Current Event & Trends: Political disappointment and division
What's wrong with our leadership? Is increasing political divide leading to national fragmentation and possible breakup?
Gideon Rachman, writing for The World in 2013, predicts: "Politicians will disappoint the voters—again. The world's leading democracies are experiencing a crisis of confidence. In 2013 that crisis will intensify in America, the European Union, Japan and India. All grapple with profound problems of governance" ("Democracy's Woes," emphasis added throughout).
Rachman's report continues: "American politics will remain gridlocked . . . In 2013 America will find it more difficult than ever to fashion coherent policies to revive growth and to tackle the soaring national debt." He also states that "public faith in politicians could hit new lows in 2013."
One of the major accomplishments of American president Abraham Lincoln was to keep the Union together through the terrible ordeal of the Civil War. It appears that at no time since then has America been as divided as it is today. Major issues divide Americans, with no prospects for unity in sight.
America isn't alone in this regard. Apart from the current intentions of Catalonia in seeking separation from Spain, the most immediate threat to the unity and territorial integrity of a major nation will occur in 2014 in Great Britain. Scotland will then decide whether to remain a part of the United Kingdom or become independent. If it opts to go it alone, the Union of 1713 between England and Scotland will cease—with far-reaching negative political and economic consequences for both countries. Will the present UK leadership be up to the task of persuading the Scots to remain in the United Kingdom?
Part of the biblically foretold decline of the end-time descendants of the patriarch Jacob may involve divisive fragmentation of territory. If you don't yet understand the true biblical identities of these peoples, read our free Bible study aid The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy.
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: January - February 2013
Course Content
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
