We Are Not That Far Apart

                So you are 40 years old....maybe 50....hey maybe 60 years or as old as I am....and a take no prisoners Trump and MAGA supporter....but what really are you? Are you a conservative? Maybe at one time but Trump is nothing about conservatism anymore. Are you a patriot? That's odd....because with all of Trump's America first rhetoric....patriotism is not the word to describe it....money is the word. Washington and Jefferson and Paine and Adams were not it in for the money. The last fourteen words of the Declaration of Independence are...."we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor." Trump made over $600 million this year already...and I don't think that even his strongest supporters ever use the word honor concerning him.
                 What about God? Trump's standard end of the rally proclamation was..."and we are one glorious nation under God." Folks....we are not one glorious nation under God....but we use His name all the time and pepper every speech with God bless Americas. We have no mortification for what we are. We have the opposite. We're not seeking God's mercy and forgiveness....we are seeking what we think that we deserve....which by the way God is granting that desire!
                 We are more today about tariffs than abortion. I don't know the percentage but the vast majority of illegal immigrants are imperfect but decent people trying to do the same thing we are trying to do....provide a better life for our families....and we ought to be ashamed of ourselves at how we are not standing up to make sure that only criminals and undesirables are being deported.
                  Lincoln and Trump....Kennedy and Trump....Reagan and Trump....those combinations do not sit well together. We talked at one time about liberty but authoritarianism has replaced that concept.
                  I would ask you only to compare that Declaration of Independence with our Justice and Intelligence communities that spend all of their time trying to defend the Commander in Chief. We would not have secured that independence without France. We would not have prospered as we did without immigrants....and we would not have survived had not God had a purpose for us....a purpose that of spreading the gospel around the world....not spreading threats around the world.
                   We....you and I....are not far apart. My best friend for many years at work cannot send me a text without some MAGA comment...and my closest relative from growing up is of the same mindset. We still love each other. Our difference may be that I know that God has given us as a nation more time that we deserved to turn to Him....I certainly include myself in that condemnation....and His judgments are coming almost on a daily basis....and increasing all the time.
                    Money is not what bound us together as a nation. We were....American. We never demanded....America first....it would more likely be that we would be the first to say....America will be there to defend you! We never had a king or anything like a king. We had a God. We may never have lived as He would want us to live....but we never presumed upon His protection as we do today either.