Thursday, December 19, 2024

Part I

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How the Collapse of Germany’s Government Could Be a Foreshadowing: What Happens in Germany is Important to Christian in the U.S. and in the World

There are issues foreign and domestic that demand our attention. And as we are barreling towards the holiday season with Christmas just looming before us, it is very interesting to note that the headlines don’t wait. The big issues don’t wait. There’s a certain sense in which a lot can be put on hold, but you know what? Even a major decision about whether the government would stand or fall in Germany couldn’t be put on hold. It couldn’t wait until the new year. And just on Tuesday of this week, the government in Germany fell.

Now, you’ll recall that we talked just days ago about the government in France falling. In this case, it is the government in Germany. And if anything, this is a bigger story even in the fall of the government in France, and that is because Germany is in so many ways and has served in so many ways as the anchor of the entire European experiment.

Now, even when we talked about the fall of the government in France, we talked about the fact that this is a larger worldwide pattern. We’re going to look more at that in just a moment, but it’s also true that France and Germany together have basically determined much of the politics when it comes to Western Europe. And they have also together basically established a unity that by the way, has been very good for the world because when France and Germany go to war, it seems that at least in recent cycles, the whole world has gone to war. So it’s a good thing that Germany and France have been at peace now for a matter of long decades, and both of them have been considered examples of democratic stability, especially Germany.

Germany is supposed to be the nation of seriously-minded Germans who are serious about their industry, they’re serious about their universities, they’re serious about their literature, they’re serious about their military, they are serious about everything and they are serious about government. This kind of instability in Germany is antithetical to Germany’s own sense of itself as a nation, and that’s especially true when you had, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, you had the reuniting of Germany. And so it would’ve been East Germany under the control of the Soviet Union and then West Germany as a democratic nation. When they were merged together by the time you get to the early 1990s, that appears to be one of the miracle stories of modern history and one that tended towards liberty.

Now, we have talked about the fact, however, that two big things are going on here and both of them are very much worthy of our attention. I just want to tell you, I know that most Americans, indeed many Christians, are not that concerned about issues of foreign affairs. But I just want to remind you that these issues don’t stay merely issues of foreign interest. There is a sense in which these issues come pretty quickly knocking at our own door.

We’ve been talking about this political instability in much of Europe, and frankly it’s also in the United States. And that’s reflected in the fact that Donald Trump, against all expectations, he not only won the presidency, that was fairly expected, but he won the popular vote. And furthermore, Republicans won control of the House and of the Senate at the same time. And so this realignment, that’s something that many of the pollsters certainly didn’t see coming. That’s something the Democratic Party certainly didn’t see coming.

But at least right now, America, even with the exchange of administrations perhaps just pointing to the stability in the midst of a change of administrations, that points to a difference between what’s going on in the United States right now and what is going on elsewhere in the world. The fall of the government in France showed the instability there. Now, the fall of the government in Germany, let’s talk about why the German government fell.

It was the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and he had only taken power in 2021 after the retirement of Angela Merkel as chancellor. And she had really been, in so many ways, the architect after Helmut Kohl of Germany after the fall of the Soviet Union, after the reuniting of Germany. After all, she was an East German for much of her adult life. She is the daughter of a minister, by the way, there in East Germany at the time. It is also true that she’s had basically a secular career and a secular reputation, although in Germany it is still important to recognize that one of the leading parties is the Christian Democratic Party. I didn’t say the Evangelical Democratic Party, but the Christian Democratic Party. And Christian identity parties have been very much a part of Germany, at least in the modern Democratic era.

But you’re looking at a very secular nation and you’re looking at Germany suffering from some very severe problems. And let’s just think about those for a moment. One of the problems is that absorbing East Germany into a larger federal union was more difficult than people had expected, and that’s because economies have consequences. Ideas have consequences. And frankly, it is pretty easy to trace the consequences of economic ideas. The economic idea of communism and of socialism was a very bad idea. And full evidence of that is seen in the former East Germany. And frankly, there hasn’t been an adequate catch-up now that Germany’s united between the east and the west. The west is still far more advanced in many ways.

