Things I Think…
1. With the election being over and the country entering a time of transition…now is a good time to assess our own spiritual state. Whether you are euphoric or depressed over the results, what matters is your own relationship with Jesus…mine could use some work…
2. The best measure of how well you’re incorporating your faith into the rest of your life is how solid your home is…again, mine needs some work…
3. I’m not very interested in critiquing the nationalist church anymore…I accept and recognize the division and will simply try to strengthen my own faith and that of like minded believers…
4. America needs more missionaries…to come here and evangelize people into the real Christian faith…
5. One of the ways that the division is evident is in the growth of social media site Bluesky...it’s gaining a million people a day as people flee Twitter…it reminds me of the Twitter I loved before the bots and loons took over…I’m there…@phoenixpreacher.bsky.social
6. The more people I talk to, the more I’m convinced that the anti -trans ad was the single most effective campaign ad this year…and that heterosexual sins are no longer a test of character in the church…
7. I’m putting together a list of authors suitable for the times we’re in and the times coming…Frederick Buechner, C.S. Lewis, and Kate Bowler come to mind…who do you recommend?
8. Thanksgiving deserves to be celebrated as a special holiday,not a speed bump on the way to Christmas…
9. I‘m so old that I remember when Trump was going to get rid of sex traffickers instead of appointing them to office…
10. Think on these things…what brings you joy?
Marjorie Taylor Green finally said something I agree with:
“For my Republican colleagues in the House and Senate,
“If we are going to release ethics reports and rip apart our own that Trump has appointed, then put it ALL out there for the American people to see.
“Yes..
“all the ethics reports and claims including the one I filed
“all your sexual harassment and assault claims that were secretly settled paying off victims with tax payer money
“the entire Jeffrey Epstein files, tapes, recordings, witness interviews
“but not just those, there’s more, Epstein wasn’t/isn’t the only asset
“If we’re going to dance, let’s all dance in the sunlight.
I’ll make sure we do.“
It sounds like Congress might be a cesspool of sexual predators and abuse.
Jean,
I wouldn’t be surprised if MTG is right. So many parts of our society are, respectable and non-respectable. Sometimes we are deeply offended, and sometimes we say “adults doing adult things.” Unfortunately, the Christian church as a whole is not much better, either.
#1-3 I’ve accepted that Trump will be in power for four years (unless God decides to intervene, and I will confess that I pray He does). Acceptance does not imply agreement. I know what the Scripture says about obeying the government, as well as praying for the government, and I will do both unless told to do something that would greatly violate my understanding of what Scripture tells me to do. I’m praying that God will give me wisdom for any situation I encounter. What brings me joy: There is real hope is knowing God and His Word and how He can bring a change of heart even in the worst circumstances.
And cats, and children…there is great joy in both.
Michael,
A couple of authors’ names that come to mind:
Yancey
Timothy Snyder (not necessarily a Xn per se, but an expert on regimes)
Bonhoeffer (natch)
Willimon and Hauerwas, esp. Resident Aliens which I haven’t read but now
I might
Walter Brueggemann
ML King, especially “Strength to Love” “A Gift of Love” and any books about
his preaching
#10 – God’s grace, greater than my sin.
Music.
My children.
bob1,
Good list…I’m bringing Walter back into my rotation…
Tony Campolo has passed away…
Very sad. He must’ve been pretty old.
I heard him speak at an urban missions conference in 1980. Very passionate and had a great sense of humor. Hopefully his message will continue to resonate with people.
Tony Campolo has passed away…and you don’t give a s!@#.
(If you heard Tony speak in the 90’s you get the reference. Its a tribute, not disrespect.)
1. How is my relationship with Jesus? Bad. Also though, I feel like if I have to work, its not the real thing. Hoping he’ll intervene soon.
2. Home…is a process. Different, but good. Maybe Jesus is intervening and I’m just not paying attention.
6. True. I’ll admit I was wrong. The dems didn’t really talk about it, and I assumed it wasn’t an issue. Fear is a strong motivator. All that said, yes, we’ve baptized all the rest of sexual sin, and this is the new boogeyman.
8. This Thanksgiving will be a lot of firsts. I hope to just survive. I’m open to being surprised by joy.
9. These appointments have to be on purpose. Like, every single one has some scandal. I guess just finally putting to death the idea that we care about character in our politicians. And I’m happy for that. It was all a smokescreen anyway. We never cared, just used it for political gain when convenient. I was a young fool who actually bought in and thought would should care. Waking up to that reality has been more disillusioning than anything else in my life. 8 years now, and I haven’t recovered.
10. Joy…my wife and my kids. Ray Charles singing Georgia on the office radio right now. Art.
Josh,
😀
Thomas a Kempis “The Imitation of Christ”, I have the Knox translation that I’m enjoying quite a bit.
