Are Some Political Parties More ‘Holy’ Than Others?
No. Political parties are inherently godless. Parties are not concerned with God or Faith, they are concerned with power, control, influence, branding and money. The Democrats and Republicans have monopolized power in the USA, and in the end all elections are a decision between one of these two Party’s candidates. Both groups suffer from corruption, and they both seek money and power above all else. Fortunately, good people can emerge from any system, regardless of how corrupted that system is. With the same logic, we find that no good person or candidate is perfectly good, or they themselves would be God: We will always disagree with a candidate on some issues.
But I’m a Business Owner, Is my Wealth Going to be Redistributed?
No. The rich will continue to be rich. The Government is not going to tax you into the middle class, so don’t sweat it. Despite Obama’s election and the Joe the Plumber rhetoric, at the end of the day you’re still going to live in your huge house, drive your sparkly German cars, and make more money in a month than the rest of us make in 5 years. The only thing that might push you back into the middle class (or bankruptcy) is our plunging market system. Our financial system has collapsed due in large part to unregulated greed and corruption, and remember that the Republicans (as well as many Democrats) supported deregulation up until the collapse.
Christians Don’t Vote for Democrats because Democrats Support Gay Marriage.
Wrong. Questions over the definition of marriage are decided by the states. More than that, the question usually bypasses both Parties and goes straight to the voters, who are given a choice between recognition or non-recognition of same-sex marriage in the form of amendments to their state’s constitution. The majority of states have added, or are adding, amendments that don’t recognize same-sex marriage. All of this is independent of the American President. Coincidentally, Obama and McCain completely agreed on maintaining this system, so it doesn’t matter who you voted for, they have identical opinions on the topic.
Christians Don’t Vote for Democrats because Democrats are Pro-Choice.
Wrong. The President does not decide whether abortion is right or wrong. That choice is left to the courts. As it turns out, Roe vs Wade was enacted during a Republican administration (Nixon). Since Roe vs Wade, Republicans have controlled the White House twice as often as Democrats. There have been 6 Republican and only 3 Democratic terms of office! If the Republicans can’t overturn Roe vs Wade with overwhelming odds, then it should be abundantly obvious that you shouldn’t be voting based on abortion: the President’s personal view on the topic carries about as much weight with the courts as yours.
Is Barack Obama a Socialist?
Barack Obama is a member of the Democratic Party. There is a completely seperate political party that never wins elections: The Socialist Party. Obama is not a member of that party, and he is not a Socialist in philosophy. Remember that in 1992 many argued that Clinton’s rise would bring about Socialism. It didn’t happen then, and it won’t now. Not only did Capitalism continue under Clinton, but business prospered in the 1990s. Why does the Socialist Party perform so poorly in elections? Because almost all Americans, Republican and Democrat, hate Socialism. With that in mind, remember that a political party’s chief concern is maintaining power and control. You don’t maintain power when you institute an economic system that your entire electorate hates.
But Democrats Damage our Nation by Taking God out of the Schools.
Nope, this is not damaging to the nation or to you. We all have the choice to send our children to private schools if we want them to receive spiritual as well as intellectual instruction. When we send them to public schools, we don’t want to roll the dice on the spiritual views of that school’s Principal and administration. Even if that administration favors Christianity, what type of Christianity is it? Do you want your children coming home with a Christian doctrine that may be radically different from the doctrine preached at your church? Or what if your local public school hires a new Principal that has the students face Mecca five times a day and pray to Allah? Would you be okay with your children going to that school? Let’s be rational here: We want our children to learn about the faith of their family, undiluted by educators and administrators. As it turns out, the 1st Amendment allows students to pray, sing, meditate, and talk to others about their religious faith at school. Thankfully, the teachers and administration may not.
I Vote on Politicians Based on their Faith.
Remember that being a person of great faith does not make you a good statesman, organizer or leader. Imagine for a moment a person at your church, one of the most faithful, God-fearing, moral people you know. Now, imagine that, based on their faith, they have been elected to be your boss at work. They are now dictating specific policies and practices over a job that you excel at. Can you imagine how frustrating that would be? You are primarily concerned that a new manager knows your trade inside and out. In order to run a successful business with good morale and job satisfaction, they must be good at their job. If, after that, they share your faith, then it is a big bonus. When we vote solely based on faith, we end up with leaders that share our religion but are terribly inept at doing their job.
But Republicans Seem More In Tune to my Personal Values.
Over the last 8 years, the Republican leadership has pursued policies that would be heavily condemned by Christian standards. This includes war-mongering, defence of torture, secret prisons and holding foreign nationals hostage without attempting to establish their guilt or innocence. Additionally, a curiously high number of Republican leaders recently ended up being homosexual (an orientation frowned upon by faith voters), or they were drug users, bribe-takers or adulterors. Again, this is not God’s party.
