Why must we suffer when leadership fails? There is so much to say that can be misunderstood that I have to use metaphor, simile, allegory and even rhetoric to explain without being targeted as a RINO or, hold your breath, a Democrat. Allow me to be biblical here. "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, when the wicked rule, the people mourn."

"Woe to those who make unjust laws to deprive the poor of their rights and robbing the fatherless."

However, the people are not to follow bad decisions, morally corrupt leaders or criminal acts of the leadership.

I am very familiar with Romans 13:1–7 that states everyone must submit to the government in power because their authority is established and powers are given by God. This passage must also be understood as "legitimate" powers and not wrongly guided by uncontrolled irresponsible leadership.

In I Samuel 8, the nation of Israel demands that they must have a king – a human king – and not God's rule through judges. Normally, a prophet would appoint his sons as judges, but the sons are dishonest,

take bribes and take advantage of their power. The people want a monarchy just like all the other nations. Samuel warns, "A king will put all the young men to be his personal soldiers, the girls will be the king's cooks, give the best vineyards to his staff and reduce the population to slavery."

Samuel tries to convince Israel that they cannot and must not replace the rule by God to rule by a human leader. The outcome of their decision? They get a king and pay the price. God allowed human choice so people could learn the hard way.

My understanding of this entire difficulty is this: we must have an authority greater than human authority to guide us! Uncontrolled power – and I mean like the power given by the Supreme Court, unlimited – is nothing short of disaster!

Why did our Congress of 1776 vote for the Declaration of Independence? It was to inform the world that "all people are created equal with unalienable rights and governments get their power by consent of the govern."

Democracy has given us a Constitution, which outlines our form of government. Its weakness is that human control is gifted with the ability to make mistakes when we set aside critical thinking for emotional choice. Sometimes we get megalomania as a reward. By the way, a megalomaniac is not a very nice person. However, we are learning, by golly, and our recent election results may prove we have made good choices. Another however, we must trust and follow the perfect laws of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who gave

us that perfect teaching, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

We will try. We really will try.

Thanks, God!