According to dictionary.com the definition of integrity is: "adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty". Integrity in politics is becoming more scarce than ice cubes in hell. For example, a Huffington Post blog on why people really hate Hillary, was recently shared on Facebook. This blog post was one of the most egregious examples I have ever seen of felony intellectual fraud. The sum and substance of this blog excused everything St. Hillary the Martyr has ever done, or been accused of, because Trump is SO much worse. It then concluded that the real reason people hate her is because she's a woman. I'm not sure if I was more disturbed by the violent dry-heaving caused by this tripe or the fact that someone who I respect, who is smart and accomplished actually believes and shared it.
If ever there were a more glaring example of the systemic loss of national integrity in the United States, it is the Presidential Election of 2016. One one hand, the Republicans have rejected a handful of really good men and women in favor of a narcissistic, money-loving, philandering sexist. Trump is utterly ill-equipped to be the President, bereft of any knowledge or understanding of our inspired Constitution.
On the other hand, we have Hillary Clinton: quite possibly the most evil and corrupt person of any sex, race or background to ever seek the Presidency. Far too many of her supporters lack the integrity to acknowledge her lifelong legacy of power at any cost, a loveless sham marriage to accomplish it, pathological lying, chronic flouting of the law, bribery, ruthlessness and complete dishonesty with herself, her family and her constituents.
Let's not kids ourselves anymore. In the name of integrity, let's not pretend not to see what we have been left to choose here. This election is the equivalent of choosing which STD you would most like to have. What cancer would you most prefer to die from? Apparently, from the numbers generated in the primary election, we as a nation value vengeance over honor, winning over integrity and Party power over the good of the nation. We have sold our inheritance for a mess of pottage.
Let's not forget the wonderful, impartial national media in all of this. As usual, they picked the Republican nominee by giving Trump millions of dollars worth of free air time. Stupidly, Republicans fell for it yet again and now the press has turned on him and are vetting him in the way they should have during the Primary. On the other hand, they bury any story that might make Clinton look bad, pretend it never happened, justify her and cover up for her at every opportunity. Lester Holt wasted time with Trump on the ridiculous birther issue, but didn't have one question for Hillary Clinton's disregard for cyber security when it was discussed?! How can she even be taken seriously on that subject when she demonstrated as Secretary of State a blatant disregard for security and the truth with her e-mail scandal and Benghazi? Any follow-up questions at all?!
I fought against Trump's nomination in every way that I could in the Primary, and yet he is the nominee. But I cannot bring myself to the level of intellectual baseness and moral surrender that I will pretend that Trump is in any way, shape or form a good candidate. I beg my Democrat friends to please not pretend that Hillary Clinton is anything other than what I have described. We must have the integrity to open our eyes and see these two for who they are; because the consequences of electing one of these reprobates will be long-term. We cannot right the ship of state until we have the integrity to look in the mirror and realize that we have chosen the candidates we wanted and deserve.
What is required after that honest self-examination is repentance. Repent means to turn around. We have made an absolute mess of this nation through our short-sighted, Party-driven, hate-filled, win-at-any-cost approach to electing representatives. Until we stop this, we cannot stop them. We must turn this around. The political class of both parties will continue to use us, abuse us and ignore us as long as we allow it to go on. John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence and second President of the United States, said the following: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion...Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." The more I study the Constitution and the Founders, the more I realize that the Constitution is less about governance and more about human nature. Yes, the Founding Fathers studied every form of government at length. But they found them all wanting and created something wholly new and untried. This new form of government came about because of their understanding of men and their weaknesses. Our technology has changed, our populations have grown and we have evolved some as societies, but human nature remains unchanged. We are still creatures of passion governed by needs, wants and desires. The great tempering influence to that has always been God. As we as a nation reject God and his authority, we are left to our own horrible and animalistic devices. That can not and will not ever end well.
In 1863, this nation was in the throes of our Civil War. The Senate requested that President Abraham Lincoln proclaim a national day of fasting and prayer. Lincoln agreed and in his Proclamation to the nation said the following:
"And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hears, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness." Could have been written this morning. This is our only hope.
So, you may ask, who am I going to vote for? I don't have the first clue. Voting is a sacred duty to me so I will not abstain. If Gary Johnson were actually a Libertarian instead of clueless, dope-smoking joke, I might vote for him. No other third party candidate has a chance. If I thought one did, I would vote for Evan McMullin; the only one who is remotely serious. I may in the end feel forced to vote for Trump, not because I would find any joy or comfort in doing so, but feeling that he is one shade of gray this side of black. Yes, Hillary Clinton is that bad. God help us all.
