Culture
It’s Not Gridlock–It’s Game On! The Tea Party Vs. The Flea Party
Though I don’t agree with either the message or methods of the Occupy Wall Street crowd, I’m glad they’ve taken the field in America’s culture war.
For quite some time the mainstream media have told us that the problem in Washington, D.C. is gridlock–that our politicians just need to listen to one another, and then come up with some bi-partisan solutions to the nation’s problems.
We are told ad nauseam that political gridlock is the problem–that both conservatives and liberals are to blame–and that the answer is to heed the call for civility made by Rodney King in 1992:
“You know, can we all get along?”
But now thanks to Occupy Wall Street, the truth is clear: The game to shape America’s future is on–the teams have taken the field–and only one team can win. It’s a cultural clash that will end in victory for one side and defeat for the other.
For which side will you fight?
I think it’s helpful to compare the 2011-2012 US culture war to the American game of football. Two teams take the field. They go at one another for sixty minutes–there is back and forth, ebb and flow of the contest–bruises aplenty and even some serious injuries. In the end, only one team is the victor. The groups don’t compromise–they don’t work out a plan to make everybody happy.
They fight it out on the field and the best team wins. Real wars work the same way.
With the 2012 election looming, America is engaged in a desperate and serious struggle for its future. I know of a Christian leader who has a book coming out this fall who believes that the next president of the United States will affect history for good or evil for the next one hundred years.
Whether he right or not, this I do know: For the next thirteen months, the game is on.
Here’s my view of the contest.
Team One – The Tea Party
One team in America desires to renew America’s exceptional roots. This team is best symbolized by the Tea Party movement which burst on the scene in 2009 in response to the election of Barack Obama and his desire to take the nation in the direction of socially-democratic Europe. Spontaneous gatherings erupted around the nation of ordinary Americans, many in their middle and latter years, who carried a clear message to their elected officials of the need for reduced spending, lower taxes, and limiting the size and scope of government.
The Tea Party movement, like its revolutionary namesake, lit a fire for traditional Christian values and the type of limited government it produces. The movement got heavily involved in grass roots politics and saw landslide victories in the 2010 elections. In 2012 they hope to win the presidency, gain a majority in the US Senate, and retain the House of Representatives. They also understand the need for small government leadership in our towns, cities, and statehouses.
Tea Party activists–and the people who resonate with them–desire an America that acknowledges God in our public life, supports traditional values including marriage, free market capitalism, and our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Justice is seen as creating a level playing field for all people where some can become successful if they choose–and others can settle for less if they desire.
In this Judeo-Christian worldview, every person is responsible before God for their outcomes in life. Character determines destiny. Government’s job is to protect people’s rights and punish evil both inside and outside our borders.
The Tea Party Team is the “home” team. They are historic America. They are composed of conservatives and independents with at least a memory of biblical ideas and how they made America great. They want to see those ideals flourish in our land again.
Team Two – The Flea Party
This is symbolized by the Occupy Wall Street crowd. The movement was recently nick-named by conservative columnist Ann Coulter. I’ll let her explain the meaning of the Flea Party moniker:
“So far, the only major accomplishment of the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protesters is that they have finally put an end to their previous initiative, ‘Occupy Our Mothers’ Basements.'”
“Oddly enough for such a respectable-looking group — a mixture of adolescents looking for a cause, public sector union members, drug dealers, criminals, teenage runaways, people who have been at every protest since the Berkeley Free Speech Movement… they can’t even explain what they’re protesting.”
“The protesters either treat inquiries about their purpose as a trick question, or — worse — instantly rattle off a series of insane causes: “No. 1, abolish capitalism; No. 2, because 9/11 was an inside job; No. 3, because Mumia is innocent …”
“Curiously, the only point universally agreed upon by the protesters and their admirers in the Democratic Party and the mainstream media is that “Occupy Wall Street” should be compared to the tea party. Yes, that would be the same tea party that has been denounced and slandered by the Democratic Party and the mainstream media for the last three years.”
“As a refresher: The Democratic National Committee called the tea partiers ‘angry mobs’ and ‘rabid right-wing extremists.’ ABC said they were a ‘mob.’ CNN accused them of ‘rabble rousing.’ Harry Reid called them ‘evil mongers.’ Nancy Pelosi said they were ‘un-American.'”
“But apparently liberals couldn’t even convince themselves that tea partiers were an extremist group unworthy of emulation. At least they’re embarrassed about what the OWS protesters really are: wingless, bloodsucking and parasitic. This is the flea party, not the tea party.”
