A few of my previous posts described the prophetic gifts of Maya Angelou, Stevie Wonder, and, of all people, Mike Judge. Here are a few more prophecies on the same theme…

Octavia Butler, a renowned writer of speculative fiction, wrote…

Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.
To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.

Her words have proven to be painfully accurate over time but never more so than in our current “leader”. She pretty much ticked every item on the list of his character traits. And she did it nearly thirty years ago. Today we’re paying the price for not heeding her warning.

The following quote has been wrongly attributed to Sinclair Lewis, but its origins are unknown. According to Quote Investigator, it appears to be an amalgam of quotes from a variety of sources. Regardless, it has turned out to be 100% true:

When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.

While the exact quote is not from Lewis, its intent and power are expressed in great detail in his brilliantly prophetic book, “It Can’t Happen Here”. That novel is highly recommended.

Finally, there’s the utmost expression of such prophecy, by none other than the now trendy Alexander Hamilton. In a letter to George Washington dated August 18, 1792, Hamilton stated,

When a man unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents, having the advantage of military habits—despotic in his ordinary demeanour—known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty—when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity—to join in the cry of danger to liberty—to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion—to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day—It may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may “ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.”

Except for the clauses about talents and military habits, neither of which the object of this post possesses, Mr. Hamilton has captured precisely what we’re suffering through as well as its cause. He saw it coming over 200 years before it happened yet most of us are missing it even as we’re in the midst of that whirlwind. No wonder he got a musical.