Blows against the empire

This article comes to us from Doug Newman.

--- Sean Scallon

You probably have not thought much about the nation of Mongolia lately. However, before 2006 draws to a close, it would be instructive to remember what happened in Mongolia 800 years ago.

1206 marked the dawn of the Mongol Empire, in its time the mightiest empire on earth. At its height, the Mongol Empire had a population of 100 million. It covered 14 million square miles, making it the largest contiguous empire in history. By comparison, the Soviet Union covered 8 million square miles.

Empires don’t last. The Mongol Empire was a case in point. The Babylonian, Persian, Assyrian, Greek, Egyptian and Roman Empires are all gone. Spain is no longer a world power. Neither is Portugal. The Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires were carved up after World War I. The French, Italians, Dutch and Belgians have cut their colonies loose. What is left of Britain’s overseas possessions has a combined population of about 200,000. The Soviet Empire is a goner. Japan got into the empire business in 1931 and got out of it aboard the USS Missouri in 1945. Hitler’s Thousand Year Reich came up 988 years short.
America – “the last superpower” -- has all the trappings of an empire. Our troops are stationed in 130 countries. We act as if we have the right to determine how other countries must govern themselves. We have no inhibitions about bombing the crap out of countries to enforce our will.

If this is not an empire what is?

It matters not how noble our stated intentions might be. Politicians always have good intentions. Our excessive pride clouds our judgment. King Solomon warned that “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

It is pride that causes Americans to think that we are selflessly spreading freedom and goodness across the globe and that the only people who hate us are a few fringe elements here and there.

It is pride that leads Americans to think that we can end terror and tyranny in the world.
And it is pride that causes Americans to think that we will forever be a superpower.

If you are one of these evangelicals who think that America has some mandate from heaven to throw its weight around the way it does, read Matthew 4:8-10. When Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, Jesus refuses the offer.

If the King of the Universe refuses all the kingdoms of the world, what makes so many American Christians think that America can rule the world?

America is not immune from God’s Laws and His Judgment. We are woefully mistaken if we think we can continue carrying on the way we do. Several secular trends point toward an end to American world dominance.

First of all, empire, like polo, is a rich man’s game. It costs a lot of money to sustain an empire, and America is not going to have that money in a few years. There is an economic earthquake coming in this country that no politician is talking about. And when it hits, we will simply not be able to afford to be a superpower any longer.

Specifically, I am talking about the impending collapse of Social Security and Medicare. In 2010, the Baby Boomers – talkin’ ‘bout my generation – will start retiring en masse. This will place an unbearable strain on these programs. Not only will they be drained of funds at an unprecedented rate, but there will be fewer working people “contributing” to these programs. As I write this, Uncle Sam has $53 trillion of unfunded liabilities. When the bills come due, it will not be pretty.

When it comes to paying for Grandma’s hip replacement or for an unprovoked war on the other side of the world, what will people demand? Not that we can afford it now, but there will come a time when we will have no choice but to cut and run from our military adventures abroad. The money will simply no longer be there. (I yearn for the day that we are no longer a superpower. I just wish it would happen differently.)

Second, our economy is every bit as regulated and controlled as any on earth. Jobs are going overseas for many reasons – NAFTA, GATT -- one of which is almost never discussed. I speak of the regulatory burden imposed by EPA, OSHA, IRS, EEOC and a whole host of other unconstitutional alphabet soup agencies. It now makes more sense to manufacture products in Communist China than it does in America, i.e. “the land of the free.” Nothing in life is free. This country has paid a huge price for all of these measures we have taken to “protect” our labor force.

Third, while we say we are fighting a “war on terror” abroad, we are doing next to nothing here at home to control our borders with Mexico and Canada. Well over one million people enter this country illegally every year. God only knows how many terrorists are in this country as a result of this. I am fairly liberally minded about who gets to come to America. If people come here to work, learn English, assimilate into the culture and become citizens, this is fine. However, America is now home to all sorts of flotsam and jetsam who refuse to learn English and who sponge off of our welfare state. (If we just turned off the entitlement tap we would greatly mitigate the immigration problem.)

If you don’t have borders you do not have a country. You just have a plot of land. This is the direction in which America is headed.

In March, 2005, GW Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican President Vincente Fox met in Waco, Texas, and launched the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). This is a merger of the United States, Canada and Mexico into a North American Union with a common currency, the Amero. There was no vote on this in the House and Senate at all. GW Bush unitarily signed off on this. The SPP means the end of our sovereignty as a nation.

Americans like to think they are carrying the torch of liberty across the globe. Not only is this not true – we imposed an Islamic constitution on Iraq – but our liberty is rapidly evaporating at home. For several years America has had the world’s highest incarceration rate. Since 9/11, we have seen such abominations as the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. We have put our stamp of approval on warrantless searches, domestic spying, hideously intrusive airport security, torture, the presumption of guilt and the suspension of habeas corpus. With recklessness eerily reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s, we have surrendered liberty in the name of security.

You cannot give your government unlimited power and retain any measure of personal security. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights severely limit the federal government for a reason: when government gets out of control you have neither freedom nor security. The greatest threat to your liberty comes not from the enemy without, but from the enemy within.

Moreover, Americans have adopted all ten policy planks of the Communist Manifesto as the law of the land. Such things as federal control of land and property, a central bank, a state education monopoly and a progressive income tax have no basis whatsoever in the Bible or any of our Founding documents. They are all policy prescriptions of the Communist Manifesto.

What will it take to wake enough people up to this? Death camps? As long as enough people live under the mistaken notion that they are free, they will continue this bobsled ride into totalitarianism.

Revelation 18 prophesies “commercial Babylon”, which will be fantastically wealthy but also diabolically immoral. In one hour this great city is brought to ruin. Is the Prophet John speaking of America here? I do not know, but I cannot help thinking he is talking about America.
If you think that "it can't happen here", think again. God is not going to extend any special protection to a nation wherein one million innocent babies are killed in their mothers’ wombs each year. Instead of thinking we are deserving of God’s Blessing, we need to be on our knees asking for His Forgiveness.

Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson: "Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep forever."

Will America go the way of Mongolia? Will future generations look at America as some insignificant historical curiosity? Will our only cultural export be American barbecues at strip malls in Ulaanbaatar?

There are just far too many indicators pointing toward America’s demise. I love this country and I do not enjoy writing these words. They are some of the more difficult I have ever had to write.

I pray fervently that I am wrong.

Let us recall the words of II Corinthians 7:14:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

May God forgive America.

Happy New Year.