Under a withering barrage of absolute lies, the Republican members of the U.S. Senate have finally capitulated. This Monday morning, December 23, 2002, in solemn ceremony, they all bowed down low before an altar of neon flashing falsehood, and with nary a need for a further prod (by the sharp pointed end of an underworld tail), they have offered up the shining career of Senator Trent Lott as a sacrificial lamb, desperately hoping, feverishly hoping, hoping beyond all the reasonable parameters associated with the quality of hope itself, to appease, to placate, to comfort, and to distract that insidiously grotesque, jaw-clapping, and race-baiting demon, of soul-enslaving hatred which has so recently shaken the ground of Washington D.C., as if Godzilla himself had risen from the depth of the Atlantic ocean and decided to take a stroll around Capitol Hill.

(Technical Note: This demon is an astral parasite that occupies the mental and emotional bodies of multiple hosts. It lives within the thoughts and feelings of these hosts, from whence it tempts the soul (that divine spark of self-consciousness) into believing that it can get political power, by getting other people to hate its opponents. This demon is always on the lookout for a reason to hate someone, and the reason given will never be true, because the mind that is attuned to hatred, by definition, cannot comprehend or perceive truth. Plastering the label of "racist" on the forehead of its opponents is a time-tested and proven method to elicit hate. And then by flapping and clapping its jaw, it will spread the seed of hatred around, getting other people to radiate hate towards that person. The life blood of this demon of soul-enslaving hatred is the composite flow of hatred that is elicited from all participants. In this regard it is a collective beast composed of the collective energies of all who engage in this radiation of hatred. It draws life from all of them all at once, but only in the form of hatred. Stop the hatred, and it will die. Keep hatred alive, and it will continue to live. And it is not benign by any stretch of the imagination. Keeping hatred alive is not the same as keeping hope alive. By locking the mind of the soul into the matrix of hatred, it keeps that soul from seeing truth. And this locks the soul into a larger matrix of enslavement, because it eliminates the soul's capacity to see the (spiritual) truth that could actually set it free from any number of onerous burdens.)

     With this shining career on its plate, after roasting it for more than two weeks over a bonfire of raging maliciousness and malevolence, perhaps that demon may sit down long enough to enjoy a long drawn out multi-course meal. But what fools are these to believe that this paltry political body will satiate that demon for more time than it takes for it to lick its chops? No, my cowardly friends, you have satiated nothing. You have only given it new life.

     After straightening out their knees, and running pell mell out of that temple of darkness, thinking they have clean escaped the destruction of their own political careers, Republicans now feel cleansed and hopeful, as if they are embracing a brand new day, believing that they are starting out on a more solid piece of political ground than they could have ever hoped for. What deluded fools. Upon this new foundation, built, mind you, out of the repudiation of every Christian virtue, they are now building this bright glistening superstructure of hope and optimism. Does that make sense? Where is the Biblical basis for such optimism?

     This is the glaring truth of the matter: Anyone who believes that they have more to gain by capitulating to falsehood, than they have to gain by defending the truth, suffers the worst, and most self-destructive form of delusion.

     Whatever is built, upon a foundation, of the repudiation, of every Christian virtue, must fall. In other words, there is no divine support under any of the political dreams that the Republicans have filled their minds with in the aftermath of their capitulation to the racist lies heaped upon Senator Trent Lott.

     Perhaps this situation can yet be redeemed, but as it stands now, if you would ask the illustrious and erudite William Bennett to put this story in his next Book of Virtues, he would laugh in your face. The only virtue expressed by any character in this story so far has been Senator Trent Lott, and his career has been sacrificed to appease that race-baiting demon of soul-enslaving hatred.

     In this story, so far, we have seen all the moral teaching of Jesus Christ thrown out the window. And as a result, many more souls, for the price of a good name, or so they think, are sold into the bondage of Satan.

     Who is the giver of all good rewards? Have you forgotten? It is not the prince of this world. It is God our Father, and our Creator. Will he reward you for running away from the battlefield? Will he reward you for allowing the forces of darkness to trample the truth into the ground? Will he reward you for bowing down before the altar of falsehood? I think not. I don't think that anything that Jesus Christ taught would lead us to believe that we can expect any reward from God, under any of these circumstances.

     But isn't that the problem? We have long since left off making our decisions based on the principles given to us by the Son of God Jesus Christ. We are more practical today. We are more sophisticated today. We are far more deluded today, than we have every been, as nation, in all of our history. Paying attention to God, and giving our allegiances to him, and to Truth, is the only way to elevate our nation into that shining city on the hill. People may think they have something to gain by abandoning truth, but that temporal gain will always mask the descent of the nation as a whole into an ever deepening abyss of darkness. And the next challenge they face will be more wrenching, and they will be that much less prepared to meet it.

     Of course it is true, that this jaw-clapping and race-baiting demon of soul-enslaving hatred has scared the pants off of these pin-striped Republicans, believing that it would have the magical ability to strip the political power they now have, right out of their very hands. They have no faith, absolutely none, in God to protect their political behinds, if they would but stand for the truth. No, they have long since tied their stars to political realism, which is the oracle of the political god they worship. To stay in power, this god tells them, you must bow down before that lie, and allow the truth, and Senator Lott's career to die a quiet and silent death.

     Who do these Republican Senators expect to get their reward from? Well, it is not God. Clearly, they have their eyes on the prince of this world, who will always wear the mask of political power. This god of political power has promised to place more power in their hands if they would just abandon Senator Trent Lott. This god of political power has promised to place more power in their hands if they would just bow down O so low before this racist lie. This god of political power has promised to place more power in their hands if they look on the Truth as an untouchable leper. And these promises they have heeded. These promises they believe. These treasures they value, and they adore. And so they bow down low, thinking that they do good, in their abandonment of truth itself.

