Take a short break from blogging and all kinds of crazy things happen.  Prince William gets married amid great pomp and circumstance, Obama miraculously offers up a birth certificate his good friend the governor of Hawaii said didn’t exist and we finally manage to kill Osama Bin Laden.  And the most amazing thing is that they are all connected!

Once upon a time, say 150 years ago, Prince William would have been heir to the throne of the most powerful nation on earth.  Now the British Empire is but a shadow of its former self and if the anachronistic British monarchy manages to hang on through Prince Charles inevitable reign, Prince William will inherit a much neutered role and kingdom.  But the legacy of Britain lives on in America where a new king has been crowned.

The president represents the executive branch of government and is charged with executing the laws of the land.  There are guidelines in the Constitution dictating who can be president and what their exact responsibilities are.  Many on the left, and not a few independents, weren’t sure that Obama met the most basic of qualifications – that of being a natural born United States citizen.  The ramp up of pressure to prove his citizenship by political newcomer Donald Trump and growing attention by the Jurassic Press into this issue finally forced Obama’s hand to reveal a long form birth certificate.  Notice I didn’t say it was his, because all we’ve seen is a copy of a copy.  For those who haven’t trusted Obama and felt his best instincts were at odds with the best interest of America, that isn’t good enough.  As a truly great president once said, “Trust but verify”.  It would be like taking the man at the door’s word that he is a cop simply because he quickly waved a badge in your face.  Closer investigation may reveal that he actually was, or it may prove that all he’s holding is a child’s toy replica from Toys R Us and is attempting to rob you blind.  But you will not know which it is until you look at the badge more closely.

And that is how we’ve allowed this once great nation to slip from being a constitutional republic back into a second-rate monarchy.  When we aren’t willing to hold our leaders accountable to live by the law, we’ve put them above the law and in essence turned them into kings.  Both sides of the political spectrum have been just as complicit in this betrayal of our national birthright.  The left is so afraid of losing power that they aren’t willing to question whether their man is legit.  If it was proven that Obama wasn’t an American citizen, all that hope and change would go right down the drain as would any future aspirations of power.  And the right is so afraid of being labeled as kooks that they aren’t willing to dig deeper.  Rather than bravely hold to the role as the loyal opposition, they’ve attempted to minimize any of their own who were brave enough to challenge Obama on this issue.  And so we end up with a man whose father claimed British citizenship, sitting on a newly minted throne, ordering assassinations of political targets.

We as a nation had every right to kill Osama Bin Laden.  The Biblical truth, “Those who live by the sword, die by the sword” applies perfectly to the brand of evil practiced by this extremist.  While all of the facts haven’t been completely reported, the American monarchy once again bungled a slam dunk national moment of triumph.  By allowing the team that went in to kill Bin Laden, they missed a chance for national healing.  Just as with the birth certificate issue, we don’t really have proof.  Photos can be doctored.  DNA laboratories can be bought off.  But pulling Osama out of hiding in cuffs in front of TV cameras and hauling him off to Gitmo to await sentencing would have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that we had succeeded.  Saddam Hussein was afforded the luxury of a (show) trial and then executed.   We should have done the same with Bin Laden.  Those that take King That One at his word may have a sense of closure about 9/11 now, but those who don’t, and I daresay that includes many in the international community, may not completely believe that we actually found and killed Osama.   He will now live on as a mythical figure transcending apparent death because we weren’t smart enough to actually handle this the right way.  There is no doubt Bin Laden should have been killed, but it should have been by lethal injection after ample evidence was given to the American public and the world, that we actually had succeeded in capturing him. 

This is what happens when you sell out your foundation.  I have a feeling it won’t be long until we see more kingly action taken by Obama. 

Why are so many enamored with big government?  When the economy has been shattered by reckless spending, why is that the first reflexive reaction by so many is to increase government spending?  How can people be so obtuse as to continue to support politicians, charged with fixing the problem, but only make it worse?  What will be the end result of it all – will we be able to pull ourselves out of this mess?

Wow! What’s with all of the questions?  Well, as weird as it may sound, I don’t think some people’s desire for big government is necessarily a social issue.  The goal of big government is in essence a government that can do everything for us, that can take care of us, protect us, shelter us, feed us, provide for us.  I think the reason that so many who are opposed to religion find themselves on the political left is because they are looking for something to replace God.  With big government, they’ve got a human solution to life’s problems.  After all, if we can save ourselves by creating a government that can do all the things that God can, at least in the physical realm, they won’t need God.

The problem with this thinking is that government, in this country and many others, is a mess.  Spending is out of control.  Corruption is rampant.  Debt is out the window.  If we are looking to government to save us, we have chosen a fatally flawed savior for government is incapable of even saving itself.  Witness the recent budget talks between Republicans and Democrats.  They argue over fractional cuts while coming nowhere close to addressing the actual problem.  Members of Congress get away with crimes for which most of us would spend time in jail.  Our government is self-destructing and all some people can think is that we just need to spend more money.

The real problem is that we as individuals, or corporately in a social construct such as government, cannot save ourselves.  Government is flawed because it is made of flawed individuals.  As you bring flawed parts together, the flaws simply compound.  The whole truly is the sum of the parts.  I think some believe that collectively we somehow become better, but that goes against common sense.  If you take a bunch of criminals and bring them all together, the community created isn’t more moral or ethical than any of the individuals.  If it were, prisons wouldn’t have bars or walls.  Imagine building a car out of nothing but flawed parts.  When you drive it?  Imagine an airplane built by mismatched, broken parts.  Would you fly in it?  When you bring together angry, greedy, lazy, arrogant, lustful, selfish, gluttonous people, the sum isn’t goodness.  Yet for some reason many believe that government is good and trust it.  It is not.

Back to government, what if it somehow magically did defy nature and was better than the sum of its parts.  That it was actually good and could take care of us.  It would only be able to do so in this life.  Where would we look for salvation in the next life?

Over this Easter weekend, I would suggest you consider whether you have been trying to save yourself by depending on your own self or on others.  If you have, you need to turn to the only One who can save you both here in this life and in the next.  A good place to start that journey is at your local church.  If you want to find a church to attend Sunday, check this site.