Politics

It has been a particularly ugly year in politics. Maybe its because its an election year. Maybe its because tensions are high due to the economic situation around the world. And maybe its just because we have grown to expect politics to be ugly and mean.

I live in a conservative area while I have a bit more liberal of a view point, so I just keep my mouth shut. But one of my biggest fears is that when a Republican candidate is chosen, politics will come to church. Politics has really always been a part of the church, if for no other reason then we are a group of people gathered together, or for the greatest reason, Jesus was radical and died a very political death. However, we've replaced the idea of caring for the community, reaching out to love the world, with agendas, specifically this year seems to be pro-war, anti-gay, and anti-birth control.

As I watch the debates and follow various people on twitter who comment on them, I cannot help but think that the Republican party really needs a moderate candidate to win. Has Obama note quite lived into the promise that people had for him, sure. As it is with any political candidate. However, the debates, and one candidate in particular, has managed to alienate any woman using birth control, any and all races that aren't caucasian, and anyone who isn't straight. Oh and women who don't feel called to be stay at home moms. And people who value education. The list goes on and on. So if you hypothetically start with a 50% vote simply based on party affiliation, but then decrease it by each of the above groups you angered, it really its a good ratio. However, if you are moderate, you can swing votes from the other party as well, while still maintaining those who will vote for you simply because of your party affiliation.

This has been a particularly hard year to watch as well, because it has seemingly been centered on taking rights away. What I think the American public has forgotten, and perhaps even the politicians themselves, is that we have a three pronged government, and the president cannot act alone. Even 2 out of the three branches of government can still be held accountable by the third, and no matter what happens, because of political affiliations and ideologies, congress is not going to start making birth control illegal, though some candidates speak as if it already is, nor are the justices all about stripping people of the rights they have gained through the year. Also, the President does not exist so much in the capacity as a policy maker as the delegate to other countries. That is the role s/he fulfills that the other branches do not. How is someone who says that there is no need to apologize about burning the Koran going to fair as a representative in delegation with other countries?

What we have seemed to have forgotten as well, is as much as some people may want to go back to the good old days of being a "Christian nation" that ship has sailed and forcing people by law to ascribe to the values of one particular faith group, is not going to make them Christian. If anything it makes my job as a pastor so much harder. It is easier to give rights to people then to take them away, and you have to have more justification to take them away then the Bible, which not everyone holds as truth or law. The president, as well as any other government official, has to represent the people in their totality, not a specific sect.

Personally, I think the Republican debates and shady voting tactics have gotten so out of hand that Obama could just sit by and watch and probably still win, despite how some people feel about him. Students of history will also realize that a lot of what has been pinned on him for blame actually isn't his fault at all - a President does not control the economy they inherit it. One of my favorite periods of time is the 1920s - the Jazz Age. A paper I've always desired to write, but have not had time to gather resources would compare the societal values, religious identity and ideology, and political climate of the 1920s into the early 1930s with that of today. History truly does repeat itself and students of history would know that Herbert Hoover could not do any more to control or tailor the Great Depression as Obama could for this Recession. Yet, Hoover was a one term president because he a sorbed the blame and people forgot all of the good he did during his term.