Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Is This Defeatist, Short Sighted, Naive or Realistic?
So many aspects of what is “normal” today would have only been imagined in Eastern Europe or South America 40 years ago. The America of my late teens (1977) when I enlisted was something to be proud to defend. Today I have stopped even looking at the news cause I can tell you what’s going to happen on about any issue without having to follow the details. It really doesn’t matter anymore who I vote for cause either they’re going to get destroyed or I’m going to find out that when the chips are down they fold or switch sides. Is it obvious to anyone else besides me that we are already living in a one-party socialist state? My parents would be shocked to see what we have made of what they left us.
I still vote in the hope that I’m wrong but each day tells me otherwise. Declared a party affiliation this primary season just so I could vote against a carpetbagger candidate running for senator here in PA. Looks like I’m on the losing side as usual. Will probably change back to independent again although I don’t think I’ve voted for a Democrat in over 40 years. Haven’t found one yet I can trust. Not that the stupid party has provided much better they just don’t all hang together in a solid block unless they are voting for something the other party wants. Was not a Trump fan but I think he did some good and am still amazed at how much was done by my fellow federal government employees to deliberately undermine his administration. Another example of the difference in 40-50 years. If Nixon had been treated like Trump there wouldn’t be a prison big enough to hold all the federal employees that would have been sent to it.
So what is one to do? I live and die for my family and my faith knowing that it’s going to be ok “in the end”. In the meantime, I treasure friends, a job I truly enjoy responding to natural disasters, all the humor we can fit in a day, and my continuous expeditions in the kitchen. The little things like watching birds and squirrels that hop around my trees, sitting out on my front patio just enjoying the weather or a late-night fire, the feeling of satisfaction after some not so often enough manual labor, and the comfort I get in prayer (started praying the Liturgy of the Hours). There’s something about knowing you are praying the same as thousands maybe millions around the world.
I’ll ask again defeatist, short-sighted, naive, or realistic? What say you?
Published in General
Wow, WC. This is a bit dark. Yes, we may be in dark times but I’ve so appreciated and enjoyed your reflections on personal redemption. You’ve been both inspirational and challenging. They have mirrored my own journey in so many ways. That growth…that redemption, as small as you and I are, is a part of the bottom-up effort. It is available and afforded to everyone.
One conversion to reality and truth at a time. Those are beautiful and powerful words you wrote. That is not a legacy of Judeo-Christian sensibilities and capitalism but a prospectus. That is their promise.
I think you are cultivating your garden just fine. Voltaire’s dictum reminds us that our plight is not really new, though I do agree that we have certainly seen better days, especially in retrospect.
I just listened to a long podcast of Barri Weiss and Andrew Sullivan talking about the LGxxxx mess. They stand for open and honest discussion and oppose the tactics that label any disagreement as “hate” or substitute “gender affirming medical care” for “sex change operations.” Sullivan hates being dumped in the aplphabet soup, pointing out that he is a gay man (and that only takes two syllables). He HATES being called queer by the NYT, because he can remember when that was what you got called before getting punched and just because some leftists decided to rehabilitate the term, he never agreed to it. For the NYT, which claims to be against triggering, to use the word shows where their true interest is, he says. And both strongly oppose the trans movement and what some think of as sex ed for tots, for interesting and convincing reasons. (Not because they think teachers are “grooming” children with the intention of later raping them.) One of them is that they fear an ugly backlash from the right. The point is that they are standing for rational argument as opposed to the tribalism which is causing most of what we are complaining about. I see it clearly on the left, but also on the right. The point is that rational argument will win in the end. So we have to resist the illiberalism of both the left and the right and stick to the principles we claim to believe in. And that will take patience and skill.
Foghorn (View Comment):
I’ve got to a point where I actually expect to be persecuted or prosecuted for my beliefs be they faith or political.
If you are praying the Liturgy of the Hours via the new subscription from WOF, better keep the source under your hat around here. ;)
Thanks hoowits. I do believe all things are possible with God. But, I’m not an optimist for our civilization– I don’t really believe in it. In the City of Man. I don’t think it wise or helpful to making converts. What makes converts is winsome authenticity. People not under the sway of leftist self-love are attracted to truth when they (finally) see it.
The longer I live, the more I’m convinced of the efficacy of suffering. I’m convinced God allows it because mankind, as a species, will choose everything but Him once in the arms of prosperity and distraction. Suffering helps to focus the mind and put things in perspective. People in the 3rd world are not messing about with their pronouns.
Suffering either causes people to reach for a higher good (God) or to succumb to despair. I do not despair nor am I a defeatist. I accept utterly that the only way to attain the highest good is to accept the saving graces God provides, and the only true justice will be that found in Heaven. But, that doesn’t keep me from doing the right thing while I’m here, nor from trying to influence others in that direction. This isn’t over until we stand before the Throne. But, after seeing what we’re doing to kids (What is a Woman? documentary) and after over 60 million abortions? Yeah, I think the West is finished.
