By Harold Keller

Recently, as I was leaving the office of a successful professional man and after discussing national politics, he asked me who my preference in the president’s race was.  Without hesitation, I said that if you love America, John McCain is our only choice.  

I then asked him his choice.  “Whoever puts the most money in my pocket,” was his reply.  I have to give him credit for his honesty, but was saddened that selfishness is taking over our once great nation.

A few days after that visit, I was in the parish office building and ran across Buddy Boe.  We talked politics, as we always do, and at the end of our conversation, he handed me the following quote attributed to Scottish historian Alexander Tyler circa 1787:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.  It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure.  From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship.  The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years.  These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.”

That quote, made over 200 years ago, best describes the condition of America today.  The question is: How long will God allow a nation, built on Christian principles, to survive these abuses?

If you have any questions, or comments, please write to Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call (985) 652-8477, or e-mail: hkeller@comcast.net.