I May be a Bad American

I remember well the first time I realized I could no longer be a Christian and a Republican, although to be fair I was never much of a Republican as I am fairly sure that votes for Perot, Clinton and Gore disqualify me or some such... that is let's just say I haven't been getting a lot of love from the RNC lately.

So anyway, I was driving home and listening to Sean Hannity (yeah I know but remember I was trying to be a Republican and it took daily indoctrination to make me pay attention so get over it) and he was defending the notion of re-upping the Patriot Act. His quote was, "This law was written to keep you safe from the people who are trying to kill you and your children."

OK, before I go any further you should know something about me. I am a dissident through and through when it comes to the government. I don't think the government can do anything right. Any organization that pays $12 for a Tylenol (medicare) and ten grand for a screw driver is totally incompetent, and that organization does not have the power to protect anyone from anything except for its own power base from the citizens of this country. My TXDL says that I live on a street that does not exist because a) govt clerks can't type and b) govt workers can't figure out how to proof read so I now carry a little reminder with me everywhere I go that the govt is incompetent, and all I have to do is flash my ID to prove it.

So anyway, Hannity was talking about a law which protects me and my children. Now I realize that there is a possibility that someone will read this and see nothing wrong with that statement so time out for a logic lesson.

Prop 1 Murder is wrong
Prop 2 Murder is illegal
Prop 3 Murder happens all the time everywhere
Therefore: The prohibition of murder does not prevent murder
Therefore: A law prohibiting murder does not protect us from being murdered.

So then what is the purpose of the law prohibiting murder? To make it possible to prosecute those who have committed murder. That is, a law does not exist to prevent an action but rather to give the govt enforcement power when certain events happen. This is what was wrong with the Patriot Act. The people panicked and congress rushed through a poorly written law that was meant to legalize the policing of thoughts which may possibly could if sort of iffy iffy iffy lead to terrorism. That is a bad law.

(Funny but true! When the big brew ha ha was going about gay marriage and a bunch of states were amending their constitutions to make it illegal to let gay folks get married, Texas passed an amendment making it illegal to issue contracts of any sort at all unless approved by the state. Such would normally be scary but remember, these people are led by Rick Perry and can'tproof read.)

So anyway, Hannity's basic idea (law prevents bad things from happening) was flawed surprise and second off his notion that it is the govt's job to protect us was just really weird to me.

Here's the thing, I am a Christian. More to the point I am a Calvinist. I believe God is sovereign over all things including poor wardrobe decisions, bad paint joibs on beater cars with big wheels, puppies being run over by said cars, little kids getting cancer, hurricanes hitting coastal cities (well OK that may just be the law of averages catching up) and yes, God is sovereign over crazy people flying airplanes into buildings. If He hadn't willed it to be so it would not have happened. The reasons I think are REALLY long and I may get to them in later posts, but just accept for now that I do in fact believe this. It is therefore also true that if God should will that someone plants a nuke in the house next door and blows me, my wife, my kids and about 100,000 of my closest friends into Kingdom come then there is nothing, I repeat nothing that the Law can do about it. As in... ya know... nothing. Zilch. Zip. Nada.

To that end the only thing which will keep our country safe is the sovereign will of God that we would be safe, and a man who does (though not a lot) talk about his faith and equates that faith to being a "Good American" then I guess would say I am out on that.

Unless of course being a good American means something else entirely from carrying the mail for any political party at all.

Just thinking.

God Bless.