I agree with the French President...who'd of thought?

I wrote this note a week ago during the UN summit and after recent statements by French President Nicolas Sarkozy I've decided to post my own commentary regarding current U.S. foreign policy. Here goes:

President Obama’s foreign policy appears naive at best and dangerous at worst. The administration’s most recent decision to scrap the ground base missile defense shield for Eastern Europe telegraphs a posture of indifference toward our allies and panders dangerously to our enemies. Likewise our approach to strategic arms reduction at this point in time puts our national security and that of our allies at great risk – at risk because those to whom we would make ourselves vulnerable do not adhere to the same rules.

We endanger our own citizens as The United States caves to world pressure to be nice and play fair. Our longtime allies – Poland, The Czech Republic and Israel sense betrayal, and these friends are certain to bear the brunt of our attempts to court dictators like Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Kim Jong-il. And for what do we trade our friends? Is it the reputation as a tolerant, world-conscious United States, or is it for treaties with pompous leaders who would use our Chamberlain-like acquiescence to move forward with their own maniacal plans – nuclear proliferation and the like?

Has history taught us nothing? Is it possible that diplomats think so much of themselves that they believe they can make mad people sane by catering to their whims and entertaining their lunacy? This is the height of arrogance. This pride and denial of reality is what put Europe in danger in the 1930s and set the stage for fiends like Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini.

I suppose many are tired of hearing references to the WWII era, but they bear repeating. We are following in the footsteps of a weak and woeful Great Britain weighed down by the ineptitude of Neville Chamberlain. But the stakes are far greater today as we deal with an unparalleled access to information and technology – technology which can cripple and kill from thousands of miles away or be carried lightly in a suitcase.

Have we imagined that man’s consciousness has evolved since the 1930s? Have we gone mad? Evil is still evil. Men still thirst for power and will seek to promote themselves to the detriment of others when left unchecked. There is no negotiating with mad men. They understand nothing, but their own lusts. They respect nothing but the fear they incite, and they will hear no voice but their own.

Appeasement is futile.

Public Servanthood

We have largely dismissed the notion of true service – that service which requires something of us for which we gain nothing in return as if it were but a notion.

One may assume that a public servant is one whose duty it is to serve the public. While that may be true, how and in what capacity they serve is varied. The term public servant encompasses a large group of people who work in all sectors of government from police officers and technical staff to senators and governors. But when I see the title public servant I immediately connect it with an elected representative.

This elected servant fills his role by serving to represent the best interests of the body – that is his body of constituents – before his peers and those who enact law and public policy. In taking that oath of office he agrees to dismiss his own prejudice and determines to act lawfully on his constituents behalf. But there remains that potential for these public servants to imagine such self-importance that they are quickly reduced to those who simply serve in public. Can we in good conscience call this service? For what are they serving but to enhance their own ego and secure greater power for themselves and special interests?

What answer is there? What recourse when the discourse has become such that ordinary individuals are considered inconsequential – mere pebbles in the politician’s shoe. In the republic there is but one answer, remove the shoe of the politician so that he no longer must deal with the pressure of the pebbles which threaten to upset him. If he can no longer bear the abrasion then he may no longer serve the public that grates so frequently against his conscience.

It seems so few are immune to this reality, and it is unfortunate that history supports this. It is a wonder that any man or woman survives the political arena much less emerges unscathed. I have facetiously wondered if the rites to enter public office include the dismantling of ones principles along with their prejudice. Though there are exceptions, it is a tragedy that so many are blinded by power and influence. For too often what rises in policy bears little in resemblance to what many public servants promised when they left home and entered the capitol, be it in their respective states or in Washington itself.

