America versus Progmerica in a Land Without God

“A lady asked Dr. Franklin, ‘well, Doctor, what have we got a republic or a monarchy?’ ‘A republic,’ replied the Doctor, ‘if you can keep it.’” – James McHenry, from his 1787 journal

The University of Virginia’s Center for Politics released a poll that shows 47 percent of Trump supporters and 51 percent of Biden supporters view the other side as the biggest threat to America. More troubling is the second part of that poll, which shows 41 percent of Biden supporters and 38 percent of Trump supporters believing violence is justified in stopping the other side. 31 percent of Trump supporters and 24 percent of Biden supporters question the “viability of democracy.”

The poll is skewed from the start in its selection of Biden supporters versus Trump supporters, as a sizeable proportion of American citizens will either vote for someone other than Biden or won’t vote at all, as they are completely disenfranchised with the whole political institution. Still, the poll is useful in reading the barometer of the times, “America” is a divided house, even if this poll fails to get to the root of what that division is.

The pollsters themselves reveal their leftist bias by using the phrase “viability of democracy,” with democracy being the key operating phrase. The American Communist Party regularly uses the term democracy in a positive way when “justifying” their own potential rise to power, so “democracy” in and of itself is a problematic phrase that is existentially at odds with the American republic.

A democracy comes in many forms, including what most people in America think of as a democracy, a representative government selected through free and open elections. But democracies can be totalitarian, with one-party states that outlaw all other parties, with the party in power claiming it has the mandate, or at least the best interests, of the people. Therefore, it can rule in their interest to make it the best it can possibly be for the orthodox members of society (the people willing to conform to the will of the state, for the good of the whole).

America, under its validity of rule, its Declaration of Independence (the first and foremost source for the legitimization of our government’s right to rule) and its Constitution, is a limited-power Republic in which one branch of government is representative and selected through allegedly free and open elections. The limits placed on government by the Constitution, and the deputization by the Declaration of Independence of the people in times when government does not act with Constitutionally-defined restraint makes us a republic, not a democracy.

We are not ruled by the majority, but rather, we are ruled by restraint, and empowered to BE the authority in times when that elected body and its appointees (be it judicial or executive appointment) violate the source of their right to rule.

A democracy is the mob led by the few to oppress the few. A republic respects the inherent rights of individuals not to be violated, even by the mob, whether that mob emerged organically from the bottom up or (as is almost ALWAYS the case) was manipulated from the top down to create the desired spirit the few find useful to their parochial interests.

The pollsters themselves reveal the two nations this land now occupies, nations that are so entangled they can both exist in the same household.

On one side is the progmerican, the individual who thinks of “America” as a Democracy and doesn’t feel so constrained by our Constitution, our Declaration of Independence. This individual thinks like one who denies the sacredness, the sovereignty, the stewardship of the individual and imagines (whether they realize it or not) that the world can and should be FORCED to be like them, to think like them, where dissent is called “mis/disinformation” or “hate speech,” and laws are supported that would criminalize such beliefs when they are publicly shared or publicly known.

The progmerican does not value the individual unless that individual conforms to a specific set of values that are ultimately defined by the “experts,” the de facto oligarchy of the land (until one charismatic power arises that can make himself or herself the beginning and end of the law in the land).

On the other side is the American, the individual who values the sacredness, the sovereignty, and the stewardship of the individual, and accepts the restraints on government as defined by our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, viewing the adherence to those documents as the legitimization of power, not the majority rule without restraint that “Democrats” envision.

The division between Trump and Biden supporters isn’t so clean, though, as plenty of Biden supporters do so out of a lack of belief that the Democratic Party is not American in nature and seeks to ultimately, definitively, end any vestige of Rule of Law as defined by our two documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. On the other side, plenty of Trump supporters end up supporting hate speech and disinformation criminalization, as we can see in the support for the censoring of Americans who dare support the Palestinians over Israel.

Neither party has demonstrated in deed any real commitment to the Rule of Law in America, with the Republican Party only being willing to use the language of the American Rule of Law to appeal for power authorization. Once they get that power, they consistently fail to address the open violations of that Rule of Law by their frenemy, the Democratic Party. Let us hope our new Speaker of the House is part of a process that is about to change that current reality.

There are two nations forming, with smaller ones nipping at both their borders, and neither nation makes God their first source of wisdom within our American republican framework. This is where the call to violence appeals to more and more people, as both sides find it increasingly hard to humanize the other side without the Holy Spirit-led conviction to do as Christ commands us, to love our enemies.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  – John 13:34-35

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? “ – Matthew 5:43-47

In a land without God, a land filled with nations that are existentially opposed to one another, the only hope for peace is a shared belief in the Lord of Lords, the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac, who sent His Only Son to save us by grace alone lest we should boast. Unless and until Americans repent and turn to the sacredness of the individual, made in God’s image, then “Americans” will show no grace, no mercy to their enemies, and Progmericans will only grow bolder in their open defiance of the American contract that gives government in this land the “right” to Rule, our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.