Funding our Abusers

I know a woman whose husband was so lazy she worked long hours to compensate for his lack of effort. He repaid her diligence by treating her with contempt. She came to me asking for advice and I suggested she stop subsidizing her mistreatment and divorce him, which she did, dramatically improving her life. Similarly, every year the state of California sends $83 billion more dollars to the federal government than it receives in return. That same federal government, led by Donald Trump, is abusing the citizens of California, stifling their right to dissent, sending National Guard units to California without the governor’s consent, and now threatening to arrest the Mayor of Los Angeles and California’s governor, Gavin Newsom. Tom Homan, the director of ICE, denied threatening Newsom with arrest, but video clips show him doing just that. Lying is a prerequisite to work in the Trump Administration and Homan can spin a yarn with the best of them.Erwin Chemerinsky, one of the nation’s leading constitutional law scholars, said “for the federal government to take over the California National Guard, without the request of the governor, to put down protests is truly chilling.” In this age of ICE, “chilling” is an apt description.Were I Governor Newsom, I would refuse to subsidize my own abuse. Unless and until the federal government stopped its violence against Californians, I would not send the thinnest dime to Washington D.C. That Donald Trump would send members of the United States military to tamp down protests borne of his own stupidity is not only illegal, but contemptible.It is always interesting to see who cooperates with tyranny and who opposes it, but Americans are showing their true colors. The police officers, federal agents, and ragtag thugs conducting these warrantless arrests are deserving of contempt. Those who order them into service are not fit to lead and are earning the well-deserved sneer of history. Their Nuremberg claims of only following orders are indefensible. If I were doing what they were doing, I would also mask myself, not wanting my family, friends, and neighbors to see the depths to which I had sunk. Other Americans, the true ones, are rallying on our nation’s streets, determined to not go quietly into America’s dark night. Just remember that today’s burning police car is yesterday’s cask of tea in Boston Harbor. As for Tom Homan, America’s Chief Skinhead, I have read he is a faithful Catholic. While he might attend weekly Mass, he is no faithful Catholic. One does not awaken each morning, work hand in hand with Satan, then claim the name of Jesus. How the sacramental wine and bread must curdle in his mouth.The day is fast approaching when we must decide whether we will fund an abusive and traitorous government. Since I began paying taxes at the age of 16, I have funded government initiatives I didn’t support. I did so because I believed the federal government did far more good than bad with my dollars. But the tipping point is close at hand. If other Americans wish to cheer on Donald Trump, let them foot the bill for his cruelties, I will not. There are a thousand ways to avoid federal taxes, and I will make it my life’s work to discover and employ every one of them.In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson deployed the National Guard to Alabama to protect Selma marchers from brutal authorities. He did so without the permission of Governor George Wallace, a racist segregationist. On January 6th, 2021, when our nation’s future hung in the balance, Trump held the National Guard at bay, refusing to quell a traitorous insurrection. For the first time since 1965, the National Guard is being deployed not to protect our rights, but to curb them, not to defend the Constitution, but to muzzle it. Let it never be forgotten that in our lifetime, one president used the National Guard to safeguard our rights while Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans used the Guard to suppress them. Never forget. Never forget. Never forget.Philip Gulley is the author of and the popular Harmony series and Unlearning God: How Unbelieving Helped Me Believe.Discover my books, stories, and more by visiting Books by Philip GulleyContact Philip directly at [email protected] PHILIP FOR SUNDAY WORSHIPYou're invited to join Philip and Fairfield Friends Meeting online for our worship services (Sundays 10:30-11:30 a.m. EDT) via Zoom.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83152822906?pwd=UDkzR3NPNlB5N29QY0svelRkNkUwdz09Meeting ID: 831 5282 2906 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit philipgulley.substack.com/subscribe