     Where exactly, in the behavior of the Republican U.S. Senators, is there evidence that the national motto, "In God We Trust", is anything more than words embossed on the coinage of our nation? Do they trust that God will stand by them, when they stand for the truth? In this situation, there is absolutely no evidence of it.

     By refusing to stand as the knights of old in defense of the truth, and running yet again from the battlefield to save their political behinds, they are allowing the nation to descend deeper into the abyss of darkness. When darkness reigns in the minds of our Senators, and they cling to it as if it were the very talisman of Solomon's wisdom, how could there be any other result?

     This is the way that nations disintegrate from within. The rationalizations that justify the abandonment of truth grow larger and larger in the minds of the people, and allegiance to truth is shoved further and further into the back of the cluttered closest of priorities. And pretty soon, what you have ruling the land is a lie, a lie so big, that everyone is imprisoned by it, and there is no escape, no, not even when you rediscover the golden lamp of truth at the back of the closest. By that time, it's far too late.

     But at this point, it is not too late. Sure, we have the demon of the big racist lie striding over the battle field, and great hurrahs are heard from the denizens of darkness all around, and there, the defenders of truth are seen running into the woods, heading for the comforting campfires of self-delusion. I mean they really believe they are running towards the campfires of victory. But we can yet turn them around, shake some sense into them, and perhaps after we shoot a few cowards or two, figuratively speaking of course, perhaps we can make honorable men out of the lot of them once more.

(Technical Note: In real life, when soldiers are arrayed on the battlefield against an opponent, the exhibition of cowardice and fear could cause an entire defensive line to collapse, and with that collapse, the entire battle, and war lost. Therefore, it has been the judgment of all military commanders from the first time the Children of God had to resort to arms to defend their interests, that fear and cowardice on the battle line could not be tolerated. That is why it is standard operating procedure, even to this day I believe, to immediately execute any soldier who runs from the battle. This is the only way to put a cork in any eruption of fear that could destroy the cohesiveness of the military force. Of course, this applies, in a literal sense, only to physical battles where the issue of life and death, national life, national death, are on the line. It applies to the arena of politics only in a figurative sense, i.e. only within the theater of the imagination, where the mind can weigh the principles of courage and fear, and the consequences associated with either, as abstract quantities.)

     Where is that dazzling and radiant beam of illumination that we need to pierce their fear and confusion shrouded minds? Why, I think we can open the Bible to find it, and hopefully, in the nick of time.

     Folks, the Bible says, "Judge Not." This is not a suggestion. This is the law of God laid down by Jesus Christ. I suggest that the nation bow down before these words as if they were bowing down before the golden altar of the One God himself, for of a truth, that is in fact the case, though perhaps in miniature:

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

     This passage of the Bible tells us that it is forbidden to allow this idea to form within our minds that asserts that Senator Trent Lott is a racist. In other words, herein we have a divine edict that says, "thou shalt not go there." And therefore, freedom from all of this confusion, concerning what ought to be believed, and what ought to be done about it, will be realized simply with obedience to the law set down by God through Jesus Christ. Judge Not. It's that simple. Obey that, and you have all the justification you need, before man or God, to stand your ground in defense of the honorable character of Senator Trent Lott.

     Everyone in the Senate knows that Senator Trent Lott is not a racist. Everyone knows that there is nothing in his public career that identifies him as a racist. He made comments during a birthday party for a 100 year old senator who ran for president in 1948. What was his intent? He wanted to help this man feel good about his life. Sure, Strom Thurmond was a champion for segregation in 1948. But he is so much more than his segregationist past. But more importantly Trent Lott had forgiven him for that mistake, and had forgotten. From Lott's viewpoint, this segregationist stain was no part of the character of Strom Thurmond any more. It wasn't part of his own character anymore, so why should he think that it was part of Strom Thurmond's character anymore? When a person says, "I'm sorry", we forgive and we forget, and we allow the person out of the prison house of condemnation, and to fly free to become what God wants that person to become, unhindered by the chains of the past. Strom Thurmond is a child of God just like any one of us. He has personally repudiated his segregationist past, and in his long career in the Senate, he has done good things for the people of his State, and for the nation. Neither is he to be condemned. When asked to clarify his position on segregation and racism, Senator Lott assured all of us, in the most sincere manner, that he did not support racism or segregation, and apologized for giving anyone that impression. We can certainly believe him that it was not his intention to use that moment, which was reserved for the celebration of Thurmond's virtues, to resurrect the segregationist ideals that were part of Thurmond's 1948 run for President. It is fair to say that this was the thing furthest from his mind.

     These are reasonable extrapolations based on an objective analysis of the facts. All of these reasonable lines of thought point to the truth, that Lott intended no racial animus by his remarks. And we are happily free from the burden of having to pick apart what reason tells us to be true, because God forbids us from doing that. Judge Not. Let the honor of the man stand intact before the eyes of the nation.

     If there is any single obligation that grows out of the entire Judeo-Christian tradition, it is that the truth must be defended, and every lie defeated. As St. Paul said:

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. ( 1 Corinthians 13:6)

     If God thought that this process of judging people represents a pathway towards the Truth, he would not have forbidden it. We can conclude therefore, that whenever we are tempted to judge our brother, we are entertaining a lie, and a very destructive one at that.

