The President

by Parker Hudson

  “Yes, it is,” Leslie replied. “Where does he get this stuff?”

  William continued, “Now there’s one last connection that has to be made in the chain causing our problems, but this connection also starts us on the way to understanding the cure: the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.

  “Institutions, no matter how bad, don’t directly make problems by robbing banks or committing murder or deserting children. People do. And people act like that because their hearts don’t know or respond to God’s leading or his law. And they don’t know about him or his laws because he’s been evicted from debate, discussion, school, the news, television, movies, history, government—everywhere other than churches themselves.

  “But God’s worldview is true seven days a week, not just on Sunday. God is still in control of our lives on Monday at the office, but you’d never know it. And if he’s evicted from schools and not allowed in our offices, then it’s no wonder he’s also not in the housing projects or the streets or in the divorce courts or at the pornography stands or anywhere else in our society. We’ve shown him the door, and then we wonder why our society is falling apart. Every day in a hundred ways, no matter what we may say on Sunday, we proclaim the worldview that man is in charge and God doesn’t matter. He’s shown that he’s very patient, but if we really want him to leave, he will. Ask the people of Russia or Germany or Cambodia or Rwanda what that’s like, when he’s gone.

  “So the ultimate answer to our problem, Christian faith proclaims, is not an election or a parade or a speech or a new law, but a change of individual hearts—a national turning to him, one heart at a time. The ultimate solution against the man who has just pulled a trigger and killed someone is not more police to chase him or more prisons to incarcerate him, but a change of his heart so that he doesn’t pull the trigger in the first place. That can only come from inside. But it gets inside from being taught, from seeing role models, from having fathers, mothers, and teachers who teach values and discipline. So while the ultimate solution is the individual heart, the first important step toward that solution is the creation of a society in which faith, God’s laws, and his moral expectations can be seen and can flourish.

  “That brings us to the question of what we can do as a nation, and for that answer we should look back to what the men and women who founded this nation believed they were creating. First, let’s be clear on what they never intended: this is certainly not supposed to be a theocracy—a Christian Iran—where you have to be a card-carrying Christian to vote, or where the state can collect your tithe with a tax. That would be the worst thing that could happen, both for our nation and for Christianity. No, that’s not what Americans ever meant by a ‘Christian nation.’

  “So what was their intent? After much listening to others, prayer, and the reading of their own words, I believe that while the founders never meant America to be a Christian theocracy, they did assume that our society and its leaders would always be set on a foundation of Christian morality and belief. In fact, they openly despaired of what this nation would be like without that foundation.

  “The First Amendment to our Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion—without restriction on where or when. It’s the same amendment that guarantees freedom of the press, which everyone today accepts as meaning universal freedom for the press within government, schools, everywhere. Why should the press be freer to exercise its rights in our nation than religion is?

  “This amendment simply prohibits Congress—not the states or schools or any other institution—from making a law respecting an establishment of religion. Notice the ‘an’—it isn’t talking about religion in general—in that case it would say ‘the’ establishment. It’s referring to officially establishing any specific faith or sect, as had been the case in England, and was already the case in some of the states at that time.

  “Because of a couple of Supreme Court rulings, made without judicial precedent, and threats of other suits, we have incorrectly focused on removing all discussions or manifestations of religion from government, schools, public buildings, and almost everywhere else. We’ve forgotten the free exercise part of the same First Amendment, unless someone tries to restrict the free exercise of the press, of course! And the result is that Christians and people of other faiths are afraid to speak or to proclaim their spiritual values in the public arena, with the negative result being that the foundation meant for our society—its Christian morality and ideals—is removed from consideration in any and all public debate. To say you are a Christian and want to discuss any topic today from the perspective of your faith is a sure ticket to being labeled a nut—just the opposite of what the founders envisioned. They believed our national leaders would debate and discuss issues, as I’m doing tonight, within the context of Christian ideals and of God’s will for the nation.

  “So I propose to offer us all a new path, which is really an old path, to begin restoring God’s worldview to our national agenda and to our political debates. It’s a path that, if followed, will begin to underpin us again with the biblical morality and laws we so desperately need, without creating a theocracy and without denying anyone of any other faith his or her absolute right to pursue that faith openly and freely.

  “At the end of the Book of Joshua, after the Israelites have entered the Promised Land and initially subdued it, their leader, Joshua, calls the entire nation together in one place and reminds them that it is God who has provided their victories. He then has the entire nation vote together, at one time, whether they as a nation will serve God or not. They vote to serve the Lord, and their successes continue when they do.

  “We are proposing tonight that it’s time for this nation, this generation, to decide which worldview we believe. Is God in control, or is man in control? Is this government really a miracle among nations, founded by God, or just a fortuitous coincidence? Will we seek to be ruled by God’s laws, or will we just create our own changing version of what’s right and wrong as we go along? Will we, in short, serve the Lord, or not?