But you’re also looking at something else, and that is this, that in Germany, one of the big issues is the fact that energy is going to have to be developed somehow. It’s going to have to get to Germany somehow. And under the Anglo-American years, Germany really leaned into the idea of stopping the use of fossil fuels, but Germany did something else that in retrospect turns out, well, frankly, it should have been understood at the time, but certainly in retrospect, it turns out to have been a very bad idea, and that is it bought into the idea that nuclear power was bad even though nuclear power does not pose a threat when it comes to climate change or what’s been called global warming.

But nonetheless, the political Left has been against nuclear power for decades now and quite successfully campaigned against it. And so the German government shut down its nuclear energy. Okay, that was bad enough, but guess what happened next? Russia invaded Ukraine. And when Russia invaded Ukraine and Germany was alerted to the fact that Russia was now an aggressive force that threatened all of Europe, let me tell you what was the cost to Germany. It was cheap energy from Russia. Basically, the faucet got turned off.

But there’s more to it even than just skyrocketing energy prices, and frankly a national crisis on that basis. It’s also the fact that Germany that has a hard-won reputation for technology, German engineering. Think of brands like BMW and Mercedes-Benz just to give two examples. Germany’s made its reputation on those firms on technological innovation and famous or infamous German efficiency, but that’s been breaking down in recent years. Germany is now in the second year of a very deep recession. And quite honestly, it has been embarrassed by other developments as well, including airport projects that have gone way over cost and frankly still aren’t fully operational in several senses. You’re looking at all kinds of problems and eventually they show up in politics.

And so just as the government fell in France, and remember what that means, is that in a parliamentary system, there is no parliamentary majority, the prime minister in France or the Chancellor in Germany effectively loses the mandate for a government and there has to be an election and there has to be some kind of new majority to supply a new prime minister or chancellor. It is expected that the German president who’s the head of state constitutionally unimportant, except in moments like this, is going to call an election for February the 23rd, 2025. I don’t care where you are in this kind of situation, that’s going to be a long wait.

And by the way, on the dimension of nuclear power, it’s also interesting to note that nuclear power is being revisited/rethought here in the United States. Again, the political Left has been very much against nuclear energy. And of course it doesn’t come without some dangers. It certainly doesn’t come without costs and some complications. One of the problems is what do you do with used atomic fuel or nuclear fuel because it has radioactive half-lives that will go far into the future beyond anything not only any of us will see, but frankly most of us could even imagine.

But that is still manageable. And what is not manageable in democratic societies is the failure of the economy. Voters just won’t stand for it. What’s not acceptable in democratic societies is the fact that energy costs go so high that people can’t heat their homes or keep the lights on or energy and the larger economy just begins to dissipate. That’s not allowable. Voters won’t stand for it. And so here in the United States, you’ve got political leaders like Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, and they’re talking getting back into nuclear power. And of course, Texas in the United States is primarily known for its oil wells for its petroleum industry, but of course it’s a larger energy sector even there in Texas with different forms of gas and different forms of electricity including solar electricity. Texas, given its size and its climate, and not to mention the deposits of fossil fuels has been a leader in this particular area for a long time, but the governor of Texas now says he intends for Texas to be the leading state in nuclear energy.

But one of the complications here is that building a nuclear power plant takes a very, very long time. You can say you want to build it right now, but it might be 15 years before that plant can get all the permits and go through all the process and eventually come online. But you know what? If you don’t do it now, you won’t have it in 15 years. There are investors who understand that and are willing to invest in a business plan that would produce a nuclear site producing power, say, 15 years from now. But we also know that those investors tend to grow cold when it looks like the entire project may be endangered by politics or permitting or just about anything else. And remember, this has a lot to do here in the United States with this nation avoiding what has taken place in Germany.

