The Incompetent Watchman

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Ezekiel 33:1-6

Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 "Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them:'When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, 3 when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.'

NKJV

The wall of ancient cities was their main line of defense for in order for an enemy to invade a city, they would first have to breach the wall.  Cities would appoint watchmen to watch for any approaching armies trying to breach the wall and sound a trumpet warning the people inside the city of an eminent threat.  When there was no eminent threat, they would leave the gates to the city open so people could go in and out of the city at will.  When the watchman saw an eminent threat approaching, he would sound the trumpet and they would close the gates to protect the people within the walls.  As Ezekiel 33:6 tells us, failure of the watchman to blow the trumpet meant the blood of any slain would be his responsibility. 

With the advent of aerial warfare, walls no longer provide defense from an enemy.  However, the concept of a watchmen warning citizens of an eminent threat remains important.  In the United States, this role is the duty of the President, the Commander-in-chief.  However, the current occupant of the White House is failing in his role as watchman.  His failures include,

1)      An erroneous belief that the enemies threatening the nation have been contained – It is not a good watchman that claims ISIS, an enemy to anyone not of the faith of Islam, is contained (1) on the very day ISIS carried out its brutal attacks on innocent citizens in Paris.  (2)  A good modern watchman would instead develop a plan to keep citizens safe while joining other countries like Russia and now France who have vowed to eliminate the threat of ISIS.  (3)

2)      Manipulation of economic data to provide the appearance that his economic policies are working and that there is no longer a threat of economic collapse – The labor participation rate, the number indicating how many people able to work in the United States are working, stands at 62.4 percent. (4) This means that 37.6 percent of those in the nation able to work are not working.  Because of a declining labor force, we are seeing record numbers of people on Food stamps.  (5)  However, the incompetent watchmen of the Obama Administration continue to tout how well the economy is doing based upon a low unemployment rate of 5.0% as of October 31, 2015.  (6)  This reported low rate is the U3 rate, which does not include those not working who have exhausted their unemployment benefits and given up on finding work.  A more accurate unemployment rate counting those that have given up and dropped out of the labor force is the U6 number (7) which is 9.8 percent as of October 31, 2015.  (8)  A competent watchman would report the U6 rate and develop a program to create jobs for the 37.6 percent of Americans not working in order to protect them, and the nation, from an economic collapse. 

3)      Opening up U.S. borders benefits the economy of the nation – In an environment with an increasing threat of a terrorist attack similar to what we observed in Paris and an economic environment with an increasing number of Americans chronically out of work, dependent on government subsistence, the last thing the nation needs is open borders.  Crossing our borders are not only people willing to take jobs due to their willingness to work off the books at lower wages, (9) but there are also reports of potential terrorists crossing the border (10) and ISIS even operating a base a few miles from the Texas Border in Mexico.  (11)  A competent watchman would secure the border, stopping the flow of illegals and potential terrorist to protect the nation against both an economic and security threat.

Even though the role of watchman is no longer a person standing on the wall, sounding a trumpet when seeing an eminent threat to the city, in the United States, the citizens elect a commander-in-chief to protect them from eminent threats.  Unfortunately, the current Commander-in-chief has failed to sound the trumpet alerting people to the threats of terrorism and economic collapse and therefore will have the economic and real blood of citizens on his hands when a terrorist attack or economic collapse occurs.  However, we do have an election coming in November 2016 giving us an opportunity to elect a watchman willing to sound the alarm. 

1. Poor, Jeff. Obama: ISIS is Not Getting 'Stronger,' We Have 'Contained' Them. www.breitbart.com. [Online] ABC News, November 13, 2015. [Cited: November 29, 2015.] www.breitbart.com/video/2015/11/13/obama-isis-is-not-getting-stronger-we-have-contained-them/.

2. Moriarty, Erin. Paris Latest City Where Terrorists Target Crowds. www.cbsnews.com. [Online] CBS News, November 15, 2015. [Cited: November 22, 2015.] www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-latest-city-where-terrorists-target-crowds/.

3. CBS News. Russia, France Pound ISIS Targets in Syria. www.cbsnews.com. [Online] CBS News, November 17, 2015. [Cited: November 29, 2015.] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-france-pound-isis-targets-in-syria-sec-of-state-john-kerry-says-tougher-response-needed/

4. Statistics, Bureau of Labor. Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. data.bls.gov. [Online] United States Department of Labor, November 29, 2015. [Cited: November 26, 2015.] data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000.

5. Berry, Dr. Susan. Gallup Ignores All-Time High Food Stamp Usage as Reason for 7-Year Low Percentage Americans Struggling to Afford Food. www.breitbart.com. [Online] Breitbart News, June 7, 2015. [Cited: November 29, 2015.] http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/07/gallup-ignores-all-time-high-food-stamp-usage-as-reason-for-7-year-low-percentage-americans-struggling-to-afford-food/.

6. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, Unemployment Rate. data.bls.gov. [Online] United States Department of Labor, November 29, 2015. [Cited: November 29, 2015.] data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000.

7. Investopedia. The True Unemployment Rate: U6 Vs. U3. www.investopedia.com. [Online] Investopedia, November 9, 2015. [Cited: November 29, 2015.] www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080415/true-unemployment-rate-u6-vs-u3.asp.

8. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Alternative Measures of Labor Utilization. www.bls.gov. [Online] United States Department of Labor, October 31, 2015. [Cited: November 29, 2015.] www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm.

9. Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Taking U.S. Jobs (2013). www.fairus.org. [Online] FAIR, 2013. [Cited: November 29, 2015.] www.fairus.org/issue/illegal-aliens-taking-u-s-jobs.

10. Ollstein, Alice. Rick Perry: Iraqi Terrorists Likely Crossing The Texas Border. thinkprogress.org. [Online] ThinkProgress, August 21, 2014. [Cited: August 26, 2014.] http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/08/21/3474264/rick-perry-immigration-2/.

11. DeMarche, Edmund. ISIS Reportedly Operating Base Few Miles From Texas Border. www.foxnews.com. [Online] Fox News, April 16, 2015. [Cited: November 29, 2015.] http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/04/16/isis-reportedly-operating-base-few-miles-from-texas-border/.