I Hate Big Government, so I Vote Republican
The Government has never grown so big, so watchful and so 1984-esque as it has the last 8 years under Republican control. They are reading our emails, tapping our phone calls without warrant, pushing the courts to absolve the guilt of telecommunication companies that participate in this intrusion, passing creepily titled security-over-freedom laws like the PATRIOT ACT, creating new domestic spying agencies and, most recently, buying substantial chunks of the Banking system. That investment in Socialism, don’t forget, originally called for absolutely no oversight by our Congress… It was to be completely controlled by the President and his Treasury Department. Thankfully, the Democrats stopped that.
Conclusion
In 2000 and 2004, marketing genius Karl Rove along with other brand strategists convinced Evangelicals that voting the Republican ticket was the only way a Christian could go. These marketing strategists were hired not to support the will of God, but to ensure the continued success of a rich, powerful, greedy, opportunistic and above all Secular political party. To be fair, the Democratic party is greedy and secular too. As I stated above, Political Parties are inherently godless.
Therefore, if you find out one of your friends or family members voted Obama, don’t ask them if they are a Socialist. That question is an insult to them, an insult to your own intelligence and (humorously) an insult to the Socialist Party.
If you find out one of your Christian friends or family members voted Obama, read the above, and don’t ask them if they are a Christian. It is an insult to them, an insult to your intelligence, and, above all, an insult to God.
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FANTASTIC! If you don’t mind, as I receive emails from friends/family about praying for our country now more than ever, and telling me to fly the American flag upside down (a sign of dire distress) I will simply reply with a link to your article. Thank you so much!
Love your blog and apart from appreciating your faith and politics, your visuals are beautifully chosen/created.
My niece – a first time voter – grew up in a family of Yellow Dog Republicans, and – God bless her – we think she voted for Obama which is essentially heretical. She is apparently speaking in code with our daughter via FB. Anyway, thanks for this post. It’s being passed throughout our family.
From reading this I am pretty sure you know my family. I wish they would actually read and understand this when I send them the link. This is a fantastic post. Thank you.
Christians Don’t Vote for Democrats because Democrats are Pro-Choice.
Wrong. The President does not decide whether abortion is right or wrong. That choice is left to the courts.
The members of which are appointed by the President. Now, I agree in general that the personal views of the President on the choice issue don’t immediately translate into law, and as such shouldn’t really be a central issue when deciding to vote, but with two or three Supreme Court justices likely to step down this term, keeping Roe v. Wade from being overturned by electing Obama was an important reason to vote for him. Or against him, I guess, if you’re one of the evangelicals.
I agree with James. While the president doesn’t directly make decisions relating to abortion, he appoints the people who do. And the opinion of many experts is that there will be multiple opportunities to appoint a Supreme Court Justice during the next 4 years.
Your article has a lot of merit and is written logically, but the abortion point is slightly inaccurate.
Cori: Elections bring out the worst in people, don’t they?
Jan & John: I’m glad you have found this article to be useful. It is okay to disagree about politics, but it isn’t okay when our friends and family judge us because we prefer a certain candidate over another.
James & Matt: As I mentioned, 6 terms of Republican presidency have not been able to “align the stars” just perfectly enough so that the Supreme Court would have the right balance of people to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Plus, Supreme Court appointments must be approved by the Senate. Even if the majority was pro-life, we have no assurance that they would even revisit the ruling.
You want a policy struck down, so you’re choosing a person who will choose another person who will then have to decide in concert with 8 others whether to strike that policy down or not. In the meantime, the person you’re choosing (the President) is making all the major choices for the nation, which includes equally “un-righteous” things, such as torturing prisoners, waging war, holding people hostage, etc.
The Supreme Court can only interpret the Constitution, they cannot add or subtract from it. In 1973 they established that limiting abortion was unconstitutional. If abortion is to be ended in the US, it isn’t so simple as picking the pro-life candidate. That has never worked. What would have to happen is a great majority of Americans would have to agree that the procedure is wrong, instead of being split.
Let me say that again: Americans would have to agree, in great majority, that abortion should be ended.
In a climate that is unfavorable to abortion, abortion would end. It might end in the form of Republican OR Democrat state legislators who are pro-life (because in this hypothetical situation the majority of Americans are pro-life, therefore the legislators would mirror their constituents). Those legislators would then simply amend the Constitution to say, “Life begins at conception,” or whatever wording works best. Or, the Federal Congress could mirror its hypothetical pro-life electorate and enact the process of creating an amendment. Remember, neither of these things involves the President or the Supreme Court, but both need a substantial majority of the population’s support.
