Rule Number One

We tend to define trends and/or movements by the prominent personalities that happen to be around at the time. No doubt, if today we had HRC instead of BHO the issues would be the same. Ideologically these two are not all that different. Similarly, WJC was also defined by an era. The trend toward full-blown socialism was already well underway and gathering steam. It was only Bill Clinton’s personal problems that caused him to adopt a more careful approach.

Hillary would have had no such constraints. She would have pursued Obama’s agenda with ribald enthusiasm - except, she might have been more politically savvy. Perhaps, if she would have won the election, we would now still be unaware of the total make-over of ourselves that is envisioned by our elites behind the scenes.

In some ways, we lucked out. Obama has torn down the curtain and allowed to us see what’s happening with our government. And increasingly we don’t like what we see. He’s provided us with a rallying point against it. Even during Bush’s terms we were far too distracted by childish Democrat talking points to recognize the persistent trend toward over-size government. Now, at last, we no longer have an excuse not to mobilize against the wolf that threatens to devour us.

As with Islamo-fascism, we have previously only been dimly aware of the threat. Some of us who might have had some inkling still thought that the beast could be appeased in some way. Its arguments, taken in and of themselves, seemed compelling. It was only when the grand strategy came into sharp focus that we got unnerved and up on our hind legs to counter it.

Our battle is not between Democrat and Republican. It is not between Right and Left; rich and poor; young and old; etc. Our battle is between us and our government. Our government has steadily grown. It has become adult with wants and ambitions of its own. These do not necessarily have our best interests at heart. The tipping point came when government came to consume more than the private sector could possibly provide. Boldly, our out-of-control government is now shamelessly demanding even the bones.

There is really only one rule: not to kill oneself. All other rules derive from this one. It applies equally to all life, plant and animal alike. Ironically, all life is at some point driven to the abyss where the sin is eagerly embraced and spirit’s spark is surrendered. It is at that point where death is shown to be illusory, just as life ever was.

The jihadis, or the followers of any fanatical movement, have discovered this secret – the secret of immortality. This secret, if revealed too soon, would create a havoc of inaction. It is the perceived scarcity of time, for those who are conscious of it, that makes every moment precious and irretrievable, lending a certain urgency to what they do.

Break the rule, and you hold the temporal world in the palm of your hand. You become all-powerful over those whose natural bias tends toward life. Nothing so shocks the faithful as to see a Buddhist monk setting himself ablaze or a suicide bomber brazenly detonating his blast in a Tel Aviv pizza parlor. To cushion the impact, we have invented such notions as sacrifice and jihad. We have invented reasons for something that is not reasonable. And as such, we are able to continue to observe the stricture that says we will only consent to be killed by something (noble) outside of ourselves.

We are now faced with having to account for an enemy who does not accept our rules. Know that he is already dead; that he has never lived; even if ultimately victorious, that he will not live in the future. In this way we can assign his motive to an act of God: not for us to be understood. We must preserve our faith that we will not be there where the earth begins to tremble, where armies invade, where the tsunami strikes; the volcano blows.

As for changing God’s mind? Little chance of that. Still we must fight the good fight against any evil – be it Islamo-fascism or over-sized government - to its predetermined end and take comfort in the fact that we have served impeccably. Only thus will the celebration of life be consummated, but only for those who have dared to live – however briefly – and, for their sake, victory over the eternal void will have advanced.