Participants:
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI180415B
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00:05 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider.
00:07 Before the break with guest, John Ashmeade, the attorney. 00:11 John Ashmeade, that's a lot of credibility 00:13 because attorneys if nothing else 00:14 should know history, right? 00:16 Oh, my goodness. 00:17 Isn't that one of the prerequisites 00:19 pretty much? 00:20 No, it's not, but... 00:21 Well, may be prerequisite is the wrong word. 00:23 I've been told many times that's a good backdrop 00:25 to going into law. 00:26 Right. 00:27 Yes, you have to know case history. 00:29 Right. Case law, right. 00:30 Yeah, case law. 00:32 But we've been talking about the state of freedoms 00:35 and religious liberty in the US today. 00:36 And you have a very sunny up, weekly over, 00:39 you know, cleared of the horizon. 00:41 But then you mentioned religion, 00:45 which, of course, is central 00:46 to religious freedom. 00:48 And the predictions, 00:49 I think it's clear enough in the Bible in Revelation 13, 00:53 arguably talks about the role of the United States 00:56 in conjunction with a despotic ancient power. 01:01 And Seventh-day Adventists believe that 01:02 that likely will work out through 01:04 direct religious legislation as far as the day of worship. 01:09 You don't see that eminent. 01:11 What signs do you see of that or lack of signs? 01:14 Right, I don't see that as eminent right now. 01:16 I think that, you know, right now 01:19 there is an epic struggle taking place 01:21 between the religious point of view 01:22 and a secular point of view. 01:24 And in many respects, 01:25 a secular point of view still is dominant. 01:27 You know, you can take any number of issues, 01:29 and, you know, you see that playing out. 01:32 So, you know, 01:34 I see religious people working together more and more, 01:39 and you know I think there's a sleeping beast 01:42 that can be awakened at some point, 01:44 but it's still sleeping I think. 01:45 And, you know, we see the secular point of view 01:48 still holding sway. 01:50 Much has been made 01:51 of the secular character of Europe 01:54 and the residually, or more than residually 01:58 that the prominent role of religion 02:01 in the United States. 02:02 And, you know, and on this program 02:04 I've often quoted Alexis de Tocqueville's 02:07 pretty searching comments 02:08 we see in the early 1800s, he came to the US 02:11 and sort of looked at it like a lab rat. 02:16 And he was very plain that the role of religion 02:19 under the separation of church and state 02:21 had made the US a very dynamic place 02:25 as far as religious expression. 02:27 You think that's gone or in recession? 02:32 Right. You do? 02:33 No, well, you know, 02:35 you look at different news stations 02:37 and you get a sense that things are really bad 02:39 and then in another center not that bad. 02:42 You know, people talk about not being able to say 02:45 Merry Christmas anymore, 02:46 and, you know, 02:48 you have to say Happy Holidays. 02:50 And they view that as religious oppression. 02:52 I don't necessarily view it by the way. 02:54 No, I agree with you. 02:55 I don't think it's religious oppression. 02:57 I think, you know. 02:58 But we drove a few hours to get to the studio. 03:04 I don't think it's any secret 03:06 that the recording studios for 3ABN 03:09 are in what's commonly called fly over country. 03:12 Wonderful country, but it's not Hollywood country, 03:16 it's not big city country. 03:18 But it's where a good percentage 03:20 of Americans live. 03:21 And they have all the problems of people everywhere. 03:25 It's not sweetness and light. 03:27 But I can tell you the residual standard view 03:30 out in these little towns while then people may not be 03:34 devoutly spiritually religious, it's... 03:36 This is... 03:38 Religion is my identity, it's a country's identity. 03:41 I don't think that's gone away 03:42 if anything is hardened in the US. 03:44 And that's a positive, 03:45 you know, it's a good thing 03:47 that on a Sabbath or on a Sunday, 03:50 you know, a large majority of Americans 03:52 can go to church and they can worship, 03:55 and, you know, 03:56 the government isn't there monitoring 03:58 and trying to prevent them from worshipping 04:00 or placing limits on them. 04:02 And so I think that's the strength of this country. 