Ann’s not far off. Just look at the current protests. They’re made up of primarily young people and older hippie-types who seem to enjoy slamming the system. They were joined–and many even paid to protest– by some labor organizations and communist/socialist groups backed by the progressive pockets of George Soros.
The Flea Party wants to destroy America as we know it. They are the “visiting” team who do not believe in our history. Though their message might be jaded by too much marijuana inhalation, they want bigger government, taking money from the rich and giving it to others, cradle-to grace entitlements, and I guess–a socialist utopia like, say, the Soviet Union! (Whoops–wrong example. That didn’t end well… How about Venezuela, Cuba, or North Korea?).
Interestingly, our current Democratic leaders are embracing the Flea Party. President Obama might have launched the movement himself with his incessant class warfare rhetoric over the past few months. It could be a re-election strategy: Take attention off the dismal moral and financial problems facing our nation–he can’t run on his record–and blame the greedy fat cats on Wall Street! (Whoops again–Wall Street gave historic amounts of money to Barack Obama in 2008…Oh well, people might not remember.)
The Flea Party is a cultural team devoted to secular values. They want God and his prudish morals out of America and demand a Bigger Uncle Same to play Robin Hood–to take from the rich and give to the poor. They’re willing to start a violent revolution if necessary (a la Europe?) to bring about transformative change. This team is mostly made up of liberal progressives and left-leaning independents. They want Big Government to level and control the playing field.
But Erick Erickson of redstate.com has a better solution:
“The point is not that we now need to punish those big businesses. The point is that we need to re-level the playing field and make it a fair competition between entrepreneur and corporation again. We need big business to stop living off the taxpayer dole. We need a new age of corporate welfare reform like the welfare reform of the 1990s.”
“The playing field has been tilted toward the big businesses because they are the only ones who had the capital to stay ahead of government regulations and new government burdens, and the influence to bend new laws in their direction. The playing field does not need to be tipped back in favor of others. Just level it. An upright tower build on a slope will topple the moment the slope is laid flat.”
The Referees
Every football games has its refs, and our present titanic clash is no exception. At the present time, the majority of the referees are the liberal mainstream media who demean the Tea Party and sympathize with the Flea Party. They support Barack Obama and want to see America permanently changed. They’re similar to the referees of the 2006 Super Bowl between the Steelers and the Seahawks who said they were neutral but really favored Pittsburgh on a number of controversial calls.
Seattle coach Mike Holgren said at that time that he expected to play the Steelers–not the men in black and white stripes. I feel the same today. Media bias makes it very difficult for the Tea Party traditionalists to win.
However, the emergence of Fox News and conservative radio has placed a few other refs on the field that could influence the outcome.
But it’s still an uphill battle.
For the next thirteen months these two teams and their philosophical allies will be fighting it out on the gridiron of the American destiny. Only one team will win. The wild card of this contest is which side will God’s people join. Will they pray and get involved to bring the United States back to its godly roots? Or will the Church unwittingly support the dissolving of our godly heritage?
It’s time to think clearly. This is not about gridlock. The game is on. One team will win and the other will lose.
It’s that simple and that profound.
I hope we choose wisely. Our future hangs in the balance.
The Mystery of Iniquity: Is It Time for the West to Admit There’s a Satan?
An article appeared in the Daily Caller on July 20, 2010 that revealed a conspiracy in the mainstream press to protect Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign. The evidence indicated that there were hundreds of journalists in the United States who were not interested in the truth about the man–they simply held a bias and wanted him elected.
I’ve been thinking about that bias for a year. Where did it come from? Why was it so strong and uniform so as to overlook the lack of experience, socialist policies, and radical associations of the man who now serves as our U.S. President?
We are now nearly three years into his term. By all accounts, he has been a failure on reviving the US economy, on addressing the great moral issues of our day, and in strengthening America’s position in the world.
Yet those same media outlets are lining up for the 2012 presidential run to both denigrate the eventual Republican nominee and help raise one billion dollars for Barack Obama’s re-election effort. Something seems wrong–even conspiratorial. But it’s not what you think.
There’s a “mystery of iniquity” at work in the world. It’s time for the West to admit there is a Satan. Acknowledging that fact causes many things to make sense.
I admit that the term “mystery of iniquity” is a vague concept in the Bible. The phrase appears in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 where Paul says “For the mystery of iniquity is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is taken out of the way.” These verses are in the context of a time of rebellion on earth, where a strong anti-Christian leader emerges.
