The Core Evil of this Administration

“We are God’s partners in matters of life and death.” – Barack Obama, offering a rationale for government-run healthcare, August 19, 2009

No, sir, you are not.

Obama’s words were on the teleprompter, so they reflect what he and his speechwriters really believe. For most intellectuals—to whom God is at most an irrelevant abstraction—Obama’s words would not be objectionable. To them, the words are just a cynical, calculated ploy to co-opt ‘foolish religious people’ into supporting nationalized healthcare. But to the more intelligent and spiritually minded, Obama’s words signal the true evil that is this entire administration: it ultimately seeks to replace God with human government.

Why does this matter? Why is this evil? Isn’t America supposed to separate church and state—and if so, what’s the big deal if government takes on activist roles in a wider and wider array of human activity? Can’t we just live with it as part of “rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”?

These questions can be addressed at varying degrees of theological depth. But it’s not necessary to go into any greater depth than is already stated at the very foundation of the American Declaration of Independence: America’s constitutionally prescribed form of limited government is founded upon our God-endowed and therefore unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

If our right to life is God-endowed and unalienable, it is not and cannot be the government’s job to weigh-in with end-of-life counseling and recommendations and rulings as to what form of life-preserving or life-extending treatment can or cannot be made available to free men and women.

If our right to liberty is God-endowed and unalienable, it is not and cannot be the government ‘s job to tell us what we can or cannot eat, what we can or cannot drink, what car we can or cannot drive, what light bulbs we can or cannot use.

If our right to pursue happiness is God-endowed and unalienable, it is not and cannot be the government’s job to direct your pursuit or divert your happiness—and the fruits of your pursuit of it—to someone else.

Ah, you say, but there can’t be absolutes of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—society will have nothing but chaotic, anarchic, colliding paths of selfish individuals pursuing self-interest! No, it won’t. Because with the God-endowed unalienable rights come God-demanded and directed rules and guidelines for moral living. They are found, among other places in the Bible, in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. These are divinely inspired and authorized; they are not the inventions of the human mind. They cannot be superseded or modified, no matter how much any particular group of human beings might want to do so. The old saying—‘you can’t legislate morality’—is true. It’s already been made into law by a power higher than mere legislatures.

And this really gets to the crux of what the radical left liberalism of George Soros and Barack Obama seeks to achieve. They reject completely the Judeo-Christian foundation of western civilization, including most especially the United States of America. They want morality defined by humans and secular values, as filtered through contemporary elitist opinion. But secular morality is an oxymoron; a non-sequitur. “Anything goes” is not a moral system; it is a system without morals. It is not a system in partnership with God; it is system bent on rebellion against the very idea of God and of divine authority for defining what constitutes righteousness and moral living. In the words of St. Paul, it is a system that is inherently “enmity against God”.

God’s creation—meaning you and me—intuitively know these truths. Americans, in particular, have had a 230+ year history of learning and re-learning how and why the stupendous American exceptionalism so obviously manifested in the nation’s achievements flow directly from these truths. Which is why we instinctively react adversely to government programs and policies that seek to invert and subvert the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. No matter how slickly packaged with clever rhetoric, such programs and policies are devoid of the ring of truth. The people know—as Ronald Reagan once put it—that “if we ever cease to be a nation under God, we will be a nation gone under.”

God has no partners, needs no partners, seeks no partners. There is a world of good and charitable activity that free men and women can and do engage in to help their fellow men and women, but when government openly seeks to take on the role of God or God’s partner—an attempt is being made to cross a line that can’t be crossed and won’t be crossed in America.

The people are awake to the monstrous evil that is Obamacare; they are increasingly awake to the entire radical left agenda of Obama—and they not only don’t like it, they detest it. And they are growing to detest the politicians who continue trying to sell this agenda on the grounds that they and they alone know what’s best for the people and will do it whether the people want it or not. And the people really detest the notion that this agenda is what they voted for in 2008.

Pravda wants to believe Obama will get at least some parts of a more nationalized system of healthcare, declare political victory, and march on with more of his agenda. We don’t think so. We think Obama has actually lost the American people, permanently. They don’t believe him anymore; they don’t trust him anymore; and they increasingly don’t like him. And they have never liked Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. What they like—and what they are increasingly appreciating once again, is their freedom and the God-based foundation of their country. They are feeling in their guts that the radical left political agenda is not just a swing of a pendulum that will be adjusted in two and four years; they sense it as a near coup against this nation that is evil and must be stopped.

Obama’s healthcare sales pitch--we need government-run healthcare because “we are God’s partners in matters of life and death”—will stoke and strengthen their gut feelings.

Paul Gable

August 20, 2009