The Old Testament book of 1 Kings has a story known as the Wisdom of Solomon. You may be familiar with the story about the son of King David, who succeeded his father as King.
In the story, two women come before King Solomon, and we learn that they both had babies. One of the babies died, and they both claim that the living baby is theirs. Solomon hears them out and allows them to argue back and forth for a while until finally, he says, “Both of you say this live baby is yours. Someone bring me a sword.” A sword was brought, and Solomon ordered, “Cut the baby in half! That way, each of you can have part of him.” The baby’s mother screamed, “Please don't kill my son. Your Majesty, I love him very much, but give him to her. Just don't kill him.” The other woman shouted, “Go ahead and cut him in half. Then neither of us will have the baby.” Solomon said, “Don't kill the baby.” Then he pointed to the first woman, “She is his real mother. Give the baby to her.”
This story provides a great lesson on wisdom's role in government when there is good leadership. Unfortunately, it is a lesson that too many of our politicians in Washington have either never learned or just choose to ignore. Their failure to follow this wisdom has a lot to do with the current mess we find ourselves in, concerning things such as inflation, high energy prices, and our wide-open border.
Now, you may be wondering how this story relates to our modern politicians. Imagine that the United States is the baby in this story, and the Republican and Democratic parties are the two women arguing back and forth. The parties appear to be willing to break the country apart in their efforts to come out on top. It seems as if any policy approved and put in place by the other party is immediately reversed upon the new party assuming control. We need someone willing to make a strong sacrifice in order to keep this country alive, just as the first mother came around to do in the Solomon story. Who will that person be? Does this person already exist in politics today? My take is no.
Since he is the current occupant of the White House, let’s review what Joe Biden has done to illustrate what is currently wrong in our country. When Biden took over, gas and electricity prices were low. This had much to do with the fact that his predecessor supported policies to unleash domestic energy production. These policies not only helped prices, they also helped generate high-paying jobs for Americans. This was good for the country and our citizens, but Joe Biden decided that we needed to reverse course once he was elected.
Biden also decided to change direction on what we were doing at the border. Although Donald Trump did not finish the wall he promised, his ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy led to a somewhat under-control border. So, what did Biden do? He decided to change the direction of border policies that were in place at the time he was elected. To the average person, it looks like he did this just to spite Republicans. Unfortunately, the country is paying the price for its decision. The problematic situation at our border has made its way into the rest of the country. It is now so bad that even Democrats, such as the Mayor of New York and the Governor of Illinois, are beginning to call Biden out on this issue.
The one thing that Joe Biden has in common with Donald Trump is that they both presided over vast amounts of spending that we can’t afford. However, Biden’s spending on so-called “Green Policies” has been even worse. Besides regular government spending, which was already extremely high, Biden’s first year in office saw him sign two bills - the American Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which added a combined $3.1 trillion to our deficit. Many economists agree that this reckless spending is what led to the inflation that we Americans are struggling with today. We are all paying a high price for actions taken by a Democratic party eager to reverse the policies of a President of the other party. It seems they would rather “split the baby” than embrace the things we’re working on. Regardless of which party implements a policy, the question as to whether to keep it should only be about what is suitable for the country, not who gets the credit.
This brings us back to the Wisdom of Solomon. You may have noticed that in this scenario regarding the U.S. and political parties, the role of King Solomon is missing. My fellow citizens, you and I are being called upon to fill that role of Solomon now. We can’t afford to allow politicians of either party to run our nation into the ground for petty purposes. We must identify those who do not have the absolute best interest of the country at heart and send them packing at election time.
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