"The citizens chafe impatiently at the least touch of authority and at length they cease to care even for the laws, written or unwritten. And this is the fair and glorious beginning out of which springs tyranny. The excessive increase of anything causes a reaction in the opposite direction. Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme form of liberty" (Socrates).
That sounds like our society today. Human nature has not changed in 2,000 years. Socrates wrote that society naturally "progresses" to a point where it does not respect authority or the laws of that society. He defined this condition as the beginning of tyranny. He also explained that if people receive an excessive amount of anything - including liberty - it will cause a reaction in the opposite direction. The United States of America is not immune to world diseases and the disease of sin is just as prevalent here as anywhere in the world - perhaps more so!
Dictators rise into power through national emergencies. In the past, the wrong kind of leader has often risen to power through the misguided hopes of a desperate people. It does not take a large political organization to catapult the man with the answers into power. Adolf Hitler started with only a handful of men. He skillfully and deceitfully set the stage for his own rise to power. It was Adolf Hitler who said, "The streets of our country are in turmoil. The universities are filled with students rioting and rebelling. Communists are seeking to destroy our country, and the republic is in danger. Yes, danger from within and without. We need law and order. Without law and order our nation cannot survive." Each one of history’s dictators has been a champion of some particular cause popular with the people. Like Hitler, Lenin, Mao, and other dictators before them, every dictator seems to be obsessed with ridding his country of political corruption, lawlessness, the hoarding of wealth by a minority, and other immoral forces which work against social order. That's not such a bad idea when you first think about it. Any man who is able to rid his country of corruption certainly deserves to be heard. But that's how a dictator rises to power- on the crest of a wave of popularity. After the dictator takes over the reins of government, the people learn - too late - that his policies are bad for the people and the country.
A dictatorship in its extreme form is total government. All freedoms are removed from the people and every aspect of life comes under the scrutiny of some bureaucracy. Some dictators have been elected to office only to usurp additional power and authority. Then they remain in power through their own decree, and elections become a thing of the past.
Now the question: Could it happen in the United States of America? Is it possible that a nation built on the electoral process could fall into the hands of a dictator? We know that one day; perhaps soon, a world leader will rise to power that the Bible calls the antichrist. He will attempt to establish a world government and although his prestige and political power will be worldwide, he will not be elected to his office:
"And in his estate shall stand up a vile person to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries" (Daniel 11:21).
Is it possible to imagine that the office of President of the United States could be filled by one who is not elected? One who will usurp the authority of the office? Well, it is possible to have both a President and a Vice-President who are not elected by the American people. If it happened once, as in the mid-1970's, it can happen again. When Spiro Agnew resigned as Vice-President back in the early 1970's, Gerald Ford was appointed to the post. Then when Richard Nixon resigned as President, Mr. Ford automatically moved up to the Presidency. Nelson Rockefeller was then appointed Vice-President to fill the vacancy left by Ford. Suddenly, without the consent of the American people, we had a President and a Vice-President who were not elected.
Today, the President of the United States has emergency powers that can enable him to seize personal property such as businesses, homes, cars, and other assets, all in the interest of national security. President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed a state of emergency when dealing with the Great Depression. President Harry Truman proclaimed a state of emergency at the outbreak of the Korean War. President Nixon declared two states of national emergency: one - to bring an end to the Postal Service employees' strike in 1970 and two - to end several trade agreements a year later. These are only a few examples.
There are, in fact, 470 provisions of federal law which serve, among other things, to give the President literal dictatorial powers. But could such a thing be done today? Are our politicians so determined and our nation so gullible as to allow such things? Let us consider just such a possibility.
As the 1940's ended, the United States hit its peak and possessed a much greater percentage of the world's riches than at any other time in its history. During this period America had three times as much in gold reserves as the entire rest of the world. We produced 60% of the world's steel and drove 73% of the world's cars and trucks. We produced 51 % of all the gasoline used around the world and owned 67% of all the telephones on earth. Americans owned a much higher ratio of radios, refrigerators, freezers, washers, air conditioners, and other luxury items than any other people on earth.