If ever there were a more glaring example of the systemic loss of national integrity in the United States, it is the Presidential Election of 2016. One one hand, the Republicans have rejected a handful of really good men and women in favor of a narcissistic, money-loving, philandering sexist. Trump is utterly ill-equipped to be the President, bereft of any knowledge or understanding of our inspired Constitution.
On the other hand, we have Hillary Clinton: quite possibly the most evil and corrupt person of any sex, race or background to ever seek the Presidency. Far too many of her supporters lack the integrity to acknowledge her lifelong legacy of power at any cost, a loveless sham marriage to accomplish it, pathological lying, chronic flouting of the law, bribery, ruthlessness and complete dishonesty with herself, her family and her constituents.
Let's not kids ourselves anymore. In the name of integrity, let's not pretend not to see what we have been left to choose here. This election is the equivalent of choosing which STD you would most like to have. What cancer would you most prefer to die from? Apparently, from the numbers generated in the primary election, we as a nation value vengeance over honor, winning over integrity and Party power over the good of the nation. We have sold our inheritance for a mess of pottage.
Let's not forget the wonderful, impartial national media in all of this. As usual, they picked the Republican nominee by giving Trump millions of dollars worth of free air time. Stupidly, Republicans fell for it yet again and now the press has turned on him and are vetting him in the way they should have during the Primary. On the other hand, they bury any story that might make Clinton look bad, pretend it never happened, justify her and cover up for her at every opportunity. Lester Holt wasted time with Trump on the ridiculous birther issue, but didn't have one question for Hillary Clinton's disregard for cyber security when it was discussed?! How can she even be taken seriously on that subject when she demonstrated as Secretary of State a blatant disregard for security and the truth with her e-mail scandal and Benghazi? Any follow-up questions at all?!
I fought against Trump's nomination in every way that I could in the Primary, and yet he is the nominee. But I cannot bring myself to the level of intellectual baseness and moral surrender that I will pretend that Trump is in any way, shape or form a good candidate. I beg my Democrat friends to please not pretend that Hillary Clinton is anything other than what I have described. We must have the integrity to open our eyes and see these two for who they are; because the consequences of electing one of these reprobates will be long-term. We cannot right the ship of state until we have the integrity to look in the mirror and realize that we have chosen the candidates we wanted and deserve.
What is required after that honest self-examination is repentance. Repent means to turn around. We have made an absolute mess of this nation through our short-sighted, Party-driven, hate-filled, win-at-any-cost approach to electing representatives. Until we stop this, we cannot stop them. We must turn this around. The political class of both parties will continue to use us, abuse us and ignore us as long as we allow it to go on. John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence and second President of the United States, said the following: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion...Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." The more I study the Constitution and the Founders, the more I realize that the Constitution is less about governance and more about human nature. Yes, the Founding Fathers studied every form of government at length. But they found them all wanting and created something wholly new and untried. This new form of government came about because of their understanding of men and their weaknesses. Our technology has changed, our populations have grown and we have evolved some as societies, but human nature remains unchanged. We are still creatures of passion governed by needs, wants and desires. The great tempering influence to that has always been God. As we as a nation reject God and his authority, we are left to our own horrible and animalistic devices. That can not and will not ever end well.
In 1863, this nation was in the throes of our Civil War. The Senate requested that President Abraham Lincoln proclaim a national day of fasting and prayer. Lincoln agreed and in his Proclamation to the nation said the following:
"And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hears, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness." Could have been written this morning. This is our only hope.
So, you may ask, who am I going to vote for? I don't have the first clue. Voting is a sacred duty to me so I will not abstain. If Gary Johnson were actually a Libertarian instead of clueless, dope-smoking joke, I might vote for him. No other third party candidate has a chance. If I thought one did, I would vote for Evan McMullin; the only one who is remotely serious. I may in the end feel forced to vote for Trump, not because I would find any joy or comfort in doing so, but feeling that he is one shade of gray this side of black. Yes, Hillary Clinton is that bad. God help us all.
Thank you Lori! What a horrible election! Why don't you run for President? I'd vote for you :)! Have a great night.
ReplyDeleteKatie
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAMEN.
ReplyDeleteI just don't know what to do. I want to vote my conscience. Truthfully I find both major candidates equally disturbing and whomever wins is surely going to continue to the death march over the cliff.
ReplyDeleteIt is without hope.
Thanks for your thoughts. I've been leaning that way, too - vote for Trump because he's our only chance to stop Hillary. I'm still hoping for a better option. Miracles can happen, right?
ReplyDelete