The election has not “settled” anything. Regardless of who takes the oath of office on January 20, the bitter conflict will continue.
It is hard to believe now, but there was once a time when national elections were not considered all-important. In fact, they were considered of less importance than state and local elections because few people were impacted by decisions make in Washington, D.C. The difference is the increasing power of government.
The problem of our time is statism. As my father constantly repeated, humanism is man replacing the authority of God with human authority on some level. Humanism drifts toward extremes. One is anarchism, where every man declares himself an authority. By its atomistic nature, however, anarchism is weak when confronted with other other extreme – statism, which asserts that the state is the highest collective voice of individuals. Statism is always defended in the name of the collective “people” or “the greater good.”
This is where we now are. We are living in the age of statism. My father also believed we were at the end of the age of humanism and its statism because its failures are becoming so apparent. Our political system is dysfunctional. In one area alone, we see collapse on the horizon. We have debts we cannot repay. No one knows how long we can juggle our debt, but we cannot pay it off without destroying our currency. A worthless currency means the government’s power will come to an end because that power is created by fiat currency (now digits on computers) made out of thin air.
As with the USSR, our system will collapse. We cannot know a time frame for that or how it will play out. But only those with a strong faith will be able to see the way forward, which, for believers is always in terms of a self-conscious obedience to God and a confidence in the advance of the Kingdom.
- Mark R. Rushdoony
Mark R. Rushdoony graduated from Los Angeles Baptist College (now The Master’s College) with a B.A. in history in 1975 and was ordained to the ministry in 1995.
He taught junior and senior high classes in history, Bible, civics and economics at a Christian school in Virginia for three years before joining the staff of Chalcedon in 1978. He was the Director of Chalcedon Christian School for 14 years while teaching full time. He also helped tutor all of his children through high school.
In 1998, he became the President of Chalcedon and Ross House Books, and, more recently another publishing arm, Storehouse Press. Chalcedon and its subsidiaries publish many titles plus CDs, mp3s, and an extensive online archive at www.chalcedon.edu.
He has written scores of articles for Chalcedon’s publications, both the Chalcedon Report and Faith for all of Life. He was a contributing author to The Great Christian Revolution (1991). He has spoken at numerous conferences and churches in the U.S. and abroad.
Mark Rushdoony lives in Vallecito, California, his home of 43 years with his wife of 45 years and his youngest son. He has three married children and nine grandchildren.