04:06 You know, my pastor can stand up 04:08 and give an impassioned sermons that at times 04:12 can have a political flavor to them 04:13 and make some people uncomfortable. 04:15 But, you know, after doing something like that, 04:17 the government doesn't come in, swoop in, and arrest them, 04:20 and, you know, card him off to prison. 04:22 And so I think, you know, in this country 04:24 that still is there, and that still 04:26 is our basic bedrock and foundation. 04:29 Yes, and another thing that I used to say a lot 04:32 when I first started in my job was I quoted for your... 04:36 Before the program, 04:38 you asked me about good writers. 04:40 And one fairly good writer was Charles Dickens. 04:45 Actually, not the best, 04:47 but at the time he was thought to be the best. 04:48 And his book, The Tale of Two Cities 04:50 written about the time of the French Revolution, 04:53 I'd think for a second is very telling. 04:55 He says, "It was the best of times, 04:56 and the worst of times." 04:58 And that's sort of how I characterize world at large, 05:01 and particularly the United States. 05:03 But because 05:05 it's good in one regard and bad in another 05:06 doesn't mean it's not moving palpably 05:10 and inexorably towards the destination weeks. 05:12 Right. 05:13 And, you know, I know I've been painting, 05:15 perhaps a rosy picture, 05:16 we have some serious challenges in this country. 05:19 We still have the issue of race 05:22 that we have never dealt with. 05:23 And it continues to percolate below the surface 05:26 and present some real challenges for us, 05:29 you know, the country still almost seemingly remains 05:32 in a civil war between the south and the north. 05:35 And, you know, 05:37 we haven't figured out how to overcome that problem. 05:40 And that's, you know, in the country... 05:41 We can do a whole program on that. 05:43 We can do a whole program on that. 05:44 And even in the church, we haven't solved that issue. 05:47 And so, it remains a real problem for us, 05:49 and that we will have to tackle it at some point. 05:51 And I have radical views of that 05:54 is coming as an outsider, 05:55 I think it plays out in almost every aspect of US culture. 06:00 Even the way the police force works towards communities 06:04 is basically an extension in my view 06:06 of how the plantation was managed. 06:10 Even getting to your, especially the Supreme Court, 06:15 some of the decisions they've been flirting 06:16 with the corporate thing on rights and so on. 06:22 And that's the Constitution in my view, 06:24 it was predicated on property. 06:26 And the corporate view, that's... 06:28 If you think about it, if it hadn't been 06:30 for this corporate thing on property 06:32 and so on in the Constitution, 06:34 the contradiction would have been so self evident, 06:36 they wouldn't have dared to put it down 06:37 with the proportional representation 06:40 of slaves and so on. 06:41 But when you think property and a business right, 06:46 it fits nicely. 06:47 And we're going back to it. 06:49 The US, over the warnings of people 06:52 like President Eisenhower 06:56 is going to a very corporate, even fascist, 07:01 you know, it's a loaded term. 07:02 But fascism really is the instruments of government 07:05 and its departments, and the power, 07:08 and the machinery of it 07:10 has precedence over the rights of the individual. 07:11 This is a fascist style democratic, 07:18 representative democracy. 07:20 I think what's driving a lot of this is fear. 07:23 Well, yes, the cold war, we grew up. 07:25 Right. You and I both grew up. 07:26 But I know, but in terms of just people, 07:28 you know, people are fearful, 07:30 they don't know who's on their side, 07:33 they don't know if they can trust the government, 07:34 they don't know if they can trust their neighbor. 