I've Held Off but Now I'm Really Upset

For weeks now I have resisted the urge to write a political rant. I get very charged up every four years. I was absolutely stoked in 2008 when Obama won. I felt that the eight-year-reign-of-evil had finally come to an end. It was akin to the feeling I had when Clinton became president---and that one ended a twelve-year-reign-of-evil, one in which a "tax reform" had amounted to me losing all of the write-offs related to my work. Both times I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I thought Reagan was the worst president we'd ever, ever had. Not only did I lose my write-offs, the economy was in shambles when he left office. Then I looked back through U.S. history and saw that starting with Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression, every single time the economy had tanked, it had been with a Republican president at the helm. The only possible exception to that was the Carter Administration when interest rates and inflation went nuts. Republicans have a habit of deregulating concerns that should stay regulated. Then something happens in either banking or on Wall Street and some greedy rich guys pull a fast one, a fast one that would have been prevented had the regulations not been 'de'regulated. That's one part of my rant. But today, in church, I had it. I absolutely had it. I almost got up and walked out. Geeeeezzzz, sometimes some Christians can be sooooo stupid and shallow. Since my father has been ill, I haven't been obliged to take him to his church. Actually, it's my church, too, but I have long since given up on getting anything out of it. I call it The Incredibly Shrinking Congregation, and the message has been so watered-down that all I walk away with is 'God Loves You'. I know that already. The last couple of months have afforded me the opportunity to go looking for a new church. I have been visiting one church the last four weeks. I like the pastor; he's dynamic and his sermons are Bible-based. I like the music; it speaks to me and it's well-done. This morning the pastor was supposed to start a series of sermons on Joseph. But instead, he told us he had decided to put off the series on Joseph for another week, and this morning he wanted to talk about voting. Even though he said he wasn't going to tell us who to vote for, he told us who to vote for. And I left the service feeling like he had told us to vote Republican. BUT! His message lacked depth to the point that I was even more convinced than ever I should vote Democrat. The pastor told us we should consider these Biblical principals when we vote on Tuesday: 1) Vote for who protects human life. To illustrate this he gave us Bible verses, one of which was about how God knit us in our mother's womb. Now I AM one of those people who believes life begins at conception and I DO feel that abortion is murder. That is my opinion. However, when I scratch the political surface on this one, here's what I get: the Republicans will fight tooth and nail for babies to be born but do NOTHING for them after that. They don't believe in providing healthcare, they'd love to cut funds to education (they've been behind all the voucher initiatives), they oppose welfare, etc. They are also the more 'hawkish' party, and if you want to talk about protecting human life, they have been the ones sending troops into battle over the years thus ending thousands of human lives. So, after my surface-scratching, my 'takeaway' on that issue was to vote Democratic. 2) Next the pastor said we should vote for who promotes Biblical marriage. Uh-oh, I thought. There's not a lot of wiggle room here. Ah! But again I scratched, came to my own conclusions, and this is where I probably come off as pretty radical. And please consider my personal history when you read this. I don't think our society does a particularly good job at marriage. People are constantly getting married and unmarried. Marriage has become ephemeral. It's difficult, too! We have to find a better way of doing marriage! And I speak for myself. I am guilty, guilty, guilty of going into marriage and then giving up. I will still say I tried very hard in my marriages, and much, much harder in my second marriage than in my first. I had even gotten to the point where I thought I was good at marriage. In my marriage to Bill I did everything I thought a wife was supposed to do. But, even then, I threw in the towel. I had a breaking point. Even though I thought I had married for life, even though I felt sure both times that there was nothing that could tear us apart, they ended. So, here's where I'm a bit radical: I think marriage is something that should be more difficult to get. I think very few people should get married. Gay marriage? Can they do it any better or any worse than heterosexuals? Nope. I don't think they should do it either. So, do I want to vote for the party that upholds Biblical marriage? Nope. Again, that misses the real point. I believe Americans don't do marriage very well. It's not about what gender people are. It's about how we enter into and maintain our commitments. That's my wacky opinion. Maybe it will change in time. The pastor's message was very clear about for whom he thinks we should vote. His final point was that we should not be in the elephant or the donkey party, but in the lamb party, that is, the party of the Lamb of God. Ok, here I go again. Scratch the surface. What would Jesus do? If he had to vote on Tuesday, and he HAD to choose Democrat or Republican, I think He'd go Democrat. I think that when He said, "....Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for Me...," He didn't mean the least of these to be the top 1% of the population. I'm pretty sure on that one. Jesus would have gone with Obama. The part where Mormons believe God was a man on another planet before He became God, and when you die you go to the planet Kolorg, probably wouldn't sit too well with Him either. Just a guess there. I know, I'm off the chain sometimes but this religion and voting thing pushes my buttons. In any case, my search for a new church will continue. There are three more I am seriously considering. Then there's also the church on the corner.... 1)