Freedom Requires Unity, Bipartisanship

By Brian Walter

Have you been able to watch the speeches by Ukrainian President Zelensky and Arnold Schwarzenegger? I think both are relevant, not only in regard to the potentially world-changing war in Ukraine, but also in the effort of Unity Above Self in America.

President Zelensky’s speech is a passionate and heart-wrenching appeal for more U.S. assistance from a man in a war zone, facing imminent threat and watching the men, women, children, and babies of his nation being killed and mutilated, all in order to preserve freedom. He is putting forth the image of a man, a people, and a nation that will pay any price to preserve their freedom.

Friends, this is the same battle we are waging. The difference is in this war the enemy, Russian aggression fueled by Vladimir Putin, is loud, obvious, and has a clear villain. In our case, the enemy, our debt fueled by human greed, is quiet, insidious, and has no clear villain. But we must remember the threat to our freedom is just as real.

The other thing I would like you all to notice from the Zelensky video is how it unifies our U.S. Congress. We have grown accustomed to watching our congress sit together in one room watching the State of the Union speeches from both Republican and Democratic Presidents but portraying a very biased approach to virtually every issue addressed. But, when you watch the Zelensky video, there is no partisan line visible; every individual seems to be united against the enemy and partisanship is not evident.?

Why is our previously extremely fractured congress suddenly united?? I will give you my opinion. They are united because they have decided to face the truth of a very real threat to our freedom. They realize the threat is real for all Americans, regardless of party, race, gender, or any other potential line of division. They know that we must drop our trivial biases if we are to meet and defeat this threat. And maybe, they even realize that Jesus has commanded them to respond in a unified way and to treat Ukraine as we would want to be treated, if our positions were reversed.

His speech shows that even in these divided times, our people and our leaders can come together when they decide to face a major problem that threatens us when they face the truth of the problem head-on, with courage and conviction. This is exactly what we are trying to lead our nation to.

The Schwarzenegger video teaches a different lesson. His speech is an attempt to show that in many cases, the human spirit of citizens of all nations is good. Indeed, as Christians we must embrace the fact that with God as our father, all men are our brothers. His point is that evil leaders lead good men to evil action with lies and deceit. I would hope all Americans could get behind this eternal truth.

What is truly interesting is that Arnold uses his truthful account of his own father, who fought with the Nazis, as an example of what not to do. Most men are inclined to place their human father on a pedestal and argue that despite possible contrary evidence, their father was perfect. I would argue all men do have a perfect father, but that is their heavenly, not earthly father.

Arnold goes on to tell his first-hand account of how his father lived out the remainder of his life broken because he failed to recognize the lies and face the truth with courage.

Dear friends, we face the same dilemma. Will our legacy be that we failed to face the truth of our debt by buying into the lie being actively propagated by Washington, that debt doesn’t matter? Will our children see us as courageous heroes who sacrificed to fight the enemy of human greed or as the cowards who let our freedom slip away? That is the battle we are waging.

Please pray for our effort. Please pray for the love of freedom to prevail in America and Ukraine.

Unity Above Self in America is a nonprofit organization actively engaged in combating the growing U.S. federal debt by urging Congressional adoption of the No Budget, No Pay Act and its eventual ratification as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. For more information, please visit us at unityaboveself.com, or on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn.