Election thoughts

As I sit here listening to the Democratic convention my thoughts drift to my own political journey. I have trouble believing many of these speakers believe what they are saying.

I am not excited about our choices for president this year. The first time I was old enough to vote for president I was in favor of the democratic candidate. I didn’t vote because I moved in October of that year and it was obvious that George McGovern had no chance to unseat a very popular Richard Nixon. My first vote was in 1976 when I voted for Gerald Ford. Four years later I voted for Jimmy Carter against Ronald Regan. I voted for Jimmy Carter, not because I thought he was a good president, but because his presidency gave me a multitude of opportunity for spiritual conversation. His outspoken claim to be born again was a great conversation starter.

Between 1980 and 1984 it became obvious to me that there was a great divide in our country between those who called themselves pro-choice and those who called themselves pro-life. They were called respectively by their opponents, pro-abortion and anti-choice. At that time I realized that the culture war that was being fought called for a change in strategy in presidential voting. Since that time I have voted for the pro-life candidate in any election where I had that choice.

You see, I am not sure about conservative/liberal issues of economics. Reganomics sounded good, but didn’t seem to work as good as it sounded. It wasn’t until Bill Clinton became president that the government began to get control of the deficit. Now I understand the conservative arguments. I have used them many times. It took that long for the tax-cuts that Regan initiated to make the difference. It wasn’t until 1994 when Republicans took control of congress that the deficit came under control. I know those arguments, but they are opinion, they cannot be proved. I think John McCain is the most honest of the candidates ever, “I don’t completely understand how the economy works.” I am not sure any of the others do either.

It does seem that democrats are for higher taxes. But then, if we are going to do all the things for people that both Republicans and Democrats want to do, then we need taxes. The money doesn’t grow on trees. W has given Americans all the things the democrats say they need, but he doesn’t raise the money to pay for it. So we have deficit spending again. I know, it is the democratic controlled congress that passes the money bills, but it is the president that signs them.

Now that McCain has not chosen Romney for VP I will support McCain. There is one issue that I look at first, like many other Americans. I cannot vote for a President, a Senator, or a Congressman who doesn’t hold life sacred. A woman’s right to choose cannot come before a baby’s right to life.

An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind by Erwin Raphael McManus

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
It took me a while to work my way through this one, not because it wasn't good, but because it inspired a lot of thinking.



The chapter on Spiritual Leadership is one every Christian leader, especially Pastors, should read. The Epilogue, chapter 10, entitled Radical Minimum Standard is a chapter every believer should read.

His statement that in today's church we live with a conspiracy of mediocrity, that we are unwitting enemies of nobility and heroism, where we choose to live where apathy is normal and average is the goal, reminds me of a statement of Billy Sunday, "most christians are so sub-normal that when you see a Christian that is normal, we think he is ab-normal."






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