And I will just give you this prediction. If this kind of disequilibrium happens in the United States as is happening right now in Germany, largely based upon escalating fuel prices, you’re going to see political ramifications here. That’s one of the reasons why I believe Donald Trump, the former president, is now Donald Trump the president-elect, because he was very clear about the fact that even though he wants the United States to be involved in alternative forms of energy, he is not going to turn off the faucet for traditional forms of energy here in the United States until there is a replacement.

But let’s go back to Germany for a moment and let’s remind ourselves that big worldview issues are at stake here. And we’re looking at political disequilibrium and chaos. We’re looking at the fall of the government in France, now the fall of the government in Germany. The fall of the government in France was headline news. I just want to say again, the fall of the government in Germany is a bigger headline. And quite honestly, we are also going to be very interested to see what in the world is the shape of a government that might have some kind of continuity there in Germany.

And we also just need to remember that it’s very tempting for Americans to say, “You know, those developments are far, far away from us. That’s Germany, that’s not the United States.” And Americans said that at the beginning of the 20th century, then came World War I. They said it in the middle of the 20th century, then came World War II. They said it after World War II, and then came the Cold War. And at least at this point, we need to remind ourselves that what happens in Germany really is important to Christians in the United States or, for that matter, just about anywhere in the world.

And the big worldview issues that are at stake in Germany, big issues such as who are as a nation, what kind of government do we want, what kind of policies do we want in place, how do we answer these big problems, all these come with issues that Christians need to think through very, very carefully, so we’re going to be watching the story as it unfolds.

Part II

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The Big Problem of Underperformance in the UK: It Doesn’t Matter If You Have an Empire If You Can’t Flush the Sewers

But on a lesser governmental issue, I just have to share with you because this is kind of fun. Here’s a headline in the New York Times about Great Britain, “Authorities in the United Kingdom,” the UK, that’s Great Britain, “come or criticism for sewage overflows.”

Okay. One of the things I point out is that the Christian worldview reminds us that government has certain functions, and that government tends to take on too many functions. Government overreach is a huge problem. But you know what? Government underperformance is another big problem. And let’s just say that one of the things government does, and quite necessarily so in most situations, is to decide what to do with what is flushed. And it turns out that working sewers are a very big necessity for civilization, certainly for cities. If you’re living in a more rural area, well, you can have septic tanks and all the rest. But if you are in a city, you can’t have all those septic tanks. You’re going to have to have a sewer system. And guess what? It really matters whether or not it works.

And I just want to say that even in biblical terms, as you understand that this has got to work and that this turns out to be often a kind of necessary function of government, it reminds me of a statement made by one of my favorite people in history, and that is Sir Winston Churchill, who of course was twice prime Minister of Great Britain, twice First Lord of the Admiralty. He was also Home Secretary at one point. And in the British government early in the 20th century, he said, “It won’t much matter if we are able to ran an empire, but we can’t produce working sewers.” He was right on that as well as on so many other things because if you don’t make the sewers work, then the voters will eventually flush you out.

Part III

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The UK’s Final Ruling on the Cass Review: The U.S. Needs to Heed the Warnings Over Transgender Procedures on Minors from Britain

Meanwhile, coming back to some other issues we just have to return to again and again, it’s very interesting that in Great Britain, the government there has finalized a policy which is preventing puberty blockers from being prescribed for teenagers, for adolescents there in the United Kingdom. So we’ve talked about this. It’s on the other side of the so-called Cass report that I think is just incredibly groundbreaking and eye-opening because it makes very clear that the use of these puberty blockers and adolescents can come with some very negative side effects. Again, who would’ve thought? It makes perfect sense. That is exactly what we would expect.

And even though you have the transgender activists, here and you have their fellow travelers, and you have so much of the medical community insisting that these can be used without risk, it is incredibly important. You look at a nation like the United Kingdom, you look at Britain and understand it once had a policy that was the same, but it has now changed that policy. And it has changed that policy because it has become convinced that the use of these kinds of hormonal treatments in adolescents comes with an unacceptable risk and unacceptable cost. Again, from a Christian worldview perspective, we would have to expect that.

