Friday.....America.....Mainstream vs. Fringe

There is a misconception that moderates are the mainstream and in the middle of American society, while the right wing and the left wing are on the fringes. I think that it would be more accurate to say that both wings and the moderates comprise the mainstream of America. I related once before that some Christians consider the Puritans as giants, but J. I. Packer, a Puritan historian and great admirer of them, stated that they were, in actuality, normal Christians; we are Pygmies and that is why we perceive them as giants. In the same vein, both the right wing and left wing of our political parties have substance, good or bad, and it might be that the moderates are often tasteless, odorless and formless making others appear as fanatics and on the fringe. It is the fringe element of society that is the problem. People on the fringe kill abortion doctors, demonstrate at soldier's funerals, desecrate cemeteries and churches and start cults. The political fringe uses tactics developed by Lenin and Goebbels, The Christian fringe ordains homosexuals into its clergy, the corporate fringe sells out its employees and customers in a covenant with their stockholders and the labor fringe ignores the public good for its own benefits. There is work being done on the bridge that I travel over on my way to work. The thought came to me while driving over it the other day that if the barriers on both sides were not there, I would cross at a crawl if at dared cross at all. If we have no rules and regulations, no barriers and commandments, we are in danger of travelling outside the areas where our protection is, and are also in danger of the fringe crossing lines and endangering us. God has given commandments, and rulers that give laws for our protection. The Lord's Day was given us as a hedge that not seven days would pass without our repairing to Him for strength to go another seven days in this world. The question of importance has always been the width of this fringe. It is most certainly not always the same proportion to the mainstream. When traditions are abrogated, laws ignored, constitutions sidestepped and mores jettisoned, the fringe is emboldened and grows and society hurtles towards chaos.