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DevilDawg wrote:About all that need be said now.

The Annoyed Man wrote:I've quoted that passage to people more times than I care to remember..........and while most of them are offended at the notion that elites think they are more equal than the rest of us, and they agree with me that the notion is morally wrong, they still vote for oligarchs who maintain that "more equal than others" status quo.

The American voter is largely a hypocritical idiot who will vote himself bread and circuses. Now, for some, bread and circuses means gov't charity for themselves; for others, bread and circuses means aiding and abetting America's role as the "global police"; still for others, bread and circuses means charity for foreign nations. But very very few are willing to vote for an actual reduction in gov't if it means giving up their most cherished shibboleths. To such a citizenry, "some are more equal than others" ultimately turns out not to bother them all that much, so long as they get whatever it is they want. They are categorically unable to put the health of the Constitution and the rule of law ahead of their wants.

This is a complete about-face for me. I used to have faith in the long-term wisdom of the electorate. I thought that they occasionally made mistakes, but then they were willing to correct those mistakes when they'd had enough, by throwing the bums out once in a while. I no longer think they even know where their actual self-interests lie because they've been thoroughly seduced by the oligarchs. If they can't recognize Clinton or Trump for what they are, then how on earth can they even be expected to ever recognize a true statesmen if one were to unexpectedly rear up and bite them on the butt? All the great statesmen are dead and gone, and there are precious few people involved in gov't any longer—whether as elected officials, or as unknown bureaucrats—who still believe that they serve the more noble cause of a Constitutional Republic rather than existing for the purpose of protecting their rice bowl and pandering to the looters.

The fact is, Trump can't beat Clinton. EVEN IF every "never Trump" person like me reversed themselves and abandoned that position, there simply aren't enough voters who fall outside of the "looters" category to overcome the majority that the looters hold. Eight years of Obama HAS fundamentally transformed the nation. We are no longer recognizable as the "shining city on the hill". Eight years of Obama HAS convinced a significant chunk of the electorate to become looters. Eight years of Obama HAS wiped out any belief among those looters in the notion of American exceptionalism. Eight years of Obama HAS eradicated any due reverence among the looters for the precepts of individual liberty. He HAS fundamentally transformed America, and it is for the long term.

We are going to have at least 4 to 8 more years, possibly longer, of this progressive descent into fascism before people decide they've had enough..........IF they ever decide they've had enough.......because there simply aren't enough people left who remember this country as it was, and the number of looters is increasing. We are getting older and dying off, and this entitled generation of snowflakes is about to take power. I tremble for the country my precious grandkids are going to inherit, if it still exists by then.

So I don't take my comfort from a hope that Trump will somehow miraculously win the election. Each of us is going to have to find out for ourselves from where to take comfort for the future, but if a wart like Trump is the best anyone can do to find hope in this state of affairs, then I would suggest they should look elsewhere.

Not to proselytize, but this is where I find my comfort for me: God is not surprised by any of this. He is in fact in control of all of it. NONE of it happens but he allows it to happen. Just as he allowed Satan to torment Job and then used that for his own glory (and in the process, refining Job's righteousness), God will allow this nation's torment to happen, and then he will use it for his own glory - and in the process, perhaps refining our own righteousness. What we have broken, he can redeem. He not only can, he will. It may be impossible for my finite human mind to wrap itself around exactly how or why God will use this, but I have complete faith that he will.

In the Old Testament, the people of Israel/Judah were subjected to exile in Assyria and Babylon for the sins of their kings and the people themselves. But among those exiles were a number of righteous men — Ezekel, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Jeremiah, Ezra — who suffered alongside their people even though some of them were actual prophets. To me, this is an illustration of what we can expect for those of us who still love liberty and were not willing to throw away the Constitution in exchange for bread and circuses. We will suffer alongside those who were heedless, short-sighted, and selfish. But, it is for some of us to be the "prophets" of liberty, to keep the idea alive until God sees fit to relieve our suffering. In the meantime, I believe that God will use this suffering for his own glory, and I also believe that my very raison d'être is to glorify God. So I am satisfied that, while I might suffer because of what is to come, God is going to redeem all of this, and use it all for his good purposes. Even so, come Jesus come.

I realize that not everybody shares my brand of faith, or even has any spiritual inclinations at all, so this is how I process these events, and how I find my comfort in them. Again, this is not meant to be proselytizing for my particular brand of faith; but I do most wholeheartedly suggest that each of us needs to look elsewhere for comfort, because there is ZERO chance of finding any in the current events. This IS as bad as it gets.