As did all our Founding Fathers, I believe virtue is necessary for true freedom. I fully agree with James Madison: “To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical [fanciful] idea.” We will never have a perfect society because of the gross imperfections of human beings. Still, the only way to even approach a truly progressive, peaceful, free society is to exalt excellence and virtue among the people ceaselessly. To most of our Founders, that excellence was most exemplified in the Judeo-Christian moral code, a belief I subscribe to 100%.
In the last few generations, our political—and other—“leaders” have rejected that belief. Thus it should not be the least bit surprising that, as a result, American society has become increasingly degenerate, immoral, decadent, licentious, ungodly, and divided. Evil is not new to mankind, of course, and it was frankly only a matter of time till such evil overtook the United States. Consequently, the government has grown larger and larger to necessitate control over this moral chaos that rejection of godly virtue and excellence has unleashed upon the country. It is worthy to note that, in America, this “rejection” and ultimate chaos is wholly deliberate by the Left so that they can accomplish exactly what has happened—increasing the size of government and their own political power.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides for religious freedom for all Americans. People can believe in any religion they want to, or none, that is their constitutional right. I also support that 100%. I do not believe now, nor have I ever believed, that a person should be forced to believe in any religion, including Christianity. I support Donald Trump because, from everything I can determine, he believes that as well. It was one of the critical founding points of the United States; it is why so many came to America from England; and it has been enshrined in our culture, history, and Constitution. Until now.
The Left does not believe in religious freedom. They hate religion and want to destroy it. Hear Father Karl Marx: “The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.” “Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality.” “Communism begins where atheism begins.” “My object is to dethrone God.” That is pretty clear, and Marxist/Leftist societies have been at great pains to follow the master’s teaching on this point.
In the former Soviet Union, the communist government there killed thousands of priests and shut down untold numbers of churches. Religion, especially Christianity, is diametrically opposed to Leftist beliefs because, in Leftism, a person is allowed to have no higher allegiance than to government and Marxist ideology. They’ll persecute and kill you otherwise. The very religious peasanty in the USSR suffered greatly under the Leftist regime.
It is the same in China today. While I was there, I heard about an English teacher who was deported from the country because he was using the Bible as a text for English. For awhile, I, very naively, put Bible verses on WeChat, a major social media in China. I was told to stop doing that. I wanted to start a Bible class and advertised it solely as “if you want to truly understand United States history [I was teaching American history at the time], you need to understand the Bible.” I was told, by my boss, I better not have that class because the STUDENTS might get in trouble for attending. I currently have a friend in China who, once she finished her Master’s degree last year, wanted to take the civil service exam and try to get a stable government job. She was not allowed by the Chinese government to sit for the exam because her father—not her—was a member of a Christian prayer group. If you think there is religious freedom in Leftist China, well, just ask the Uyghurs.
Oh, the Chinese government allows people to go to church; China has some churches, and many people attend. But those churches are under the control of the state and regulated by the state. “Allowed freedom” is not “freedom.” It’s slavery. It’s the Left. It’s what the Democratic Party wants to bring to America, and they are making that increasingly evident almost every day (as Gretchen Whitmer’s “Doritos” demonstrates).
If the Marxist Left is given totalitarian power in America, and if what they have done in other places in the world is any indication (and it is the only evidence we have), they will deny religious freedom except what they will ALLOW people to believe and practice. That IS coming to America, if the Democratic Party has its way. Mark it down.
Donald Trump is not a true, New Testament Christian by any means. Nobody is ever going to mistake him for the second coming of Jesus. I don’t support him for his morality, though I do believe he is basically a good man, and certainly far, far superior to Harris and Walz, and ANY Democrat, who are nothing but pure evil. People who believe in murdering babies, mutilating children, pedophilia, etc. are horribly decadent and evil people. As a Christian, I could never vote for any Democrat.
And again, honestly, I don’t especially approve of many of Mr. Trump’s morals. But he is pro-America, and he is NOT a Leftist who will take away and try to control my religious freedom, and the Leftist, Marxist, totalitarian Democratic Party would. If you are a Christian, maybe you think you’ll need to hold your nose to vote for Trump. But, do it. Otherwise, someday soon you might not be able to vote at all, or freely worship the God you want to worship.
I have two substacks now: My main “Mark It Down” substack for “secular” articles/podcasts, and my new “Mark It Down Bible Substack” for Bible articles. Check them both out. Follow me on “X”: @thailandmkl. Go back to a great age in American history and read my western novels, Whitewater , River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma all available on Amazon.