In other words, persuasion and a common agreement are key, not the choice between McCain and Obama.
The more likely scenario is that we will, at some point soon, be at a point technologically that abortion will no longer be needed. You can use your imagination on how that might work, but I don’t think it is far away.
Jesse N. and any other person’s against abortion.
Please answer me this………
If we outlaw abortion, what ramifications do you propose for the individual that then has an abortion? (it will happen) What will the death penalty states due?
Dan, please note that I am not taking a stance on the legality of abortion in this article, I’m simply saying that my Evangelical friends & family shouldn’t use it as the primary decision making tool when voting for candidates. My reasoning behind this is that, in the end, the philosophical climate in the country will decide whether abortion is legal or illegal. If the great majority thinks that it is wrong, it will end, otherwise, it will continue. In other words, it is a system that is bigger than the president’s preference. I also agree that abortions will occur regardless of legality.
I don’t think that it will ever be outlawed, though based on technological progress I think it will end for the most part. Here is my theory:
By default, humans are born with their reproductive ability “turned on.” Technology in the 20th century gave us the option of turning our reproductive system off. However, the state of being “off” is made conditional by circumstances. At some point soon, technology will probably create a system where reproduction is turned off by default, and can be conditionally turned on when someone wants to have children. I’m dabbling a bit in science fiction here, but I think it is logical.
wow. where do I start…
“Are Some Political Parties More ‘Holy’ Than Others?
No. Political parties are inherently godless. Parties are not concerned with God or Faith, they are concerned with power, control, influence, branding and money. ”
Parties, like purported “evil corporations” are made up of people. They are inanimate, unfeeling, and are not human. power, control, influence, branding, and money concerns are all those of the people who run the party. let me say it again, “the PEOPLE who run the party”. Please note this for later.
“But I’m a Business Owner, Is my Wealth Going to be Redistributed?
No. The rich will continue to be rich.”
Very true. Wealth cannot be legally taken from the individual, personal property rights still have enough standing with the courts to keep this from happening. however, the question was never “will my wealth be redistributed” as much as “will my income be redistributed”.
“Our financial system has collapsed due in large part to unregulated greed and corruption, and remember that the Republicans (as well as many Democrats) supported deregulation up until the collapse.”
This financial collapse began with liberal policies under Clinton, and among the folks over at freddie and fannie (coincidentally, the new US Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, was on the board at Freddie Mac, a board that was later charged with failing to oversee operations there by OFEO…operations that indeed predicated the situation that was, yes, compounded by deregulation, a result almost unseen in the 90s before the real estate run-up and run-down). Deregulation in a healthy, unfettered free-market system works. In a market system influenced by non-market forces, such as government intervention (read C.R.A), many factors can unhinge even a well-oiled machine.
Gay marriage is being left to the states until it is not. Abortion possibly would have been left to the states, had it not been forced by lawsuit and appeal to the Supreme Court. When this particular issue is forced (as it almost certainly will be), the case will ultimately be decided for the states in the Supreme Court. Like many have already commented, the President appoints judges to the land’s highest court. Even then, right or wrong is, thankfully, not decided by the Courts…the courts judge based on the Code of Federal Regulation, then as to congruence with the Constitution of the United States. Right or Wrong has little to do with it, unfortunately.
“Is Barack Obama a Socialist?”
You are correct, the Democrat party is not the Socialist party. Good job. We’re talking philosophy here. Read up on your Marxist literature, and then compare it to Obama’s statements and affiliations not just now, but in the 90s. Heck, check out other Democrats and compare their statements to Marxism (ahem…maxine waters). Oh, and just for kicks, why don’t you try to find a Republican that in philosophy sounds like a Democrat who sounds like a Marxist…that would be a frivolous exercise…
The government, regardless which party is in charge, is charged by the Constitution with providing protection to the American people. While I do agree that our freedoms and protection against radical islamic terrorists are at some points at odds, please realize that those held are not American citizens, and thus not protected by the Constitution of the United States.
“I Hate Big Government, so I Vote Republican”
I have to agree with you here on many points. However, the dems have controlled the checkbook (Congress) for the last 2 years. See last comments above.
The real issue here, the way I see it, should not be red vs. blue, or dem vs. rep. It should be the points that 80% of Americans agree upon, and a return to the Constitution as the guiding document in our society. Truly, free people in free markets have led to the most powerful nation the world has ever seen…if America ceases to produce, to be the great beacon it has been for the last 200 years, the world will become pretty bleak indeed.