Of One Mind

All these were fighting men who volunteered to serve in the ranks. They came to Hebron fully determined to make David king over all Israel. All the rest of the Israelites were also of one mind to make David king.  1 Chronicles 12:38

God had already sent Samuel to anoint David as king of Israel, so what is all this gathering of fighting men about? Well, it took a bit to get the nation of Israel behind their one king, anointed by God. So you might imagine how difficult it is to get a nation of independent-minded voters to gather behind the one president. As you well know, we haven't seen it since...uh, how far back can you remember? At least the great presidents in our history had the people behind them like Abraham Lincoln did? No, Abe presided over our one civil war, and a rough one it was too! All of his presidency and before was marked by harsh criticism and name calling the likes of which would remind us pretty much of right now. President Washington of course, the father of our nation had all the people behind him, surely? Right? The Tories of the War of Independence likely did not change their marching tunes right away after jolly old England loaded up their troops and went home. And a search among the national archives would likely show quite a few taking up their new freedoms to berate the first President of the United States in speech and in the press. Have we ever been the fully united United States? All of one mind? Probably not. 

One might even be forgiven for thinking that we maintain a strong military to give us the freedom to argue amongst ourselves. An election year brings this out into the open like no other year. For those of you who have served in our military, even to come home and find everyone arguing over election results, thank you for your service on this Veterans Day! 

Bucky
Cpl USMC 1983-1987