  “If we vote to serve God again as the creator and protector of this nation, then it’s time to examine all our national goals, priorities, programs, and laws to honestly ask whether they conform to the guidelines he wishes for us.

  “If we vote that God is not worth serving, that man is in control, then our nation can continue on that chosen path. And we can then no longer consider it contradictory, for example, that the murderer of an unborn baby by abortion is paid, while the murderer of an unborn baby by gunshot is prosecuted. But if a majority of our nation votes for the second worldview, once and for all pushing God’s presence in our nation aside, then I’m announcing tonight that I will at that time resign from this office, and the vice-president can assume my duties as the leader of this nation.”

  Patricia Barton-North, who had been sitting in almost every possible position during William’s address, was at that moment slumped forward, looking like she was napping. But at William’s announcement of his possible resignation, her head popped up, and the television captured a serene but confident look, as if she had just found a reason for enduring the president’s speech.

  William continued, “Now we can’t all come together in one place and vote as the Israelites did in Joshua’s day. And we all need time to consider the implications of what I’ve said tonight and what this vote will mean for ourselves, our families, and our future. I hope most of you will want to study as my wife and I have, and even pray about your decision. I hope there will be a true and honest national debate that will last longer than a ten second sound bite.

  “So this is what I’m asking you to do. Will you serve the Lord? If you will, then I ask you to vote in the congressional election this November for men and women who openly and clearly hold the worldview that God is in control and that they are serving him. You may have to do some real studying of candidates. You may have to ask hard questions. I don’t care which party they’re from, or even if they’re fro
m a party. They can be current members up for reelection or new candidates. I don’t care whether they’re liberal or conservative. I don’t care whether they’re black, white, male, or female— just people who try every day to submit their lives to God.

  “If you, the American people, will elect a House of Representatives and a third of the Senate according to those criteria, then I promise strong leadership to break all gridlock, to examine all programs and laws in light of their adherence to biblical principles, and to work with Congress to produce a completely fresh program that will truly turn this nation around.

  “I not only urge all of you to vote next November, but I urge many of you to prayerfully consider whether you should run for office, to use your talents in a way that will honor God.”

  There were some murmurs in the House as the elected officials realized that the president was openly advocating that many of them not return next year.

  Richard and Janet Sullivan were sitting with their son Tommy in their den, watching Richard’s old law school classmate. “Isn’t God’s power amazing?” Richard asked, the note of astonishment obvious in his voice. “To think that William hardly knew the Lord in June, and now he’s challenging our nation to return to God’s healing ways! I can’t believe what God can do.”

  “Our youth group leader says,” Tommy replied, “that if you can explain it, then it can’t be God!”

  “Finally, when I say a completely fresh program, I mean it. One that will reestablish biblical principles in our nation, that will tell the world it does make a difference in America that it was the Ten Commandments which until recently were on the wall of our Supreme Court, not Hammurabi’s Code. That it does make a difference that our coins say ‘In God We Trust,’ not ‘In Buddha We Trust.’ That it does make a difference that our public buildings abound in quotes from the Bible, not the Koran. We need a program which will ground us again on God’s principles and which will unlock the creative spirit God has put within all of us.

  “I’ll address some of those possible programs in a minute. But first I want to reiterate to those who are not Christians that I am not talking about creating a theocracy. Though this nation has always been predominantly Christian, it has, with rare exception, always encouraged all faiths and will continue to do so. As one conservative Jewish writer has said, people of his faith should pray for Christianity remaining the dominant religion in America because of the protection and tolerance it has traditionally provided.

  “In fact, Christianity by definition can’t be coercive—each individual is a ‘prospect’ until the moment he dies—a ‘prospect’ with a choice to accept Christ. The Christian can’t demand your faith from the barrel of a gun—he can only plant seeds and let God himself work on your heart. So no one should fear that by electing people who believe in God’s rule that he or she will give up any freedoms. In fact, just the opposite. I welcome other faiths in the public debate. Christianity can hold its own in that arena, and one’s faith can be sharpened when debate occurs. The tragedy is that for more than a generation no one has been able to discuss faith in public—any faith—and that has got to change.

  “Now, finally, what are some possible programs and policies that this new Congress of men and women seeking God’s will might consider, if you, the American people, elect to serve the Lord?

  “We’ll soon publish a short paper on each of these, and there’ll be more suggested between now and November fifth, I’m sure. So tonight, because of the hour and because you’ve been so patient, I’ll only touch on some highlights—but we want you to see that we mean real and productive change.

  “This ought to be good,” Ryan said. “Everyone take notes—they’re all we’ll have for our discussion afterwards.”