In productive capacity we far out-stripped all others. In technical know-how we were in a league by ourselves. America was the greatest; a giant among pygmies, and the rest of the world looked on in awe and held the United States in high esteem.
In the years since then, something has gone terribly wrong.
Now, instead of the nations of the world being at America's feet, most of them appear to be at America's throat. When one looks objectively and analytically at the America of the 1940's and compares it with the America we see today, the contrast is staggering and rather frightening. One is prompted to ask, "What is America trying to do, commit suicide?" For truly, America is being weighed in the balance and found wanting.
In the United States today people have more money, more freedom, more opportunities, more privileges, and more luxuries than any nation in history, and yet, paradoxically, they are among the most mixed up and unhappy people on earth.
I read an editorial some years ago that appeared in newspapers across America. I have long since misplaced its source, but here is what it said:
"We are overpopulated, under civilized, divided, corrupted, and bewildered; destitute of faith and terrified of skepticism.
War, crime, pollution, racial tension, political cynicism, and pessimism are our companions.
"The spectacle of this great nation which does not know its own mind is as humiliating as it is dangerous. America's allies around the world are deeply concerned about what is happening to this country and curiously question the ability of the United States to deal effectively with any of its major problems. Thirty years ago, the image which America projected to the world was one of a colossally powerful, vibrantly alive, fantastically rich and benevolent giant who could confidently be trusted to lead the world through the challenges of the future. However, in the process of time, that image has become tarnished, dented, chipped, smashed, and broken. "Our new image around the world is one of a lumbering, stumbling, bumbling, grumbling dolt, who staggers from one crisis to another through a blinding haze of fear and indecision. It is one of a dissipated giant who throws crumbs (bought with borrowed money) to his neighbors in order to keep them out of his hair while he engages in a mammoth orgy of crime and violence. It is the image of a terribly sick giant, who, having exchanged his God-given Christian heritage for a bowl of atheistic, socialistic pottage, has lost his sense of destiny and has purged his mind of any trace of morality." The late J. Edgar Hoover, who headed up our Federal Bureau of Investigation for some 50 years, made this statement shortly before his death: "Whether we like it or not, the morals to which we subscribe as a people are vital for our survival as a free nation. Concerned citizens are beginning to wonder if we may not be in grave danger of rejecting those things which are the source of our nation's strength. Are we entering an age that must end in anarchy? Are we rearing a generation almost wholly lacking in self-discipline? In short, do we deserve our magnificent inheritance? Are we good enough to preserve the great republic to which we have pledged our allegiance? Will we retain the capacity to do our duty as Americans?" A former police chief of Los Angeles, Chief Parker, also expressed pessimism about the future of our society. He said that he was very much concerned about the way in which things are going: "It is very hard for me to believe that our society can continue to violate all the fundamental rules of human conduct and expect to survive. I think that I have to conclude that this civilization will destroy itself as others have done before it. This leaves only one question - when?" President Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Springfield, Illinois, in January, 1837. He took note of the future with great clarity of vision and insight. He recognized that no foreign power or combination of foreign powers"... could by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge... At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected?" Lincoln said, "If it ever reach us, it must spring from among us, it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freedom, we must live through all time or die of suicide." President Lincoln clearly understood that the only real danger facing the American nation as it marched into the future was the corrupting of its people, or what has been called "the subverting of the American spirit."
When the United States entered the 20th century, it was basically sound. It throbbed with life and vitality. Most people were deeply patriotic, loved their country, and lived by a definite standard of morality. They respected their country, their neighbor, and themselves. The home and family were held in high esteem. Men were masculine, women were feminine, and both sexes were content with their natural role and God-given responsibilities. In the years since then, all of these pillars of sound society have been eroding away, and we have now reached the point where the average person is left without a set of clearly defined principles by which to run his life. They are left floundering on the quicksand of doubt, fear, and indecision.
As one person put it, "A nation which stands for nothing will fall for anything." The result? The fruit is all around us for everyone to see. Look at any phase or facet of society. You will see chronic diseases gnawing away relentlessly at the nation's vitals. The true state of a nation is reflected in its leading institutions. It is reflected in education and in the churches, in literature and music, in government and in the home. And it is mirrored in the financial mess in which the government and most individuals find themselves.