Packer’s ‘Affirming the Apostle’s Creed’
Sproul’s “What We Believe”
I got the reference Josh.
For years, I have taught my congregations that politics provide false salvation narratives. Neither the depression nor the euphoria are warranted as these machinations cannot rescue us. The people of Christ are deceived by these vain paths. The candidates that we marshaled are mirrors of ourselves. They are evidence of a people swamped in confusion, sheep without a shepherd. We are given over to our desires, not unlike the nations of the world as in the days of Israel and Babylon. Calamities will chasten us, and we will continue to reap and sow. The road ahead will be more of the same, and we must pray for leaders who will ennoble us. They were not in view during this past year.
My relationship with Jesus is not rooted in these things. It remains tethered to more intimate concerns. In our case, the realities of our own little family continue to show us that the one faithful Israelite remains the only refuge. We have been carried through the murky shadows of death. It is exactly one year since we memorialized our only son. So, our relationship is in constant dependence upon his living presence and the voice of the Spirit.
Athanasius has been a comfort and help as he testifies of the fearlessness of the early Christians in their confidence that death has lost its sting and that Christ sends the demonic hordes cowering under his Name. On the Incarnation has become an annual read.
N. T. Wright is a continuous supply of exegetical delight. His Challenge of Acts has illuminated the world of the apostolic Gospel afresh. I am intrigued by the just-released We Who Wrestle With God by Jordan Peterson, though I see through his exegetical deficits. Still, he provides the fascinating insights of a man who clearly continues to wrestle. Meal of Mystery, Meal of Wonder by Malcolm Smith, is a gift from a friend, father, and mentor. And, I am trying to find time for Andrew Rillera’s Lamb of the Free, a fresh look at atonement theology.
That’s more than I have offered here in six months. Joy? I find joy in gathering sons of the kingdom, in my own five living generations family, and in aging peacefully with my wife.
For myself, I am still grieving. I feel like I’m visiting a country that I do not know. The clown car of appointments does not help. Neither does the conduct of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which has been shameful and a disgrace. So, in addition to visiting the country, I do not know I find myself alienated from a church that I’ve given 40 years of my life to, in one way or another.
My main concern, however, is with the church universal. My question is whether we have the strength to break away from this heresy of a disembodied Christ that we have come to accept as normal. Christ without his body the church is an impossible theological proposition.
Duane,
I certainly agree with “Christ without his body the church is an impossible theological proposition.” I fall back on the fact that Jesus promised to build His church. I haven’t always been in my first choice of churches, but I’ve always been able to find something somewhere. Many years ago I attended a small congregation held in a pastor’s living room. It was in a bunch of new housing tracts, and there just weren’t churches there. He started his own…maybe that would be a thought?
I was getting a distance from it all…until yesterday when I was attacked with words never expected from a person I never expected to wield such words.
I’m just numb now…and hope to stay that way.
“The clown car of appointments does not help.”
I was totally in the camp of this sentiment, until I challenged my own biases.
One thing I would ask of those who view some of the Trump appointments as “clown car” is: What have the “orthodox” bureaucrats (Republicans and Democrats) given the nation over the past 40 years?
Jean,
generally, over the past generations, the two major parties have given thoughtful consideration to the qualifications, experience, and skill sets for heads of agencies and cabinet positions. The vetting process has whittled the field to the best in most cases. I’m hard pressed to think of a shockingly unqualified nominee in the past fifty years, or at least until the revolving door years from 2017-2020. This post-election nomination period has produced one dud after another.
It’s almost like the vetting process is eliminating anyone with the skills or experience needed to actually do the job.
As far as authors go, I’m going with James Fenimore Cooper, Twain, Steinbeck, Stegner, Krakauer, Rohr, and Lamott.
Trifecta!
filistine,
The “qualifications” of a person are only one metric, another metric is: Who is this person working for? A special interest or the American people?
Regarding qualifications: there is an orthodoxy that many are now questioning. For example: Why are Americans sicker than ever when the nation is spending more than ever on “health care?” Are pharmaceuticals the answer to chronic disease?
is this person working for the American people or given a job due to loyalty to the president-elect? If the latter is true, he/she/it isn’t working for the American people. If the former is true, he/she/it isn’t getting a job in this administration.
The president-elect is elected indirectly the American people. So, his goals should align with the interests of the people, because he made his goals known and was elected.
His loyal appointees (which loyalty is to be expected) should work to accomplish the goals of the president, which should align with the goals of the people. They are delegates of the president, who work for the people by carrying out the directions of the president.
Watching the red pill go down in real time. Disturbing.
