron saint. In our present era, actively practicing the politics of personal destruction has become the norm. Vicious direct attacks against any and all who dare to differ one iota from cherished beliefs, then squealing like a stuck pig crying “racism,” “sexism,” and whatever else you can come up with -ism (translation: petulant butthurt) whenever somebody breathes so much as a word against you or has the unmitigated gall to respond in the same brute impersonal manner that the original messenger put forth, is now standard operating procedure. Be it actual politicians or those who make discussing politics vocation or avocation; the same methodology. Snark for me, not for thee. //
Right now, we live in the locust days, days of insane inflation and unnamed recession; wars abroad and attempts to create wars at home. Such days can hover and smother for weeks, months, years, even decades, seemingly eating us alive. But they will end. We must not take the bait offered by those attempting to lure us into illegal conflict. Without compromising principles or policies, we must remember the other person is also a person of value, even as each of us is a person of value, not a thing to demolish. No one is beyond God’s reach. //
The locust days have descended upon us. We must choose whether to acquiesce and crumble … or ascend and conquer in Christ.
