Tag: liberal

Status of America in 2012

To be honest, during college, I wasn’t all that politically involved.  Sure, I voted, and even volunteered for the 2006 elections (poll greeter), and 2008 elections (poll watcher) — both for the GOP, of course.  However, my attention to the news and general state of politics was very minimal.  Basically, I volunteered because I identified myself as both a social and fiscal conservative, so that’s what I thought should do.  If you were to ask me what I was, of course I would say I was a conservative Republican.  I guess you could say I wore the conservative jacket, but it was kind of just an identifier, rather that who I really am.

I remember watching the results come in – Andrea and I knew it was bad when Indiana (the relatively Republican state I resided it at the time) went for Obama.  Earlier, during the Democratic primaries, I recall wishing with everything that Hillary Clinton would not be president when I was married, and especially not when my children were born!  Little did I know that we would end up with this current guy!

I just barely remember hearing about the big, fat stimulus package that was passed in early ’09 – maybe from the Drudge Report or something.  Andrea and I were married soon after I graduated that spring, then we moved to Pennsylvania.  The point I became engaged with politics again was July of ’09.  I remember reading some polls and editorials on Real Clear Politics about the newly evolving “health care” bill being stewed up by the Dems.  Researching more, I became just plain OUTRAGED at the whole idea.  Then I would vent on my poor wife, who became even more of an anti-Obamacare activist than I.  Ahhh!!!

Remember this?

I paid very close attention to the whole ordeal up until the summer recess, when small minority of Republicans courageously stood up to the giant monster of Obama-Reed-Pelosi.  Did I say courageous?  Well, they were.  No question about that.  What happened after that?  Do you remember?  I sure do!  Citizen revolt!  Town hall after town hall, conservatives came out of the woodwork.  I know the Tea Party existed before that, but I remember it really taking off that August.  I had become a Gadsden flag waving Tea Party Conservative!

I never felt so proud as to vote for Todd Platts (my US Congressman), and Pat Toomey (my US Senator) in November 2010, and helping the GOP win the most decisive victory since World War II.  And I am even more excited about being engaged in this election every step, and making sure I cast my ballot for the values which I hold dear.  Mitt Romney is definitely my man for 2012!

With all of that said, and I don’t want to cast a shadow on all of this, I believe the state of our nation is leaning heavily against our conservative values.  And as a whole (though we can definitely slow it), the electorate is moving against us.  Again, I don’t want to sound all doom and gloom — I do think that things can change, and America restored; but, there is a large amount going against us.  In which ways, you may ask?

First, we have to start with our moral fabric.  I may have to save all that I have to say about this for another time, but here is the gist: spiritually, this nation is destitute.  The true believers have become either marginalized or religiously worthless.  The main-line denominations have all pretty much become empty, if not virtually anti-God, and the non-religious are becoming more and more militant against Christianity.

Second, our education system, from preschool to grad school, are vastly, undeniably, and unashamedly liberal (speaking specifically of public education and most higher learning institutions).  Yes, for kids raised in conservative homes, and for some brave young people who can think for themselves, they can resist the influence.  But, if you see the average graduate of either high school or college, they are all for Obama/social justice/appeasement/etc.  What to you expect with a generation of post Madeline Murray-O’Hair classrooms with plenty of former (or current) hippies acting as “educators”, and teaching the student body that the French and Russian Revolutions were the greatest events ever, and that the US is a colonial oppressor?  We’re reaping our wild oats that we sowed in the ’60’s.

Thirdly…um…The media!  For sake of a more thorough review of this topic, please visit Big Journalism.  You won’t be surprised.

Fourthly, there’s all of the demographic changes.  Just look at how the map of our country has changed in the last 20 years or less. You may ask, how does this effect America’s status politically?  Let me give you the state of North Carolina, or just as easily, Virginia and Georgia.  Since the 1980’s these states have been primarily dominated by conservative politicians at the state level.  In the last couple of decades, the economy and quality of living for these states has skyrocketed.  This, of course, creates both blue-collar and white-collar jobs.  Where do white-collar jobs typically come from?  Educated graduates of public or private universities.  Are these places of higher education conservative?  Are they promoters of fiscal responsibility?  I think not.  So, you have a state like North Carolina, with a blossoming private sector, that attracts jobs and people to the state, regardless of political party.  They’ll move to NC for good jobs — this being because the free market prevails — instead of going back to New York or Boston to stand at Occupy rallies, where government snuffs out every possible entrepreneurial motive with big regulations.  Do they change their minds, and all the sudden vote GOP?  Maybe a few, but for the most part, they carry their ideology with them.  This makes states like NC, VA, and GA more and more “purple” politically.  And guess what will happen in the coming years?  They’ll get NYC style regulations, and their economy will become just like where they came from.  It’s funny how this works, huh?