On the other hand, someone once said:
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Yeah. I guess those are the only two options.
Whether we are participating in the further decline of our great empire, or we are at the beginning of a seismic disruption of the status quo in which we can participate in the renewal of our nation for a sustainable future, I can’t predict.
Either option could be terrifying to anyone who clings only to their temporal citizenship. Personally, I am humbled and eternally grateful that Jesus Christ has elected me to citizenship in his kingdom by granting me faith, hope and his love. I never want to take salvation for granted, nor ground my hope in any other kingdom.
Jean @ 7.29 am
That is so good. I agree wholeheartedly. it’s my prayer of thanks to Him as well.
He’s the only King who’s ever chosen me.
I’ve learned something in the last couple of days…the way that as a child you learn that the stove will burn you.
Never Trumpers, especially those of the Christian variety, have always assumed the higher moral ground.
I certainly did.
How anyone could baptize such an obvious grifter was way beyond me.
What I didn’t understand was that the hatred of “progressive’ sexual values is so intense that my own morality and even my qualifications for ministry would be loudly called into question by those I considered family for opposing him.
My world has been rocked…I’m still trying to get a handle on this.
It used to be abortion. Its all a scapeoat.
One expects a certain level of proven competency in cabinet nominations.
So far, the only competency needed seems to be in kissing the demagogues ass and having some form of sexual scandal…heterosexual, of course.
I would amen the references to the kingdom, with one rather obvious caveat.
The kingdom is already here and we are here to help bring it in its fullness.
I have yet to see anything that reminds me of the fullness of the kingdom in our current political situation…
I had a history teacher tell my class once that “sometimes countries get the government they deserve.” The discussion was in a high school setting regarding modern history (then, it was the war in Vietnam, tension in the Middle East, Nixon and Watergate). We may have come to such a time in the United States. Which, as I have been reading here, means making the kingdom of heaven even more of a priority. Voters knew a lot about Trump before they voted for him, and they will reap the consequences (and so will those of us who did not vote for him). However, I think a lot of this mess will go through the courts. An example: The Department of Education was created by an act of Congress, and it will take another act to totally dismantle it. (I am not approving or disapproving of the DE; just giving an example)
Gaetz withdraws his name. Since Trump, thus far, refuses to vet don’t be shocked who will be next.
Bob Sweat,
But at least that’s one turkey culled from the flock!
Linn,
I agree with the statement “sometimes countries get the government they deserve.”
Bob, just saw that. What a dumpster fire of picks this has been.
Dan,
I have actually been praying about the picks for cabinet and that God would intervene and remove those that are unsuitable. Timothy 2:1-3
I’ve been asking God for kingdom-glorifying choices. Gantz did not seem to fit that description. I’m not naive…the Word says to pray, and I do (something about living in violence-filled Colombia from 1985-’92).
Thats a good point Linn. I may not have voted for the winner, but doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care about the President’s job and picks.
“God would intervene and remove those that are unsuitable.”
I’m not at all sure how God is working in this situation, but he definitely doesn’t seem to be going in that direction.
In fact, I don’t think a broad survey of the governed history of the world would show God working like that.
Josh,
I don’t know how God does what He does-but I know He works to His glory and He wants us to pray for the government. So, I pray what I think is best (obvious, many times it isn’t), and I trust God for His answer.
I think a lot of Americans, myself included, took a kind of laissez faire attitude with the LGBTQIA+ movement for a long time, because they (a) did not want to interfere in someone else’s love life or bedroom, and (b) it didn’t impact them (they thought).
But that movement kept on pushing for more and more. First legality; then marriage; then public celebrations; then affirmative action in the workplace; then bathroom rights based on self-identity; and then sports participation based on self-identity.
Many people have had enough. They simply won’t take it anymore. They won’t go along with pretend pronouns; they don’t want to see men dressing up like women and playing women’s sports; they don’t want boys in their daughter’s bathrooms.
I expect to see a significant roll back of many of these “rights” and programs from the next administration. It will be interesting to see if the Democratic Party realigns with the mood of the nation or if it doubles down on its current positions.
When the Democratic Party supports LGBTQIA+ and DEI, it is taking IMO anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-Christian positions. (These are official party positions, not aberrant behaviors of flawed individuals.)
In addition, DEI is racist ideology that discriminates against white males. It divides human beings into classes with some being favored over others. Let’s be honest. Trump won big with white males. What will the Democratic Party do to serve the white male demographic?
In an ironic way DEI actually hurts those it intends to serve. When if you’re a talented woman or minority: Will your recognition in college admissions or in the workplace promotion be recognized for your talent or will there be that questions mark regarding whether gender or race played a role because the institution has a DEI program?
