Something Wicked This Way Comes

In act 4 of Macbeth, the witches conjure a spell where they tell Hectre it is a "deed without name". The second witch in her spell says "the prick of a thumb, something wicked this way comes, open locks, whoever knocks". I wonder sometimes if someone has cast a spell over our country, over the very people. I wonder if some witch somewhere has pricked her thumb and dropped blood into a black cauldron, proclaiming these very words. That at the proclamation of these words, someone knocked and certain doors opened.

I think of Johnathan Edwards' sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, where he describes sin as a slippery slope, and cannot help but think that we are at the brink as a nation. One foot in the grave and another on a banana peel. The enlightenment was no help to us at all. The French Revolution's cry of "there is no God but man" has so permeated western culture since the revolution began. Can you imagine what the world would be like if every man was his own ultimate authority and everyone did what was right in his/her own eyes? Sadly, I think we are getting a taste of it, and it doesn't taste good. See, we need to be careful what kind of sandwiches we make, because eventually we are going to have to take a bite.

So, that slippery slope thing... We are on it. On the edge of a precipice, dangling by a thread. The women's liberation movement of the 60's has given way to a rampant, hate filled feminism, where some will claim rape if a man even looks at them, and then pine over the fact that no one is interested in them. Add to that the dark side of the civil rights movement, and the inception of groups like the Black Panthers and their current reincarnation in the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement. A cry of we are equal, yet they disrupt towns and traffic and some are killing cops and some are crying for war with whites. A far cry from the peace movement of Martin Luther King.

Then there is the doctrines of socialism and acceptance. Socialism isn't something for free, or all things shared equally. It is the sharing of all things or else, and someone's gotta pay for that free stuff. And acceptance of everyone and everything? It might be the biggest farce of all. The doctrine of tolerance is a false doctrine from the pit of hell. We, as a people do not have to accept everyone and everything just because someone says so. The truth is, the person that stands for everything, stands for nothing. The truth is, some people aren't worth tolerating (do not answer a fool according to his folly), and some beliefs are downright dangerous to our very way of life (Islam anyone? Socialism?).

Here's the thing... We have opened the doors to these things, believing that they are for our betterment, but in reality it is a peppermint flavored glass of Drano. All that glitters is not gold, and the poison we have been force-fed for the last few decades is taking its toll. Believe me when I say if we do not get rid of it, that something wicked this way will surely come. In fact, I hear it knocking, knocking at our door, waiting for us to invite it in and fully embrace it. Like a seductress, it woos us, it calls to us, it whispers in our ear the sweet words of acceptance, but pull back her veil and you will see the rotting corpse of political and social liberalism. You will smell the death and decay of the rotting body of belief that sits underneath. My friends, we need to stand now, more than ever for what is right, we need to step outside the 3-ring circus of the media and look at what's going on around us. I hope you will stand with me. Our country, as wounded and hurt and sick as it is, is still greater than any other place on earth, but it won't be for long if we remain silent. Time to speak out and take back the country we love.

The Forgotten Pledge: How Broken is America?

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation UNDER GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

So maybe with the elections right around the corner, and our country going through what appears to be another cultural revolution, I might be beating this poor horse to death. A friend of mine asked me to copy and paste onto my Facebook page the pledge of allegiance. For everyone that thinks it's cool to kneel during the anthem and disrespect the flag, maybe they should remember the pledge. I often wonder how broken we are as a country.

*You* pledge allegiance to the flag. It represents you as an individual and you status as a citizen. The flag which (despite some people's claims) represents freedom and liberty. Those freedoms and liberties that our spelled out for us in the constitution that represent each and every one of us who are born here, who work or have worked to obtain citizenship in this country,

AND the Republic for which it stands. A form of government in which the powers of sovereignty are authorized and entrusted in the people and are executed by the people, either directly, or through representatives chosen by the people, to whom those powers are specially appointed. We are unique in our form of government being a democratic republic. Unlike any nation on earth.

One nation: Not a divided America as many would have us be right now, but united by our common citizenry and purpose. United in vision and purpose for a better life.

Under God. Whether you believe in God or not (and I think you should, but that is beside the point), it points to something larger than ourselves. It recognizes that there is something going on here that is bigger than us as individuals and us as a collective nation. It tells us that we don't have to go it alone, and when things go wrong, there is a higher power ruling over everything, guiding and directing us.

Indivisible: Impenetrable, inseparable, joined, permanent,unbreakable, unified indissoluble. What we should be striving for as a nation.Recognizing that there are those that seek to tear us apart from within and from without.

With liberty and justice for all: meaning that we as Americans and our government are obligated to ensure that we (citizens) are all treated with equity, recognizing that we are all created in God's image, endowed with certain inalienable rights, no matter our race, creed or color. That justice isn't for just the elite, but for all men. This is different from mercy or grace. Justice means that we deal with fairness, honesty and integrity towards everyone and everything we do. Liberty is a grace, it is undeserved, so liberty and justice are in a sense, grace and fairness met.