(Technical Note: And this is very easy to understand. Let's face it, when we are tempted to judge our brother, we do not have good intentions in mind. What we are trying to do, and let's be honest with ourselves, is to harm the man and his reputation in the eyes of other people. We take what appears to be a character flaw, and we blow that up, and make it look like the person is defined totally by that perceived character flaw. And in line with the temptation of the demon of hatred that we have already discussed, the idea is to get other people to project hatred at the person, because, supposedly, there is nothing at all in him that has value. We want other people to turn away from him, to judge him, to throw him into the figurative gutter. And of course to never listen to anything he has to say. He is just this big blob of detestable substance. But that of course is where the big lie is. No person, not you, not me, not anyone, is defined by a single character flaw, whether it is real, or imagined. Much less so when it is imagined, as is the case here. People have many good points, they are after all, God's Children, one and all, and God has placed some amount of his goodness in everyone. So, to give the impression, that a person is to be defined by a particular point, and judged and condemned on the basis of that point alone, that is to be a mouthpiece for a big lie. It is bearing false witness, and if you are remembering your Ten Commandments, you will know that that is another thing that God forbids. There are many many people who owe God, and the nation an apology, for bearing false witness against Senator Trent Lott on national television.)

     Let us look at this point a little more closely. Any person who heard Trent Lott's statement, who was not already aware of the history of Senator Thurmond's run for the presidency in 1948, would not have taken it as an expression of a racist sentiment. This is because the statement was not directed at the African American community, and had no race related words within it. Neither was the statement made in a context where the subject of race was at issue. Senator Strom Thurmond was sitting to the right of the podium, he was the center of attention. It was his birthday. A room full of people had gathered to celebrate the 100th birthday of the most senior U.S. Senator in the history of the Republic.

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."

     Not knowing the history of Senator Thurmond, and not having any other race related factors included in it, or included in the context within which the statement was made, it would be impossible to conclude that this statement had anything at all to do with race. Any fair minded person, who was not aware of Senator Thurmond's history (which we could conservatively estimate to number about 255 million Americans) would conclude from these three facts, that Senator Lott did not intend to express any race related sentiment at all. This is a very important point.

     To construe his statement as a race related barb, of course you would have to know Thurmond's history, but then you would have to manufacture in your own mind, the idea that Trent Lott had a hidden desire to poke a finger into the eye of the African American community. You would have to consciously attribute malicious intent where no evidence of malicious intent exists. Nothing at all supports such a conclusion, yet people hold that conclusion in their minds, and we have to ask why? It is because they want to believe it. And we have to ask why? It is because they want to bring down Senator Trent Lott, and through him the Republican Party. And this is what is so insidiously evil about any action which judges our fellow man. Behind it, is always a desire to destroy our fellow man. And that's what makes it evil. What's evil, is the destruction of what God loves. God loves his children. That's why God has set forth a law that forbids it.

     Judging our fellow man puts us in league with the demons that are so aptly described in some of C.S. Lewis's most famous works.

     Now, there are many people who are shouting this lie from the housetops, that Senator Trent Lott is a racist, and they sincerely believe it. And of course they want to broad brush stroke the entire Republican Party with that same insidious label. In doing this, they have consciously and stubbornly rejected the law set forth by God our Father through Jesus Christ, and they stand, in their self-serving arrogant pride, in judgment, and in condemnation of this honorable man. They are the hypocrites of which the Master spoke. They are not to be listened to. Their example is not to be followed. In the name of God, their example is to be absolutely rejected. They are the spoilers, who bring down real goodness at every opportunity. They must not be allowed to win any kind of victory as a result of spreading lies over the airways, or the dataways, of this nation.

Technical Note: It's a little bit more complicated when it comes to members of the Republican Party trashing Senator Trent Lott, but not overly so. When you understand that the only thing on their mind was to save their party from being labeled racist, something they felt would have completely destroyed them, i.e. if the label stuck in the minds of the voters, then you can understand why they desired to get rid of Senator Trent Lott, before that could happen. To justify in their own mind the destruction of Senator Trent Lott's career, they had to bend the knee before the racist lie, and accept the racist lie as true. That's how the conservative right, came into harmony with the liberal left. For a moment in time, they both wanted to destroy a particular individual, but for different reasons.

     Not being able to grasp the frivolous ambiance of the original scene (Thurmond's 100th Birthday Party), some people have demanded that Senator Lott explain exactly what he was referring to, when he said, that if Strom Thurmond had been elected president, that "we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years". They want to know precisely, and categorically, what problems he was referring to. And perhaps he has tried to explain, though I haven't personally heard any explanation, but I have heard the objections of those who have demanded an explanation, and who have apparently heard his explanation, and they say, well, his explanation just doesn't wash. The reason for that is simple, and it presents a classic Catch 22 situation. No explanation would stand up to any amount of scrutiny, because Lott's statement was not a policy statement, he didn't have any down-to-earth specifics in mind. It was a general statement, puffed up into the world of good-natured fantasy, meant to stroke the vanity of a senior Senator on his 100th birthday. That was the context it was made in, and that's all it was.

     The important thing to keep in mind here, is that no one in their right mind could have argued that the election of Strom Thurmond in 1948 would have had any effect on the outcome of the segregation issue anyway. It's amazing that people forget this, but it was the U.S. Supreme Court that sanctioned that insidious separate but equal doctrine, from which segregation was fashioned over the course of some 70 years or so. Remember Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896, where the U.S. Supreme Court put a stop to any and all efforts by the Republican Party (which had control of the U.S. Congress in the aftermath of the Civil War) to put the rights, into law, of all Americans of African descent. It was the U.S. Supreme Court that made the separate but equal principle into the supreme law of the land, not the U.S. Congress, and not by any action of a U.S. President. And therefore, the only way to undo it, was to get the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the issue, and overturn Plessy. And of course, beginning in the mid 1950's, that's finally what the U.S. Supreme Court started to do. In 1954, with Brown v. Board of Education, they started to systematically dismantle Plessy, establishing an open political space within which the U.S. Congress could then take up the issue again, and to finally put teeth into the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which the U.S. Congress began to do in the early 1960's.

