So, the whole thing comes unraveled now. You naysayers who assured me that voting was a moral obligation and, by definition, that included voting for the "conservative candidate", you balked at the "lesser of two evils" concept, but tacitly agreed. The battle cry was "A vote for anyone else or no one else is a vote for Hillary!" I pointed out back here that I believed that "the lesser of two evils" was no longer clear; that I thought, in fact, that Trump was potentially the greater evil. "Not to worry," some assured me, "it won't come to that." Well, here we are with all candidates but one bailing out, and he's the "greater of two evils".
But, wait. Is it possible that this could be a good thing? I think it might.
1. Fire purifies.
Peter speaks of faith "more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire" (1 Peter 1:7). Fire, you see, purifies. Put things under the flames and the dross -- the impurities -- rise to the top. It is entirely possible that a Trump administration can serve as a purifying fire. Christians, lulled by this "Do the best we can with the least that we can get" kind of mentality, might get burned out. They could sink into the morass of "Nothing works so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing", or they might wake up and realize "This isn't working" and be ready to leave the "party" and move on. Trump as president just might make Christians realize that politics is not the answer.
2. Eventually the rot gets revealed.
For the longest time Republicans in general and conservatives in particular have been pointing "out there". "It's those darned liberals." "It's the Democrats." "Those people are the problem." With Donald Trump in the White House it just might happen that some of these Republicans and conservatives just might notice, "Oh, hang on a minute ... it looks like we're in trouble, too." Like the shadow that follows the dying man to the grave, conservatives have lagged liberals, but only slightly. They have never drawn the progressives back; they've simply ended up moving their way. At some point it's possible that we'll notice.
3. Destroy the party
As I warned in that other post, I see Donald Trump as a blow to Republicans and conservatives. Is it possible that, given the worse than useless choices we will be given this November, we might just realize that this system isn't working?
4. The Judgment of God
Trump followers won't agree, of course, but I think it is manifest that a Trump presidency would be the judgment of God on America. The truth is we've pushed this luxury liner so fast toward the reefs that we most likely can't avoid the collision with the rocks, but I don't see Trump as someone who will slow it down. And I'm confident that America has earned judgment from God. No, judgment is not pleasant, but it is good.
5. The clarification of a nation
With Trump in charge, voted into office by Americans, the world (and Americans) could finally see the meaning of the old phrase, "the ugly American". As our elected representatives represent us -- as a mirror to ourselves -- a Trump presidency would display how self-centered and selfish, proud and egotistical, narcissistic, hypocritical, and hypercritical Americans can really be. Maybe ... just maybe ... that good hard look in the face of ourselves might be a good jolt.
Of course, those are possible reasons why a win for Trump would be a win for us. Perhaps they're too optimistic. Fortunately I don't need to rely on my optimism. (Anyone who knows me would be giggling at the thought of putting "me" together with "optimism".) I rely on God who causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him. And since I don't trust the president to make our lives worth living and do trust God to do that, I guess a Trump win -- or a Hillary win -- will always "work together for good", at least on my behalf.
7 comments:
There would have to be a sudden change, a revival if you will, in the thinking process of Americans. They would have to become able to self-diagnose, contemplate their choices, evaluate the situation. As your last post pointed out, we have been so separated from rational thought by our obsession with being spoonfed the "truth" that critical thought I'd nearly a forgotten skill.
I'm with you, no matter what happens, it will all be for the good of God and those with faith in Him. Everyone else, however.
I was interested to read that George Bush is not going to participate in the vote this year. Now, that's a sign of things gone bad.
But, you're right. I'm being overly optimistic to think that the collapse of the entire system would be a slap that might wake people up.
While I had hoped that Trump would not succeed, I don't know that I ever felt assured (and thus didn't try to assure anyone) that he couldn't. That's the first thing. The second is that when I was dealing in "lesser of two evils", it was at a time when there were several Republican possibilities still available. Right until the time Cruz dropped out, there was clearly a "lesser of two evils", and that's considering I didn't consider his being president as an evil at all. Indeed, I merely regarded him as imperfect. At that time, not voting got us to this point...a self-fulfilling prophesy in some ways, that we are now left with a situation where deciding which evil is the least (considering there are still two Dems fighting it out) is impossible. At least it is for me.
But a good thing?
1. Wasn't the fire of 8 years of Obama enough? I'm quite scorched as it is.
I, for one, was never "satisfied" with the least we could get. MY position was always that we had to choose between what was left, because one was usually quite clearly worse than the other. That was absolutely true beginning with the 2nd Bush term on to the point before Cruz dropped out. Bush was clearly a better choice than Kerry. McCain was a better choice than Obama. Romney was a better choice than Obama.
What isn't working is the voter. Look there first and better candidates will appear. Until the voter decides to get involved, we're screwed.
2. The rot was exposed above. It's the voter. While I'd love to see a candidate "draw" the progressives over, it takes the progressives to wake up and actually accept reality with regard to which philosophy has been proven most beneficial. It's not like the evidence is hard to find.
3. Still the voter is the issue. The party has been in trouble for some time. The Tea Party people were a reflection of that issue, as they have been rejecting those put forth by the GOP in favor of those they felt were more conservative and constitutionally sound. The GOP has been at odds with these people the whole time. Trump has played on that discontent, yet he has proven the point with regards to the failings of the voter.
4. I can agree with you on this one 100%, and while we can talk about the moral decay of the culture in general, even just dealing with an electorate that has failed to truly do their part to find and encourage the best people to serve, I think we can say that God has given us over to our sin. We are getting what we deserve.
5. This is tied to #4. Particularly if Trump is truly a reflection of the people of this nation. Now it's just a matter of how accurately, because keep in mind, he hadn't really fired up the majority of the Republican voters for the most part. While the field was large, he got, at best, somewhere in the 30% range in the early polling, and similarly in the early primary voting. As people dropped, he got a little better, but not so much that he clearly dominated even the few who were left to oppose him. I have that on which to fall back, if nothing else (and there is little else).
"...since I don't trust the president to make our lives worth living..."
I don't know that many people even think like this. Some Obama supporters seemed to do so, and I would guess some Trump supporters do, since in my opinion they resemble Obama supporters. But largely, I think most people desire that the president do what he is constitutionally mandated to do, and nothing else. At least conservatives do.
Do people actually think that the president we elect will make their lives worth living? Maybe not. But to hear them (most of them) speak, the world is coming to an end if the right person/people isn't elected. My point, then, was that I place no faith in politics.
You're still on the more voters would change things kick? First of all, I never even had an opportunity to vote for a Republican candidate. Second, you seem to believe it is only conservatives that are refusing to vote (or at least they're the majority). That is an unproven premise. I would imagine it to be closer to the split of those that do vote. The election is demonstrative of the majority of the will of the people, not the lack of voters.
Now that it is down to Trump, do you still think there is a lesser of two evils? Would you encourage those that dislike both candidates equally to vote just to put the numbers out there? What if your advice to someone that thinks both candidates would do different but severe damage?
David, I didn't see what he was saying as "more voters would fix it". I thought he was saying that the problem is bad voters. The heart of the voters is the problem. Of course, he can always correct me. I'm in full agreement that the heart of the nation (and, thus, its voters) is sick.
I based that off previous discussions we've had on the subject of people not voting and he indicated that "we" would have won had it not been for those non-participants. He appears to believe that the majority of non-voters are conservatives and would push the vote the right way if they would only contribute.
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