Think of Lincoln's own words and see if they are applicable today:“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

We have terrorism, ISIS, Data hacks from foreign nations, countries developing nuclear capabilities, yet I can't help thinking that if we don't get our acts together, we are going to be the ones who destroy this country. Not Russia, not ISIS, not Iran or North Korea, or China...Us. We need to get back to basics. What was this country founded on? What made us a great nation? There was a time when we were regarded and the land of milk and honey. It wasn't that long ago. We still have a chance to recover it.

Something to think about.

Racist Roots in American Thinking? The National Anthem

Is the National Anthem a symbol we (all of us as a nation)can rally around, or is it rooted in segregationist racism and hate?

Recently someone challenged me on this. I hadn't heard this mysterious missing 3rd verse, or the controversy that surrounds it and Francis Scott Key, its author. I decided I would spend a few hours researching it (and him) for myself. What I found was interesting...

Let me start with the missing verse that references "hirelings and slaves" that so many are up in arms about: No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave". But is this really about slaves? I think in order to understand that, you have to read the whole verse in its context and examine what the author was saying, in the language of the day. Why is that important? Because Key was a lawyer. He used very precise language in the writing of our national anthem, and unlike today, words had meaning back then.

"And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

Firstly, Key was speaking not of slaves in general, but of a particular group of slaves, who on promise of freedom would fight alongside the hireling (basically a paid soldier). The verse, while referencing slaves, is speaking to the British military when it opens by saying "where is the band that will save you (the British soldiers) after having made such big boasts about beating the colonials in the war of 1812.

Ironically, Key himself sought to honor both blacks and whites who fought alongside each other and for America. One CNN reported wrote ""The Star-Spangled Banner" celebrates the heroes who defended Fort McHenry in the face of almost certain defeat against the most powerful gunships of the era. America's soldiers included mainly whites, but also free and escaped blacks."

How do we know this? Because as the CNN writer stated "Escaped slave William Williams served in the US infantry at Fort McHenry and was killed by a fragment of a British bomb. Another escaped slave, Charles Ball, writes in his memoirs of being among the American soldiers of the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla who courageously repelled a night attack and saved the city. "The Star-Spangled Banner" thus honors American military heroes, black and white, without regard to race. In this respect, "The Star-Spangled Banner" is not racist.

Secondly, there is this: "But Key owned slaves" you might say... "doesn't that make him racist?" No. not necessarily. You have to understand that life is not just black and white. There are shades of gray all over the place. Can someone hold a slave and not be racist? Sure. For hundreds of years it happened in the Roman empire, Greece, and other places. People were made slaves for all kinds of reasons. Now, I am not saying that there were no racist slave owners. Far from it. What i am saying is that life is often more complicated than we think and we are foolish if we try and read our understanding of things back into history rather than draw the meaning of what was being said out of what we see and read. In theology this is called eisegesis (reading meaning into something, a big no-no) and exegesis (drawing the meaning out of it. Sometimes by understanding the historical context). Back to Key... He owned 7 slaves during his lifetime. He inherited them in fact. Did you know that he freed 4 of them? Yep. He even offered one of his slaves, Clem Johnson a home for life. He defended many black slaves and escaped slaves as well, fighting for their freedom. Most often for free. Let's not forget the American Colonization Society where he used the group to purchase slaves and free them and offer them passage back to Africa (what is now I believe Liberia).

Thirdly, things are not always black and white... Key did have issues with his belief that blacks were a "distinct and inferior race, and that they were "an evil which afflicts a community". This is a quote from one of his publications in 1839. Yet in 1840 he appears to have had a change of heart, and 2 years later he began freeing his slaves. What this tells me is that people change. Men are flawed. All men, be they white, black or whatever. Key is guilty to the extent that he was extremely pragmatic,and who, like many (not all) of America's founders and early leaders, put the social order ahead of human freedom. In the context of his era, however, Francis Scott Key was surprisingly progressive. Key helped establish the Georgetown Lancaster School for freed people of color and even taught there. Over 1,000 black children were students, and most attended tuition-free. What does this tell us? That Key was a complex man. That we cannot paint him with too wide a brush. His words about blacks are sobering, but his defense of them are equally vindicating. Did you know that Key won the freedom of Harry Quando in 1830 and Joseph Crawford in 1834? He took other cases as well. though he lost some.

Finally, what does this tell us? It tells us that men, all men, are to some extent a product of their time. It tells us that maybe, just maybe, he grew and changed. Maybe because of the very words he penned. People change. I remember reading St Augustine where he said something to the effect of "It is better to do the right thing for the wrong reason, than to do the wrong thing for the right reason. " I Suspect that what Augustine is saying is that no matter what reason Key had in writing the national anthem, the principles are good and true that stand behind them: Freedom from tyranny and injustice, the ability to pursue life, liberty and happiness. These are certain inalienable rights, because we are all created equal (regardless of race creed or color). I believe that if you fail to understand or see this, then you have totally missed the point. It is for this reason I stand by my original belief that it is disrespectful to turn your back on the very principles that eventually led to freedoms we all (together) now posses, and to do the opposite in fact segregates, it diminishes us as Americans and leaves us separated and weak as a country.