By James Wilson
Benjamin Franklin once explained the difference between democracy and liberty. “Democracy,” he said, “is two wolves and a lamb voting on what’s for lunch. Liberty,” he added, “is a well armed lamb.” Franklin’s wisdom regarding the potential tyranny of the majority is cogent for the bullying that sometimes comes from a minority supposing itself a majority. Supporters of Donald Trump come to mind, as do the occupiers and other leftists who disrupt his meetings. Both groups would be horrified to be compared to each other, but they are two sides of one coin.
Trump commands about thirty-five per cent of the vote – more than either of his rivals – but that is nowhere near a majority of Republicans. Now his backroom backers in the Republican establishment are putting up a smoke-screen of opposition, although in truth they have less love for Ted Cruz and John Kasich is nothing but a regional hero whose views on gun control, immigration, and Common Core are repugnant to most conservatives. Now Trump is acting like he has a majority of delegates and entitlement to the nomination. He predicts – read threatens – riots if the fatcats try to deny him at the convention. (Sure he says he makes only predictions but a man in his position is either calling his supporters to calm or acting the bully that is so Trumpish.) What he and his supporters need to get behind is the idea they are entitled to nothing unless they are a demonstrable majority. That means twelve hundred thirty-seven delegates at convention. And the lambs – in this case the majority who oppose Trump regardless of whom they support – need to arm themselves.
Just as much the bullies they claim to oppose are the occupiers and the Black-Lives-Matter types who threaten to tear Cleveland apart if Trump is nominated. They know what a tiny minority of the electorate they comprise but – true believers that they are – they threaten and bellow and burn because they believe themselves entitled. If they have IQs in double digits they recall the Chicago demonstrators in 1968 managed only to move the voters to elect Richard Nixon – the law and order candidate. Nixon was far less acceptable to them than Hubert Humphrey. I am just as sick and tired of the bullies on one side as the other. It is time indeed for the lambs to arm themselves.
With what should we arm? I am not calling for a gunfight at the OK Corral. The first thing with which to arm ourselves is a little humbling truth. Don’t ask where America went wrong; ask where I went wrong. We the people have consistently chosen leaders who said what we wanted to hear – it isn’t us who are wrong, never us – and promised whatever we wanted at no cost. We have demanded they let us lead lives of uninvolvement and then raged when they acted with no regard for our rights or the Constitution under which they took oaths of office. We need to repent of apathy mixed with the occasional temper tantrum – which is what Trump’s followers exhibit now. Are our leaders corrupt and unscrupulous? They are – but who created them in this democratic republic where the most votes wins power? We the people created them and we need to accept responsibility before we cry foul.
Having accepted responsibility – Christians call that repentance – we need to ask for the gifts of common sense and respect for what makes our nation great. Then we who decry disrespect for our Constitution and cultural/spiritual traditions will realize that Donald Trump has neither knowledge nor respect for them. We will understand that torture of prisoners – while not absent from our history – is utterly foreign to our identity. We will recall what we learned in high school civics about how candidates are chosen, the difference between plurality and majority, and the rule of law. We will not support a candidate who paid a million dollar fine for bilking the students at his university, who thinks public profanity in speechmaking a virtue, or that the size of his genitalia is a qualification for holding office. We will recognize that a candidate who makes sexual comments about his daughter has a badly dislocated heart and no hint of the class we should expect from leaders. We will understand that a man claiming a justice anointing who calls himself neutral on Israel and the Palestinian terrorists is delusional.
We will seek an alternative to Donald Trump.
Senator Ted Cruz has a long track record of standing by, with, and for the Constitution. His record of support for Israel abroad and the rule of law at home shows his passion for justice is genuine; he does not find a Supreme Court that okays taking land from private parties for the benefit of other private parties any more acceptable than one that redefines marriage or – for that matter – life. His stand on government shutdown in the face of Obama’s unconstitutional bullying and the filibusters he has led demonstrate his courage; he does not excuse Planned Parenthood’s butchery with praise for their rare and insignificant “good works” and become confused when asked to distance himself from the Ku Klux Klan. He does not go mega militant and threaten to punish women who abort and claim the next day he knew not what he said because the question was too complex. He is honest enough – and humble enough – to accept responsibility and change course when his staff engages in dirty tricks at the expense of another candidate. He speaks of an America on track to another Great Awakening and he is not shy about proclaiming his faith in the God who alone gives such a gift. Do we want a president who comes from outside the establishment box and yet knows how to deal with the brokers of power from a position of strength rather than the pragmatic lust for the deal? Then we want Ted Cruz.
We want Ted Cruz if we are Americans willing to step up to the plate as persons of repentance toward the Core and Creator of our values and our destiny, as well armed lambs. We want Cruz even more if we are among the ten percent of Americans who both call themselves Christians and strive to make decisions based on the Word of God. But whether we are Bible believing Christians or believers-when-it-feels-good or pre-believers altogether, we can seek the gifts of repentance, common sense, and respect for what we have been given. These gifts come by degree and their Giver is happy to begin with each of us wherever we are.
Nobody is calling for a theocracy in this election season; they tend to bring the worst of all possible worlds because the Church is much more powerful when it is out of power and much more corrupt when given the very power Christ came to cancel. But the Lord our God is the source of the gift that is America the Beautiful. Serving Him in terms of that gift is the way to preserve and enhance it. Authentic service of this kind is only found in a lifelong covenant relationship to Abba, Neighbor, and self – in that order. A well armed lamb is not what most people think, but rather the personal embodiment of faith in speech and behavior with our attention on Father, Son and Spirit.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships, The Holy Spirit and the End Times, and Kingdom in Pursuit – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at praynorthstate@charter.net
