Posted on 09/04/2022 1:57:56 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A new poll asked Americans about changes in the U.S. political climate, including whether divisions have worsened and what they expect for the future. Here were their responses:
Here’s the most sobering part of the report: a plurality (43%) believes a civil war is at least somewhat likely in the next decade. Only 35% say it is not likely; 22% are unsure.
Of course, conditions are markedly different today than they were in 1861, when the South and the North were contiguous geographical entities each dominated by a single party (Republicans in the North, Democrats in the South). By contrast, today’s electoral map indicates blue coasts and a red middle, but many states are experiencing deep internal divisions.
In Texas, for instance, Austin is clearly “blue” while West Texas is clearly “red.” If our state attempted to secede from the Union, I’m not sure which side would lead the effort or what the other side would do if secession were successful. Electoral maps reveal similar divisions in Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, among other states. And it is a surprising fact that in the 2020 election, Donald Trump received more votes in California (6,006,429) than he did in Texas (5,890,347).
While an organized, military, two-sided civil war such as that occurred in 1861 may be implausible today, the divisions and distrust reflected in recent polls are nonetheless ominous for our future as the “United” States of America.
“Public virtue is the only foundation of republics”
Our nation’s founders were convinced that personal virtue is indispensable to political unity. George Washington observed, “Human rights can only be assured among a virtuous people.” Benjamin Franklin added, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.” And John Adams was insistent: “Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.”
What would they think of our nation’s character today?
The answer is not simple, of course. There are many areas of American life where progress has been significant and transformational. I am grateful for our declining poverty rate, the tremendous contribution of minority businesses to the US economy, and the fact that our high school graduation rate is at an all-time high. We have seen great advances with regard to the rights of women and minorities, though we have far to go.
But when a majority of a nation’s people endorse abortion and unbiblical marriage, when premarital sex is the norm and pornography is an epidemic, when nearly eleven million children live in poverty in America and violent crime is escalating, is God able to bless that nation?
If not, what is her future?
“Reveling until they learned about the capture”
America has been the world’s only superpower since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Our analogy in the 7th century before Christ was the Babylonian Empire, a massive military power that conquered the nation of Judah and destroyed her temple in 586 BC.
Babylon, the empire’s capital city, was the first ancient city to exceed two hundred thousand people. Its outer defensive wall was so wide that chariots driven by four horses could pass each other. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus called Babylon the world’s most splendid city. He described its walls as fifty-six miles in length, eighty feet thick, and three hundred and twenty feet high.
And yet, according to the prophet Jeremiah (who lived during the zenith of their empire), the Babylonians’ fall was sure and certain: “Her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, declares the Lᴏʀᴅ” (Jeremiah 50:30). That “day” was the day of judgment coming on the nation because of her sin: “You were found and caught, because you opposed the Lᴏʀᴅ” (v. 24).
As a result, “The Lᴏʀᴅ has opened his armory and brought out the weapons of his wrath” (v. 25) because the nation “has proudly defied the Lᴏʀᴅ, the Holy One of Israel” (v. 29). This judgment was enacted by the Persian Empire when it overthrew and replaced the Babylonians on the world stage in 539 BC.
According to Herodotus, when the Persian king Cyrus captured the city of Babylon, “the inhabitants of the central parts . . . long after the outer portions of the town were taken, knew nothing of what had chanced, but as they were engaged in a festival, continued dancing and reveling until they learned about the capture.”
What a sobering reminder that “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).
“The truest friend of the liberty of his country”
I am not predicting the demise of the United States of America, but I would remind you that the average age of empires is 250 years, an age our nation will reach in four years.
Presuming that a nation’s future is guaranteed is a guaranteed way to hasten its demise. The best way to serve America is to help America be a nation God can bless (cf. Psalm 33:12).
What is the best way to do that?
Samuel Adams was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and was considered by Thomas Jefferson to be “truly the Man of the Revolution.” Adams was adamant: “Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue.”
How true a friend of your country will you be today?
Originally published at the Denison Forum.
Adapted from Dr. Jim Denison’s daily cultural commentary at www.denisonforum.org. Jim Denison, Ph.D., is a cultural apologist, building a bridge between faith and culture by engaging contemporary issues with biblical truth. He founded the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture in February 2009 and is the author of seven books, including “Radical Islam: What You Need to Know.” For more information on the Denison Forum, visit www.denisonforum.org.
“In Texas, for instance, Austin is clearly “blue” while West Texas is clearly “red.” If our state attempted to secede from the Union, I’m not sure which side would lead the effort”
The ones with the most guns, silly.
As soon as we start being an empire, you can start the clock.
Define “empire”.
Let’s define “Empire”. This one from Merriam Webster:
A major political unit having a territory of great extent or a number of territories or peoples under a single sovereign authority especially : one having an emperor as chief of state.
So toss out the old formulas.
Sadly, the fifty sovereign states are perilously close to being subjugated by a single sovereign authority.
So, that 250-year countdown may be started soon.
The further away from Jesus that America moves, the further away we move from being a Republic.
We are teetering on the edge right now.
Well we can collpse and die or our good and honest and wisest people can start the 2nd American revolution by shoving the old systems, bureaucracies and the sexual immorality and the old parties aside. It will take repentence, sacrifice, and a taking stock of the mistakes that went into USA 1 so that the USA 2 can come back stronger than ever. It will be a country in which men will know what a man is and women will know what a woman is. We might have to lose some territory and some regions that would want to stay with us might have to be on probation.
Not enough anti-white racism to suit him?
Or is he virtue signaling to the Left, "See, I'm really on you're side, please don't cancel me."
bump
<>Sadly, the fifty sovereign states are perilously close to being subjugated by a single sovereign authority<>
Yes. That is why the foolish 17th Amendment must go.
Biden arrived just in time to put some nails in the coffin.
No. We’re about 20 years from the century mark.
We were no ‘empire’ before WWII was won. Post-war ushered in the age of the dollar and 70 years of US hegemony.
Democrats and traitorous RINOs pissed it all away.
“So, that 250-year countdown may be started soon.”
In my opinion, that 250 year clock started when Washington put down the whisky Rebellion. That was when the Command & Control started it’s shift to the Federal Capital.
Capital moved to Washington and the Command & Control followed.
Read the history of the United States and you can see that Command & Control growing with starts & stops for the next 230 years or so.
I always refer back to 2 Chronicles 7:11-14, where it reads, "Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD, and the king's house: and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the LORD, and in his own house, he prosperously effected. And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Notice the part I highlighted, which almost no one mentions. God will discipline a nation that He calls His, He will judge it. That is exactly what is happening now, so unless this nation wakes up and realizes what is going on, and repents on a national level, there is no hope that it will be allowed to continue, to exist at all.
No. In our case, that would be Republics. Yes, it seems we are on the edge
The only problem is we have been an empire for 250 years. More like about 80 years
After the Roman Republic of nearly 400 years, the Roman Empire had another 400 year run.
After that the Holy Roman Empire of the Germanic Peoples lasted nearly 1,000 years.
The author is ignorant of history. And generally full of BS with an agenda.
People are voting with their feet now.
There is an exodus from blue states to free states going on, it will accelerate.
We could soon wind up with a de-facto separation into two nations.
Florida and Texas is where it starts...
Then Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Georgia..etc
Undesirables will flee the free states if the free states refuse to hand out freebies... the illegals would thus eschew the newly free states. All these would drift into the blue states and soon cause their collapse.
There is no need for walls where there is no welfare state.
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