I mentioned the report done by Dr. Hilary Cass, a very prominent pediatrician in Britain, and it was undertaken for the government. The government took that report and on the basis of the report temporarily banned the use of these puberty blockers in teenagers. That was challenged in the court and just a matter of last week, the government on the basis of this report made the ban of the use of puberty blockers on teenagers indefinite. That’s a very clear statement. They established the ban. They have reaffirmed it, and they have stated they’re going to continue it indefinitely.

Now, indefinitely doesn’t mean that there won’t be some action in the future, but it does tell us that the tide is turned in Great Britain even in the medical community and even in the government. Remember that it is a current labor government. It’s the more liberal party that’s in power right now, and that should serve as a shot across the bow to the medical establishment in the United States and a shot across the bow to politicians of both parties. This ought to get the attention of Americans. And if this doesn’t, I don’t know what will.

Part IV

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No, Disney, Parents Do Not Want Transgender Storylines: Pixar Pulls Transgender Storyline From Upcoming Series

But then again, thinking about the transgender issue, we also have to understand that it is not just adults. It’s not just teenagers. It’s also children who are being targeted. And if not for some kind of treatment, then at least for ideological revolution. And we have talked about the fact that Hollywood is big into that agenda. And that’s one of the ways that social and moral revolution happens in this country. It is because you have the gravitation of people who tend to be on the far Left of the culture into certain sectors in the economy, and the artistic and entertainment sectors tend to be particular magnets.

And when you look for instance at Hollywood and you look specifically at a corporation like Disney, you come to understand that there are hard choices that are going to have to be made. And every once in a while, even Disney has to face reality.

Here’s a headline for you from NBC News, “Disney Removes Transgender Storyline from Upcoming Pixar Streaming Series.” Okay, so this tells us before we even look at the story itself. This tells us that Disney had intended to include a storyline for a Pixar streaming series–this is an animated series that was intended for a very, very young audience–they had intended to include an explicit transgender storyline. I hope that has your attention. But it should also have our attention that Disney has now removed that storyline.

Daniel Arkin reporting for NBC News tells us, “Disney pulled a transgender storyline from Win or Lose, an eight episode Pixar streaming series that debuts in February.” “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement, “we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.” You think? That’s one of those statements that is actually more interesting for the statement even than perhaps even what it’s talking about, because that kind of statement tells us that the corporation isn’t saying that it might be right or wrong to have a transgender storyline in a children’s programming series. Instead, it just tells us that they recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects like this rather than to have children exposed to them in terms of a media product.

Well, again, you’ll notice that they’re saying, “We’re not making any moral judgment or whatsoever. We’re not making a moral judgment about transgenderism.” As a matter of fact, the company’s all for it, and they will tell you that in their hiring policies and in their promotions, but they do understand that there’s a limit when it comes to their marketing. There’s a limit when it comes to their audience. And thanks be to God, there is a limit when it comes to what parents will allow their children to see, much less, pay for them to see.

The NBC report goes on to tell us, and I quote, “The character will remain in the show, but references to the character’s gender identity have been removed,” the company said. The alteration involves “just a few lines of dialogue near the end of the season.” We are later told that the Win or Lose series “centers on a coed middle school softball team in the lead up to a big game with each episode focusing on a different character’s perspective.”

Okay, I have to go back to that previous sentence. I want to tell you that sometimes when I read something like this, I realize this exceeds my imagination. I just don’t understand even what I’m being told here. So I want to go back to the statement, NBC tells us that the character will remain on the show, but references to the character’s gender identity have been removed. Okay, how do you do that? In other words, how in an animated series do you say this person is transgender? How do you say that without just saying, “Oh, this is a transgender character.” In other words, how could this be done with subtlety? Because you make the character look like a girl, people are going to think it’s a girl. You make it look like a boy, they’re going to think it’s a boy. You have to tell them that something’s wrong with this picture, and I can’t even imagine how you would do that with animation. But I’m not an animator.