Our country and society needs a significant reformation regarding how people are treated. Our ambition should be IMO to be a land of opportunity and a meritocracy, not a land of victimhood, reparations, and entitlements. We’ve tried the latter for decades and it is not working. Hopefully the nation is ready for something new.
Again, heterosexual sin is not an issue…but this queer stuff has to stop.
What I expect from a presidency is competence in foreign affairs and domestic economic issues.
I expect an understanding of how best to use government resources for the benefit of the country.
I am much more worried about international tyranny, health care, and our crumbling infrastructure than queer people.
I think state and local governments can keep men out of women’s sports, etc…but it’s down the road on which issues affect the masses more.
Having read a tad bit of history…and looking at government leaders…white males have done pretty well for themselves as the most protected class in human history…
“What I expect from a presidency is competence in foreign affairs and domestic economic issues.
“I expect an understanding of how best to use government resources for the benefit of the country.
“I am much more worried about international tyranny, health care, and our crumbling infrastructure than queer people.”
I do too, 100%. So, what is competence, where do we find it, and where has it been for the past 40 years? Would anyone argue that America has been led by competency during the past 40 years in the fields of healthcare? fiscal responsibility? education? trade? infrastructure? We’ve been eating the seed corn for 40 years, and we’re about out!
Our country is sicker, our life expectancy lags behind the top 10 industrialized nations, our food system produces more toxic foods, our healthcare system is more expense, but the outcomes are worse, our national debt is worse, our trade imbalance is worse, our manufacturing base is gutted, our educational system is a failure, our environment is worse.
Where have the competent bureaucrats been for the past 40 years? I think the public has lost faith in the administrative state because it has failed to deliver.
From the cheap seats…
What I see is Christians folding scripture any way possible to justify electing this administration. And it is not stopping. People, specifically Christians, have been fueled with rage even after the election is long since over. This election was fueled by bigotry.
🙄
Jean,
If you really believe that, the answer is not in promoting inexperienced incompetents whose only skills are evident in butt kissing and television.
This is a massive reaction to what happened during Covid…ignoring that we have the best recovery and best economy in the world.
Biden passed the biggest infrastructure bill in memory…that too, has been ignored.
When we deport all the people this economy and SSI rely on…when what’s left of the medical system is ruined…when you finally figure out that the people that profit from all our issues are the ones you elected…get back to me.
“when you finally figure out that the people that profit from all our issues are the ones you elected…get back to me.”
Not “you elected” but “we elected.” The corruption in government, the revolving door, the dominance of special interests attached to campaign donations, is nothing new. It has been a curse on our democracy for as long as I can remember. It has been a problem under Democratic as well as Republican administrations.
I’m hoping (but with a healthy dose of realism) that men like RFK, Jr. and Elon Musk will put country before personal gain. I’m hoping that at the end of the day that Trump wants to leave America better than when he found it for the sake of his children and grandchildren.
I say all this as a voting never-Trumper. Everyone here who knows me knows that I have always been a never-Trump independent. That said, he will now be my next President. I must wish him God’s grace, His wisdom, and success in making America great and healthy again.
“I’m hoping (but with a healthy dose of realism) that men like RFK, Jr. and Elon Musk will put country before personal gain. ”
I’ve been drunk before, but never that drunk.
I hope you’re right.
I have mixed feelings about Elon. On one hand, he’s against a lot of woke nonsense but on the 2nd hand he’s an advocate of artificial intelligence, about which I have serious concern, and on the 3rd hand he’s thinking we should colonize Mars which smells like a Tower of Babel-like project to me. So while he has some interesting ideas, I do not trust Mr. Elon Musk and not too happy that he seems to be Trump’s new best friend.
This is going to sound pretty woo but I believe that there are intelligent, discarnate, malign beings that have been interacting with human-kind since the beginning. They are demons. Currently, they are masquerading as beings from outer space but this is not true: they come from that realm of creation that is invisible most to most of us, most of the time. There are portals humans can use to make contact with their dimension. Occult practices, for example. Currently I believe (and I am not alone in this belief) that artificial intelligence is seen as a portal.
And this is one reason I do not trust Mr. Elon Musk.
If you are a Christian, then you believe in the existence of demons and if you believe in demons, you know they are the enemy of mankind. We know that participating in the occult or using psychedelics can open a person up to the demonic. It’s not too far of a leap to believe that AI can be used as an Ouija board on steroids.
I’m not well versed on this matter…but I’m not sure that there is anything in Scripture or tradition (depending upon the tradition) about something “opening” people to the demonic…I would surmise that simply being out of fellowship with Christ would be all the opening a demon needed…
The interests of billionaires are not the interests of common Americans, whether poor, middle class, or even upper echelon money makers. Jeff Bezos, Leon Skum, Trump, and a lengthy list of Trump’s largest donors don’t have the interests of the American people at heart, only their own.
fil,
That should be obvious…but it’s not for some reason.
