“Observations”©

Donald S. Conkey

Date: March 26, 2009 - # 9913c – America’s tax day is upon us (818)

Between May 27, 1787, when the Constitutional Convention was called to order by George Washington in a small non-air-conditioned room in Philadelphia, and September 17, 1787, when 39 of America’s Founding Fathers signed that document we now know as the United States Constitution that hot stuffy room was filled with heated debate – so heated and raucous that several of the attendees went home never to return. And since those hot hectic four months the Halls of Congress have been the scene of untold rhetorical slug fests – even fist fights over the proposed wording or intent of laws needed to govern a growing and prosperous nation.

       But I doubt if any were more heated or more raucous then the rhetorical slug fest we witnessed on TV during the past few days as members of the current Congress put on a display of indignation as they attempted to cover their backsides over the words suggested by White House aids, but written by congressional aids and approved in the Stimulus Bill by Congress that allowed for huge bonuses to be paid to AIG employees – out of federal funds. It was a feeding frenzy, using hostile and accusatory rhetoric, and was American politics at its worst.

       While watching those sad events surface in Congress another event that happened centuries ago came to mind, an event that led to the division of another mighty nation – ancient Israel, and to its eventual destruction.  The similarities between the creation of ancient Israel, an ancient land of liberty, and America, a latter-day land of liberty, are uncanny to students of American history. Biblical buffs believe that the ‘perfect laws of liberty’ that governed Israel were the laws given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, laws that emphasized equality and individual responsibility. Israel governed itself by these laws for about 220 years before corruption became rampant and the people asked for a king.

       And if we can believe the writings of America’s Founding Fathers, and I do, they tell us that it was the Spirit of God that guided the Founders as they struggled to create America’s foundational documents based on those same “perfect laws of liberty’ of equality and responsibility Moses had governed with.  

       The division that eventually destroyed Israel was over the same issue that is dividing America today – excessive taxation. The seeds of self-destruction were sown when the Israelites asked Samuel for a king (this is akin to turning to the government for all our needs). God gave them what they asked for but not before warning them of what would happen. Those seeds of self-destruction began to sprout during the later years of Solomon’s reign when he married outside Israel, for political reasons, and rejected that God who had once blessed him with great wisdom. As Israel rejected their God and became a godless nation, the Spirit of their God “stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad, the Edomite.” Growing numbers believe that as America has allowed secularism to replace the Founder’s God of Israel that the seeds of self-destruction have been sown and are now sprouting and being nourished by our schools refusal to teach our youth those principles the Founding Fathers embedded deeply in their founding documents and by replacing those principles with principles of secularism and political correctness.

       The seeds of self-destruction that were sprouted by Solomon’s actions ripened as two of his sons, Rehoboam and Jeroboam, disputed over tax policies following Solomon’s death. Rehoboam, the younger, asked for guidance from his counselors. The older counselors advised him to reduce taxes. The younger intellectuals advised him to raise taxes. Rehoboam, following the advice of his younger counselors, raised taxes exponentially, saying to the people: “And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”

       When this new tax policy was implemented ten of the 12 tribes rose up and rebelled and followed Jeroboam out of Israel, dividing Israel forever. The rejection of God’s ‘perfect laws of liberty’ divided Israel so badly they were soon conquered and eventually scattered – lost to history forever.   

       Thus with a culture that winked at corruption, rejecting God’s laws of liberty and establishing idolatry (secularism) as the nations primary religion, Israel, once the beacon of light and standard of liberty for the middle-east, was soon no more with its people scattered.  

       Is America now sowing the same seeds that led the Israelites to self-destruction? America is becoming divided over major ideological differences. The question is: can these differences be bridged in time to prevent a further loss of those freedoms that all Americans care so deeply about? Only time will provide us this answer.