My point is not to equate Barack Obama or any other specific leader with the biblical Anti-Christ. I believe there have been many anti-Christ figures in history with more to come. But I’m fascinated with the general idea that when human beings rebel against God and lawlessness is increased, then evil advances in a “mysterious” way.
Why?
Because there is one true conspiracy that the Western World hates to admit: There is a Satan. There are legions of demons in the unseen world. And this Satanic terrorism network can mysteriously blind the minds of human beings to act like mobs that believe crazy things, vote for crazy things, and do very evil things that hurt human begins.
The skeptical Western mind needs to wake up to this reality.
Yes, there is a God. Fear Him and love Him.
And yes, there is a Satan. Hate him and do not give in to his deceptions.
Interestingly, the number one book this week on the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list is about God. It’s called Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo. At number seven is Ann Coulter’s new bestseller called Demonic which I picked up for some interesting summer reading. Ann’s book begins with the story of the man who was possessed by a legion of demons (from Mark 5:2-9) and how human, mob behavior has demonic origins.
The popularity of these two books shows that some of the American people get it. They know there’s a God and also that there is a demonic conspiracy at work in this world.
But many do not–especially the media and intellectual elites. They make fun of the devil. He’s red with a pitch-fork. He’s a figment of our imagination. He’s a fairy tale figure that Western man can laugh at and ignore.
But he’s not–and this is where much of the world is smarter than we are. Most Africans, Pacific Islanders, Asians, and Middle Easterners believe in the reality of Satan and evil. They have different twists on this truth and perform different rituals to deal with it. But their daily lives attest there is a demonic conspiracy that is alive and active in this world–headed up by a cruel and malevolent being known as Lucifer or Satan.
The Bible says this true source of terror is able to “blind the eyes of the unbelieving” (2 Corinthians 4:4). And the greatest mass of unbelievers (in the supernatural world) live in the West. Our modern, unperceptive civilization is led by intellectual and media elites who laugh at the idea of Satan and his demons.
I think he laughs too–at our unbelieving ignorance.
And thus “the mystery of iniquity”–the mysterious advance of evil–moves forward swiftly and destructively in our societies. What an amazing tragedy.
Admitting there is a Satan, who is able to blind peoples’ eyes and destroy millions of lives, is a vital key to understanding so much of what is happening in the 21st century.
- The war against terror. How can human beings fly airplanes into buildings, strap bombs to their bodies, or the most recent terrorist attack in Afghanistan–blowing up a medical clinic with women and children that collapsed the roof and took scores of lives? Doesn’t that type of evil seem pre-posterous, inhuman, and totally illogical? Only the mystery of iniquity of the demonic world makes any sense of the carnage.
- The holocaust of abortion. In America have systematically killed 50 million babies the past forty years and not called it murder. A person who supports abortion says they are pro-choice. You ask them what is the choice, and they dance and swim around the subject. Of course, the choice is to kill a baby–plain and simple. But our minds are blinded to that fact. If we want to keep the child, it’s a “baby” in the womb. If we want to kill it, it’s a “fetus.” Our words determine what it is! Is that insane or what? No, it’s a cruel trick of the mystery of iniquity.
- The 2008 Election. He was the most unqualified man ever to run as president of the United States. He had no executive experience. He was a radical community organizer who sat under the teaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and held very strong socialist views on income re-distribution and social justice. Sure, he was a good speaker–but that can only take you so far. Yet, the mainstream media mysteriously backed him without question or normal scrutiny. It was as if their eyes were blinded to to his weaknesses and faults.
- 53% of America voting for a novice over an experienced war hero. I spoke to a number of people about their voting for Barack Obama in 2008. Many had no substantial reasons for pulling the lever for him. Somehow, they were mysteriously blinded to who he was and what he was going to do as president. Now they know. But are they able to see it?
- The “lamestream media” bias. It was amazingly lop-sided in 2008 and appears to be growing in strength in 2012. Is there any good reason to vote for Barack Obama in 2012? The Misery Index is at an all-time level. Unemployment is over 9%. We appear on the verge of a double dip recession or even a catastrophic depression. Nothing is being done to create jobs. Government debt is exploding and the party in power is doing absolutely nothing to stop it. Yet, the main stream media is fully in the tank for the re-election of the president. There’s something very mysterious about the level of myopia they possess.