     Now, just to be intellectually honest, I would note that it would be possible to argue that a President Strom Thurmond could have nominated pro-segregation justices to fill vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court. And by such nominations, it might have been possible to keep Plessy alive, and thereby to turn around the whole post 1954 history of the segregation issue. But there are a couple of things that make such an argument implausible. By 1948, and Thurmond's loss validates this, segregation was a losing issue. There would have never been enough support in the U.S. Senate to approve the nomination of pro-segregation judges to the U.S. Supreme Court. Moreover, such a possibility could only exist in a mind today, that was completely out of touch with reality. What I mean to say is, that so much good has been wrought by the dismantling of the policies of segregation, that only the most intense and hateful racists would stand insulated from this common sense viewpoint. Only a mind fully enveloped with the hatred of racism, could not feel genuinely good about the fact that people are no longer being publically humiliated by denial of service in public places on the account of their race. Ninety-nine percent of all Americans feel a great relief at this, and Senator Trent Lott is surely among them. I mean, you would have to be mentally and emotionally sick not to be. And as I have pointed out in a previous paper, there is absolutely no evidence that Senator Trent Lott has any kind of intense racists feelings living inside of him. All the evidence is to the contrary.

     But's let think about a few issues that might have been on the mind of Senator Trent Lott, and others who loved Senator Strom Thurmond's allegiance to the principle of liberty. Which I count myself as one. Let's get into this birthday fantasy here for a moment, where our ideals and our virtues sort of float up into this heavenly space, where they are greatly magnified by their disconnection from our corruptible natures.

     Perhaps the anti-Communist backbone of President Strom Thurmond, which became clearly evident in his Senate career from the mid 1950's on, would have made a huge difference in the history of the world. How so? Begin with the fact that the war-exhausted Harry Truman sat on his hands while the Communists took over China. If Thurmond was elected, instead of Truman being re-elected in 1948, Thurmond might have decided to throw U.S. Troops in the battle for China, and he still had time to do that, and instead of losing China to Communism, we would have a free China today. Well, if that were the case, it is very likely that there would have been no Korean War. The supply equation for the North Korean Communists would have been cut in half, and that could have mitigated against a decision to invade the South in 1950. And this would have been especially true because there would be a sizeable battle hardened U.S. Military force in the area, which had already defeated the Chinese Communists. The whole equation would have been different.

     But, since aggressors are never rationale, let's suppose that the North Koreans still thought they could get away with an invasion of the South, but with only the support of Stalin's Soviet Union. After all, the Soviet's were flush with war surplus tanks and all kinds of weapons left over from World War II.

     Now, is there an question about it, that if President Strom Thurmond had American forces on the ground in China, beating back the Communists there, that he would have settled for anything less than total victory in Korea as well? I think not. With Strom Thurmond as Commander in Chief, we would have won that war. History tells us that. If there was no Red China, there would have been no Red Chinese counterattack. It was the Red Chinese counterattack that forced the U.S. to sue for peace in 1953. Prior to that counterattack, U.S. forces had already driven up the peninsula to the Korea/China border. In other words, we had basically won the war at that point. If there had been no counterattack by the Red Chinese, we would have held our position, and the whole of Korea. If that were the case, the entire Korean Peninsula would be free today. And if that were the case, we wouldn't have had to keep American soldiers in the demilitarized zone over the last 50 years, and had to spend all that money to keep them there, and we wouldn't have ever lost the U.S.S. Pueblo into North Korean hands, and gone through all of the national disgrace associated with trying to get that boat back, and the sailors who were lost with it. We never did get that boat back. And what is most important for us today, we wouldn't have to worry about threat of North Korean nuclear weapons. That's certainly an interesting thing to think about. Right at this very moment, the North Koreans are in the process of blackmailing us with their nuclear weapons program.

     Now, if there was no such thing as a Red China, that would have made it certain that we would have won the Korean War. But let's say that President Strom Thurmond could not convince the U.S. Congress to take on the Communists in China, and that history played out there along the lines we are familiar with, i.e. with a Communist victory over the nationalist forces in China. What would have happened in Korea, under the leadership of Strom Thurmond under those circumstances? We would first note that one of the most important reasons that Red China felt it could intervene in the Korean conflict, was because they were absolutely sure that Truman would never use the nuclear option again. They knew that he had lost his taste for dropping nuclear bombs after ordering the destruction of three Japanese cities at the end of World War II. I think he actually made some speeches to that effect, which the Chinese Communists read with much interest. But with a President Strom Thurmond in office, their certainty in this regard vanishes, and with it, the Red Chinese intervention, which means America stands victorious in Korea without the complication associated with Chinese Communist intervention.

     But let's say the Chinese Communists gambled on Thurmond's timidity as well, and they intervened in Korea anyway, but Strom Thurmond didn't sit on his hands, like Truman decided to do, allowing them to simply ride over American troops. Maybe President Thurmond would have had the intelligence to listen to General MacArthur, and the faith in God necessary to lead America to a great victory over the Chinese Communists. How would he have done that? Perhaps a few well-placed nuclear weapons, and the Chinese Communists would have been history, and China today would be a free land. Or perhaps he could have figured out a way to do it with conventional weapons only. With God on your side, anything is possible. And the implications of that, whatever means were employed to achieve the victory, are very far reaching.

     Today, Communist China has about thirty nuclear tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles pointed at us. Under the foregoing scenario, with Strom Thurmond as President, those weapons would not be pointed at us today.

