The Enemy is the Enemy

What has happened in Charlottesville, Virginia over the past several days has given me pause. I see some people on the political Right siding with the people protesting the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue. Both sides are making mountains out of mole hills in the situation. If the group protesting the removal had not engaged in Nazi symbolism and claimed Ku Klux Klan lineage, I could see their point. Once they became about race and "White Nationalism", they lost the argument. They are no different than the Black Lives Matter or Antifa(anti fascist) groups opposing them.

Here is where I draw the line. Once a group starts using race and identity in their political argument, I'm done. I don't think the speech rights of either side should be compromised, but once their speech goes kinetic, so to speak, their rights end. Driving a car into a group of people you disagree with is terrorism, the same as if a some jihadi nut from ISIS had done it.

Both sides in this mess are essentially two sides of the same vile group of people. They both seek to have the government right perceived wrongs. As much as I disagree with government white washing history, we risk becoming idolatrous if we place the importance of a statue over that of a human life.

Here is the solution. Elect different people. If you don't want your local reps doing away with a statue you see as honoring your heritage, elect different people. If the majority of voters in a town want to elect people who would remove these monuments, let them. As long as the Federal government isn't dictating what statue goes where and what is OK, I have no issue with it. Use the Constitutional tools at your disposal. Don't act like the voters aren't the ones who are truly responsible.

All sides in this mess are seeking government to right perceived wrongs. Stop depending on government. There is the real solution. Talk to your neighbors. Go to church. Seek God and seek His will. Stop putting government where God should be in your life. Government is not an end all, be all. The White Nationalist/Nazi bigots and the BLM/Antifa statists are all really the same, in the end. They seek to have government impose their will on others. I'm out.

Some will ask, "Well, if you are OK with the removal of these monuments, then you are OK with government saying a baker must bake a cake, etc". Nothing could be further from the truth. What individuals do in the carrying out of commerce is none of the business of government. The maintenance of public areas is the business of government. If a duly elected council or legislature removes a statue, that's on the voters. The government telling a person what to do in their personal lives is unconstitutional. The government pulling down a statue is not unconstitutional. It may be in bad taste, but it isn't illegal. Find new leaders who won't pull down the monuments.

This all comes back to people not reigning in government. All of it. We must move past expecting government to save us or prop us up. Our focus must be on producing citizens who love liberty. Fix the culture of government dependence and all of this will end. This is on all of us who allow it to continue. I pray for revival of the true Church and that the message of the Gospel will be proclaimed. If you trust in God and on His only begotten Son, your need of a nanny state government to do your bidding goes away.