- The advance of homosexual marriage. I’m grieved at the New York legislature’s approval last week of homosexual marriage. I wonder if it is a cultural tipping point that will speed up the necessary judgment of God on our nation. Imagine the deception of homosexuals “marrying.” To marry is to join together–both spiritually and physically to produce children. Same sex relationships can do neither. But they say “It’s not about gender. It’s about the person you love.” Really? If I love my sister can I marry her? Or if I love my child, or how about my dog? What if I love five women? Do you see the stupidity of this argument. There are many necessary God-given barriers for sexual relationships. Marriage between a man and a woman is the five thousand year standard. Yet, the mystery of iniquity is leading us to commit cultural suicide on this–the great moral issue of the 21st century.
This list goes on and on–from the acceptance of Keynesian economics, to the laughingstock of man-made global warming, to the West’s fascination with entertainment (giving their lives and time to something that is not real), the diabolical mystery of iniquity is the ONLY explanation that makes sense of our idiotic world.
Why we’ve believed Satan’s lies is the greatest mystery.
Theologians call it a fallen nature. It includes the brain.
I believe that the existence of Satan and his demonic conspiracy needs to be shouted from the house-tops of the Western nations. He exists, he’s destroying the planet, and we need to repent and come to Jesus Christ so that he can “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
As we raise awareness of Satan, there are just three qualifications to keep in mind:
1. Let’s be careful in exposing his deeds. He is an angel, an invisible being, whom we cannot see directly. Like wind or electricity, we simply see the effects of his actions. So we musn’t unthinkingly attribute his presence to just anything. We don’t’ want to see a “devil under every bush.”
2. On the other hand, we must learn to discern his actions, strategies and tactics. The Apostle Paul was seasoned enough spiritually and grounded in a proper worldview to recognize the direct hand of Satan in a number of circumstances in his life–and he mentioned them by name (e.g. 1 Thessalonians 2:18).
3. We also don’t want to blame Satan for everything. He is the influencer (deceiver) of men who then make bad or evil choices by following his lead. The “devil made me do it” is bad theology.
However, it’s time for the West to admit that Satan is at the heart of all of our problems.
Iniquity is a mysterious thing–until you understand its source.
An Actress, A Governor, and the Culture War
I remember when I first saw Natalie Portman’s picture. Our oldest son, Nathan, had just graduated from high school in 1999 and received his high school yearbook. As a joke, he pasted a photo of her next to his in the South Kitsap annual– as if she was in his graduating class!
He liked her then. She was a rising star.
In 2011, her stardom hit paydirt when she won her first Oscar as Best Actress for her performance in Black Swan. Her acceptance speech was short and seemed sincere–but one little sentence in it caused an old debate to re-surface:
How important is marriage to having children?
The answer to that question determines the overall happiness and stability of societies.
I hope we choose well in the 21st century.
Here are the actual words of Natalie Portman on February 27 at the Academy Awards:
“So many people helped me prepare for this role. Mary Helen Bowers spent a year with me, training me, Michelle Rodriguez and Kurt Froman and Olga Kostritzky, Marina Stavitskaya, and my beautiful love Benjamin Millepied, who choreographed the film and has now given me my most important role of my life.”
“Given me the most important role of my life.”
She was referring to the role of motherhood.
Natalie was clearly pregnant on stage–and also unmarried. She’s had sex (or was in some type of “relationship”) with Black Swan’s choreographer, Benjamin Millipied, and together they’d produced a baby.
In all thirteen generations of American history–except the last two–that reality would have been looked down upon as not ideal or desirable. Children were supposed to be born into marriages where both the presence of a mother and father was necessary and vital to to their nurture and future success.
But Natalie Portman is a part of a generation that no longer believes in the ideal–God’s order of things. She believes that sex or “love” is all that’s required to bring a child into the world.
Enter the Governor–former Governor Mike Huckabee–who is considered one of the leading presidential contenders for 2012. On a March 3rd talk show hosted by Jewish commentator and film critic, Michael Medved, Governor Huckabee shared his perspective on Ms. Portman’s example:
”You know, one of the things that’s troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman or some other Hollywood starlet who boasts of, ‘Hey look, you know, we’re having children, we’re not married, but we’re having these children, and they’re doing just fine.’ But there aren’t really a lot of single moms out there who are making millions of dollars every year for being in a movie.”
It’s true that Natalie Portman has more resources than most to raise her child out of wedlock. The Governor was right on that point. But he went on to say:
”Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care. And that’s the story that we’re not seeing.”
That is also a sobering truth. The largest single cause of poverty in America is single parent homes–children being born out of wedlock.
Then the Governor-and-possibly-presidential-candidate-Huckabee–shared some down right scary statistics:
“You know, right now, 75 percent of black kids in this country are born out of wedlock. 61 percent of Hispanic kids — across the board, 41 percent of all live births in America are out of wedlock births. And the cost of that is simply staggering.”