     Moreover, the hundreds of thousands of people slaughtered in the Communist Chinese takeover of Tibet, would be alive today, and Tibet would be a free nation today. And the thousands of temples destroyed throughout Tibet by the Chinese Communists would still be standing. And the implications don't stop there.

      If Communist domination of China had been eliminated, this would have cut by half, or perhaps more, the support the Communist insurgents were getting in French Indochina in those years. They would have still been supported by the Soviet Union, but the shear quantity of supplies reaching them would have been far less due to the fact that most of the major supply routes through Red China would have been eliminated. Having eliminated the ability of Communist China to support the Communists in French Indochina, and the amount of support from the Soviet Union reduces to a trickle, maybe American support for the French wouldn't have been a crucial issue in that area, which would have allowed the French to defeat the Communists, which would have completely eliminated the need for the U.S. to become embroiled in the Vietnam War.

     The war material supply equation in this conflict would have been substantially changed by the fact that with the defeat of the Chinese Communists, and with the cessation of hostilities on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. would have been in the position to channel much greater quantities of supplies to the French.

      If perhaps the Communist insurgents in French Indo-China did, somehow manage to bend the will of the French, which forced them to request U.S. help, instead of sitting on his hands in this regard, as both Truman and Eisenhower did, maybe President Strom Thurmond would have chosen to support the French in Indochina in a direct manner, in a decisive manner, making absolutely certain that the spirit of freedom would have been victorious there, instead of the spirit of Communism. Maybe President Strom Thurmond would have never allowed a French defeat in Indochina.

     Remember, it was never God's will for any country to fall to Communism. It was always God's intent to support those who believed in freedom.

     If that were the case, their would be no Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C., the 50,000 Americans who lost their lives in Vietnam would be alive today, and there would be no forever festering wound in the national psyche over that war. And guess what? The whole of Vietnam would be awash in freedom and democracy, and the 3.5 million Cambodians slaughtered by Pol Pot's Communist Khmer Rouge in the mid to late 1970's would be alive today as well. And moreover, this outcome could have totally changed the face of the 1960's, robbing the counter-culture of its anti-war/anti-establishment rallying point. No counter-culture, not eruption of drugs, and free sex, and all of the licentiousness that came with it. President Lyndon Johnson would have been reelected, and there would have been no Watergate to further destroy the morale of the nation.

     With America's clear and unambiguous victory over Communism in Korea, and China, the stage would have been set for U.S. intervention in Eastern Europe in the mid 1950's, coming to the aid of the Hungarian and Polish freedom fighters in 1956, against the Soviet occupation, forcing them to scurry out of there with their tails between the their legs, allowing the banner of liberty to be firmly placed there, which would have eliminated any possibility that the exodus of people from East Germany to the west in 1961 would have been answered by the building of the Berlin Wall. At this point, the Soviets would be shaking in their boots at the sight of American and NATO forces. The Soviets would have never have tried it. The Communist hold on Europe, being far less all encompassing that it otherwise would have been, there would have been a strong potential for the U.S. and NATO to intervene on behalf of the Czechoslovakia freedom fighters in 1968. It's hard to tell what the ramifications of that would have been, but the face of Europe, and the world would have been far different, and better, with more freedom in more nations, than was the actual case.

     And because of the strong legacy of President Strom Thurmond in fighting and defeating Communism, perhaps succeeding administrations would not have just sat back and allowed Cuba to fall to the Communists either, and the Cuban people would have had a legacy of 50 years of freedom, instead of 50 years (and counting) of slavery under Castro.

     And with this exhibition of American strength, purpose, and resolve, the Soviet Union would never of had an opportunity to place nuclear missiles 90 miles away from Florida, and we would never have had any close brush with nuclear annihilation.

     Given the steady defeat of Communism throughout the world, perhaps the people in the Soviet Union would have risen up against their masters far earlier than they actually did, and the length of the Cold War, and the fear of nuclear annihilation would have reigned over the earth for many less years than it actually did. Perhaps with this radical change in the fortunes of Communism overall, the Soviet Union would not have even been around in the late 1970's to invade Afghanistan, and as a result, millions of people who were slaughtered by Communist forces there, would be alive today, and it would never have become a haven for the terrorist Bin Laden, especially since he would have been robbed of that all important opportunity to build a name for himself in the fight against the Soviet Union.

     Maybe with Strom Thurmond's leadership, America would have been feeling so good about what God had accomplished through them in the 1950's, defeating Atheistic Communism wherever it reared its ugly head, that they would have never stood still for the U.S. Supreme Court outlawing prayer in the public schools. With that practice in place over the last 40 years, the face of America today would be completely different, I mean completely different, and all of the plagues that we suffer as a matter of course, and they are legion, would have been kept at bay by the intercession of the hand of a grateful God, grateful for America's sacrifice, grateful for America's selflessness, grateful for America's allegiance to liberty.

     Given the fact that it has been Communist North Korea, and Communist China, that has proliferated nuclear weapon's technology into Pakistan, you could say that if Strom Thurmond had become President in 1948, and the foregoing scenario had out pictured itself, that we would not have a nuclear flash point, between India and Pakistan today. That's something to think about too.

     If Strom Thurmond had been elected in 1948, all of these things might have been possible, and the world would be a very different place, and a better place at that. (Keeping in mind that all of these things are assuming that Strom Thurmond didn't disgrace himself by trying to push a segregationist agenda that the whole country abhorred, and we can assume that, because we are overlaying onto the past, the virtues of the man as we know them today, which includes a repudiation of segregation). And this has some element of reality in it, because the pressures that would have borne down on a President Strom Thurmond in 1948, were all, as I have noted them above. He would have been faced with huge responsibilities on the world stage, and this by itself would have mitigated against spending any time at all pushing a politically unpopular agenda at home.