There is a certain privilege to living through the end of our civilization. We will likely be witnesses to the making of great saints and holy martyrs. Maybe we already are!
Well, Donald Trump recently endorsed Dr. Oz to be the Republican nominee for US Senate in Pennsylvania.
How’s that for leadership?
You took the words right out of my mouth.
We have been toiling in the conservative movement for over a generation attempting to get a Constitutionalist US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade, a decision that even Ruth Bader Ginsburg thought was on shaky constitutional grounding.
If that court decision comes down roughly in the form that we have read about, laws regarding abortion will be in the hands of the elected legislatures and governors of the 50 states.
If we can persuade people that abortion is the taking on innocent life and ought to be prohibited, we win.
This is an odd time to be pessimistic.
This morning I woke up trying to pray for the country and felt disturbed and unworthy of the task. So I got up and looked at my Bible and opened it more or less at random, and it came to the beginning of Revelation. Anyway, I was struck by Johns opening words, and a few more a bit later.
John greets the churches with Grace unto you, and peace. Peace is greatly to be desired. And I consider this to be both spiritual and temporal peace, something to be prayed for or even invoked. And later he identifies himself as your brother, and companion in tribulation. He called for peace at the same time he admitted to being in the midst of tribulation. I think this is what we are called to today.
Yeah that was exactly what got me to declare a party this May so I could vote against him. That didn’t work out well. Now I may have to hold my nose & vote for him anyway in November. Probably won’t help much but we at least have some hope if Turtle McConnell leads the Senate instead of Schmuck Schumer.
🤣 Was never smart enough to figure out all the page turns. Got the new subscription and now I don’t have to be a genius to join the church in prayer. LOH for dummies.
Because I am not a religious person and was not raised in a Christian (or any other religious) household, I am not as alarmed by the decline in Christian faith in the United States over the past 30 years.
Take, for example, a Hindu man, an immigrant to the United States from India. He earned his PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin. Now he helps design engines for a large corporation.
This Hindu man, though not believing that Jesus rose from the dead, wants something done about rising violent crime. He doesn’t buy the argument that we need to stop putting people in prison for violent crimes because, well, systemic racism exists.
He doesn’t like paying tons of taxes to fund social programs that offer nothing of use. He might not respond to arguments like, “America is a Christian nation.” But he might respond to arguments similar to those made by Senator Tom Cotton, “We don’t have an over incarceration problem. We have an under incarceration problem.”
As I see it, just because fewer people in the United States think Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, it does not follow that people are going to be approving of people committing violent crimes and not being isolated from the rest of us.
Similarly, I don’t think this Hindu mechanical engineer thinks that the Biden inflation is just wonderful. No. This recently married man of 31 years old wants to have children and wants to raise that family in a safe society and within a prosperous economy.
The problem is that some Republicans are preaching from the Bible to Hindus, Buddhists and agnostics when they should be preaching like Tom Cotton. Tom Cotton’s message is a one that can resonate with people regardless of what religious faith they hold to or even if they hold to no faith at all.
Now, I am supporting Ron DeSantis in 2024. Just want to make that clear. But the decline in Christianity in the US doesn’t necessarily mean that we are doomed. That’s this non-religious person’s viewpoint, for what its worth.
Quite prescient Cass (Flicker) Our message today originated from John 14: Let not your heart be troubled. Peace. Shalom. In a world so hostile, angry and hateful it is difficult. Do not bury our heads in the sand or throw up our hands in defeat. Continue to be salt and light amidst the tribulation. Our eventual hope does not lie in human leaders but Christ who paid the ultimate price for us…for us! the broken, the flawed, the undeserving.
I just saw a Muslim post something on social media basking in the knowledge that if Dr. Oz wins the Pennsylvania US Senate race this November, Dr. Oz will be America’s first Muslim US Senator.
He writes: “Finally the glass ceiling will be broken – and all thanks to the efforts of Donald Trump.”
OMG
‘ when the chips are down they fold or switch sides’ Much too much of that over the years. Suddenly the people we voted for to fight for us start talking about their ‘good friends’ across the aisle. The Democrats don’t seem to have this problem, Manchin being the only exception I can think of.
In my opinion, the most important words in politics are: You don’t have the votes to do that.
When the chips are down, can you get members of Congress to vote for the legislation that you want enacted.
Conversely, when the chips are down, can you get members of Congress to block legislation that you don’t want enacted.
“You don’t have the votes,” means your side lost. But there is always another set of congressional elections a year or two away. So, no defeat is ever permanent.
The fraction of graduating university students who believe that people who reject leftism have no free speech rights has been increasing for some time now.
