We are one of the most difficult times, as a forty year old male I have seen anything unlike I have like today’s days. But to be honest I guess prior to 2016 I didn’t pay much attention because I was so focused on trying to live my life. We are coming to a point where are livelihoods may be in jeopardy, some of you may think I am being over dramatic as if nothing will happen. We are of course in an election year which adds much more stress to the future of the next four years but also what the next ten, twenty years will be like. We are on the cusp of our country falling into further decline then I have ever seen before where hate, racism continue to rise and it appears civility have all but disappeared from society.
Taking the Good with the Bad
Living in the United States built on good and bad principles that will forever be in the fabric of our society, certain freedoms that are key to our happiness will one day disappear I suspect. Many of you say well that’s why we have the constitution but even our constitution can be rewritten and outright ignored if we allow it. What is so unfortunate that we make everyone to be evil and by that logic you and I evil.
We live in a world of fear mongering, that I see comes from the right and the left, Democrats and Republicans constantly fighting ideology finger pointing each other as being evil. As a Christian I am very conflicted over how our society has grown over the last few years. I truly believe the arrival of our current president only magnified our society to be more bold to hate more , be uncivil and I see it only getting worse.
I must stand on my principles which are becoming shaky at times relying on the word of god for my goodness in knowing I am not alone and he will forever be faithful to our lives. Many of you who read this I know may not believe in GOD and many have the attitude that church, GOD, Christianity are useless something I would disagree with and remind those who think that we live in a fallen world ruled by sin and evil the Devil.
Christian’s Vilification of those in Society
Stay with me for a moment, we are all human beings who deserve respect despite what Christian right make those who are different such as the LGBT community as they continue to vilify them each day. Even If I don’t agree with their lifestyle who am I to tell them how they should live their lives just we expect the same respect with our lives.
Just is the case of those who choose to have an abortion , yes as Christians we are taught that that babies life matter and surely it does, but what is often gotten in those who preach pro-life is the life after birth, such as those kids who grow up hungry or live in situations that harm their lives like drugs and alcohol, what about those lives of refugees who come here for a better life and are told to go back to you country, no room is that respecting life it doesn’t appear to be but the Christians remain silent on those issues.
I have seen horrible things how we treat humanity without an afterthought the consequences to those lives especially with immigrants who are treated subhuman. I get that for much in this world we require others to also care and continue to push for those issues that help human kind such healthcare, housing and having food on the table all of which seem to be systemically taken away from society, yet we have no problem giving billions to the military when people at home are suffering real loss like homelessness but if you watch the media apparently homelessness only happens in Democratic states and the federal government has no responsibility to help those citizens.
Democracy in Name Only Begins
When I say that we are a democracy in name is because we truly are, where is the democracy when trying to help the citizens who needs real help right now from job loss, from be evicted from their home and for many will say well the government did prevent evicted during the pandemic, but what happens afterwards when those same individuals with no income owe up , who is going to save them then especially when our federal government makes the judgment that additional aide is a hinderances to those individuals wanting to go out an get a new job, these are clearly the thoughts comes from the GOP, so little faith in the American worker yet we have no problem giving 1.5 trillion tax break to the top 1% and what effect does that show that helped Americans, there is none because that tax break helped no one but the rich.
I will say that congress is another issue as on the both sides of aisles you have Dems and Republicans who rely heavily on corporate donors to help keep them in office, money truly talks and when you have donors contributing millions to a candidates causes compared to a new comer with not nearly enough in comparison what chance do they have.
Money Makes Dreams Happen
Not to get off track my point being money makes the world go around, you can truly buy the presidency or seat at the table in congress with money regardless if you good ideas or not on how to truly help society we see it everyday many congress sit together contributing nothing but collecting a nice paycheck. In the need those seats are still vulnerable when the people choose to vote them out. That’s our power right there to vote and keep voting never being happy with those in office until they truly start fighting for the people of their state and country.
At the moment you have seen horrors that are happening under our watch with the Trump administration who has sway the republicans and people to believe they are truly making a difference, but I don’t see it. Yes from a Christian standpoint, Trump has been their mouth piece to fight on their behalf in eliminating the rights of the average Americans and propping up Christians like we’ve never seen before.
Honestly I have GOD to provide for me I need no man to speak on my behalf and Trump doesn’t speak for my beliefs and values, what he believes goes against everything good about what Man and Women try to do each day, I truly believe he has I allowed more evil in this country giving the citizens a brazenness to treat others like garage , to spit on society and say well who’s going to stop me.
