Politicians today make you wonder where we are headed

I truly understand how it is easy to be discouraged these days.

The national scene is really bleak. The state government seems unresponsive. The local governments are unrecognizable.

Torn from within

Just this past week, we witnessed an assassination attempt on the leading candidate in the race for President of the United States, with many publicly wishing the shooter had succeeded.

We have watched top Department of Justice officials circumvent the law in the “Russiagate” scandal based on a phony dossier and secret FISA warrants on an innocent Carter Page to spy on a presidential campaign.

We have witnessed a Black Lives Matter (BLM) organization-led rebellion in urban areas, burning minority-owned businesses and looting sparked by a phony narrative on the death of Michael Brown, later proven guilty of violent assault of a police officer by the Obama administration.

The BLM movement then led to the development of reductions in law enforcement personnel and budgets, spurring violence and crime at an alarming rate, finally culminating in the BLM founders like Patrisse Cullors running off with the donated funds, buying multiple estates, and living off promises made to others.

We have witnessed the misbehavior of Congressional members and the failure of the presidency.

“Lawfare,” using legal systems and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, is now in everyone’s vocabulary.

Our southern border was abandoned and allowed to be overwhelmed. The poorest Americans will feel the brunt the hardest.

We suffered from the consequences of the National Institutes of Health’s use of prohibited gain-of-function research using back-channel funding. Trillions of dollars of government debt and inflation hurt our families as Big Pharma flexed its muscles and government officials acted maliciously.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) demonstrated a sporadic blend of incompetence and ideological enforcement bereft of scientific backing.

We have watched international government figures and the wealthiest people alive tell us to give up fossil fuels, stop eating meat, convert to central bank digital currency, and forfeit our liberties.

Censorship and “canceling” people have become the norm.

We are witnessing academia and corporate leaders say that anyone who is white is a racist at birth and that renewing racial discrimination practices is the antidote to racism.

After decades of progress on civil rights, we are seeing race-based hiring again and states that allow school staff to convince children that they are another sex and should proceed with chemical transitioning without parental knowledge or consent.

Local regression

Many of us who closely follow local politics gather from time to time, and lately, we lament the current state of our local governments. The local elected officials are squeezing the citizens into what appears to be a “two steps backward” scenario.

Two elected officials in Peachtree City had reasonable requests for city budget data rejected by a subordinate, and the mayor instructed them to stop asking questions, get back in line, and vote in favor of the budget they were handed (see: https://thecitizen.com/2024/07/11/council-nastiness-behind-the-scenes-of-massive-peachtree-city-budget-battle/).

The city council in Peachtree City is now using your tax dollars to have special council meetings in Gwinnett County to avoid local citizens and accountability.

The city council of Fayetteville is working hard to urbanize the small, welcoming city that has attracted so many civic-minded families over the years. The result is a continual increase in taxes, creating a budget increase of over $5 million for fiscal year 2025.

Fayette County Board of Commissioners Chairman Lee Hearn recently tried to intimidate his opponent in this November’s election, Bobby Jones, by telling him that he would not be allowed to speak during the “public comment” section of the commissioners’ meetings. He cited a county policy that has nothing to do with citizens offering public comments in official county meetings (Policies and Procedures, 100.11).

Hearn has also threatened local citizens complaining about the $3.2 million new animal shelter debacle. He stated his willingness to also prevent those citizens from speaking in the “public comment” section of the meetings.

We are witnessing a dramatic shift in our local governments, with elected officials and bureaucrats increasingly excluding the citizenry.

Leftists: forced silence and violence

The Marxist doctrine has been fully accepted in pockets of our nation, and there is acceptance of violence as a means of creating political transformation.

This violence, mixed with lawfare in leftist-tolerant federal judicial circuits, will explode in full force should Donald Trump be elected. This is nothing new, as it happened in 2016.

Western governments are implementing harsh penalties for the dissemination of “disinformation” and “misinformation.” Of course, the government decides what constitutes disinformation and misinformation, and those definitions change as it sees fit.

You will remember that prior to the 2020 election, the Department of Justice pressured social media outlets not to allow any content on Hunter Biden’s laptop computer, which contained a trove of evidence of illegal activity surrounding the period when Joe Biden was Vice President.

Recall 50 former government intelligence agency officials intentionally misled the public about Hunter Biden’s laptop prior to the election, saying it was “Russian propaganda.” It turned out that Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, was responsible for organizing the scam. It’s easy to see that some get away with “misinformation” and others do not.

The easiest way to eliminate the opposition is to imprison or bankrupt them over their thoughts and ideas. All the former and current communist leaders use this practice. It is gaining acceptance in our country.

Trials and tribulations

Difficulties and hardships are coming. Our rights under the U.S. Constitution are on the chopping block.

The technological advances that brought prosperity will also bring us suffering.

Governments want to use artificial intelligence to monitor our lives and force conformance. Your speech (thoughts), purchases, travel, etc. will all be scrutinized.

The Canadian government under Justin Trudeau fired the first shots in North America as they froze all assets, canceled insurance coverage, and jailed without charges the protestors in Ottawa several years ago.

