In responding to a thread about, what ended up being a discussion of whether we can say we care about immorality if we support Trump, with his past and continuing indiscretions, I provided the following feedback that I wanted to share here:
I think the problem is much larger than who is president, or which immorality we are willing to tolerate. The problem is more fundamental. If the office of president was fulfilling its constitutional role...and only what is proscribed in the constitution, much of this would be of no consequence. From the very beginning of the country, and all the way through until today, the office has been filled with flawed men...and many profoundly flawed. Petty, immoral and corrupt men. But, we have elevated this office, in practice and in culture, to a much higher level than it should ever have been. We were never to have a replacement for a king. The fact that we build monuments and carve the sides of mountains as tribute to these men is the problem.
It seems to be a condition of mankind...we want to be ruled over rather than free. Even Israel demanded of Samuel that he appoint a king. This was NOT God's desire for them, but he allowed them to have it.
1 Samuel 8: 6-20: But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”Government is NOT the answer. It ruins everything it touches. The only hope is to reduce it as much as possible...keep it at bay for as long as we can. And, unfortunately, that always seems to to leave us to a choice between the lesser of two evils.