     I know. There are at least two problems with setting forth the foregoing scenarios. First of all, it could never have been, simply because Strom Thurmond didn't base his 1948 campaign on his virtues, but on his vices. He would have never been elected because of that. A nation that had fought to free the slaves in the Civil War, would have never, no, not in a million years, elected a President that was in favor of segregation. But birthday fantasies, as noted, can set such realities aside, especially in the minds of those who have forgiven and forgotten specific shortcomings. The second problem, is that these points which marry together Strom Thurmond's virtues of later life, with the geopolitical problems of that day and age, which are very inspiring points to those who think these issues are extremely important, is that the same people who are calling Senator Lott a racist, are the same people that despise America's stand against Communism, and mocked it at every possible opportunity. If such arguments came out of Senator Lott's mouth, these people would fall down on the floor in hysterical laughter, so out of touch with reality are they. But this is who they have chosen to be, and who are we to argue with them? So, what could you possibly say to them? There is nothing you can say to these people that would satisfy them.

     They have judged Senator Lott's character as totally black, and that's the way they will see it, no matter what anyone says.

     But nevertheless, I would note that the above scenario is in perfect alignment with what Senator Strom Thurmond, and the nation, along with Senator Trent Lott, dealt with from 1950 until today, and that was the fight against Communism. You can gauge Strom Thurmond's effect on history, in a fictional presidential role, within that context, because that's what the context was. Not everyone in America had their heads in the sand, thank God, looking totally inwardly over those 50 years.

     So you can see the dilemma that Senator Lott has before him. Any explanation for what he said, beyond what is actually true, would appear to the uninformed, as simply irrational and unbelievable. Though it is not that entirely, as you can see. Its fits enough within the envelope of reality that you can plausibly believe that Trent Lott could have thought that Strom Thurmond could have had a positive impact on the history of the nation, with the segregation issue completely set aside. But the reader would be making a mistake to attribute to Trent Lott the quality of specificity that I have been able to bring forth here, where I have had time to think about this in some depth. Trent Lott has probably never really thought about this in much depth or detail. And I don't want to do a disservice to him, by putting thoughts into his head that were never there. Though because of his own interests in these geopolitical areas, and those of Strom Thurmond, it is plausible to believe that within his mind he had formed something akin to this highly fungible envelope of fictional plausibility, all of it yet residing in the world of abstract idealism.

     Let's broaden this point out a bit then. Let's see the broad outline within Lott's mind of the fact that Strom Thurmond had been an outspoken advocate of many issues that conservatives feel strongly about, that conservatives consider very important. From that broad outline, would it be possible for a reasonable person to conclude, that if those virtues (minus all his vices) had been anchored in a presidency as early as 1948, perhaps the nation would not be facing all of the problems that it is facing today? I think that is an eminently reasonable thing to think, and to say about someone that you respect and honor.

     Given this, we can understand how and why it is that Senator Lott was not making an intellectually rational statement, that could be explained with rationale specifics. What is true, is that Lott's statement was a vanity stroking flourish for a 100 year old Senior Senator on his 100th birthday, and it was nothing more.

     In other words, and this is the final point on this issue, because Lott's statement was tied, in one respect, to reality in terms of Thrumond's virtues (minus his vices), but totally disconnected from reality, in terms of the possibility of Thurmond ever bringing those virtues to bear upon the world in the specified manner, the statement was composed of 75% fabrication, and because of this, it will be a statement that will be forever void of a reasonable down to earth explanation, other than the one he has already given, which is, that he was just trying to say something nice about a guy who was just turning 100 hundred years old.

     Is it plausible to think, that in Trent Lott's mind, that his own involvement with segregationist south is an embarrassment, and that it is something that he is not proud of, and that it is something that he would prefer to forget? This is eminently plausible. If you want to have a healthy self-image, you would be advised to completely forget, any and all things that you are not proud of, and never factor them into your sense of identity. I know that all of us have things in our past that we are not proud of. We know that we adhered to this or that kind of thinking or behavior in the long forgotten past, but we are completely different people today, and we consider ourselves cleanly on the virtuous side of the track in that respect, and that we do all of our thinking from that side of the track. And you will live as if you have never been on the other side of the track. And that is what the Christian religion teaches its adherents to do. Is it possible that the adult Lott had completely set aside his childhood brush with the segregationist south? Absolutely.

     Again, as noted above, all reasonable lines of thought point to the truth, that there was absolutely no racial animus contained in Lott's statement. And again, we are happily set free from the phantoms of doubt that are always ready to attack like a cloud of blood thirsty mosquitos, because of the divine edict that we have discussed already, which is, "Judge Not." In this regard, the divine edict works just like the best insect repellent. If you have every possible reason to think the best about someone, then think the best about him. Don't get pulled into that forbidden zone of character assassination for any reason. Even if you think, and other people think, that there's pot of gold shining down there at the bottom of the pit. Don't go after it.

     Now, some people might say, "Well, there is no way to prove that Senator Lott is not a racist. He still might be a racist you know. Don't you think you are going out on quite a limb there, in your defense of his character? What if he proves you wrong tomorrow, or the next day, or the next? You will really look like a fool." First of all, this is not much of gamble at all. In his entire public career, he has never done a thing that you could call racist. No, not one thing. If he had, we would all know about it. The Lexus/Nexus searches were all done in the first week of this fiasco, and if there was anything in the public record that indicates that he wants any particular group back in chains, we would have heard about it. No, he has never exhibited an iota of racist sentiment, and he certainly isn't going to start now. And beyond that, when we do our best to obey the law that God has set before us, God will never judge us to be a fool. God will be pleased that we did not add one iota to the burden of character assassination that this honorable man has to carry. Moreover, as we judiciously align our behavior to the guidelines set forth before us by the Master Jesus Christ, we can be sure we are taking the course of action that will deemed most wise in the eyes of God our Father.