Governments in North America and the European Union are calling for a programmable central bank digital currency. The programmable part means the government can restrict your money.

If you hold ideals the government finds offensive, or if you produce too many carbon emissions, etc., the government could punish you by restricting your finances.

You could be prevented from buying a bus or plane ticket. The amount you can spend on groceries and what kinds of groceries you can buy could be restricted. The communist Chinese government is doing this now.

The social credit initiative in China established a digital record system so that businesses, individuals, and government institutions can be tracked and evaluated for “trustworthiness,” as defined by the communists in charge. Western leaders publicly think it’s a great idea.

Our federal government is also turning to biometrics through artificial intelligence. TSA is evaluating the use of biometric technologies under the guise of enhancing security effectiveness and operational efficiency. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will also employ the technology.

Imagine the possibility of the government knowing your whereabouts no matter where you are and then being able to restrict those movements because your government-based social credit score is too low.

Your political party is insignificant

Increasingly, the nation is being run by a uni-party. Powerful Congressional Democrats and Republicans both respond to the same corporate influences, and both take the campaign cash.

The tech oligarchs have so many gigantic contracts with the federal government that they have become the fourth branch of government. The oligarchs will do whatever it takes to obtain those contracts, including funding both sides and turning over your personal data when requested.

Keep in mind that Congress recently re-approved the secret spying without warrants on Americans (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Section 702), crushing our Fourth Amendment rights. Even the DOJ inspector general cited a list of horrible abuses by federal agencies, but a bi-partisan vote secured its re-approval.

George Soros, Bill Gates, Big Pharma corporations, etc., are literally funding federal government activities here and abroad in conjunction with multiple government agencies and departments. Private funds twist the ideology and compromise the missions. Neither party has moved to stop this.

Fear is not the answer

The United States was crafted on the foundation of Judeo-Christian knowledge and principles. The nation maintained those principles during one dramatically desperate period in our history after another.

There are noted intellectuals who suggest that we still focus on God today, and there are other intellectuals calling for a reversion back to a bloody survival of the fittest existence promoted in Marxism.

One thing that has been proven over time is that merely relying upon human nature without some form of eternal righteousness perspective, the Ten Commandments, Jesus’s sermon on the mount, etc., eventually culminate in the destruction of civilizations.

If we fail to search for the answers that are greater than our fallible selves, we will be subject to the violent tyranny that godlessness brings. This is well documented throughout recorded history.

In 2024, slavery, even in the United States, is on the rise. We also have documented cases of babies being pulled from the womb, dissected, and the body parts being sold on the market.

China harvests organs from political prisoners for organ transplants for Western patients, reaping huge profits. Likewise, transitioning young children through surgical and chemical means, sometimes without parental knowledge, is being protected in some states.

Those are the acts of the godless brokers of power.

The lists of “clients” from the files of Jeffrey Epstein are so damning that they cannot be released because it would shake the nation’s power structure apart. That power structure in government and industry is a selfish, power-hungry mass of elites who see no problem with subjugating those beneath them.

Steadfastness and determination

All the threats to our way of life can be overwhelming, and a sense of hopelessness can take over.

Since its inception, our nation has overcome many attempts to destroy our liberties. The nation has always pulled through on a bedrock of Judeo-Christian principles.

For those of us who are Christians, the answer to fatigue, frustration, failure, and fear is God.

To the Christian, purpose, promise, and perseverance come from God.

I use the following scriptures that have stood for millennia as a source of hope and understanding.

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:8). The Bible is full of historical accounts of overcoming adversity. The people’s faith in their God pulled them through.

At the point of a tortuous death, Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). His recorded resurrection after death showed the immense power of God.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). Many believe that there is a higher power that can prevail over all your troubles.

The Apostle Paul reminded the Christians in Rome, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

The life of the early Christians was horribly difficult beyond what we can imagine. The symbol of the cross exemplified a form of torture and death created by the ancient Persians and perfected by the ancient Romans. Jesus’ death and resurrection made the cross an emblem of victory over death. Hope in the midst of suffering became possible.

Paul reminded the Christians in Corinth experiencing great hardship, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

The Hebrew Prophet Isaiah said, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31). The passages in the ancient texts on Isaiah are remarkable and well worth reading.

The Marxist-influenced groups like Antifa and BLM, as well as the international globalists, are openly critical of Christian and Jewish religious doctrine and have been outright hostile to Christians and Jews.

We are already witnessing the forced recitation of the re-education mantras in schools, universities, and the workplace. The previous doctrines of law and order now amount to offensive hate speech that should be wiped from our memories. Historical accounts are being rewritten. Biology is no longer an accepted scientific discipline. Business decisions supposedly should be race-based and not merit-based.

The withdrawal from a culture grounded in distinct moral and ethical Judeo-Christian knowledge will turn our society into an “every man and woman for themselves” environment, chaos.

Historical accounts show that the Marxists always come after their own, eventually. Please, Democrats and Republicans, pay attention to who you support and what they promote. After a certain point, it could be impossible to reverse the destruction.

[Brown is a former mayor of Peachtree City and served two terms on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners. You can read all his columns by clicking on his photo below.]