But besides looking at our choices, then there is another thing to consider. Why are the five choices I listed in Part 2 the choices we have? The answer isn’t because they were the candidates supported in the primaries, this was the proximate cause, not the ultimate one. Trump was heavily supported by independents in early primary states, and he has attracted massive crowds, and while the tapes are shocking in their details they should not be.

In a democratic republic, the government ultimately reflects the people. I had a female coworker today state she was not upset by Trump’s comments because many men make such comments all the time and many women do the same thing to men, or to other women. She is partially right, the problem isn’t that Trump is a sexual deviant in a land of the sexually pure, it is that Trump openly lives the life that many men would live if they could. Trump in many senses in his callous disregard for others represents the callous disregard of the modern world, which cares about people in the abstract, but engages in backbiting, gossip and the spreading of dissension with coworkers, “friends” and families. Trump, in short, is us, and as we should respond to the ugliness of the man as we would respond to the ugliness of what we see in the mirror – by realizing its time to make some changes.

I have heard it said that Whitaker Chamber’s was asked why he wrote about the problems of Communist infiltration of the Government, Chamber’s noted he did it to save the country, and the retort was the question of the hour, is America worth saving. I must confess, I do not believe, as a nation, that we deserve saving. I have not been able to say “God bless America” in more than a decade; I beg Him for mercy, but there is something wrong with asking for blessing on the cesspool of entertainment we have created for ourselves, the millions we have slaughtered in abortion mills, and there is no repentance in our hearts. There was a time when America engaged in soul searching over the evil’s of slavery, but such soul searching would mean taking time away from whatever trivial thing has engaged our minds at the moment. Entertainment is no longer recreation to recharge the batteries, it’s the central element of human life; the Creator God has been replaced by the court jesters, whom we now treat as wise, compassionate and learned men.

The Roman Republic became the Roman Empire because a number of Demagogic politicians sought to use the pains and sorrows of the people of Rome as a means to elected office, and they used the powers of those offices to expand their own roles in the cities, in part by ignoring traditions of term limits. Eventually, Octavius, humbly accepted control of the empire from the Senate in an act of Political theater, and in the name of saving the republic. Dictators, at least initially, come to power because the people choose to allow them to do so. I believe America is on such a path, but as a believer, I believe that such a path is in part the justice of the Creator, whom we have ignored, and He can change our hearts.

I believe the real answer to these questions is ultimately to remember that the Church’s power is not found in politics, marketing strategies, or in the things of this world. It is found in the work of the Spirit through the Church, something I am afraid the modern Church has forgotten. I am not one to fight battles over things like music, but I find it questionable that the major arguments for these things is the need to attract people to the faith, and I believe, in a sense, we are trying to do the Holy Spirit’s job for Him. We cannot find relief for spiritual problems in political solutions, whatever political theory we may espouse. Politics may be important, but it is not of ultimate importance.

Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman watches in vain.