Wednesday is Veteran’s Day, first observed as Armistice Day because on that day World War I ended. “World War I, then normally referred to simply as The Great War (no one could imagine any war being greater!), ended with the implementation of an armistice [temporary cessation of hostilities in this case until the final peace treaty, the infamous Treaty of Versailles, was signed in 1919] between the Allies and Germany at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of November, 1918,” according to a history page on the U.S. Army’s website.
We are a nation at war today, but if it weren’t for my post’s title, you may think I’m referring the on-going conflict in Iraq or Afghanistan. I’m thinking of a much longer war, a cold war which freedom loving citizens have been losing for years and are now seeing some of the dramatic fruit of that loss.
By way of Lars’ publisher, I find this article by R.J. Rushdoony. He argues:
If failures occur in scientific socialist states, it is not the fault of scientific socialism, which is by definition infallible and true, but of the hostile people, remnants of the capitalistic class, or traitorous members of the party. Because the scientific socialist state cannot blame itself, it must wage civil war against some portion of the state. Thus, first of all, socialism’s answer to every problem is civil war. Someone is guilty, but never socialism itself.
You can see this clearly in many things Congress does. The congressmen themselves cause a problem, like the housing finance trouble, and take no responsibility for it. Every problem they address is a new one which they will fix if reelected. The blame-shifting will continue perpetually under socialist policies because no problem will be fixed by accusing each other and taking money from the prosperous.
“Socialism is never the way out for socialism,” Rushdoony states, “but simply the guarantee of an economic dead end.” So let us put aside fatigue and rage, apathy and hyperbole, and stand against the liberals who blame us and others for their problems. Let us defend justice, promote mercy, and stand humbly before God everywhere we can, so that we can continue to live in freedom.
Amen.
I simply cannot understand how people cannot SEE the truth in this.
I used to wonder about ‘blinded eyes’ but, no more.
Many people do not see beyond their self-interest. Some of them know they are trying to get away with something they shouldn’t; some never think it through. Many are angry at God, life, their parents, or themselves and want someone to fix it, meaning to give them what they want. And then there are bureaucrats who believe they can see the world clearly and will make everything right.
It’s interesting that on the same day that Lars posts about Luther’s recognition of the separation of the two kingdoms, Phil quotes Rushdoony, the founder and chief proponent of Dominionism and Christian Reconstructionism, the heretical movements that seek to merge the two kingdoms into one by man creating God’s kingdom on earth.
I feel so unwashed now. I think are many Presbyterians who sympathetic, if not league with, the proponents of dominionism. Not that I am, of course.
People have a psychological need to believe in something. If they no longer believe in God, it will probably be either The State, or The Market.
However, The Market does not give one an excuse to grab power, so The State is much more usable as an ideal.