The spirit of voter unrest has taken over America. Voters on both sides of the political divide are angry and are demanding that politicians speak as angrily and as disrespectfully as they feel. Northeastern moms are mad. “California tree huggers are ticked off. Born-Again Iowans are irate.” Sensible discussion is not possible anymore. Trying to have one is like feeding time in a crocodile pen.
“The moment a contentious topic is introduced, a cacophony of voices spew forward in rapid crescendo, each one louder and more breathless than the last. Within minutes, everyone is yelling, no one is listening and nothing is resolved.”
Women, who are usually the go-to people for sensible, empathetic talk, address sensitive topics in a critical tone usually reserved for their husbands. Today, American politics resides in an intellectual cul-de-sac. People are only listening to those like themselves.
While thirty years ago, voters rewarded politicians who spoke with vision and compassion about a “shining city on a hill,” “a thousand points of light,” or “I feel your pain,” today, “both presumptive nominees for U.S. president, are so equally distrusted and despised by polarized sections of the electorate that their most effective message is: well, at least I’m not [insert other candidate].” And if candidates don’t speak as angry or as disrespectfully as they should, they are “playing politics” or “pandering” in the eyes of the voters.
The mood in the 2016 U.S. election cycle is “anything but gentle: Everyone’s angry, everyone has a target for that rage—and everyone wants revenge.” Someone has to be punished! And politicians are messaging to pander (no less) to voter anger. So voters endorse candidates whose mission is to inflict pain, candidates who give them a voice and turn up the volume. Candidates get the most applause when they attack their opponents rather than putting forward their agendas.
Both Trump and Sanders have turned their backs on rivers of gold from their respective party’s super-PACs to fund their own campaigns. This has unifying power among their potential supporters because they are not beholden to the party. Today’s campaign is “about passion, not compassion. It’s about catharsis, not consensus. Payback, not progress. Posturing, not policy.” Emotion triumphs in a campaign of demonization and destruction, encouraged by voters themselves.
“The more Trump insulted and excoriated those who stood in his way, the more laughter and head-nodding” there has been from Republicans. And that is what has taken Trump to the presumptive GOP nomination. “These establishment Republicans deserve it,” is the thinking of the grass roots.
The Democrats have taken it as far as actual violence. Police have to keep peace at some state conventions, party headquarters in Nevada have been vandalized, and the state party chairwoman had to accept a security detail because of death threats from fellow democrats. This is not to mention the behavior of democratic opponents at Trump rallies.
American’s on both sides feel cheated. They feel vulnerable. They believe that the establishment (whichever establishment they previously most often identified with) has wronged them. And now it is time to right those wrongs. American politics are toxic. Negativity rules.
This is all very prophetic. Think about this statement from Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, Pages 450 and 451. Emphasis mine.
“Satan will excite indignation against the humble minority who conscientiously refuse to accept popular customs and traditions. Men of position and reputation will join with the lawless and the vile to take counsel against the people of God. Wealth, genius, education, will combine to cover them with contempt. Persecuting rulers, ministers, and church members will conspire against them. With voice and pen, by boasts, threats, and ridicule, they will seek to overthrow their faith. By false representations and angry appeals, they will stir up the passions of the people. Not having a “Thus saith the Scriptures” to bring against the advocates of the Bible Sabbath, they will resort to oppressive enactments to supply the lack. To secure popularity and patronage, legislators will yield to the demand for a Sunday law… On this battlefield comes the last great conflict of the controversy between truth and error.”
The stage is being set. The rule of the voting mob is replacing the rule of law. The American people are being groomed to demand a scapegoat, insist on revenge, and ultimately turn on and destroy those who uphold God’s truth.
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