We all remember the story of the con artists that pretended to be haute couture clothing designers. The con was that only the most enlightened could see the clothes. One by one the Emperor’s courtiers pretended to see the magnificent clothes. They could not admit they were unenlightened. "Yes," the Emperor finally said, "The clothes are beautiful."
As the emperor took a stroll through his city, no one would admit that the emperor was naked. It was only when a little child declared, "That man has no clothes," that the people laughed.
In my daughter's iPad version the con artists were rewarded for teaching the Emperor a lesson—telling truth to the powerful I suppose. We know what their punishment would be in the real world.
Obama has no clothes. The only reason we think he does is that we can’t admit the possibility our own leader could be naked. No not for a moment. Do not misunderstand. Bush was naked too. They all are. Pick your favorite president. For me it would be Calvin Coolidge. He was naked too.
This was why God did not want Israel to have a king. We will idolize the leader, it is inevitable. But how will that king treat us? I Sam 8 tells us:
7-9 God answered Samuel, "Go ahead and do what they're asking. They are not rejecting you. They've rejected me as their King. From the day I brought them out of Egypt until this very day they've been behaving like this, leaving me for other gods. And now they're doing it to you. So let them have their own way. But warn them of what they're in for. Tell them the way kings operate, just what they're likely to get from a king."
10-18 So Samuel told them, delivered God's warning to the people who were asking him to give them a king. He said, "This is the way the kind of king you're talking about operates. He'll take your sons and make soldiers of them—chariotry, cavalry, infantry, regimented in battalions and squadrons. He'll put some to forced labor on his farms, plowing and harvesting, and others to making either weapons of war or chariots in which he can ride in luxury. He'll put your daughters to work as beauticians and waitresses and cooks. He'll conscript your best fields, vineyards, and orchards and hand them over to his special friends. He'll tax your harvests and vintage to support his extensive bureaucracy. Your prize workers and best animals he'll take for his own use. He'll lay a tax on your flocks and you'll end up no better than slaves. The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves. But don't expect God to answer."
19-20 But the people wouldn't listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We will have a king to rule us! Then we'll be just like all the other nations. Our king will rule us and lead us and fight our battles."
Oh, for those good old days when the "king" only took 10%!
I thought about these things after watching the following video. I thought at first that it was too hard on us drones. But on reconsideration, it may be too kind.
Why do bad things ultimately happen to a nation? Why is America headed for a crisis? Why do we allow our leaders to do the evil that they do?
All we have to do to stop them is laugh.