Shall our public servants be the left alone to shoulder this blame? No. We have failed to hold them accountable either through our apathy or our ignorance. We can no more extricate ourselves from responsibility than we can remove ourselves from the human race. We have left inconvenient, albeit important matters in the hands of humans given to every temptation. When given license and free reign one may be prone to corruption with what is mistaken as the very will of the people at his back. He surmises, “The people put me here. They trust my judgment, and I indeed know what is best for them even if they do not know it themselves.” This logic gives rise to pride and pride gives way to the fall.

We can trace this to Adam and his original sin. Adam and Eve discounted God’s warning and gave in to the serpent’s temptation thinking it would put them on level footing with God. Even Solomon, noted as the wisest man who ever lived, pursued foolishness in his old age, forsook the living God and followed after his lusts, bowing down to wood and stone. Each of these individuals was given tremendous power only to squander it on their own passions.

In contrast, Jesus always sought the will of God before acting. This discipline allowed him to see beyond himself. Observe Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper before his crucifixion:

"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." John 13:14-17

Also, when asked about leadership positions in Jesus Kingdom, Jesus responded:

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28

This is the public servant which I long to see in myself and in my community - the kind that lays down his life and considers others before himself. I wonder what that job listing might look like.

War, Foreign Policy, Abortion, Cap and Trade, The Fairness Doctrine, stimulus after stimulus – there is a battle raging, and it’s not one fought across party lines. It can’t be. The parties are too similar, and I’m fed up. I don’t know where to turn my frustration – so I’m venting. The politically squeamish should beware.

On the way toward any proposal I have many questions and observations to share. I wonder. When did we sell our souls? How long have we believed that government, any government is our salvation or even has our best interests at heart? Is it because we’ve had it so good for so long? Is it because we really believe they are smarter than us or that they have examined the issues more deeply? If so, it is only because we have chosen our ignorance. We have incredible freedoms fought and paid for by countless Americans and drafted just outside a tyranny that our founding fathers experienced firsthand.

We appear to be freer than any country in the world, possibly freer than any people has ever been. Is that what makes it so easy to give our freedoms away? I wonder if we will recognize that we have no one to blame but ourselves when we finally realize those freedoms are gone.When will we wake up and think for ourselves instead of letting bureaucrats in Washington or our state capitols, Republican and Democrat alike, do it for us. Last time I checked we were a Republic where individuals matter not just the collective whole.

Shame on me for saying and doing nothing for so long. Shame on me for being afraid of what people will think if I speak up. Shame on me for thinking my voice doesn’t matter and that individuals can’t really make a difference. Shame on us for calling on government to do what it is our job to do – to feed the poor, clothe the homeless and take care of the orphan and the widow– to name a few. How long will we follow party lines and ignore our own responsibilities? Shame on us for feeling entitled to be served by the government – for it is in accepting that service that we sign away more and more of our personal freedoms.

What about freedom of speech and freedom of religion? How long before not just the cars we drive, or the businesses we run, or the light bulbs we use are a target of legislation. The truth is even those unalienable rights are already on the chopping block being carved up for limitation as I write, and it’s all done by “experts” for our own good.

The time to act is now. We have ignored the warning signs of a society that has turned its back on God. We have gone about business as usual and been lulled into apathy by our comfortable lives. But the battle is raging whether we join the fight or not. Many a nation has fallen into corruption because of the comfort and apathy of its citizens. Will we be footnotes in the pages of a tragic history?

I was hesitant to write on politics because I prefer to share my opinions one on one until I read these word by C.S. Lewis. They screamed out at me and begged to be shared.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good, will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” ~ C.S. Lewis

My call is for us to pray. I believe that God is calling us to repent as a nation for our sin against him. If you are reading this and you are not a Christian, then I would simply ask that you consider the claims of Christ. The revolution begins in our hearts, and we live out truth on a daily basis. We speak truth in our actions and by refusing to be silenced by those who would tell us not to speak.

For those who prefer to leave politics in a quiet corner, please understand that we are beings who cannot compartmentalize our spirituality from the rest of our lives. Jesus is either Lord of all or he is not Lord at all.