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“No Kings” protests and the future of American democracy · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Greetings on this Monday, October the 20th, 2025.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the daily article podcast from Dineson Forum.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: The day's daily article is written by our CEO, Dr. Jim Dineson.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Chris Elfkin's narrator.
• 0:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: quote, many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: No one pretends that democracy is perfect or always.
• 0:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: When Winston Churchill made that statement in 1947, he had led England to victory in World War II as its prime minister, lost his bid for reelection in a landslide, and returned to Parliament as one of its 640 members.
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: He had experienced personally the vagaries of democracy.
• 0:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: If he were writing today's article, he might make the same observation, though far more eloquently
• 1:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: No King's rallies held across the country over the weekend, gave the anti-Trump movement its biggest moment so far, according to the website The Hill.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Participants warned that the president threatens democracy.
• 1:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some Republicans blamed the demonstrations for prolonging the U.S. government shutdown.
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: The shutdown is now the third longest in history with no apparent end in sight.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: France has seen five or six depending on how you count, prime ministers in the last two years.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: The UK has been led by six prime ministers in the last 10 years.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: After Hamas and Fatat took control of Gaza and the West Bank, respectively, following the 2006 elections, there have been no more Palestinian elections.
• 1:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the US and other countries believe Nicolas Maduro lost the election in Venezuela last year, but the official electoral commission aligned with his government declaring him
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: But, my thoughts today are motivated by the historian Elaine Pagels fascinating recent essay in the Atlantic.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: She notes that democracy was unknown to humanity for thousands of years, ancient empires were ruled by imporers, Hindu societies enshrined the ruler as one who embodied the divine order of the gods, Greek philosophers argued that rulers were innately different and thus capable of ruling others.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: By contrast, America's founders believe that all men are created equal and assertion that formed the foundation for the democratic republic they built.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have witnessed personally the alternatives in Cuba, China, and Russia.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: My father and grandfather fought in world wars to defend our democracy.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today, millions of men and women are defending our freedom in military posts around the world and deserve our undying gratitude.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: But as the news demonstrates daily, the key to the success of a democracy lies not with its system, but with the people it serves and those they elect to serve them.
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thomas Jefferson observed, the government you elect is the government you deserve.
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is because living into democracy doesn't change people, people change democracy.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some of the godliest people I have ever known live in the oppression of autocracies in Cuba and China.
• 3:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have witnessed personally the courage of Russian evangelicals who meet for worship despite the opposition of their government.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Conversely, the ongoing clergy crisis in America shows that our democracy cannot ensure the character even of religious leaders, much less eerie religious ones.
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Elaine Pagels observes that our inalienable human rights are the sacred inheritance of
• 3:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: every human being grounded in a transcendent reality, but these rights must be grounded in that reality if they are to prevail.
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some 118 is one of the most remarkable songs of worship and scripture.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was sung at the Feast of the Tabernacles and it passed over.
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: From Matthew 21, verse 9, we know that the crowds recited verse 26 of Psalm 18, when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, it will be sung again at his second coming, according to Matthew 23, verse 39.
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: In Psalm 118 verse 6, the Psalmistic lairs, the Lord is on my side, I will not fear.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then asks, what can man do to me?
• 4:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you had secret service protection, would you fear a streetmugging?
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: In verse 8, he then makes my point today.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Man translates the Hebrew Adam.
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: referring here to mankind.
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: This encompasses every human being, including ourselves.
• 5:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Solomon warned us in Proverbs 28, verse 26, whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool.
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: James explained why.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire from James 1, verse 14, which leads to sin and eventual death declared in verse 15.
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Psalmist testifies in Psalm 18 verse 14, the Lord is my strength and my song.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: He has become my salvation.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: He could therefore declare in verse 24, this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we see today as a gift we have received, rather than a possession we deserve, we will use it to love and serve our Father and our neighbor,
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: The future of America's democracy depends on the character of America's people.
• 6:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, only Jesus can transform our fallen nature into the divine lightness for which we are designed and intended, noted in Genesis 1, verse 27.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And referencing First Peter 1, verse 16, only He can impart to us His holiness.
• 6:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Think of a democracy composed of Christ-like citizens and leaders.
• 6:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Imagine the good it could do for its people and the world.
• 6:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our part stated in Psalm 18 verse 8 is to take refuge in the Lord.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: A refuge only helps those who stay within its shelter.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: The spirit can sanctify only those who stay connected to him in worship, prayer, and obedience.
• 6:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is why we are commanded in first Thessalonians 5, verse 17, to pray without ceasing, not to live with our eyes closed and our hands folded, but to consciously practice the presence of Jesus throughout the day, to talk with him along the way.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: to listen to his spirit as he guides us, to experience his power as he strengthens us, to seek and receive his pardon as he forgives our failures, to manifest the first glimmers of that miraculous day described in 1 John 3 verse 2, when we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
• 7:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: When Rome was sacked in 8410, St. Augustine told his flock, all earthly cities are vulnerable, men build them, and men destroy them.
• 7:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: At the same time, there is the city of God, which men did not build and cannot destroy, and which is everlasting, in quote, which city will you serve today?