I use the apps from https://www.universalis.com/
Perhaps prayer offers strength, guidance and courage but we have to actually fight or we lose and there is no coming back. Christ taught us how to pray, he didn’t sit around praying. Jews didn’t sit around praying either. Prayer offers courage and direction. Why no coming back? Even if the Chinese don’t help us destroy ourselves, the top, including the insulated bureaucracy is so big, powerful, and well funded by the rest of us, that if we can’t overcome it they will continue to make us weaker and themselves more powerful and won’t disintegrate until they’ve destroyed the country. That’s how it works, has always worked and will work here unless we can win the next two elections and undo Washington, restrict imports from China, and figure out how to return to bottom up in a world with infinitely falling costs. The evil of the South’s succession turns out to be that it now keeps those who cherish freedom from doing the same thing. It’s our option and it’s very complicated so we better start trying to figure out how it might be done because if they steal the next elections it’s our alternative and their goal will be to prevent that.
Actually, Jesus was very frequently in both prayer and private prayer. And yes, prayer is answered. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. It was by prayer that Elijah stopped the rain for over three years, and through prayer that it rained once again.
Prayer is not a psychological crutch or a self-directed pep talk, but a request to a sovereign God for him to do something.
There are a few questions regarding prayer that have always left me wondering.
If God is all-knowing, doesn’t God know what your desires are even if you don’t say a prayer requesting God to do something?
Also, if God is all-knowing and has a divine plan, wouldn’t praying to God requesting him to do something represent an attempt to interfere with God’s divine plan?
The bottom line is that according to God’s Word (the Bible) God knows what you have need of before you ask, so you don’t have to get all caught up in specifics for fear of not being understood, but God wants you to ask anyway — it’s possibly an experiential learning thing. And God does answer prayer, so pray.
When a child at the dinner table points and shouts “more!” his father knows exactly what he wants, so why does he insist on teaching his son to say “daddy, please pass the tater tots?”
I think the difference here is that prior to the child shouting “more!” his father does not know exactly what his child wants whereas, if God is omniscient, God does know what the child wants and knows what people desire before they say a prayer.
As a non-religious person, when a religious friend asks me to pray for their sister’s breast cancer to go into remission, I will agree to pray for my friend’s sister in law not because I think my prayer has any impact on my friend’s sister’s breast cancer prognosis, but because I want my friend to know (and perhaps my friend’s sister to know) that I am “pulling for them.”
As I see it (and again, I am not someone who believes in God), saying a prayer is a bit like a Pittsburgh Steelers fan chanting “Defense !” while sitting on his couch watching television. His “Defense !” chant doesn’t help the Steelers stop the opposing team’s offense from getting a first down or scoring a touchdown. But it does provide oneself a sense of solidarity with the Steelers.
And if you are in the stadium cheering on the Steelers (I should probably use the Indianapolis Colts in this example, since I live in Indianapolis), maybe these cheers do have some impact on the play to be run from scrimmage.
I just think people should have reasonable expectations regarding prayer. If I pray for my cousin to get the job he applied for, he might not get that job. It’s helpful if religious leaders tell their listeners have a realistic view of prayer and faith.
Despite what some preachers in Eastern Kentucky say, having faith in Jesus doesn’t mean that you can handle poisonous snakes and no harm will come to you if you are bit. I think Margaret Thatcher said, “The facts of life are conservative.” It should also be said, “The realities of the real world are non-supernatural.”
You can think of all the analogies you want, and you can question why God does things the way He does, but the fact remains, that He knows everything ahead of time, but still wants us to ask, and wants to give. Maybe it’s a generosity and thanksgiving thing lesson that He wants people to individually to learn.
It is a relationship thing. He wants us to consider Him. Prayer is one of the prescribed mediums for doing that.
Corrected in five words or less.
I don’t see how how that difference is relevant to my analogy.
Yes, God knows what we desire before we ask for it. My point was that even after a human father knows what his son wants, he still sees some value in teaching his child to ask politely before granting the request.
There are similarities and differences in this analogy.
One difference is that if the child says, “May I have some more tater tots, please?” If the father believes that the child should have more tater tots, the father will visibly provide the child with more tater tots and the child will be able to discern the causal relationship between his polite request for the tater tots and his receipt of those tater tots.
If the father responds, “I think you have already had enough tater tots. I’d rather you eat your vegetables,” the son can discern why he didn’t receive more tater tots despite the fact that he asked very politely for them.
In the case of someone bowing their head in prayer and asking that God put their sister’s breast cancer in remission, if the sister dies a few months later of breast cancer, the person who prayed for his sister will have to speculate as to why God didn’t grant his request but did grant his prior prayer request for a good parking spot at church last Sunday.
So, I do think your analogy works, but only up to a point.