Welcome to the Center for the Babylonian Experiment

Townhall.com ^ | September 29, 2015 | Marvin Olasky

[Kaslin]

The Center for the American Experiment is my favorite think-tank name. I like it because America really has been an experiment: Could we become a melting pot, with many becoming one? Could we emphasize both liberty and virtue, or would we fall into lascivious license? Could we extend rights to different religions, groups of immigrants, ethnicities, and races, without forgetting the principles that formed our base?

The American Experiment has had a great run. For two centuries we proclaimed liberty throughout the land to more and more of the inhabitants thereof. But now that our leaders have decided that the American Experiment has no limits, its continued success seems unlikely. Liberty for all religious faiths, yes. Hospitality for immigrants, yes. Racial equality, yes. But virtually absolute freedom for baby killers, adulterers, thieves, and liars goes too far.

Now, it’s hard for Christians to have confidence in either political party. Republicans cannot be trusted to do the right thing. Democrats can be trusted almost always to do the wrong thing. We learn about the character of our leaders largely through television reportage, which means we don’t learn about it -- or we see only what propagandists want us to see. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” nearly a century ago told us about the danger of trying to create our own reality, but the Supreme Court’s swing vote, Anthony Kennedy, has in essence declared our right to do just that.

Crazy though that is, it makes sense for a country that’s gone to the extreme in democracy by fantasy. America’s founders created a system where we would vote for people we knew. We’d vote for state representatives we knew who would select a senator they knew. We’d vote for members of an Electoral College we knew who would select a president they knew. We’d vote directly for members of the House of Representatives, but the districts would be small enough so we’d have some personal interaction with our reps, who would live among us most of the year and often serve only one term.

America’s founders hoped the president would function like a temporary monarch on a short leash, so he could not become a dictator. Senators would function as a meritocracy, short-leashed so they would not become feudal lords. The House would provide democratic representation, and other branches would keep it from becoming a mobocracy. If all governmental organs failed, a free press would tell the truth.

Sadly, the power of the presidency has grown decade by decade since the 1930s. Now a president who cares little for the rule of law can have outsized influence -- if he is unscrupulous enough to press his advantage, and if influential press organs ignore their function. That’s the situation we’ve been in since 2009: Barack Obama may be no more willing to lie than Richard Nixon or other predecessors, but he’s generally been able to get away with it.

So the best name for a think tank now could be the Center for the Babylonian Experiment. In the last issue I wrote about Chapters 1-3 of Daniel, a book written by the Israelite taken from his homeland and educated in Babylonian culture, alongside other outstanding teenagers from all over the Middle East. Babylonia was an e pluribus Unum experiment where dozens of ethnic groups could live as they saw fit and worship their own gods as long as their leaders bowed to a 90-foot-high golden idol representing kingly power.

Chapters 4-5 of Daniel show why the Babylonian Experiment failed. Kings with great power start thinking of themselves as gods, and Nebuchadnezzar was no exception: When he bragged about “the glory of my majesty,” the True King condemned him to seven years of insanity. When a later king, Belshazzar, mocked God and with his lords, wives, and concubines praised “gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone,” he died that very night. The conquering Persian army ended the Babylonian Experiment.

Once, American leaders were modest: Now, ours brag about dreams and drones. In response, some Christians are giving up, but Abraham Kuyper’s declaration is still true: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”

[Soul of the South]

“Barack Obama may be no more willing to lie than Richard Nixon or other predecessors, but he’s generally been able to get away with it.”

He has been able to get away with it because he was elected as the first “black” president. The American people, the media, and establishment politicians will not consent to the impeachment of the first black president no matter how many times he violates the Constitution. No leader with national standing, not even Cruz or Trump, has the backbone to call for Obama’s impeachment even though he has committed many impeachable offenses. The founders put impeachment into the Constitution as a check against tyranny but it only serves as a check if the elected representatives of the people are willing to use it.

The progressive socialists and Marxists are counting on the same treatment for Hillary if she becomes the first female president. They will pillory any politician as a sexist and bigot who dares to oppose her agenda After Hillary comes the Hispanic leftist Julian Castro who again will be untouchable as the first “Hispanic” president. Barack Obama has made considerable progress in transforming the nation. Add 8 years of Hillary and 8 years of another untouchable president and the transformation will be complete. By the end of Castro’s term it will be easy for him to simply disband Congress, rewrite the Constitution, and become dictator for life. There are many examples throughout history of this occurring once the institutions and people charged with checking tyranny have been cowed or disposed of.

The GOPe seems intent on running Jeb and throwing the 2016 election to Hillary. If Jeb is the candidate, Hillary starts with a lock on 45% or slightly more, of the electorate. The Dems know Hillary is disliked and distrusted but they are counting on women disproportionately voting for “history” as well as millions of white conservative male GOP voters staying home or voting third party in disgust with Jeb. The GOPe’s private polls must show the outcome of a Jeb versus Hillary race. Their insistence on Jeb as the candidate suggests they are complicit with the Democrat plan.

Ultimately, the nation’s leaders reflect the desires and values of the population. Americans have become lazy, immoral, and narcissistic sinners. They have walked away from the moral tenants of the Christian religion and no longer desire virtuous leaders. The same people who condemned and insisted on the impeachment of Richard Nixon in the 1970’s for lying, excused Bill Clinton in the 1990’s for perjury, adultery, and rape if not sedition and treason. The absence of public outrage about 50 million aborted children, and the recent revelations of the atrocities of Planned Parenthood, are tributes to the degeneracy of the population.

Since 1988, a Republican candidate for president has won the popular vote only once (2004) and then by a very narrow margin. 2016 may be the last year it is possible for a conservative to win before the demographic tide, brought about by the open borders policy our two political parties support, overwhelms the conservative vote. Even if conservatives win, the two Bush administrations demonstrate a Republican president who lacks a passion for restoring the nation, will do nothing more than acquiesce to the continued transformation of the nation.

Without a spiritual reawakening in this country, a conservative victory in 2016 is merely a momentary pause in the self destruction of the nation. Ultimately a population that lacks virtue will continue to elect the leaders who reflect their values and sins. Billy Graham has reached the end of his life, the current Pope appears more interested in leftist politics than upholding the strict moral teachings of the faith, and the Muslim faith is on the march. It is beginning to appear God will not send a prophet to urge us to repent before he sends the fire and brimstone, courtesy of Iran or North Korea, to consume us.