  “I still can’t believe this,” Leslie added, picking up a sharp pencil and turning the page on her pad.

  “First, we’ll propose a step that will instantly reinvigorate the country, remove a huge drag on the economy, and even do much to right the wrong mentioned by Jesus in Luke 11, ‘And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.’

  “We’ll propose to this new Congress to do away completely with our nine billion annual pages of IRS forms and instructions and replace them with a simple flat tax, pegged at eighteen percent of income.

  “There’ll be no deductions or exceptions. There will be a gross income floor of about twenty-five thousand dollars per couple plus six thousand dollars per child below which no tax will be owed. But after that, there will be a straight eighteen percent payable on all types of earned income, corporate and individual. We’ll raise the same amount of tax we do today, but we can disband almost all of the IRS, plus most tax attorneys, some accountants, advisors—the whole tax industry.”

  For the first time since early in his speech, there was general applause in the chambers.

  “Second, welfare reform and families. We’ll propose a negative income tax so that a family earning less than a set amount will simply receive quarterly a check for the difference. People will decide for themselves how to spend it, and the system won’t discriminate against those families with a man residing there. Most of those employed by the welfare departments in each state can then find other jobs.”

  There was more applause, slightly louder and longer.

  “Third, affirmative action. I’m going to express out loud what many of us feel. Our founders made a terrible and tragic mistake in condoning slavery. We need to help right that wrong, but then move on. For seven years and only seven years, anyone from a minority who feels that he or she has been discriminated against because of race or national origin will be able to apply for an outright grant for education, either to high school, college, and/or technical school, to assist him or her to attend. We’ll do everything we can as a nation to level the playing field and to make up for any possible past discrimination.

  “But America is about equality of opportunity, about using one’s God-given talents to be and to do as much as one can. We’ve been sidetracked by the humanist worldview into trying to insure equality of outcomes, which is simply impossible. It winds up dragging everyone down, especially the minorities, into mediocrity, instead of lifting us all up to excellence. We’ll invest seven good years and all the money it takes in righting those wrongs— but that will be the end. After seven years, unless one can prove specific, unlawful discrimination, there will be no more singling out for anything— good or bad—because of one’s race. We are all equal in the sight of God, and we’ll all live by that law.”

  William paused, but there was only a smattering of applause for this untested idea.

  “Fourth, the poor. Jesus said they’d always be with us, and he mandated that we take care of the fatherless. Well, tragically, today we have a whole lot of poor and fatherless people, and we have to take care of them. But not the government. The government is the worst possible choice to teach individuals who need help anything about skills, working, values, or habits. Only in extreme cases of neglect, mental illness, and helplessness should the government intervene. Otherwise, this is the job for families and churches. First, the extended family of the people in trouble. Second, other families.

  “We will propose that families who want to help others can register as clusters of two or three families together, and they will be matched up by private agencies with individuals and families who are of low income and who similarly register that they need help. By spreading the task—or opportunity—to help one family with the combined resources of two or three families, the financial burden will be light. But the primary benefit is that people can actually learn from one another. The only tax deduction in the whole flat tax plan will be granted to families who help others in this way, and only for four years on a decreasing scale, since the goal is to help lift the targeted individual or family into a productive status as quickly as possible. But people will again be helping people, face to
face and family to family.”

  The applause was the loudest so far. From somewhere came a shout of “Amen,” which produced a welcome round of laughter and helped relieve the tension from William’s hard-hitting speech.

  “Fifth, education. We’ll propose that the same mix of public and private educational funding that has been used successfully in our colleges for years be moved to the elementary and high school levels in the form of a combination of public grants, vouchers, corporate endowments, and private gifts, all centered on choice by parents of where they want their children to attend school. Maybe something else will work in twenty years, but for now we’ve got to shake up our largely failing system and put responsibility back in the classroom by giving parents a real and viable choice.”

  He turned and looked directly at the Supreme Court justices. “Sixth, we’ll pass a constitutional amendment, if necessary, on Religious Foundations and Freedom, to send the message that our laws are to be interpreted, whenever they are vague or unclear, from an historical and biblical perspective, and that the free exercise of religion, both individual and corporate, is just as important as the prohibition against establishing an official national religion. That means the free exercise of religion by students in our schools, in our government utterances about law and morality, in our courts, and in all public areas. And, again, though this is predominantly a nation of Christian heritage, that means the free exercise of other religions as well. Today our children only get to see the ‘no prayer’ option in school—and look what it’s done for us. God has been expelled, with disastrous results. Better that they be able to pray, if they want, and to see others doing the same, including those from other religions, than to deny, as we have, the free exercise of that right to everyone except atheists.”

  William almost didn’t pause and was surprised by the strength and the length of the solid applause that followed this proposal.