07:36 And when you add to that, you know, 07:38 the mix of social media and all the misinformation 07:40 that's flying around, 07:42 you know, it creates an atmosphere 07:43 where people, you know, can really be led astray 07:47 from really what the truth is. 07:50 And, you know, 07:51 this is turning out to be a good discussion 07:53 that I'm in danger of revealing 07:54 too much of my worldview with you. 07:55 Okay, that's okay, 07:57 I'm gonna pull it out of you, Lincoln. 08:00 But, you know, 08:02 there's an upside and downside to everything, 08:04 but this fear thing is very real. 08:07 But there's a conundrum on this. 08:11 In Europe, even in recent years 08:14 say in the ex-Yugoslavia Republic of Serbia 08:20 and so on down there, 08:23 you know, they've had pate neighbors, 08:24 liquidating neighbors, 08:26 so, you know, not naive, 08:27 but I think in Europe as a whole, 08:30 they're not afraid of their neighbors the same way. 08:32 There's the peacefulness 08:34 especially when you get to countries like Switzerland, 08:36 that's never existed in the US. 08:38 And I sort of I'm constantly analyzing it. 08:42 I don't think the US 08:44 really has a fixed friendly neighborhood concept. 08:51 We're all travelers, we've settled down, 08:53 and this is suspicion 08:55 that arises from the reconstruction 08:58 and the civil war of, 09:00 you know, the knight riders and all that sort of stuff. 09:04 There's just been agitation that people are very uncertain. 09:07 They don't trust their neighbors. 09:08 And I don't think it's just modernity 09:10 that's brought it on in the US. 09:12 I think there's always been these walls 09:15 and these, the unstated threat that destabilizes. 09:22 Anybody that comes from another country 09:23 knows that in the US there's electricity in the air. 09:26 You don't know, someone might randomly, 09:29 it doesn't happen often, but it happens randomly. 09:30 Someone might shoot you, it might be violent act. 09:33 That's not really true in other Western countries. 09:35 Sure. 09:36 I mean we are melting pot that's never fully melted. 09:39 Yes, that's a good way to put it. 09:40 Yeah. 09:41 And so the challenge is, 09:43 you know, bringing us together as a nation, 09:45 and it's very difficult. 09:47 But anyhow, I appreciate you bringing this positive view 09:49 because we all need to keep in mind, 09:51 there's a half full 09:52 and a half empty view of the glass. 09:55 And at the end of the day, 09:56 there's no question that United States remains 09:58 a spectacularly positive force in the world, 10:02 it's not always positive, but as a totality. 10:06 And we have a lot to be thankful for. 10:07 Sure. 10:09 So where do you think it goes from here though? 10:12 Is the positive to be sustained 10:14 or how do we guard against the drift 10:17 to a darker side? 10:19 So I'm very concerned. 10:23 I'm very concerned because, 10:25 you know, what I see occurring is, 10:28 you know, social media is presenting a real risk to us. 10:31 There are, you know, I'm on Facebook regularly, 10:34 and I... The things that I see my friends posting, 10:37 you know, quite often I will say to them, 10:39 you know, have you vetted this and they haven't. 10:42 And you just do a quick search, and you find out 10:44 that what they're saying isn't really true. 10:49 I've seen a lot of representations of the earth 10:52 spinning or floating through limitless space. 10:57 In some of the more bizarre ones, 10:59 there's all sorts of explosions 11:00 and cataclysms erupting like pustules 11:03 from the surface of a dangerous planet. 11:05 In other, it's a lonely planet, 11:07 blue, and silent, and not much happening. 11:10 In reality, this little world, 11:12 this spec among a cascade of specs in space 11:19 is the center for us, 11:21 and arguably the apple of God's eye 11:24 if you like because a great principle 11:26 is being worked out here, 11:28 a cataclysmic battle between the anti-God principle 11:31 and those who are loyal to God. 11:34 This world is in turmoil, there's no question. 11:37 But we need to see beyond this 11:39 a resolution, a great victory, 11:41 and this little blue planet is going to brilliantly shine 11:45 not because of what it is because of what God is. 11:49 For Liberty Insider, this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2018-12-24