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My Point of View by Brad Kramer

On behalf of the Freeborn County Republican Party, merry Christmas! Over 2,000 years ago, when Christ came to redeem us, the politics in the world were already unbearable. He had scarcely made his appearance when King Herod sent the Three Wisemen to bring him the Child’s location, giving them the false narrative that he wished to adore the young Christ, when he intended to have him killed because Christ represented a threat to his power and way of life.

When the Wisemen learned about the deceit and took another route, Herod, in his fury, ordered thousands of innocent children to be murdered to protect his power.

During this time of year known as Advent, we prepare our hearts and commemorate his birth. That the Child who would become the greatest king the world has ever known, God among us, would be born in a stable and spend his childhood in Egypt fleeing Herod’s wrath, is cause for us to reflect.

As people, we tend to put more weight behind our own power and human institutions than they will ever accomplish. If we just give the government a little more power, tax a little more to achieve our pet projects, pass legislation that we think will change everything, we just might have heaven on Earth. We are ever seeking our utopian vision of life that always seems to sift through our fingertips like smoke and evade us. History affirms and reaffirms what our faith tells us … we are on a fool’s errand if we think government will end poverty, end suffering, end injustices. Every time we find a new power to give government that will fix those problems, and we give government that power, it gets used against us. Any student of history knows that when we give government the power to give us things, it comes at the price of being able to take away far more.

Conservatives, who make up the core of the GOP, tend to have personalities that are distrustful of government and authority. Our outlook on life guides our philosophy that government cannot now, nor ever will, right all wrongs and injustices. That is impossible without reliance upon and grace from God. That is why Republicans are adamant that oaths be taken on a Bible, why government assemblies such as Congressional and Legislative sessions begin with a prayer petitioning God for guidance and blessing. Why our Pledge of Allegiance and other patriotic songs often include reference to God. America was founded on Christian principles. Our founding documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, codify our belief that our liberties come from our Creator, not government. They are inherent in our dignity as people, created by and in the image of God, which government can neither create nor take away. Many of the principles that our government were founded upon come from our Judeo-Christian heritage. The Founding Fathers quoted Scripture numerous times in our founding documents, with many quotes from Deuteronomy. They did not cite them as Scripture in many instances because society was often far more versed in Scripture than we are today. Citizens knew where they came from.

Today, it is just as important as ever that we step back and question what power we give government, and what we expect government to solve that would be better brought before our Creator. Not through superstitions and lack of understanding of science, but with the knowledge our human nature is not capable of fixing what is wrong with our hearts. Whether it is Herod clinging to power and wealth by slaughtering innocent children or current politicians selling us out, such as what we see as rampant corruption in the Biden family and administration, the problem with our own hearts will never be fixed by politics. Marxism is so laughable (or hardly laughable because of the amount of poverty and genocide that has come from Marxist — socialist and communist — governments) because it is completely devoid of understanding of human nature. We could reflect on a few quotes from the late Bishop Fulton Sheen. “In the 11 months preceding the outbreak of World War II, 211 treaties of peace were signed. Were these treaties of peace written on paper, or were they written on the hearts of men? And we must ask ourselves as we hear of treaties being written today, whether the treaties of the UN are written with the full cognizance of the fact that those who sign them are responsible before God?”

Not much has changed in the past century. We know more science but are no closer to finding our solutions to injustice when our society wanders farther from our Creator. I hope you will join me this Christmas season asking God, not politicians, to bless us and give us wisdom, temperance and discernment. Merry Christmas!

Brad Kramer is a member of the Freeborn County Republican Party.