America is Living Through a National Disgrace

“The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?” – Psalm 11:3

America is living through a national disgrace.

In the 1950’s, the “witch hunt” trials of Senator Joseph McCarthy left a sour taste in the mouths of Americans. With no evidence, he vilified good people, resulting in the loss of jobs, careers, and reputations.

America is better than McCarthyism. Our legal system, based on some basic principles, operates on the presupposition of a person being considered innocent until proven guilty.

What we witnessed last week in the hearing of Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a national disgrace.

Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina summed up it succinctly in his passionate, now famous, statement: “This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics.”

America is better than this. Grass-roots Americans will not stand for this. The ones who work in the tire stores, cut people’s hair, raise children, serve clients, pastor congregations, and work in the manufacturing plant. This is not how Americans treat other people.

Talk-show host Mike Gallagher said this morning, "This is the kind of stuff that infuriates good and decent people."

Christians and conservatives often don't want to rock the boat and speak out publicly. They don't like to fight. However, through the Bible, God regularly called his servants to speak directly to the culture, the national and political leaders, and the religious groups of the day.  Much of the message of the major and minor prophets as well as the New Testament contain such confrontations .

Keeping a Basic Dignity vs. Controlling the Court

A basic dignity presupposes our legal system, rooted in ancient legal codes, including the one found in the Old Testament. People have a basic dignity because they are created in God’s image. We should treat one another as those made in that image, what the Reformers called the Imago Dei.  A person is not considered guilty until substantial evidence comes forth to prove his guilt. In both the Old and New Testaments, an accusation must be substantiated with two to three eyewitnesses.

For 1000’s of years, legal systems have functioned with the burden of proof being on the accuser. You need 2-3 substantial witnesses - not just emotion and singular testimony. Suddenly, we are seeing a violent, emotional shift trying to make the burden of proof be on the accused. It is the pendulum swinging too far as a result of the #MeToo movement.

The process matters greatly.

As Dennis Prager recently shared, if Judge Kavanaugh has to prove his innocence here, it is the end of legal justice as we know it. The precedent would have massive, negative repercussions. If so, I fear for the world my children will experience.

But this has never been about Kavanaugh. It is about controlling the court.

In Tony Perkins' Washington Update of September 27, he wrote, “What we do know without a shadow of a doubt is this: the Left must have the court in order to advance their agenda in America. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) admitted it. They couldn’t get Congress or state legislatures to redefine marriage or impose abortion on demand. They had to go to the courts. They can’t get open borders in this country. They have to go to the courts. That’s what this entire smear campaign is about. This is not -- and never has been -- about Brett Kavanaugh. It’s about the shift that will begin to take place when a committed constitutionalist replaces Kennedy."

I told my family last week that if Kavanaugh’s nomination is dismantled because of this last-minute, but highly planned accusation with no evidence or witnesses, no man is safe in America. No lawyer, doctor, pastor, schoolteacher, principal, coach, Troopmaster, Sunday School teacher, youth group leader, or man in any leadership position. Anyone who dislikes them, disagrees with them, or has a bone to pick with them can accuse them of anything and upset their life and career.

The circus surrounding this procedure - from the disruptions on day one of the hearings to Senator Ted Cruz and his wife being run out of a restaurant to the McCarthyism-like spirit of last week -  disgust many Americans. Their behavior is revolting.

As former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich shared online this week, “The left-wing Democrats are prepared for rule or ruin. If they have to break the Senate rules, they will. If they have to smear Judge Kavanaugh, they will. If they have to assassinate his character, they will. And any Senator who stands up to them risks being trapped in an elevator, driven out of a restaurant, harassed in public, because they will rule or ruin. 

Do we want to become an America dominated by those kind of people?  A group set on imposing on us their radical values. The Left is showing the ugly face of totalitarianism.  They will do whatever they have to, they will break any rule they have to, they will smear any person they have to.”

Leftism Marching Through America

Their actions should not surprise students of history. The travesty before our eyes is the result of Leftism taking over the Democratic Party. Leftism is rooted in Marxism and socialism. It is an ideology that leaves no room for opposition or dissent. It destroys those with whom it disagrees without any code of ethics.

Ask Russell Vought. During the 2017 confirmation hearing for the deputy White House budget director, Sen. Bernie Sanders questioned Vought on his theological beliefs about Muslims. When Vought responded with a traditional, orthodox Christian answer, citing “the centrality of Jesus Christ in salvation,” Sen. Sanders replied, “I would simply say, Mr. Chairman, that this nominee is really not someone who this country is supposed to be about.” 

There you go. Leftist intolerance on full display.

Sanders’ position should shock and disgust decent Americans. One of the main two contenders for the nominee for President of the United States in one our main two political parties the last election cycle believes that a person who holds to traditional, orthodox Christian theology should have no place serving our country. And that a theological test is required in order to serve as a White House budget director.

This is not classic liberalism. And it is certainly not traditional conservativism. It is Leftism. And Leftism is trying to take over the Democratic Party – and America.

Leftism is the greatest threat to freedom, to religion, to our country's morality, and to America. Historically, as Dennis Prager points out, everything the Left touches, it ruins. Just look at the results of political Leftism in the 20th century: Communism, totalitarianism, Marxism, and Nazism. 

For the average American, this is no longer about partisan politics. This is about preserving our legal system, protecting our freedom, and keeping the age-old principle of treating other people – even those with whom we disagree –with respect and dignity.