Sunrise with God.                                                                                                                                                                                                         Picture by Justin Ryan

 What separated America from the rest of the world and what attracted so many of our forefathers was that it offered a new beginning, a new life to start over.  That was probably the main driving force of every immigrant to ever step onto the shores of this land.  Going back as far as when the peoples of Siberia and Mongolia migrated over the frozen Baltic Sea to father those that are now known as “Native Americans” and those of the South America peoples who migrated north to our own European descendants that set up colonies in Massachusetts and Virginia.  In that sense America is not really any different than any other nation on Earth.  Migration of people is an ongoing occurrence and is as natural as the jet stream that flows over the Earth.  As nations developed, immigration policies were instituted to mark the difference between immigration and invasion.  What we have witnessed in Europe the past year has been an invasion.  The liberal governments opened their doors to “refugees” from the battle torn Syria under the guise of being humanitarian.  In doing so they placed their own population in harms way as rape and other crimes have risen exponentially, the “refugees” act like any invading army has throughout history by creating terror on the conquered populace.  There is so much to learn from Europe but the news is so filtered in order to meet the desires of the political powers we are blinded by our ignorance.  It is in that ignorance when it is most dangerous.

If history has shown us anything it is that people will grasp at the straw they believe will be strong enough to pull them up and out of the muck.  They seek a “strong” leader that will correct the problems that society has created.  All too often the people give up on themselves and they gravitate towards those who actually take them further away from their basic beliefs.  This is where it would be easy to turn this into an anti-Trump piece; it isn’t though I do not support him.  It is more about the society that has created the need for a man like Trump to stand up and holler STOP!  He is only stating what many Americans feel and most Americans know and that is where the danger lies.   “Strong” leaders are bullies by nature.  There are two types of bullies and The Donald and Clinton represents both types.  The first is the loud mouth boastful in your face bully.  The other is more soft spoken rational sounding bully.  The former is more irritating the latter more dangerous.  Some people have compared Trump to Hitler but I see him more like a Mussolini.  Benito came to power long before Adolf and is considered by many the father of modern fascism.  If you watch Trumps facial expressions when giving a speech and then watch film of Mussolini you would see some funny similarities.  Their messages are eerily similar also; Trump wants to make America great again and Mussolini promised to return Italy to the glory of Rome.  His bellicose claims that he will build “The Wall” and make Mexico pay for it is comical.  While the wall is needed and immigration laws need to be enforced the theatrics used to gin up support mocks the intelligence of the voter.  Most of us anyway.

Clinton is a bully in the democrat tradition of FDR.  Many would see that as a complement but believe me it is about as far as you can get from being a complement.  When you scratch the veneer that has been applied to FDR over the years you see that he was a vindictive, bigoted and selfish man who cared little for the “little” guy beyond what the little guy could do for the advancement of the progressive democrat.  The Great Depression was made great only because of his policies prolonged the suffering of the people under the guise of helping them.  FDR and Obama have that cold politically calculating way in common and with very similar results.  In the mold of FDR, Clinton threatens and destroys quietly and through surrogates.  The women who dared call out Bill as the sexual predator he is  were attacked as being “bimbo’s” at her insistence and it was only after Lewinsky when she could not get away with it did she switch to “victim”; both had a cooperative press behind her.  Her tenure as Secretary of State was an utter failure.  Her accomplishments amounted to a whole lot of frequent flyer miles and an indeterminable amount of foreign payoffs to the Clinton Foundation.  How and why democrats like and support her is a testament to our educational system.  Unlike FDR, she is not likeable.  FDR had a charm that even when he was stabbing you in the back you still liked the guy.   You could listen to him as he had a voice that was soothing unlike Hillary’s screeching.  FDR was also able to sell you on his honesty – he would have been able to sell a Chevy to Henry Ford – with Clinton you have an exasperated “WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE!”.  And yet here she is poised to be the Democrat nominee.   Personal greed is what drives Hillary and I believe that most people see that and understand that is her primary motivation.

Unless something drastic happens, one of those two will be the next President.  The hold that the two parties have on our political system will not change so there will not be much of a third party to challenge them.  Will it mean the end of America when either takes office?  Will being the “strong” leader of their respective supporters stem the slide into the dust bin of history ?  Unfortunately not.  Their type of strength is not what is needed now for this Nation.  What is needed is one who will rely on the one thing that has seen us through the problems that politicians placed this Nation at various times in our history – the Constitution.  Neither party and their presumptive candidates subscribe to that belief and the Constitution is seen as an impediment to their desires; much as the Bible is viewed by humanist and  secularist who have no moral code to guide their personal lives.  We will continue our slide as a Nation because as individuals we have surrendered to the world.  I do not subscribe to the belief that all politicians are the same or all lie or all are corrupt.  Most are to a degree of some sort but there are a few that are not and the politician only reflects our society.  There are less good people and more misguided and bad people in our Nation so politicians of today only mirror that trend and that trend is not going to change anytime soon.

I am convinced that the only thing that can pull this Nation from the abyss is a return to our sense of individualism and of being right with God.  By that I mean a moral and ethical sense of living in the manner prescribed by our Judeo-Christian roots and teachings.  We have lost that direction as a Nation because we first lost it as a people.  We lost it slowly over a period of time at the same time our confidence in our individualistic nature was shaken and then assaulted.  We allowed the world to direct our lives and lead us to believe not in ourselves or God but rather the wisdom of those who claimed to know better.  We have lost sight that we have a choice whether to follow the world or the Word.  I wish that I could say that I always make the correct choice but it is difficult and I am weak.  The toxicity of the world is in my blood and too often flares up but I can say that awareness and recognition is growing and at least I can sometimes see where I am veering off the path.  Everyday is a brand new day; a new beginning and if I can stop myself from compounding the mistakes I made the previous day then I am advancing.