I do think it underlines the basic perversity behind all of this. The article also tells us, “The storyline alteration drew criticism from Chanel Stewart, an 18-year-old transgender actor who voiced the transgender character.” Okay, just hold on. “I was very disheartened,” Stewart told Deadline, an entertainment News website. Stewart told the publication that Disney called, in the article it says, “her mother Monday night to let her know about the change.”

Now, this particular actor has been identified as transgender, and then the mainstream media comes out and uses a female pronoun, which tells you, oddly enough in the perversity of this upside down world, that this is actually a male actor who is now identifying as female. And that’s hard enough to describe how in the world do you draw this into a cartoon.

From a Christian worldview perspective, this just points out the insanity of denying creation order. It just doesn’t work. It doesn’t work in children’s programming, but you’re lying to yourself if you think it works in entertainment or any other context for adults. It doesn’t work because it isn’t true.

By the way, NBC also tells us, “Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, has said he wants the company to move away from themes that could be perceived as political.” “Infusing messaging is not what we’re up to,” Iger said in an interview with CNBC in early April. “We need to be entertaining.” Now, wait just a minute. The CEO of Disney just told us “infusing messaging is not what we’re up to.” Now, wait just a minute. There are lies, there are big lies, and then there are bigger lies. I can’t imagine many lies bigger than having the CEO of Disney say that, “Infusing messaging is not what we are up to.” It’s what they’re up to all the time. And that’s one thing if that messaging goes back to say infusing patriotism in the middle of World War II, which Disney did by the way. But over the course of the last several decades, Disney has veered far off into the left and on various different agendas. Boy has it been messaging.

But you understand that Bob Iger does understand that Disney is getting into trouble for that messaging, and now he says, “Infusing messaging is not what we’re up to.” Well, even saying that is infusing messaging, by the way, but let’s let that go. He says, “We need to be entertaining.” Now, that’s what, by the way, most people over the decades of Disney’s existence have thought that they were paying Disney to do, be entertaining.

Part V

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Judge Rules Transgender Teaching in Schools Violate Parental Rights: The Sexual Revolution is Colliding with Parental Rights, Religious Liberty, and More

Bringing this to home for many families, the Wall Street Journal recently ran an article by Max Eden of the American Enterprise Institute. The headline is this, How Trump Can Target Transgenderism in Schools. Mr. Eden’s article goes to the fact that just recently in the state of Pennsylvania, there was a federal district court ruling that says, and by the way Mr. Eden says this should be required reading for the Trump administration, “A teacher taught her first graders that boys can be girls, that parents merely guessed their kids sex at birth, and that this guess can be wrong. This confused students and angered parents who sued under the First and Fourteenth Amendment.”

Now, listen to this, “The judge held that forcing these concepts on children undermine the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.” And then just as if people need to know this, “Many religions teach that God created as male and female, promoting a scientifically baseless claim, undermining that doctrine without parental consent infringes on religious liberty.” Well, of course it does, and there’s more to it than that.

But I do think it’s interesting that the article states, I repeat the words, “many religions teach that God created us male and female.” Now, you know? That actually turns out to be true. In some form, that statement is true across an awful lot of the religious landscape in the world. And we ask the question why, and I come back to those words, “creation order.” It is because you don’t have to see very clearly at all to see that.

Now, the most relevant aspect of this argument in this court decision in Pennsylvania in a federal district court is the fact that it does underline that parents do have a First Amendment right to decide what’s going to be taught to their children on these issues. And that when you have indoctrination coming from the public schools, what you have is an unconstitutional intrusion upon parental rights.

Now, I am thankful for this federal district court decision, but I want to warn you that we have big court fights coming on just this kind of thing. And so even as we celebrate the fact that this particular court ruled in this way, we have to understand that the other side’s going to come back again and again and again in the courts and elsewhere to try to further their agenda at the expense not only a parental rights, but a basic reason, morality and biology. Or in other words, it’s good to know about this victory, but it would be very, very foolish to rest on it.