Are you angry? Are you mad at what is going on in government? If you are a Republican, you are probably mad at the Democrats. If you are a Democrat, you are mad at the Republicans. If you are an independent, you get to take your pick. But even here, we are forgetting something really important. Remember something Abraham Lincoln said to a generation of Americans: It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. That last line rings down through time. And it serves to remind us that if we need someone to blame, someone to be angry toward, we really ought to look in the mirror. Blame congress, blame the president, if you must, for they were asleep at the switch. But we really ought to blame ourselves for putting them there. Isaiah, oh-so-long ago, in a situation very much like where we are today wrote: All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. Isaiah 56:9 12 KJV
