There is this image of “conservative Christians”, as if they just blindly go with conservative Evangelical ideas and vote Republican out of some obligation to party or denominational affiliation. Honestly, there are people on both sides of the political aisle that act that way. But I had some thoughts on this the other day that I thought were important to share.
I don’t know many Christians who just swear by everything the Republican party does. Oh, they may have very conservative views, that’s true, and therefore find more in common with that party, but most people, those that vote Democrat included, have their own unique reasons for doing what they do.
If you’ve been reading my political thougths over the last couple months, then you can tell I’m not a big fan of the Democratic party or extremely liberal ideas. I don’t really consider myself a Republican, though. First of all, I don’t even consider it Christian to be blindly partial, or even a good citizen of a Republic. I also have issues with the Republicans, too, and the Bush administration in general.
The recent bailout is a prime example. Not for that. I haven’t been on board, even from the beginning, about the War in Iraq. I don’t think that Bush lied or manipulated things to get more oil or had some diabolical plan; I just think that the War in Iraq wasn’t wise on several different levels, militarily, politically, etc. Obviously diplomacy wasn’t going to work with Saddam, but we allow other countries to get away with similar things without going to war about it (Sudan, North Korea, Iran, etc.). Also not a fan of the No Child Left Behind legislation and even much of the philosophy behind it.
I could probably go on, but my point is I, like many other Christians, don’t agree 100% with any politician or party. That’s the Republicans, though. Let’s look at the other choices. Libertarian has its advantages, but frankly winning a presidential election as a Libertarian is way outside the realm of possibility at this point unless there’s a serious breakup of one of the major parties (like what happened when Lincoln got elected, which is very rare).
And the other choice is the Democratic Party. Well, they have fought for good things in the past … but much of that has been usurped by extremely liberal and secularized views. So while I have some big issues with Republicans, I have even bigger problems with the Democrats.
The whole party fights tooth and nail to protect the right to kill babies. This is perverse beyond reason. Abortion is legal homicide. And this is a non-negotiable in their platform. Can’t go there.
The other major issue is that Democrats place extremely liberal judges upon the Supreme Court … and those liberal judges have been instrumental in striking down EVERY measure that would outlaw child pornography. To be clear, child pornography is the filming of sex with children, then reproducing that molestation for others to purchase and watch. And these liberal judges support the right to do this EVERY TIME as “freedom of expression.”
These are the two biggies to me, and from what I know of other “conservative Christians,” they’re big in their book, as well.
Oh, I could go into other things, too. Those aren’t the only issues. Overburdening constituents with taxes, sometimes taxing things several times, is oppressive of any government to do. Forcing lenders to give loans to people unable to meet the mortgages, and then blaming the “free market”, is unethical in the least.
The fact that extreme liberals, who vote Democrat, continually bastardize the voting process by registering minors, the dead, and illegal immigrants and having them vote is also pretty problematic to me.
Also, Democrats are incredibly facist with their platform. No disagreement is allowed on certain issues – just ask Joe Lieberman. John McCain is a great example of someone who routinely disagrees and goes against his own party, the Republicans. Oh, they’re not happy about it, but they don’t try to remove him from his own position.
Now, why is this tragic? Well, on one level, a bad Democratic party brings down the whole process. The power of a two party system is when both parties have valid and creative ideas to share, no matter how they disagree. When one party is this steeped in perversion and corruption and holding onto policies proven time and time again to be failures, it weakens the opposing party because there’s no competition, as we’ve seen with the Republicans over the last decade.
Another tragedy is the amount of Christians siding with a party dedicated to allowing the killing of babies and child porn while mocking Christians who cannot abide supporting such things.
Why be such a one issue guy? you may ask. Okay, I’ll ask this question. Let’s say I’m running for office, and I say, “you know, I would never molest my own children, but I don’t think it’s the government’s place to legislate who can molest children and who can’t, so that’s just above my pay grade.” What would you think about my character? This is perverse and insane.
And many Christians that I know agree. They would LOVE a better option than the Republican party or the Bush administration, but their other choice is to support a party dedicated to killing babies and child porn? Sorry, not going to happen, and I cannot even begin to blame them … since I feel much the same.
A good friend asked me other day as we spoke about this: so if there were a Democrat who was pro-life, to the degree of overturning Roe v. Wade, and strongly against child pornography, placing judges on the Court to stop such perversion, would you consider that Democrat? (Not in those words, but you get the point …)
My answer? Absolutely. And while I would love to “hope” and “believe all things”, that’s almost like asking if I believed in unicorns … the Democrats would tar and feather such a person. That candidate would almost, by definition, have to become a Republican.
So this is the quandry many Christians are in: the “lesser of two evils,” as it were.
And by and large the American people agree, which is why during a presidential election, like now, the Democratic candidate begins publicly sounding very moderate, even conservative, to win the election … and also why Democrat-friendly groups (like ACORN, whom Barak Obama used to represent as a lawyer) do underhanded and un-democratic type things like registering minors and dead people … the latest I heard was a dog, although haven’t confirmed that rumor … anything to win the election.
Again, not that Republicans are above the political mess, either. But there are great videos and documentation of the wide change of policy by people like Al Gore, John Kerry, and now Obama from before they become a presidential candidate and after.
I would personally love a Democratic Party I could seriously consider while not having to compromise on issues as basic as killing babies and child porn. To any Democrat wanting my support, stand against abortion and child porn and we’ll talk.
Peace.
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