     Now, some Republicans might say, that they are not pushing for Senator Lott's resignation because they personally believe that Senator Lott is racist, but because he exhibited a striking example of foolishness and insensitivity. Well, a case can be made for that, no doubt. But Senator Lott has sincerely recognized this particular error, and he has sincerely apologized, and he has given us assurances that it his desire to make amends. If we refuse to accept this apology, and to forgive him, we again break the law of God. Again, this was not a suggestion made by Jesus Christ. It was the articulation of a code of behavior, a law of behavior, which the Children of God are required to adhere to:

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:21-22)

     Seventy times seven equals four hundred and ninety (70 x 7 = 490). If Senator Trent Lott had been insensitive to the racial pain of African Americans 489 times before, and did so again, yet he asked for our forgiveness, according to Jesus Christ, we would be required by God to forgive Senator Trent Lott even one more time. But, how much more are we required to forgive him, when this is really his first offense, for which he is genuinely contrite, and we are all quite sure that he will never, never, never, make that mistake again.

     This forgiveness is not intended to benefit only the soul of Senator Trent Lott, but it for the good of our own souls, and the soul of the nation.

     Every time the circumstances of life place before us an opportunity to forgive, individually, or as nation, it is always a test of our level of respect for God and his laws. And it would be best not to overlook the importance of the test, and whether we pass it, or fail it. Every time we choose God over anti-God, we are blessed. When we choose to align ourselves with God, He comes closer to us, and our lives manifest more of his abundance of every good and perfect thing. Every time we choose anti-God over God, we move away from God, and our lives reflect that, in terms of a diminishing level of his abundance. Good and perfect things become more scarce, not only in terms of a condition of lack, but in a corresponding proliferation of things that are neither good nor perfect.

     And this test, in terms of forgiveness, is not all the onerous. Think about this. Who can we forgive, i.e. who can the African American Community forgive, who can the Democrat Party forgive, and who can the Republican Party forgive, if it is not Senator Trent Lott? In other words, there isn't much possibility that you could have a person that is easier to forgive than Trent Lott. He is a genuinely good person, with a good heart. This guy is sincerely repentant for a remark that was not even directed at the race issue. He was only stroking the presidential vanity of a close friend and colleague who was a hundred years old, and they were laying it on a little thick anyway, because who knows if the guy would ever have another birthday party? If anyone has the desire to forgive, and wants to take advantage of this opportunity to exercise that virtue, this is a very important opportunity for them to do so. I mean, there is not a very high hurdle to jump over here.

     In this regard, every opportunity is precious, and should be taken advantage of. People should not let this kind of opportunity slip through their fingers. This is where people choose to step onto a higher road, or onto a lower road. In this regard, it is a national initiation. The whole nation rises, or it falls, depending on what we choose to do with Senator Trent Lott. And once the choice is made, I think its fair to say that we will travel along the road, and reap the fruits thereof for the appointed season. At a certain point, the opportunity to reverse course disappears, and the chosen course is set in concrete, at least for a time, and we have to live with the consequences of our mistakes.

     Here is an example of the words of one American who has passed this test, and I share it with you because the sentiments are solid gold, and worth emulating:

I am of African decent having being born in the Caribbean. I do appreciate your input on the world scenes every time including this time. I too share your views about this. I can see how the descendants of the years gone by, the slave owner's great grandchildren, how they suffer today because of the result of us not forgiving and letting go. Whereas even as the children of those days were given no choice but to think as there parents thought, the children of today are given no choice but to think the way of their parents. Yet there is an end, and I believe in this, and one of these days when we would all have learnt to forgive we will have this great opportunity of love and forgiveness and opportunity. It is painful for Senator Lott Every time someone dash a stone towards him, and it is painful for us African Americans who are desirous of forgiving who love especially the little ones who suffer the most in this segregational crisis. In love of humanity, in love of God.

      The jaw-clapping and race-baiting demon of soul- enslaving hatred tempts people into believing that something positive can be accomplished by resurrecting hatred, and by using it as a whip to lash their opponents into submission. The demon of hatred enslaves the soul with this illusion. We are not going to cleanse ourselves, or the nation, of the legacy of slavery, and of segregation, by continuing to hate, and by fostering hate, but only by forgiving.

     There is never any such thing as a win-win situation when people have conspired and agreed to allow a LIE to rule the land. This is a huge illusion. This illusion floats in the minds of the people like a big colorful hot air balloon, that is fed only by the updraft of fear. It is colorful because people like their illusions to be pretty, captivating, and comforting to the inner vision. But it never will be anything but an audacious illusion, kept aloft by the soul-poisoning updraft of fear. Fear is the only thing that keeps it aloft.