Evangelicals Continue to Condemn Society and Don’t look at their own shortfalls
What is so hard to swallow is the message I constantly get from Christians which is You are going to hell if you are a democrat, Trump is the only answer to saving society, Trump is going to fight for your rights, Trump is the moral compass we need in our country as he is fighting for us to end abortion, project your religious freedoms. I don’t believe that one and that’s my right, I choose to believe in what history tells me about man, which is give a man or women an inch they will take a mile.
Allow man or women to get a free pass on being held accountable, he or she will continue to go further and further next time. Look at the behavior of a criminal with no accountability they will go out again and again to commit more crime leading to worse behavior because whose going to stop me. This is exactly what is happening in our White House with the justification of breaking laws, ignoring the rule of law, bypassing barriers that protect our constitution and protect we the citizens from going from a republic to a fascist state, think it cant happen, you would be dead wrong.
What people don’t fail to see with it comes to fascism rising that its really not that hard, it all lies in those who are in power and who give power to one man or women giving them free rein to act in the way they see fit. If you look at Adolf Hitler, he was an incredible speaker and many knew it being drawn to him more and more people soon followed making it almost impossible to fight against him as his party became the majority.
Violence Continues to Wreak Society on All Sides
Not I am not about to say Trump is Hitler but can he have the same tendencies to using violence to get his message across and its being allowed, especially with those on the border whose human rights have been taken away. Our rights are slowly being stripped away as we are being told in subtle ways that free speech shouldn’t really be free if you speak against the government like Trump who wishes to silence social media companies from allowing who speak against him.
Now many will say he would never do that, he is not trying to do that, stop stop stop that is the attitude of many Trumper’s who think he is not capable of doing that, but we all know he is if he is allowed which doesn’t make it right. Look at what is happening to our free press as we speak which is being daily bombarded with threats from society over their disagreement with how Trump is portrayed in the media being called the “Enemy of the People”. Again if you think that Trump administration wouldn’t try to slap sanctions or create laws to limit or silence the free press think again, it just takes those in congress to work to make that happen, but thank goodness we have a Democrat Majority and a GOP senate Majority, but that has meant nothing gets done hence of where we are at today.
Will we Ever Learn?
One of the most striking things I have seen in the last four years is the amount of lies that continue to fill the minds of Americans and that includes conspiracies. Truly never believe Americans could be that stupid but I guess we will as a country will never learn from our past and our mistakes following like sheep. What is interesting is a large majority of those following the lies are evangelicals who repeat those lies in their pulpits, sad but truth.
I currently attend two services online at the moment Calvary Chapel Rancho Cucamonga and Calvary Chapel Downey, but who I consider teaches the word of God. What is so different about those two pastors is their messaging where one stuck to the word of God with the infusion of thought on the coming elections while the other spouted conspiracy theories concerning COVID-19, Voting in subtle words for Trump and leading with your conscience and what the bible says. Both respectably stated we should vote based on the bible says concerning the issues. What I don’t understand is that bible states should love our neighbors, love the poor, treat the foreigner with Love all principles that goes against what Trump has done and acted in his life time.
Kleptocracy is Our New Norm
I am smart enough to know that Trump knows he has the Evangelicals by the cajones as they follow him without question, although they say they follow GOD their words and actions say otherwise. Many would say well Joseph your not really a follower if you don’t vote for Trump as he is the best person to fight for your religious rights, Biden believes in abortion , but I truly believe although he has made NO attempt to outlaw it doesn’t mean he accepts it. We must all remember we live in a republic with the Citizens of the United States, laws meant for every citizen not just a sect of people like Christians. The United States not Christian, we are not a Theocracy , we are now a Kleptocracy which is defined as is a government whose corrupt leaders (kleptocrats) use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds. Sound familiar, it should because that is exactly what is happening to our country as we speak.
I like to think its not to late, but greed does have a powerful effect over society to keep the gravy train going and it doesn’t appear anyone is going to stop it for the Trump administration with no condemnation from Evangelicals and the GOP. It is my thought that the GOP is no longer the political party of GOP but the Trump party with no ideals of their own as long is it pleases their dear leader.
I continue to think deeply about our country, pray for it to turn course and open the eyes of evangelicals who follow Trump without question, no longer Christ followers but Trump followers wholeheartedly.
I continue to reference my bible for the end times, which to non-Christians that may sound crazy but our earth, our time will eventually come to end on this earth whether its 2020 or 2045 or the year 3000 only God knows until then I keep focus on my faith, my family and keeping my eyes open to what future horrors hold for our country, I personally don’t have a lot of faith in humanity at this point but hope to be surprised.
I know there so much more we could discuss over how society, our country and our world continues to go downhill as those from the right, the left, the center, the evangelicals look to place blame on anyone but themselves who I am sorry to have made add a new degree to hate to the conversation by working to attempt to take the rights of those who don’t share their beliefs.
