Americans on both sides of the aisle are getting more entrenched in the US vs. Them diatribe, buying into the divide and conquer that has always been the tactic of governments to keep people at each other's throats while they grab more and more power.
Meanwhile, most Christians are screaming "God is in control" and "Everything will be fine. Just trust in God". While I believe that God IS in control, I do not think most people are going to like what he has in store for us. Over and over again throughout history, God has allowed his people to be put under subjugation to humble them and bring them back to him.
I am the kind of person that looks for answers. The solution I see to the current problem is to stop and think for a bit about how we are all approaching the current situation. Then we need to humble ourselves and pray for God to forgive our foolish pride. We need to ask our friends and neighbors to forgive us as well. We need to look for what unites us instead of what divides us.
One of the things that I know we all can agree on is we love our country. I am not talking about those in government, most of them love power, money, and prestige. I am talking about the average American. So, what is it that we all love so much about this country? I believe it is the fact that it is founded on a principle of justice, and equality. I understand we have not always lived up to this ideal, but we strive to reach it.
So, how do we use this love of our country to unite us? Let's return to the ideal of liberty and justice. Let's start by studying the documents that are supposed to secure our rights. Let's look at the Declaration of Independence and the reasons we had to leave our union with England. I see the same issues today with our government being the one treading on our rights and neglecting its responsibilities. Let's look at the U.S. Constitution and what was done to ensure we fix the issues. Let's look at the writings of the founders to see their original intent.
So many of the problems we face are created by the fact that we no longer respect the rights of others. If we want to ensure our rights are protected we must ensure others' rights are protected. We must return to the principles of natural rights and natural law. We must also understand that with rights come responsibilities. The principles of natural law we see expressed by Thomas Paine were first expressed by great thinkers like John Locke, and later by Lysander Spooner, one of the last voices on natural rights.
Only when we return to common sense and common decency will we have any hope of returning this country to its' former greatness.