     Now, I understand the fear that many people feel, who would otherwise be supportive of Senator Lott. They fear that if they stood up for Senator Lott, and tried to defend his honor, that they too would be smeared with the same false racist brush, and they don't want that. Who would want that? Nobody would want that. They want their character to remain intact before the eyes of the people. So, they remain silent, thinking that they have safeguarded something that is very important, i.e. their own image in the eyes of the people. Now, clearly, there is something to be said in support of this reasoning. I mean, it is easy to grasp and understand that there is a certain amount of value in having people believe the truth in this respect, that you are not a racist. But to gain that little bauble of measurable value, at the price of allowing a lie to ruin the career of one of the most honorable men in the U.S. Senate, I think that there is reason to believe, that you will actually be losing far more than you think you are gaining. Consider this statement by Jesus Christ:

     Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
     But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
      Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
     For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
     For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
     For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. (Matthew 16:22-27)

     To understand these passages, we must understand that the Master Jesus Christ came to give us an example of what it means to live a life based completely on truth. And of course, this is what he advocated in every respect. When he said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me," he was telling us that there is only one way to heaven, for us individually, and for us as a nation, and that is by his example, by living a life based on truth. I am the way. My life shows you the way. My words show you the way. My actions show you the way. It is the way of truth. To follow him, to be his disciple, is to honor truth in every aspect of our lives. No matter how much we might think we are devoted to him as a person, or whatever else you want to think about him, the only way we can actually be his disciple, and follow in his footsteps, is to honor the truth in every aspect of our lives. To follow him, is to follow the way of truth. To be devoted to him is to be devoted to the truth. To give your life for him, is to give your life for the truth. To lose one's life for his sake, is to lose one's life for the sake of the truth, whatever form that truth may present itself in your life. What he is telling us here, is that every aspect of our life that is based on falsehood, if we lose that aspect of our life, we will gain a greater aspect of our spiritual life, a greater aspect of our God-life, both individually and as a nation. And if we try to save any aspect of our life that is based on falsehood, by so doing, we will actually be losing a greater aspect of our divine life, again both individually, and as a nation.

     To abandon truth, is to abandon the way of life that he taught us to follow. Everywhere there is truth to defend, there is an opportunity to defend the way of life Jesus came to exemplify. Every time we step back from our duty to defend truth, we are allowing the forces of darkness to defeat the way of life that Jesus came to exemplify. Every time we sacrifice truth, thinking that we are saving something about our life that is of value, we are actually losing what the Master Jesus Christ considers real life, which is our divine life, or our God-related life. And I think that it would be far more wise to use the Master's definition for life, rather than the world's definition. In other words, the fact that people might think this about us, or think that about us, has nothing at all to do with our real divine life. What they think or don't think, has nothing to do with what God thinks about who we are. What they think or don't think has nothing to do with the criteria God will apply at the point of judgment, when he is deciding what is divine, and what is not divine within us. The only criteria used at the point of judgment, is whether your actions have been aligned with the truth, or with the popular falsehoods promulgated by the prince of this world. You will be rewarded for the one, and for the latter, you suffer loss.

     By defending the truth in regards to the thoroughly honorable and non-racist character of Senator Trent Lott, sure, we all face the danger of getting smeared with the broad brush of racism ourselves. But, we have far more to gain, in God's eyes, by standing up in defense of the truth. And that's what ought to matter to us the most.

     In the weeks leading up to Christmas 2002, Senator Trent Lott has been crucified on a cross of lies. He has been nailed there, and left to die, politically speaking, no less so than Jesus was nailed there and left to die 2002 years ago. With the conference call in which his colleagues participated on Monday Morning, December 23, 2002, his loving colleagues have wrapped him in a shroud and placed him into a tomb, where they sincerely hope that the nation will forget about him. I say, before this Christmas Season passes beyond view in our rear view mirror, in the spirit of Jesus Christ, whose birth this day celebrates, let us all gather before that tomb in a true spirit of contrition, in a spirit of shame over our own lack of trust in God's commandments and promises both, and let us roll back that stone, and let the good name, and the leadership position of Senator Trent Lott be resurrected by the very Spirit of Repentance on our part, and the Spirit of Truth on God's.

     Now, as we wrestle, within our minds, with the political pros and cons of this call for a just resurrection, it would be well to consider why the forces of darkness were so intent on destroying the career of Senator Trent Lott, and the image of the Republican Party along with him, on the very eve of Christmas 2002. Some genuine divine good was on the horizon, and that demon of hatred wanted to defeat this good at all costs. And setting aside all appearances to the contrary, by forcing the Republican Party to capitulate to a lie, forcing them to retreat from the defense of the truth, in this they have destroyed the possibility of that good coming forth, for all good is of God, and the Republican Party abandoned God. Let's be clear about this, and wipe all confusion from our minds on this point. What the Republican Party has done, in the case of Senator Trent Lott, was to abandon everything that Jesus Christ ever taught as right and true. Everything that Jesus Christ taught, had in mind our reconciliation with God our Father. In these actions, we have turned our back on that process of reconciliation, and we have taken the hand of darkness for comfort.

     Well, we are at war with a terrorist foe that threatens our very survival as a nation. And this is most especially true in this dawning era where weapons of mass destruction can reach the hands of terrorists. And we like to say, God Help Us, and we like to say, God Bless America. I think these prayers are not as well received in the courts of heaven today, as they once were. And moreover, I think that on the eve of going into an actual conventional war in Iraq, we ought to consider whether it is prudent to test God's allegiance to our purposes, when we fail to pass those tests of allegiance to his. In all cases, it is always prudent to do the right thing by God. Why tempt Divine Providence at such a crucial juncture? In other words, why laugh in his face, and scurry away thinking that you have won some bauble of eternal worth from the dark side of life, and this at such a crucial time?

     How much more will God reward those who stand and face this demon of soul enslaving hatred, and conquer it by the power of truth and by the power of forgiveness. But this is not a victory won by words only, but by deeds. Noble deeds. Let Senator Bill Frisk be a true leader. Let him lead the effort to restore Senator Trent Lott to his rightful and honorable position that should have never been taken away from him, and thereby make this a story with a happy ending, that William Bennett would be proud to include in his next Book of Virtues.
 
 

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