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Weep For The Future, Weep For America

Weep For The Future, Weep For America

Last updated on: August 12, 2025 at 5:24 am by Henry Karlson

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Weep For The Future, Weep For America 2025-08-12T05:24:52-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Don Sniegowski: Mural In Louisville, Kentucky By Wilfred E. Sieg III / flickr

Watching what is going on in the United States, all I can say is, following the words of G’Kar from Babylon 5, “Weep for the future, America, weep for the future.” When the President of the United States constantly lies to declare non-existent emergencies so that he can obtain more direct control over America, bypassing normal checks and balances, we should all weep. We should weep because he is not interested in truth or justice, but consolidating his power, and with it, the ability to transform the United States into some dystopian state. There is no emergency which justifies his use of tariffs. There is no emergency which justified his use of troops in California. There is certainly no emergency in Washington, D.C. to justify a federal takeover of the capital. As there are no real emergencies, there are no legitimate justifications for his actions. The legal requirements have not been met. Sadly, those who should put a stop to his actions, Congress and the Supreme Court, seem to be all in with him in his transformation of the United States. If they don’t watch out, they will soon become superfluous and he will see them as threats he will have to take out to make sure they that they don’t get a backbone and actually do something to help the American people.

The harm which Trump is doing to the United States is the kind which will be with us for a long, long time. Sadly, I fear his supporters will find a way to blame everyone but themselves, just as they did after his first presidency. “I have looked into the darkness, and you cannot do that and be quite the same again.” When you see the destruction of the economy of the United States due to tariffs, when you see the destruction of civil liberties as troops patrol the streets of the United States, when you see the attack on the homeless, those who are the least among us, the only thing you can do is mourn the death which is happening before us, the death of the ideals which lay behind the foundation of the United States. Yes, the United States has never lived up to those ideals, but over time, it has embraced them more and more, making things better over time. All of those advances are under attack.

Trump claimed that the crime in Washington, D.C. forced him to take action, that the situation was so terrible that the only thing he could do was take over the city. The problem with this is two-fold. First, crime was down in the capital as it was at a 30-year low. If it is so bad now, it was worse when he was president last time. Why didn’t he do anything then? (The answer is that Congress and the Supreme Court had yet to entirely bend their knee to him). Secondly, unless he plans to keep the soldiers in the city permanently, whatever reduction of crime happens for one week will be lost after the soldiers are gone. They will only be artificially lowered (or, one can make the case, just made invisible, while new crimes, those committed Trump and his allies will be on the rise). Legally speaking, he cannot place soldiers on the street permanently unless Congress approves. Of course, we know he plays fast and loose with the laws, which is how he is doing this (again, there is no emergency). And, truth be told, soldiers are not trained for law enforcement. Their purpose, it seems, is to promote terror more than anything else. This is especially true when we see Trump telling those who are policing the capital they should feel free to do anything they want to enforce Trump’s desires, that is, he is encouraging violation of all codes of conduct (and law) as a part of the means of his “crime reduction.” In other words, he is telling those who are meant to enforce the law to violate it, which of course, means, the whole thing is a farce.

Trump said he hopes to continue his police state methodology beyond the capital, to other cities, including Baltimore, New York, and Oakland. While there are legal arguments which could be made in regards D.C, arguments which I believe fail because the justification Trump is using is a lie, such arguments cannot be used outside of the capital. Trump, nonetheless, seems to want to have the American people accept what he is doing, justifying it by saying if he can do it in D.C., he should be able to do it everywhere else. Once again, we can figure out what he is going to do: he is going to falsely declare emergencies and use them to justify actions which are disproportionate to the supposed problems he is trying to deal with. That is a part of the problem. Justice and its enforcement must be proportionate to the crimes involved. Totalitarian states think disproportionate responses are justified, which one of the reasons why no one is safe in such regimes as basic rights, like due process, are lost. I can see the argument now: how can someone who is a criminal, who broke the law, use the law in their favor? After all, that is the argument being used against immigrants. The problem is one does not know if anyone is a criminal without due process.

Totalitarian states, dictators, love to use power and to have they rule over fear them, hoping that by such fear, they will be able to maintain power and control. They justify themselves by saying they have made things better by removing crime from society (of course, that never truly happens, as it goes underground, even as those enforcing the law begin to take bribes). They love to make things “look nice,” at the expense of the people, using the aesthetics of the new state of affairs as proof that they are doing what is right. But again, the whole point is that what they establish is artificial, maintained by brutality and crimes against humanity. Those who are in the margins of society, the poor, the homeless, minorities, tend to suffer the most by such regimes (which is why the homeless are usually one of the first attacked by such regimes, and are under attack by Trump). From a Christian standpoint, it is what is done to the least among the people that indicates the kind of state one is in – if they are helped, and made better, the society itself is better, but if they are under attack, threatened, and made to disappear, such a regime must be resisted.

The poor, the needy, the homeless, need to be helped, not exterminated; they need to be lifted up, not forced into work camps; they need medical attention and food and a proper place to live, which is not prison. This is why, when Trump directly attacked the homeless, both in his threats before taking over the capital, and then after taking it over, Christians must not stand back and do nothing. What is happening before is one of the great sins which cry up to heaven. They should know that Jesus said what is done to the least among the people is done directly to him. And, truth be told, we know there are going to be many more among the poor and homeless in the future thanks to Trump’s economic destruction of the United States; people will not be able to afford food or shelter, even if they have jobs (and many, of course, are going to find they will lose their jobs as the companies they work for go bankrupt, so that we will find more and more people made homeless).

I look and see a dark future ahead for the United States, and also for the rest of the world. Much of what Trump is doing is destabilizing the world, making it a worse place. He does not care about the future, as should be obvious with the way he is treating the environment. I can only weep and mourn. The future is not what it used to be. And sadly, so many of my fellow Christians have made this happen.

* This Is Another Post From My Personal (Informal) Reflections And Speculations Series

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N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.

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