World living in a strange and dangerous time
By Lethbridge Herald on January 1, 2024.
Editor:
Here are a few thoughts on the shape of the world at the end of 2023 and hoping that 2024 will be better.
Let’s start with the old saying that history repeats itself over and over again, and nothing ever changes.
All through history there have been empires, the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire, the British Empire the list goes on and on. For the most part they all collapsed because of greed, immorality, corruption ect.
Which brings us to the current “empire,” the USA.
I agree that the USA does not fit the definition of the previous empires in that for the last 100 years or so it has been a huge benefit to the rest of the world. It put Europe back together at the end of the Second World War, It bailed out England ( the British Empire) during the Second World War.
However I respectfully submit that the USA is going down the same path as previous empires and is in a steep decline, all because of greed, corruption and immorality.
They elected a man who has no morals, no sense of decency and is an out-and- out liar to be president and unbelievable as it may sound might just get elected again.
I consider myself a Christian, but I’m having some difficulty with the word Christian at the moment as about 40 million evangelical Christians are set to re-elect Donald Trump again.
But it does not come as a surprise. During the last U.S. election campaign, Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, was asked during an interview on national TV why he condoned Trump committing adultery but condemned previous presidents for having done so.
Mr. Graham’s answer was that the previous presidents had done so while in the White House, Trump had done so prior to becoming president, and apparently that made it acceptable.
Well if the head of a large evangelical Christian church expresses that view then I submit that there is no hope for the U.S., and they will go down the same path as all the other empires before them.
Now how about Canada. I grew up in Holland and came to Canada in the summer of 1967. I was 22 years of age at the time, and I can honestly say that that was the best move I have made in my life, and I have often said that my life really started in 1967. I became a Canadian citizen as soon as I was allowed to.
The Canada of today is not the Canada of 1967; however it is still a great place to be, but like the USA it is on the decline and it is partly because of whom we elect to be our leaders. It appears that most politicians are in it for themself, at least the ones at the top of the food chain. We now have a Prime Minister whose only claim to fame is his last name, ultimately you get what you pay for. Let’s have a look at the current Prime Minister-in-waiting, Mr. Pierre Poilievre . It’s my opinion that Mr. Poilievre would be a great addition to the TV show Saturday Night Live. He is great at putting down people with one liners, but I suspect that all this glibness is masking a lack of substance. Here is a man who, during the 2022 occupation of downtown Ottawa, openly encouraged people taking part in that protest by shaking their hands and bringing them refreshments. And let’s not kid one another, all those protesters were breaking the law and here is a man who wants to be the number one lawmaker in the country condoning people to break the law. All this makes for a very difficult decision as to whom to vote for come the next election. We are living in a strange and dangerous world. However, I also remember when growing up during the early 1950’s in Holland adults were saying what’s the use of having children, there will be no future for them. Wwell we are still here,
So we can hope and pray that it will all end well.
Barney Feenstra
Lethbridge
18-17
whatever the usa has done to “bail out” and “help” other lands, little to none of it/was with much in the way of altruism. always strings attached, which ensured a power and wealth flow to the usa, and to a sordid group of folk that stand far atop the usa and world money/power pyramid. moreover, the usa has used its military, and its secret service (wonderful irony that freedom somehow is buttressed by secrecy) to undermine cultures, human rights, freedom and democracy the world over. it long did so with regard to latin america, and then extended its ugly tentacles throughout the planet post ww2. to overlook the nastiness of usa foreign policy, let alone its sordid domestic policy history, is unacceptable.