But as whole most of us are aware of the wholesomeness of society is gone due to the affect over the media especially social media who continues to have their grip on society in what we see and believe. I am tried folks, tired of the division, tired of hate and racism, tired of someone always try to make attempts to control us to follow their agenda.
Only time will tell if we can ever return to a true democracy or if our country will continue to spiral out of control which will ultimately lead us to a fascism.
Many of you who will read this will read is disbelief even if you get this far thinking that everything is just ok, Trump, the republicans and even the Evangelicals are not a threat, that I am the one fearmongering over what may never happen. I will say that anything is possible, we relay on those in power meaning congress and government to protect the rights of the people and not allow the spread of violence to our cities and states. I will not go as far to call BLM terrorist’s, but in my opinion the real domestic terrorist’s are white supremist.
I get that BLM and those who represent the cause have not been the best representation of what their message is about because many will equate BLM with mobs and destruction when you look at what as happened in our cities, but a majority of society I believe want to live in a nation of fairness and equality, we can no longer ignore the issues that are causing our nation pain. Its not about shutting them up but really listening, As a nation over 200 years old we were built from Judeo-Christian principles but we were also built with racism from the indigenous people to the African Americans to Latino’s and it will continue no doubt.
We as a nation try to ignore that part of history because lets face its not the best part of who we are as a nation and what we have allowed and continued to allowed. Many will have the argument well Blacks, Asians, Latinos have the same rights as everyone else and although that is true they are not always treated with fairness and equality they are treated guilty until proven innocence when other races are innocent until proven guilty we have two separate systems here , one for the rich and poor, but embedded in that system we have a different system to treat each race differently placing a value on each race as being more valuable to society.
Even today we continue to have a main indicator which is the wage gap which continues to affect women and people of color who are generally paid less than Caucasian. Until we start putting aside this type of value system people will never be treated fairly and equitable. One can think we all have the same opportunities in America if we just work hard and that is not true because we relay on a system of people working together, helping one another to reach their goals and dreams, but when society has the idea that because your Latino or black that you don’t deserve the same help as others who have a higher value in society those individuals have a higher probability of failing.
The problems we go through today are not new, society continues to ignore it and they will only get worse over time, causing more unrest, more violence and hate. I get that those who suffer should not be adding flame to fire by spreading hate and conducting violence that will not help, but what else are these individuals to do when they are ignored and those who are supposed to care about these issues do nothing.
Our Freedoms Slowly Disappearing
We no longer will in a democracy although many will say yes we do we still have freedoms, we have the constitution, we have rule of law and I say for how long? How long until those in power ignore the rule of law and break the rules because no one will stop them. If I wasn’t a moral man I think I would be breaking the law now because again whose going to stop me since the rule of law isn’t even respected by those in government such as people in congress and especially our president. Luckily my moral compass is lead by a relationship with GOD, Jesus Christ is the one who I take direction from. You may think that is an out of place statement but if we have no way to tell us right from wrong then its easy to choose the wrong path, GOD is the right path, because he is righteous, the ultimate ruler of law and order and one day Jesus will come back and rule the world where every knee will bow.
I know our country and world is failing each day because its ruled by men and women who have no moral compass who look at their people as means to get more money out of them, to suppress their voices and take away their will. Our will , our privilege’s, our rights will slowly or rapidly decline depending on if others will protect our rights if no ones does than we will have anarchy in this country.
Yes we currently have it with riots taking place and it appears state and local governments just let it happen but one of the main reasons for those people going unchecked is because government has to make tough choices do we pepper stray rioters and protestors and devote our police and fire to those causes or do we devote those resources to those in need like the sick. I could never understand what it means to rule a city, state or country but I do know it takes empathy, compassion but much more than that it takes someone willing to listen.
I highly encourage everyone to read 1984 by George Orwell, a perfect example of what our country and world will be become and has become. You may say well that’s just fiction but art imitates art in many ways. I also would say add in the film Metropolis (1927), a another prophetic film that details what rich only wish to do to those in the lower classes and to a certain degree that has already happened as the powerful, the rich rule over the Proles. For those who don’t know what a prole is, its detailed in 1984 and as those individuals are considered the working class as society is divided into three separate classes the inner party, the outer party and the proles.
Those in power only want more power which is no secret and they are willing to take powers such as rights and privilege’s from the lower class because ultimately they feel we as people only squander our rights who they must be taken away. I am not trying to make this sound like some big conspiracy but many in power already think they can do as they wish and no one will stop them because again we have two types of laws for rich and poor.
Joseph’s Adventures in Writing 