Our National Penance

Victor Davis Hanson shares a bracing tonic on the great and unexpected favor that the Obama administration has done the country, in the form of revealing, openly and honestly, the reality of "progressive" governance. Rather than taking us there gradually, as a McCain or Hillary Clinton administration would have done, we have gone there quickly and uncompromisingly (or perhaps I should say "Fast and Furious"), leading us to a state of "catharsis" (to use Dr. Hanson's term).

This part jumped out at me:

Civility for Thee

In the manner of Richard Nixon, Obama and his supporters gave us first “Fight the Smears,” then Journolist, and now “AttackWatch.com” — the common denominator being to watch, monitor, report, and quash criticism of Him, in enlisting the loyal flock to go after the heretic on the list. The old liberal sermons on civility are dead too for the foreseeable future. The unanswered profane slurs of the Black Caucus and Jimmy Hoffa Jr. illustrated that Obama’s calls for polite discourse were inane at best, and at worst a crude ploy to silence conservative critics. Obama urged Latinos “to punish our enemies” one day, and lectured others to talk more cordially the next, and then kept still as his “base” let loose on political opponents as “son of bitches.” The next time Obama — or any other self-described no more red/no more blue state “unifier” — calls for an end to polarizing discourse, for good or evil, he will be met by outbursts of hilarity.

I realized last week, when the Obama campaign launched Attack Watch, that I suddenly didn't give a shit anymore about disclosing my negative opinions of this arrogant and malevolent administration. After three solid years of being called "racist" "enemy" "son of a bitch" and hearing that I need to be "taken out", "punished", and now, ratted on by my neighbors, I got fed up. Put differently, I have become more bold, in my willingness not only to stand up for myself, but also, more importantly, to proclaim and defend the Gospel in my daily interactions.

I have for three years now considered this difficult time our national penance, a time of purification and chastisement: in our complacent ignorance of our foundational principles of governance, in our lazy quest to get ever more government services and giveaways, in our uncharitable expectation that taking care of our families, friends, and neighbors was the job of government and not ourselves, we have set up for ourselves the situation in which we are currently mired.

The horror-show of statist progressivism has revealed itself to be anything but "liberal": from TSA sexual-assault pat-downs to yet another war to federal officials conducting armed raids on guitar manufacturers, we've seen very little "Hope" and a lot of very bad "Change".

One might say, in light of this administration's efforts to dictate the type of light bulbs one uses to what one eats, that the Democratic Party is not, in fact, "pro-choice" (as it often describes itself), but merely so devoted to killing the unborn that it will file lawsuits to make taxpayers continue to pay for abortions.

The economic hardships of the past years, beginning with the collapse of 2008 at the end of the Bush administration, have forced us to reconsider what is truly valuable and what isn't, the trying political situation has forced us out of our complacency and has led us to read up on history and economics to get a better understanding of our Constitutional form of government, and the larger picture of a world aflame has led us to see that the things of this world are passing away and to look at and proclaim the Last Things.

We are indeed in cathartic times, and we face an election cycle unlike any in our lifetimes. We have been drawn to a crisis point, that is to say, a time when we face a momentous decision. Prayer, prudence, and caution are needed more now than ever.