Let those stats sink in for a moment.
- Three out of four African-Americans that you know were born missing a dad or mom.
- Six out of ten Latinos are victims of single-parent homes.
- And nearly four-in-ten of all live births in the United States are children that will not grow up “normally” in the loving nurture and more-successful structure of a two parent home.
That’s a huge problem–for any society.
The Heritage Foundation rightly points out that:
“Couples who are married have a higher average household income, more assets, and better health than many of their single or cohabitating counterparts. Conversely, families that are headed by unmarried females make up more than half of all families living in poverty. And paychecks are not the only reason two parents are better. Research shows that ‘improvements in child well-being that are associated with marriage persist even after adjusting for differences in family income.’ With four of every 10 U.S. children now born outside of marriage and welfare spending skyrocketing—especially on single-parent households—policymakers and taxpayers can no longer afford to overlook the effects of family and marriage on civil society.”
This is an important discussion. And it’s not just about abstract statistics.
I am personally close to a situation right now where a young teenager is devastated and hurting. She lives with her mother but they don’t get along because of the brokenness of the home. She spends weekends at her father’s place–and cries. She goes back home to her mother–and doesn’t feel loved and protected.
She’s missing security and blessing because the nuclear family is not valued and encouraged.
But back to Mike Huckabee’s analysis. Governor Huckabee was not singling out Natalie Portman for ridicule or disrespect–just commenting on a national problem that she had brought to the forefront by her words at the Oscars. A few days after, he clarified his remarks:
“In a recent media interview about my new book, A Simple Government, I discussed the first chapter, ‘The Most Important Form of Government Is a Father, Mother, and Children.’ I was asked about Oscar-winner Natalie Portman’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Natalie is an extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar and I am glad she will marry her baby’s father. However, contrary to what the Hollywood media reported, I did not ‘slam’ or ‘attack’ Natalie Portman, nor did I criticize the hardworking single mothers in our country. My comments were about the statistical reality that most single moms are very poor, under-educated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death. That’s the story that we’re not seeing, and it’s unfortunate that society often glorifies and glamorizes the idea of having children out of wedlock.”
For the past week Natalie Portman’s words and Mike Huckabee’s response have dominated the social media. One side has said that what Natalie Portman has done is okay–it’s modern, individualistic, and is nobody else’s business. The other side has retorted that it is not helpful to our society to popularize or condone having children outside of marriage. It only hurts the kids–and the entire society in which they live.
During my lifetime, this is the second major national discussion we’ve had on out-of-wedlock births. The first occured in 1992 when Vice President Dan Quayle made his famous remarks about ficticious TV single mom Murphy Brown–and the media escoriated him for it. At the time, Quayle was tarred and feathered as prudish, out-of touch, and bigoted for his criticism of single motherhood.
Years later, the press quietly admitted that Quayle had been right–and that the growing epidemic of single parent homes was a major problem in our nation.
Apparently we have short memories.
So I welcome the debate again in 2011. Because here’s the simple truth: Sex outside of marriage is not good for people; Having children out-of-wedlock hurts kids and increases poverty; We should not glamorize or condone single parenting; We should work hard to keep our marriages intact–a gift of love, security, and prosperity to our children and their children.
That’s the bottom line.
Elevate marriage and family–discourage its counterfeits.
We are in a culture war over the future of marriage and family. Natalie Portman currently represents the secular side that wants to minimize the importance of the nuclear family. I hear a “demonic echo” coming from that direction. Satan wants to destroy kids and inflict poverty and despair upon people. One of his greatest strategies is to bend and break the traditional family.
I ask you to pray for Natalie Portman and many others like her.
Mike Huckabee represents the other side–the Judeo-Christian consensus that believes that God has something vital to say on this subject. He loves all human beings–especially vulnerable children–and created the family structure to nurture, protect, and defend them. Governor Huckabee wants families and children to be strong, productive, and fruitful.
And now you know the real reason that this story hit the front pages. Mike Huckabee might run for president of the United States in 2012, just as Dan Quayle ran for Vice President in 1992. The secular media, who do not believe in the importance of marriage and family, saw this as a great opportunity to try and cut him down to size.
Let’s not let them succeed.
Mike Huckabee is right on marriage, single parenting, and out-of-wedlock births. I asked my wife to order his book, A Simple Goverment, for my birthday.
Maybe he’s right on a few other important ideas that are vital to America’s future.