I made this podium with my dad my senior year in college. Previously I wrote about the senior art show I did entitled Viral Infection. With many presidents in history facing controversy, we may truly have seen the least presidential president in history. The courts recently weren't sure whether or not to declassify certain documents because they didn't know whether to follow the order from the White House or from the Tweet of Donald Trump. We do have a Commander of Tweet though. I didn't really want to write another political post, but I read an interesting article from John Piper and while I don't know enough about him to say he is a reliable source to support an argument, a few of his points stood out to me. One is in regard to pro-abortion policies. He clarifies his disdain for abortion, but he also argues that supporting someone who is self-absorbed and models bad character can not only lead a nation to destruction, but also lead to eternal damnation. The character of the person is more important than their policies. Why? He argues that "laws and policies that protect life and freedom are more important than being a certain kind of person." Donald Trump and those who have supported his efforts through demeaning, demoralizing and falsehoods are those people who Piper warns are "spreading gangrene" as they have shown a character that truly does not represent who we should be if we want to follow the path of God. It's hard to determine what a person will become, however, can't you judge the character of a person by their character? If you simply look at the Twitter feed of Trump, is that the kind of person we want to be if we are trying to walk the path of God? It's not my place to judge Trump himself, but as a Christian myself, I do not want to be someone openly attacking people, spreading lies about them or misleading with all these fear-tactics that have raised anxiety among the citizens. Piper argues that even if our rights and liberties are taken away (which they won't be as much as Trump claims they will be), our love and holiness for good will never ben taken away. Our youth have to listen to someone whose speech is so vile and is so self-absorbed that he fails to recognized what his job is, to serve and protect the people. They wonder if how he speaks and acts is acceptable since he is the president of the United States. I can recall how much emphasis there is on not bullying people (especially on social media), yet it's a regular occurrence on his feed. Everything we've been trying to instill in our youth goes against everything this president is about. He's ignored the experts as he did not quarantine like he should have, he has ignored gathering, masking and distancing rules wherever his rallies have been held, not caring that the spikes in cases have followed. Sure, he may have survived Covid, but he has access to treatment we don't and he won't have the bill we all have when all is said and done. Furthermore, who knows what kind of long-term impact contracting the virus will have on us. We're all sick of the restrictions, but if he would model the behavior we all should be doing, this all will end sooner than later. I digress. Simply put, we need someone who at least acts more presidential. My hope is that if the Democrats gain power, they won't do the same we've seen these past four years and hoping Biden remains true to his president of America line. Regardless, however, we won't have to be governed through Twitter any longer and truly find a president who better represents the characters and morals that we look for and someone who is not like the person Piper writes about. I know there will be those who disagree, but if you are someone of faith, just recall that those who showed the greatest faith in the Bible faced the greatest oppression. They needed to maintain their love and holiness even when the policies and laws didn't support them. Piper writes that there is a connection between leaders and their subjects as he refers to 1 Kings 14:16. A leader influences the people and helps shapes their character and seeing the influence our current administration has had on us, is just a Twitter feed away. I hope that we can begin to see the light and find our way to leadership that is more presidential, for now and into the future.
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