I think at this point we just wait for all the hammers to drop on the average person…
Unfortunately, it is impossible to be elected to almost any office without the financial backing of millionaires. We will never find a presidential candidate (or even senate, congress or governor) who isn’t funded by self-serving millionaires.
What should be obviously wrong, but instead is celebrated is the threatened/promised use of the US military to round up and deport illegal immigrants. There will be bloodshed and violence and the military will be forever altered and its service people damaged permanently. Remember, Trump (ol’ bonespurs) never served and holds the services in low regard.
diabology is a monumentally complex topic and specialists in Enoch literature and 2nd Temple Judaism have been grappling with it for a few generations. Archie T Wright pointed out that a demon as conventionally understood in popular imagination never appears in the Hebrew Bible. Conversely, giant offspring of angelic human-hybrid unions are casually alluded to in Genesis 6 and form the basis of a lot of speculative intertestamental literature.
Ryan Stokes summarized a comment made half a century earlier about the satan by G B Caird that “a” satan is first mentioned in Numbers as an angel of Yahweh ready to kill Balaam. Esther Hamori delights in mentioning this detail (though Reed Carlson has differed with her on how the ghostwife/necromancer of Endor narrative and her translational decision so Hamori the scholar might have to be held distinct from Hamori the popular level writer). Caird suggested a kind of trajectory in which throughout the OT the satan was a heavenly functionary whose task was to be the accuser or God’s executioner (Thus Ryan Stokes’ recent Eerdmans book) who began to wildly overstep his formally designated role so that, by the time of the NT accounts and in the Apocalypse, Satan has become a formally named being and a particularly malign one. ARchie Wright’s attempt to suggest the satan is more of a tester of mettle than a truly malignant being is a variation of a somewhat popular trend in non-evangelical scholarship I’ve seen in the last thirty years. I’m not so sure I buy that.
Walter Wink piggy-backed a bit off of Hendrik Berkhof’s proposal that powers and principalities might be suprapersonal and personal in an overly nebulous way. IT has gotten some criticism from African biblical scholars for what I consider to be obvious reasons but I want to throw a bone to the Berkhof/Wink continuum on the powers by way of David Nicholls and John NEville Figgis’ idea of corporate personality in political history and philosophy. Robert Ewusie Moses’ proposal that Pauline language is ambiguous and this necessitates Christians doing biblical study and theology in every generation so as to be challenged to identify the powers and principalities of each era may seem a bit obvious but I have found it useful, particularly his observation that Pauline instruction spends no time at all identifying any of the powers and principalities by name and a ton of time in the epistles admonishing Christians on the practices which protect them. That said, much as I loved Practices of Power, Robert Ewusie Moses’ book digs so deep into the LXX and MT readings of Psalms and Job I doubt any but specialists would easily benefit from it. 🙁 A shame, because it’s a very good book but it’s very academic and not at all cheap!
X, it became possible with the campaign finance reforms that limited individual donations, but the very same politicians opened the PAC window that allows virtually unlimited donations/control$. We continue to elect representatives who are unwilling to reign in the finances and shake free from the special interests that dictate their votes. Indeed, we got the government we deserve.
Pauline instruction spends no time at all identifying any of the powers and principalities by name and a ton of time in the epistles admonishing Christians on the practices which protect them.<<<
I don't have any names for them either, other than the old names: Beelzebub, Marduk, etc.
specialists in Enoch literature and 2nd Temple Judaism <<<
Yeah, the Book of Enoch and its Nephilim and Watchers is a popular topic of discussion in some circles. I have read it but I don't see it as valuable in living my life in Christ.
Xenia, if anything, I’m persuaded that the warning to not get sidetracked into myths and family lines in the letters to TImothy were partly a corrective against going full Enoch marathon reading, although the fact that Jude quotes from Enoch raises an interpretive challenge for how we should approach that literature. Long, long ago Steve Hays (of Triablogue) and I compared note on the matter and tentatively concluded that Jude was not necessarily endorsing all of the Enoch books so much as leveraging them to combat false teaching, something along the lines of a case that apostolic testimony could draw upon X or Y without it automatically having to be regarded as a canon-worthy text (Paul’s citation of Aratus in Athens would be the most clear-cut example of such a literary usage among apostles). Just because Jude cited one of the books of Enoch does not oblige anyone to have the books of Enoch in the canon.
Study of the Watchers tradition could have “some” value but it depends on where people go with it. It’s hard to get around the widespread ancient affirmation of angelic/human offspring in Genesis 6 in the text’s lengthy reception history (ergo dense academic works by Archie Wright and Loren Stuckenbruck on the origin of evil spirits in 2nd Temple era Judaism).
