Just a few hours ago my wife asked me what at first seemed to be an off-the-wall question but it wasn't off- the- wall because she will be part of a leadership seminar on this topic, and this was part of her preparations for it. She asked me who would I consider to be the best example of leadership today. I answered immediately...it was former South Carolina Senator and present head of the Heritage Foundation Jim DeMint. I have always admired him and he had been my pick for the Republican nomination in 2012, although he chose not to run. Quite simply, he's my top pick for honesty and integrity in leadership, and has been for a long time.
          Well, just a few minutes ago I checked the national news and the New York Times has a story out where it is rumored that Jim DeMint might be asked to step down as head of the Heritage Foundation. It seems, according to the article, that a few people on the board of Heritage do not think that he is pro-Trump...enough. Another news source described him as not being 'establishment' enough'....sounds like the same thing to me.
          Folks, this is where America is heading in just about every direction. Try to find a Christian bookstore around you today. It's hard to do whereas two decades ago they were everywhere. Even I owned one. With all their faults they at least provided an easy window shopping walk-thru for he average person, and that's exactly what I did 35 years ago. I had walked into a nearby Christian bookstore called It Is Written looking for a new rosary and walked out with Josh McDowell's Evidence That Demands A Verdict. There are no Christian bookstores near me today. Barnes & Noble does have a large Christian literature section but it's not the same animal. It would be almost like winning the lottery for a browser to find and pick out a quality Christian book.
          Fox News may be collapsing as Rupert Murdoch's sons are taking the news giant in a 'new' direction....so there may possibly go our only mainstream news source.  We do not, in my opinion, have quality conversations as we did thirty years ago. We have what I call 'Facebook conversation' where we give 'updates.'  There were some powerful books on the best-selling lists in the 1970s. I'm not lauding their accuracy in describing life but they did make you think; and as for the average sermon that you might hear on any given Sunday today.....well, you might be better off listening to a Christian radio program.
          One quote that was given in last night's White House Correspondent's Dinner was from Thomas Jefferson. I think it went like this....he said that if he had to choose between a "government without newspapers or newspapers without a government...I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter," but a good newspaper today is an extreme rarity. No, we have little to no sound guidance today because we do not want sound instruction. Facts are boring in this age of Twitter and Facebook, while analysis and contemplation are unexercised and therefore weak.
         So if Jim DeMint is asked to leave the Heritage Foundation then it would only be par for the course. We have bigger and better things to do today than use our minds....we use our willpower....make it happen....that's enough!