Today, December 21, 2024, is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. In my latitude, that means daylight arrives only a few minutes before 8:00 a.m. and darkness falls shortly after 5:00 p.m., for a total of about nine hours of light sufficient that I don’t need to rely on artificial illumination. From here on out, for the next six months, the daylight spans will become increasingly longer, until June 21, 2025, when the cycle will reverse.
Also looking forward, not necessarily toward more light, on January 20, 2025, just 30 days from now, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next President of the United States. This will make many people absolutely giddy with delight and euphoria as they expect that he (and his cohorts) will transform the current System of Governance into one in which justice is reached at last, (at least for those on our side), governments actually protect their citizens from harm of all kinds, money is once more made valuable, wars are fought and won decisively against “our” adversaries, and everyone’s life becomes more free and prosperous as long as they are not drug dealers, illegal immigrants, anti-Semites, Democrats, and progressive Utopian zealots who do not know the difference between a boy and a girl.
Ah, yes. Good times, good times!
I watch what is happening today and I don’t know if I should laugh or cry, because it is evident to me that the American Empire is thrashing about in its death throes and the next four years under Trump will not resurrect it to vigorous life again. It was bad under Biden, it will not improve under Trump. In all likelihood, more people will be worse off then than they are now and, what is just as likely is that most of them will remain clueless as to why this happened. For many of them, the ignorance will be deliberate. As Bionic Mosquito (see here or here), one of my correspondents, commented recently,
“People don’t want to open the door on one false belief because they are afraid (or maybe know) that once one false belief falls, their entire worldview will crumble. It scares most people to consider that their house is built on sand. So they defend, no matter the evidence.”
Yes, once the foundations of a system crumble, the entire worldview changes. Those who believe the notion that The State, The System, is the natural order of things and that everything will be lost without it will do anything and everything to avoid coming to the conclusion that they have believed in a veritable fountain of lies. Instead, they will cling desperately to the sinking ship, dancing upon its increasingly steep decks, refusing to jump into the icy cold water of political, social, and economic reality, or the lifeboat that is personally responsible life. True believers will go down with the ship and, in the US, there are millions of them. The nostrum that Trump will make the bad things go away is delusional, but it is one which will be held tightly and, when it fails, will be explained away in the manner of all excuses which are adamantly opposed to the truth–“If only we had tried harder…”
Poor Roger's Almanac 
Whether in the next four years or beyond:
“The United States Constitutional Republic was destined to fall from its inception. This is borne out in the following two passages:
‘And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.’ (Matthew 7:26-27)
‘[E]very kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.; (Matthew 12:25)
“The house known as the Constitutional Republic was not built upon the rock of Yahweh’s1 word, but instead upon Enlightenment and Masonic concepts.2 It began and continues as a divided house….
“The day is therefore approaching when the Republic’s cup of iniquity will be full3 and Yahweh’s longsuffering is exhausted. At that time, the Republic will be subjected to His judgment. Like all nations before her built on sand, she will cease to exist. The question that remains is whether that generation’s Christians will be prepared to build upon her ruins. If not, another ungodly nation will fill the void until finally a future generation of our posterity are prepared to erect a government and society upon Yahweh’s righteousness as expressed in His triune moral law (His commandments, statutes, and judgments).4
“It is therefore incumbent upon this and all intervening generations of Christians to do everything in their power to help prepare for that future generation of Christians to do it right(eous) the next time….”
For more see free online book “A Biblical Constitution: A Scriptural Replacement for Secular Government” at https://www.bibleversusconstitution.org/biblicalConstitution.html
Find out how much you really know about the Constitution as compared to the Bible. Take our 10-question Constitution Survey in the right-hand sidebar and and received a free copy of the 85-page “Primer” of “BL vs. USC.”
“It is therefore incumbent upon this and all intervening generations of Christians to do everything in their power to help prepare for that future generation of Christians to do it right(eous) the next time….”
Agreed, and that is where I’m going to leave it.
Amen!