It's About Time. . . .

It's no secret that I'm going to vote for John McCain for president. I have not been necessarily happy about it, at least not until today. I have to admit that my stance has been more anti-Hillary and anti-Obama until today. But John McCain has finally done somthing that has me excited to be a supporter. His choice of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) is a brilliant political move, and I am now signed on as a STRONG supporter of McCain/Palin. (I was a luke-warm supporter of McCain by himself.) It's about time Mr. McCain has given those uber-conservatives out there (like me) something to rally around!


I judge the value of a strategic move by one side based on the amount of panic and alarm it produces in the other side. If that is the standard, then this move by McCain must be GENIUS. The Greek-godlike appearance and speech by Obama at Thursday's DNC was completely upstaged by the Palin announcement. Even the liberal media elite are talking about Palin (and trying to figure out what bad things to say about her!), and there is very little discussion today about Obama's "big moment." Kudos to you Mr. McCain. Nice.

Speaking of Obama, remember his statement that his greatest bi-partisan achievement is his ethics reform in Illinois and in the US Senate? Check out the link below to an article by David Freddoso of National Review Online.

Mr. Ethics

While I am as excited about a presidential ticket as I have been in a while, it's more than just Palin-mania. Obama is just not right for America. Some European country maybe, but not here. As I saw quoted in another blog: "If you want to live in a country that is socialist and hates America, move to France. But don't subject the rest of us to Obama."

W.W.J.V.F.? part 2

Who would Jesus vote for? I really struggle with this. You see, in terms of governance and government, what would Jesus have told us to do? Would He tell us to be socialists? After all, the early Church had all things in common and shared everything with whoever was in need. (Acts 4:32) Or would He have told us to be a capitalistic democracy. We know that the Apostle Paul thought that we should work for the things we want to enjoy, including the very food we eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10) Jesus lived under the rule of a dictator, so maybe that is what He would have suggested.

The problem with governments is that they rely on people. The problem with people is that we are affected by the world we live in. The problem with the world we live in is that it's marred by sin-and therefore a sinful world. It would be great if we could all live in a global social order which elevated no man to a higher degree than any other. But the problem in this world is that Satan is alive and well, and working on the hearts of men and women.

Every time there is a power vaccuum, an Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Chairman Mao or Josef Stalin appears on the scene. And when evil people step into a power vaccuum, they employ bloody and ruthless tactics against innocent and helpless victims. They prey on the old, the young, the infirm, and the weak. They build their power structures at the expense of those who cannot protect themselves and they insulate themselves from the repercussions of their actions.

Why do I bring this up? Because the ideals of the liberals in the U.S. are not necessarily bad. They are just unreal and impractical. They are socialistic in nature, and they have been proven to fail in each instance that they have been instituted in our world. Before you claim, "Well, our system certainly isn't working!", let me remind you that the reason we are trying to build a border fence is not to keep people in, but to keep people out. Not because we don't like people, but because we need to know who is here and why. But that is another discussion. Our system in America may not be perfect, and undoubtedly there are flaws. But we still have the greatest country and the greatest form of government in the world. And people from the other countries in the world (even China, Cuba, and the socialistic countries in Europe) know it. It seems that the only people on earth who DON'T recognize it are the Democrats in Denver.

Mr. Obama, I sympathize with your desire to help those who are in need. But a socialistic government won't get it done. Instead of handing people a $100 bill (that you took from someone else) to climb out of their poverty, why not hand them a ladder. And a bucket of paint and some brushes. And encourage them to look for work.

I know it sounds like capitalism. It just might work.

The Last Week on Earth?

Well, now we begin what I like to call "Hell Week." Frat houses, secret societies, and football teams each have their own version of Hell Week, but now the entire country and (dare I say?) the whole world will be subjected to it. You might call it the "Democratic National Convention," but I prefer Hell Week.

There will be an uncomfortable amount of media coverage of the event, with "news"-casters and media personalities alike pledging their undying love to Barack Obama. Such talking heads will gush with giddiness and get chills when the savior (the lower case "s" is mine: the media likes to capitalize it) takes to the stage to tell us how much he wants to get this country back on the right track. Not since Bill Clinton have Democrats been so childish in their devotion to a superstar of the party. I'm already getting sick to my stomach.

By the way, did you catch the story about the peace protesters who assaulted a Fax news camera crew filimg their demonstration? Link to it by clicking here. I like the last paragraph of the story: "For a peace protest, these guys sure are ready to make war. Not with enemies abroad, but with conservatives at home, real or perceived. Stop war, they cry. Just not theirs, apparently." Apparently that kind of behavior is only hypocritical if you're a conservative. This is the same type of thinking behind the Liberation Theology movement to which Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright subscribes.

We won't hear anything negative about Obama during the convention, especially from the MoveOn.org driven major media outlets. They will spend 85% of the time praising Obama, 10% of the time running down presumptive Republican nominee John McCain and trying to draw a parallel between he and President Bush, and the other 5% of the time whining about the unfair coverage by Fox News. Either way, we're going to be led to believe it's a big "love-fest" between Obama, his Vice Presidential running mate Joe "Clarence-Thomas-is-a-sexual-preditor" Biden, and the Clintons (and their supporters). Yuck.

Even God will get tired of this stuff by the end of the week, prompting me to believe this is very possibly the last week on earth for any of us. Better get your spiritual house in order!

W. W. J. V. F. ?

If you're wondering what that stands for, then you're probably not alone. I took a t-shirt wrote those letters on it 10 years ago when I was serving as youth minister at our church. At the time, the WWJD craze was just getting off the ground, and I was "cutting edge" and ahead of my time. We had a mid-term election going on in Illinois (and everywhere else, but I don't care about anywhere else), and I was encouraging my youth group kids to consider "Who Would Jesus Vote For?"

Our senior minister, Bill Campbell, threatens every four years to preach a sermon entitled, "Was Jesus a Democrat or a Republican?" I'm sure it's been done somewhere else, but he's never had the guts to do it here. (I'm really just trying to goad him into doing it because I LOVE controversy when it doesn't involve me!)

Voting is a pretty big issue in the Church. I have a friend, Don Sanders, who has written a great article on the subject. I think everyone should read it. You can find it on his blog, "Quantum Discipleship". Don't be fooled by the blog title, he's not as smart as he thinks he is. Anyway, you can link directly to his article, "Checklist for Voting," by clicking here.

I'll be honest with you: I am going to vote for the person who most represents what I think is important in government. I want to vote for the person who will let me keep my guns to hunt and protect myself, who will try and shrink government and get the feds out of my pockets, who will do what is right and just in areas of morality (abortion, welfare, etc.), and who is not a Socialist or a Communist. Now, I'm not sure anyone will ever live up to all of those, but I'm going to pick the one who meets those criteria the most. But that's just me.

I am one of those right-wing, gun-toting, whack-job conservatives who believes that you don't vote for someone (or NOT vote) because of their age, their gender, their race, or their religion (unless they claim their religion to be "Satanist" or "Nudist" or something truly weird). You should vote for a candidate for any office based upon their ability to carry out the job they want in the best way possible which represents what you, as a voter, want done. Do you want to raise taxes, have the government take over every aspect of your life, take your guns away, and basically tell you what to do? Fine. Vote for Obama. Do you want to raise taxes, have the government take over almost every aspect of your life, let you keep your guns and strongly suggest what you should do? Then vote for McCain. Do you want to have a better choice next time around (if the Lord should tarry)? Then you'd better start praying now.