But most people won’t benefit from such study. The value it can have, though, is in tracking and charting the evolution of demonologies that fundamentalists (or super-trad Catholics) have said are based on biblical texts which are, to be rather blunt, based on extensive reception histories and interpretive glosses which are not necessarily strictly derived from the texts. I’ve got Hector Patmore’s Brill book on the reception history of the King of Tyre oracle in Ezekiel and it looks like it could be fairly heavy-duty reading. Many a passage traditionally regarded as referencing Satan was doing nothing of the kind in its original literary/historical context. That doesn’t mean Christians can’t take those passages as referring to the fall of Satan but it would involve reading half a dozen books by Jeffrey Burton Russell or Mark Smith to see how that reception history emerged.
Ironically, as Francis Young pointed out, among Catholic and Anglican clergy there is now a widespread reticence to make use of the rite of exorcism but there’s a big popular demand for it, more so now than at possibly any time in the history of the Church. But the Francis Young histories of Catholic and Anglican exorcistic traditions is really dry, academic reading.
I’ve got some Andrei Orlov books I want to get to so I’ve been made aware there are Orthodox scholarly studies of this whole nest of topics but I am not even remotely up to speed on that side of the research. Orlov did come out with an interesting-looking book on the reception histories of Leviathan and Behemoth in Jewish, Christian and Muslim thought I couldn’t resist grabbing but I haven’t really cracked that one open yet.
I grew up Pentecostal and one of the nagging things for me in the 1980s and early 1990s was wondering how much of the spiritual warfare fad stuff was actually based on scriptural teaching and how much of it was some kind of fad built on urban folklore and denominational superstitions or biases. Maybe being the son of a Native American Calvinist dad and a white Pentecostal mom living in the PNW meant I was going to be curious about it because a fair chunk of the recovered memory craze from the 1980s turned out to be total garbage.
Xenia,
Genuinely curious, if going to Mars is a Tower of Babel, what then is the internet?
If one were to look at the potential advantages of having the richest man in the world, and arguably the most intelligent, entrepreneurial and creative man on the planet (as a package) in your administration to work on the most intractable problems our nation faces, then:
(1) he may be immune to the type of bribery that most bureaucrats succumb to (he arguably proved with his purchase of Twitter that he is not driven solely by profit when greater issues are at stake);
(2) he has more to lose (financially) by the decline and failure of our nation than any other American, so his interest in reforming and renewing the American dream is arguably aligned with the interests of the American people; and
(3) he is an outside the box thinker with a proven track record of accomplishments, which is sorely needed at the federal governmental level. On just about any metric (I listed several of them in an earlier comment), our nation is failing and falling behind. As a nation we are borrowing far beyond our means to prop up a broken system and give us an artificial sense of prosperity. It’s not real. We cannot and will not (a) borrow our way to prosperity, (b) wage war after war to peace, (c) hand out our way to a more just society, or (d) medicate our selves to greater health.
I don’t know. For some reason I am against billionaires buying their way into government.
I’m against middle class people getting elected into government and becoming millionaires there while supposedly “serving” the American people.
Regarding buying one’s way into government, that stinks too. I wish our elections were funded differently.
“If one were to look at the potential advantages of having the richest man in the world, and arguably the most intelligent, entrepreneurial and creative man on the planet (as a package) in your administration to work on the most intractable problems our nation faces, then:’
You can expect it to lose 75% of its value as X has, become a cesspool of porn and lunatics, and inadvertently fuel the rise of new media as sane people flee from it.
You might want to see what percentage of Musk’s wealth depends on government contracts…
Hi Reuben,
I think the internet (or whatever comes after the internet) will be the mouthpiece of Antichrist. I don’t think we are there yet. As I write this I am sitting in great comfort at my laptop, full of English muffins and apricot jam. I am at peace with all my neighbors and I lack for nothing and the government isn’t after me for a speech violation. When it comes time for Antichrist I will be suffering, Gulag-level suffering, assuming I live long enough to see him, which I doubt. We just aren’t there yet.
Although things can change in a heartbeat.
I think the desire to colonize Mars is an example of hubris, which makes it Babel-esque.
“I’m against middle class people getting elected into government and becoming millionaires there while supposedly “serving” the American people.”
Totally agree with that. So whether the billionaires buy their way in, or the the profiteers enrich themselves at our expense…we end up with an elite ruling class telling the rest of us what to do. Its a mess.
“we end up with an elite ruling class telling the rest of us what to do. It’s a mess.”
Josh, I think your sentiment is one of the major reasons why Trump won.
