In a constitutional republic, the normal ways for an arrogant politician to come a cropper would be through personal scandal and resignation, and/or repudiation at the polls. That’s the way we do. Very few pols, however much they may deserve it, are struck by lightning bolts or small meteorites.
Not to probe old wounds, there really were sound reasons for thinking Obama was going to be rejected decisively in this last election (as I and a bunch of other wrong people thought). For me one of those reasons was the self-evident nature of the president’s high-octane arrogance. Pride really does go before destruction, and a haughty spirit really does go before a fall (Prov. 16:18). But as the results of the election testify, Mencken was right, at least in this instance. He said no one ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence of the American people. Hubris radiates from the president like heat from an oil drum stove, and it is astonishing to me that so many people are blind to it.
As a side comment, since the election, I have seen Christians giving way to the very same sort of financial envy that resulted in the reelection of the president (Matt. 20:1-16). Assuming that Christians should know better simply because they ought to know better . . . does not mean that they do. The way we are drives the way they are.
But absent electoral repudiation, or stray meteorites, Prov. 16:18 remains true. Since the presidential pride has swollen significantly since the election, this means I am still expecting a crash. My prayer is that God spares the president, converting him in a wonderful way (Prov. 21:1). But if he will not soften his heart, if he will not repent of his sins, arrogance being the central one to repent of, a crash is appropriate and right. Why did God let Pharaoh win reelection? Not for the reasons that Pharaoh thought (Ex. 9:16).
Here is a small assortment of passages that the president should be meditating on:
“It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness:
For the throne is established by righteousness” (Prov 16:12).
“The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: But he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days” (Prov. 28:16).
“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice:
But when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn” (Prov. 29:2).
“If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked” (Prov. 29:12).
And with those passages in mind, here are a handful of interrelated issues where his arrogance is on display. These are not places where the president should “pivot,” or “walk back,” or “compromise.” These are places where the president needs to repent in order to humble himself under the mighty hand of God. Perhaps God will show mercy.
It is right and proper for us to grieve with those who lost little children at Sandy Hook. And it is right and proper for us to grieve without attaching our grief, while the smoke is still clearing, to this piece of legislation or to that candidacy. There is such a thing as propriety. But the profound cultural bloodlust issues involved are related, and as believers we are called upon to show a hard-hearted nation what that connection is. An essential part of that connection is to deny the president posturing rights. For a man who supports partial birth abortion, for example, to then posture over the bodies of these children as the president did is beyond ghoulish.
And his hubris can be found at both ends of the abortion spectrum. When it comes to the kind of abortion which results in the dead bodies of children, and which the president supports, he still gives speeches in which he acts as though the ardent defenders of life are the despisers of it (Is. 5:20). But when it comes to the kind of abortion which is academic for most people, but which is a very real matter of conscience for faithful believers — the kind that involves insurance programs, and abortifacient coverage, and pills, and clean laboratories for macabre research, and monster fines if you don’t comply — the administration’s treatment of Hobby Lobby is a complete reveal of the shocking hypocrisy. How much do they care about your consicence? About the same amount that they care for the unborn, and they have pills that will take care of both your conscience, and the unborn.
There is a conveyor belt logic to it. First you have to let other people have abortions if they want them, and they pay for their own. Then you have to pay for them through your taxes, which is horrendous. At the next stage, you have to pay for them directly, or be fined, like Hobby Lobby, over a million dollars a day.
Three things should be said about this showdown. First, high praise to the Greens who have refused to comply. Second, they should refuse to pay the fines, regardless of what happens in court. And third, about a hundred thousand people need to surround their house, facing out, if the ghouls from the government say they are going to do something about it. One comment made online (HT: Mark Tapson) is, I believe, an accurate statement of where we are right now. “Right now the resistance is a saturated solution, waiting to crystallize around an incident.” I do not know if this will be it, but I hope and pray that it is something very much like it.
Unlike abortions, guns can be used in a way that distinguishes between evil people and rightous people. This is why liberals hate them . . . in the hands of the righteous. Sandy Hook was perpetrated by a deranged individual with guns, and consequently, the whole liberal attempt to take guns away from people who are not deranged, leaving them defenseless against those who are, is yet another example of their self-serving hypocrisy. If, God forbid, I ever found myself in the middle of a school shooting, I would not be running through the halls lamenting the fact that there “had not been appropriate legislation.” In the first place, I would be looking for a weapon to fight back with. And second, because a school shooting was in progress, it is likely that there had been what the progressives call appropriate legislation already passed. When gun free zones are all legal, the only one in the gun free zone with gun will be the nutjob.
Even here, especially here, the hypocritical hubris of the left is astounding. Nothing reveals their bloodlust like a little “action” in the movies. These are the people, remember, who freak out if somebody lights a cigarette in a movie. Why? Because that might influence behavior! Ah, I see it all now. But blowing people away is “just entertainment”? Here is a little montage of celebrities telling us to “demand a plan” from our leaders on guns, woven together with clips of those very same celebrities living out their violence-ridden fantasies on the screen. [Warning: their hypocrisy is pretty stark and graphic.] I have a question for our “happiness is a warm gun” celebrities. How many of your movies had Adam Lanza seen? And without knowing the answer to that question, you come on screen for a public service announcement and demand that our political leaders “do something” about guns? Isn’t this a bit like Typhoid Mary doing PSA announcements for the Center for Disease Control?
Greg Gutfeld understands a lot more of the dynamics in play than most Christians do. “The longer I live, the more I’m convinced the world is just one big high school, with the cool kids always targeting the uncool” (The Joy of Hate, p. 48). The leftists have mastered the art of the cool-shame, and conservatives (for the most part) don’t know to do about it. Given the circumstances, and the stakes, we need to figure it out pretty soon.