the great illusion

  President Barack Obama ran on a ticket of change. Yes, things changed. Then trump won and things changed again. Presently we have Joe Biden who is doing his best to change things back to what Obama offered. Change is usually regarded as a good thing. If you google quotes about change the vast majority speak of change as a necessary thing, it is the means to progress. Yes overwhelmingly the attitude is change is a good thing. But it is my feeling change is really just the vehicle of optimism. I did find this quote from Ellen Glasgow, "All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward." And that is more in line with my thinking on the subject of change. Change comes from discontent. It isn't necessarily that we want something better, we just want something different. The reason many marriages collapse as well. It isn't change that grows a marriage, it is improvements. Yes, improvements are change but there is a fine distinction between the two. Improvements retain the base whereas improvements change the superficial. And in my experience it is the superficial that irritate us the most. What we sincerely believe does not change, nor should it. In truth, when we are shaken to our core we will react, often rashly and in a detrimental manner.

 Today we keep hearing about change, how things must change. What is it that needs changing however? From my point of view I see an attack on the basic moral and ethical values that created this nation. The change desired is an elimination of consequence. Whether that consequence is legal or spiritual, the consequence should be removed. That is to say, a far more permissive society is what is being hoped for, one in which all actions are excusable. I see the modification of civil law and spiritual law to accommodate just that. The most glaring example of that is this promotion of abortion as an alternative method of birth control. I know of no Bible that says, it's alright. Yet, the church today refuses to condemn that. Homosexuality is an accepted practice in some of our churches today, certainly a more permissive approach if ever there was one. A change for the better? I suppose if you are a homosexual that would seem to be the case. My Bible clearly states man shall not lie with man, that it is an abomination unto the lord. Read Leviticus 18:15-24 if you have any doubt about that. Should we change that book to read more along the lines some would like? Would that be a good change? For those wishing to engage in such I suppose it would. 

 But let's look beyond religion and look at civil laws. What is civil law? Civil laws pertains to private matters, not to criminal activities. Civil law deals with morals and ethics expected within the society. Civil law gives us the authority, think permission, to act in a certain fashion. The challenge lies in separating the civil from the criminal. When we begin to shift criminal behaviors to the civil realm, that causes changes that disrupt the society the greatest. That is because you are now attacking core belief systems. So just what is criminal? Any act that violate our sense of morality as a nation is the short answer. IE: doing something wrong. It is only the degree of "wrong" that is delineated in the writing of law, codes, guidelines, suggestions or whatever. Premeditated murder, in the first degree. is the most serious of crimes. We all agree no one has the right to kill anyone else, well except sometimes. We call that justifiable homicide. Aborting a baby because you don't want a baby is justifiable homicide according to Roe V Wade. That was the decision. Was it right? No, I don't think so and should be changed. Entering the country illegally is a crime, yet, we are not supposed to call those people criminals. Why is that? Is it because of intent? They didn't intend to break our law, that was just a consequence of them crossing the border. They should not be subject to penalty? If I go to to a restaurant, eat my meal, and then not pay should I be a criminal? It wasn't my intent to break any law, I was just hungry. Same logic in my opinion. I feel the same way about the smoking of pot. It's illegal and if I do that I am subject to criminal penalties. Just because local authorities are now refusing to enforce that federal statue, the statue remains in effect and fully enforceable. My feelings on the law do not change the weight of the law. 

 Yes there should be changes in the law. Changes in what is criminal however, not in what is moral. Our founding fathers were well aware of a sense of morality and indeed, judgement. The judgement they feared the most was not civil penalty but the spiritual cost. That is what guided their beliefs and their reasoning. It is my belief that the vast majority of those "moral" beliefs that were actually criminal have been eradicated over the last two hundred and forty years of legislation. Slavery led the pack in my estimation. The belief that it was morally correct to enslave your fellow man is unbelievable to us today, yet, the practice continues in other parts of the world. I haven't heard of any great campaign to stop others from doing that. Other previously criminal activities have been legalized. What does that mean? Legal means, it may be immoral but it will be allowed. Generally speaking it is allowed as long as it is profitable to the government in some fashion. We are now using law to rewrite what is moral. And that is the great illusion. If we all acted in a moral and ethical fashion we wouldn't need thousands of laws! But man doesn't act that way, never has, never will. The big mistake has always been allowing the law to define morals. Worse yet is when we allow the law to eradicate morality! And that, that is what we are witnessing right now. Many are calling it change and it is certainly different that much can't be denied. As for me I will defer to Ms. Glasgow, " all change is not growth, as all movement is not forward. " I would add, all change is not growth, there are times when it becomes decay. We are entering a time of decay in my opinion, one that needs to be addressed. There comes a time to stand fast, hold your ground. That is what we need to do right now, to halt the spread of this rot. We can do that by replacing the "plants." Far too many in Congress are just that, plants. They are there to serve themselves and those that placed them in power. Well, we the people are the gardeners. I say we just transplant them! Time to weed out those that are not producing instead of reelecting them. Consider the current commander in chief. Forty seven years and what did he produce? A tax increase on  Social Security recipients, twice. Yet, he was elected to lead the nation? Someone was using miracle grow! I'll just leave that right there.