People don’t want the government (and don’t believe the government is competent to) pick winners and losers among companies and technologies.
They don’t like the mandates under the ACA.
They don’t like mask and vaccine mandates.
They don’t like federal educational mandates. Can you imagine how many people felt when the Biden administration promulgated Title IX regulations to cover transgenders in women’s sports?
The whole movement around deregulation is about less federal regulations over the lives of people, farming and businesses. Regulations are government telling people what to do or what they can’t do.
But Trump is a billionaire giving positions to his billionaire buddies. I get the sentiment, I’ve just always found him to be a weird champion.
Xenia, you had me at apricot jam!
Elon Musk, who is by no means a Christian, wrote on Twitter that he has come up with a universal philosophy which he imagines is compatible with all religions.
“A new philosophy of the future is needed. I believe it should be curiosity about the Universe – expand humanity to become a multiplanet, then interstellar, species to see what’s out there.”
He says it’s “A new philosophy that is compatible with most existing belief systems”
He also talks about coming up with some technology that will make our consciousnesses immortal.
This is the most antichrist stuff I have ever seen. When he wrote this on Twitter it was met with great enthusiasm. His fans say he’s talking about philosophy, not religion. For Christians, everything is connected to religion.
This guy is more dangerous than Trump. It’s not space exploration that is so troublesome as the philosophy that drives it.
He is dangerous…and he now has access to power…
As if what we have now governing our country is not dangerous.
Jean, yes, danger all around. Pick which dangers worries you the most. Myself, I am most worried about WW3.
Stable and growing economy, booming markets, low unemployment an infrastructure bill that is actually working…yea,I’m terrified…
Elon Musk: “Mars is critical to the long-term survival of consciousness.”
This is wrong and diabolic on so many levels.
Mars is uninhabitable.
Historically who gets sent to colonies considered uninhabitable?…billionaires is the wrong answer…
Elon has watched too much Star Trek. He even uses the term “terra-forming” which in the Star Trek world he inhabits means transforming a barren wasteland into Eden by means of some kind of scientific voodoo that doesn’t exist yet but he has such confidence in human ability that he is sure it will come to pass. AI assisted human ability, that is.
I know I am harping on this topic quite a bit lately. I’ve become quite interested (maybe obsessed) in the intersection of technology and the occult.
“Elon Musk, whose companies have received nearly $8 billion in government funding through an assortment of federal grants, tax breaks, government subsidies and contracts, proposed today that senior citizens need to ‘tighten their belt’ to help balance the national budget.”
It is nice to be in agreement with Michael about something.
🙂
Is there anything inherently wrong with government contracts?
Space X is the primary heavy lift capability for the entire nation right now.
Starlink has been a major source of internet access for rural communities and other underserved communities and nations around the world.
Tesla pretty much created the market for electric vehicles. The battery business is not as well known but is a significant technology for solar power.
Because the US has ignored the federal deficit and the unsustainably of Social Security and Medicare, it will take contributions from all age demographics, including Baby Boomers, to get the nation on a sustainable footing. It’s a math thing. And no demographic benefited more from the reckless spending than the boomers, so why should they not participate in the coming austerity?
I write as a baby boomer.
According to conservative economists Trumps plans will add greatly to the deficit.
I don’t suspect that he or his appointees, or the people that profit from his policies… are bracing for austerity.
They are threatening my social security…because they know if they deport the numbers they say they will, the system will default by 2030.
You’ve swallowed the whale whole, Jean…
Michael,
I have not swollen anything. I am aware of what you’ve written.
The wealthy never suffer under any administration.
I am trying to look for bright sides. I choose to begin 2025 as an optimist. I don’t know how long it will last, but I like positive energy a lot more than negative energy.
The election is over. Trump won big. The Democrats moved so far to the left that just enough independents (including African Americans and Hispanics) came over to Trump to win all the swing states. The Democrats have no one to blame but themselves. Covering for Biden’s mental decline was unconscionable. Harris was never popular.
It doesn’t do me any good to mourn, complain, get stressed out or predict doom and gloom for the next 4 years. Let’s give the new administration a chance. Let’s hold them accountable. There will be another election in 2 years. Control of the house will be up for grabs again. But if the Democratic Party does not move back to where the country is, it is in for more trouble.
Trump did not win big…he got less than 50% of the vote.
I agree that the Democratic Party is a train wreck into a sewer system…but felons who once tried to overthrow the government and the Constitution…who are even now trying to bypass the Constitution…are not who I would choose to remedy the situation.
You can be as optimistic as you choose…I’m prepping for the first time in my life…
Michael,
I appreciate the opportunity and tolerance to share. Thank you! I won’t overstep the welcome.