What went wrong? Who has turned the American dream into the American nightmare? What has come over us? What are the causes for the effects which we see all around us in the world? Our homes and families are falling apart with blind, shattering rapidity. Our schools and colleges spawn alienated, frustrated, venereal diseased pill-poppers whose lives are wrapped up in doing their own thing.
Our courts force law abiding citizens to lock themselves up in their homes and apartments at night while criminals are allowed to roam the streets almost at will to terrorize the populace. Governments grow and grow and grow while they tax and tax and tax and spend and spend and spend while the nation groans under an awesome, mind-boggling national debt nearing $3,000,000,000,000. Throughout all strata of society -lying, deceit, graft, corruption, and hypocrisy are the order of the day.
Over the past 20 years there have been some men of insight who tried to warn us of our approaching dilemma, but it seemed that nobody was willing to listen. The politicians certainly would not listen, and the American public wanted to stick its head in the sand, like the proverbial ostrich, in hopes that the problem would go away. Many preachers during the early 1960's cried from their pulpits for national revival.
When the Supreme Court, on June 25, 1962, eliminated prayer and Bible reading from the American classroom, preachers everywhere became alarmed. We tried to warn our nation of the result, but no one would listen. We were accused of being right-wing extremists crying "wolf' when not many could see the wolf.
Across our nation, ministers began to establish Christian schools while at the same time others were becoming involved with conservative political organizations. Bus ministries began to pick up millions of children all across America and bring them to Sunday school in an effort to salvage the young minds of our youth from the humanistic and socialistic values they were being taught five days a week in the public schools. But alas, the nation would not listen, for most people were too busy going to the lake on Sunday instead of recognizing that there is a God in heaven who is concerned in the affairs of men.
It has been said by some that it is not the responsibility of, nor is it proper for, Christians to be involved in upholding America's traditional values or speaking out on moral issues.
Today's churches are lowering their standards in a foolish attempt to accommodate the world and its philosophy. The sin of complacency, apathy, and lukewarmness of which we Christians are so guilty today has allowed the godless atheists and humanists to have a free reign in society, even in many churches.
Presumably, very little thought has been given to admonitions offered us throughout the Bible, such as Matthew 5: 13:
"Ye are the salt of the earth." Salt preserves and seasons. Matthew 5:14: "Ye are the light of the world." Light overcomes darkness. Proverbs 29:2: "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when· the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." It was Edmund Burke who once said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." For over 20 years conservative organizations have begged our politicians not to overspend our nation's budget. But alas, no one would listen. This is one reason why our dollar is in danger of dying. Back in 1973, the Arab nations began to raise the price of oil. Suddenly, we found long lines waiting at the gas pump in every major city in America. President Gerald Ford assessed the energy crisis at that time. He said, "It is difficult to discuss the energy problem without lapsing into doomsday language. The danger is clear. It is severe. No one can foresee the extent of the damage or the end of the disastrous consequences if nations refuse to share their natural resources for the benefit of all mankind." At that time our politicians promised that in the years ahead our nation would set upon a course to become energy-independent of foreign oil. The Alaskan pipeline was finished and oil began to flow into the United States from the far regions of the north. Did our leaders follow through with their promise?
That oil reaching our West Coast from the Alaskan pipeline has been and is being loaded onto ships and exported to other countries. Meanwhile, our nation has been allowed to become even more dependent upon Arab oil.
In December, 1974, Edward Teller, the father of the American hydrogen bomb, gave an address before the United Nations. At that time he expressed his fears that the energy crisis brought on by the Middle East war of 1973-74 could lead to dictatorship. He said, "The financial disorder triggered by the energy crisis has not yet run its course. Its ultimate consequences might be as disastrous as or more disastrous than that of the Great Depression. Let us remember that it was this depression that brought Hitler to the helm in Germany and as such is the cause of the Second World War." Did you comprehend that? Edward Teller said that World War IT was brought on by the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The monetary crisis of Wall Street, U.S.A. created reverberations in every country of the world. Watch out, America! It could happen again! And this time, it could lead to Armageddon.
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