I don’t see this as winners and losers. I actually believe that all of us are most likely losers. No matter who would have won, I think we in any event as a nation will continue our decline as a nation and a people.
So, IMO what we are talking about is how fast or how slow? But … we are allowed to pray or dream, depending on one’s beliefs.
When theologians talk about “free will,” they are talking about the same thing that our nation is facing. Do we as a nation have a free will to change course?
The debt is in front of us. The health is in front of us. The education is in front of us. The immigration problem is in front of us. It’s all right there in front of us, before our very eyes! It’s in front of Democratic eyes as well as Republican eyes. But, do we have a free will to solve these problems? No one has tied our hands behind our backs.
It won’t be with trickle down anymore than it will be with soaking the rich. Hence my prognosis.
There’s no precedent to my knowledge for an empire in decline to somehow reform and ascend again. Therefore, we are the fortunate ones who place our hope on the Rock!
Ironically a few voices on the left (like Freddie deBoer and the staff of Current Affairs, I don’t count Slate or Salon or The New Yorker) were calling Harris’ defeat for months and pointing out that her candidacy did not pass muster in terms of primary proceduralism. That conservatives tend to collapse neoliberal centrists, neoliberal progressives, ordoliberals, progressives, leftists, libertarian socialists, democratic socialists and Marxists all into one undifferentiated mass of “the left” who is then construed as the DNC is one of the more annoying things about my conservative friends and family. I take C L R James and Charles W Mills way, way more seriously than I can ever take Ta-nehisi Coates or Ibram Kendi, for instance, and Mills’ critique of Rawlsian liberalism is actually rewarding reading.
That 45 became 47 doesn’t make me especially happy but ever since he became 45 it has become fairly clear the DNC has been running to lose and running on an entitlement complex that, unfortunately, makes candidates like 47 winners.
But he didn’t lock her up and the nukes didn’t fly a la The Comedian berating Ozymandias. I’ve been disappointed by the extent to which friends who were all suspicion about W and Gulf War 2 (I had my doubts, too) have weirdly rallied around saber rattling regarding both Russia and China. They’re bad, yes, but as a friend in eastern Europe put it, Putin exists within a world that also got Beria, Milosovic and other butchers who were vastly more terrifying. Throw in having a friend who was enough of a policy wonk to recall that Bill bragged about rigging things for Yeltsin and it seems one of the troubles with Americans is that along with the usual superiority complex “we” forget all the ways we have screwed over the groups that we regard as enemies.
I’ve made this comment plenty of times but it’s the part where I say I figured out I’m the kind of Mark Hatfield Republican the GOP hasn’t had room for since the end of the Cold War. The DNC doesn’t have room for those types, either. An older guy warned me in 1992 that because the DNC and GOP had been hijacked by the likes of Jackson and Buchanan that statesmen were rarer and rarer and that my generation was going to live long enough to see the whole machinery of the republic break down into disastrous partisan hackery.
Yup … it ..,. kinda seems that older guy was right 30 years ago.
Per Jean’s recent post, Paul Kennedy’s prognosis that overextended military power and overtaxed social welfare programs were going to be the likely cause of a slow humiliating end might be what we’ve been seeing. I, too, am inclined to think the US has been an empire well past its sell-by date but I think Jed Esty nailed it in The Future of Decline when he pointed out that Aaron Sorkin was blue-state MAGA for years before Trump ever ran and that it’s been too easy for liberals to forget that Trump simply came up with a right-seeming spin on a rote trope in American civic rhetoric.
We’ve been in a multi-polar world for a while and the trans-Atlantic pax Americana has fractured.
But the sun began setting on the British empire a century ago and China has gone through many, many changes yet still retained cultural and social continuity. The Marxist quip that it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism is sort of right, I think it’s more accurate to say that Americans have an easier time imagining the end of the world than imagining a world in which “we” aren’t saving the world and being its light. We never were the light of the world.
To that extent, the election of presidents like Trump or Biden, or any POTUS should be a reminder to Christians that the latest iteration of Mystery Babylon is not going to act “that” different from earlier variations and that false Christians can say “who is like the Beast?” in both its blue state and red state civic religious forms. Not that I’m particularly elated he won, but as I was saying he didn’t “lock her up” or launch nuclear weapons. If I understand Jean correctly the counsel is to recognize that an empire past its prime is what we’re stuck with regardless of who won. Since I’ve had that sentiment for about fifteen to twenty years I don’t disagree.
“Trump simply came up with a right-seeming spin on a rote trope in American civic rhetoric.”
WTH,
This is a good point. Between carnival barker and original thinker, I think Trump would fall squarely into the former category. He read the tea leaves accurately and grabbed onto the tenants of birtherism and the tea party movement but he didn’t found either.