So, where do we, as conservatives, go from here?  Do we give in, and just let this progressive “social Darwinism” take its course?  I think not!  This is the time where we have to be much more engaged.  Don’t just let your kids’ teachers tell them that Obama is the Messiah.  Don’t let your children give in to pressure with the labels disingenuously and wrongly given to them by their guidance counselors (bigot, religious nut, right-winger, etc.).  The more we stand, the stronger we become.  I truly believe that if the average American take time to think about which political persuasion is right, they will choose traditional, American conservatism.  By the way, make sure you vote, and get others to do so as well.

Smacking the Liberal Elites Upside the Head

It is becoming more “strange” to be a Christian living in the 21st century.  I wonder why the majority of American citizens think of us, the ones which held the standard of our nation for two centuries, are looked down upon as extreme–and even compared to the Taliban of Afghanistan sometimes.  Why is this?

As a Christian who studies the Bible, I know the answer.  It is simply that those that love Christ will be hated by the world (John 15:18).  The problem is that most of the world today has made Jesus Christ out to be someone who he is not.  As an example, to see Christ as a preacher of social justice and social welfare is completely fraudulent.  All one has to do is read the four gospels and know that Christ was preaching the Kingdom of God to the hell-bound world, not trying to make all of the classes “equal.”  Yet most mainline denominations (United Methodist, UCC, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, etc.) preach the “social gospel” instead of the real gospel.  They make Jesus Christ, our Savior, out to be someone who He is not.  He is not what some author says (Mark Driscoll, William P. Young).  He is not what my minister says.  He is not what my high school teacher says.  He is who He says He is.  The only truly foundational picture we have of Jesus Christ is in the Bible.  That is all just one example.

Something that tends to irritates me as a fundamental Baptist is the fusing of Protestants, Catholics, and Baptists together as “Christianity.”  The “intellectual” elite tend to do this most unashamedly.  They will say things like, “The worst atrocities committed in history were in the name of Christ.”  Or, “Religion has caused more bloodshed than anything else.”  In one strain, they are right; but when they lump me in there as well, that is when the line is crossed.  Did you know, that in history, it was the Roman Catholics mainly, and to a lesser extent, Protestants, that made war in the name of religion?  I doubt that anyone can name an atrocity committed by Baptists as a whole.  In fact, we were the ones being persecuted by the Pope, John Calvin, and Philip Melanchthon. We never have persecuted other denominations just because they believe differently.  We have always been for what Christ has preached: loving your neighbor, and your enemy! It comes from a complete lack of understanding by these intellectuals when Baptists are lumped together with every other religion under the sun.

All of this to say that we are a very strange people to the world.  They do not understand that I, who am called by God to be in His ministry, do not concern myself with making “the big buck” in life.  Sure, I will make as much as I can to provide for my family, and work for every bit of it; but I did not attain a degree in higher education to make a lavish career for myself.  This is one of very few things that people go to college for, caring little if any for the amount of money they make.  It is foolish to the world to go to school for four years, just to be a pastor some day, never making a six or seven digit salary.  Often, God calls his people to do what will seem very peculiar to the world–and the joy that comes from this money could never buy.  This is what the world could never understand.  They may try to hyper-analyze and say that, “Oh, he is just given security by his religion.  That’s good for him.”  I can stand up and say with all confidence: I get all of my security from my God–not some “made-up” religion.  The more that the sociologists and physiologists try to analyze, the more foolish they become.  I just wish they could know God, and how great He is.  Then, they would fully understand.

None of this is esoteric.  I am for sure not “duped” by religion, or “brainwashed as a child.”  Everything about my faith and belief in God is my own decision.  They call us anti-intellectual.  I say that they make intellect into something that it is not: secular humanism.  They hate to hear it, but humanism is just as much of a religion as anything.  Their god is their mind.  Their church is the extremely dumbed down universities (compare them to institutions of the 19th century).  No, they are the ones duped by their finite minds.

They compare us to this???

Then, they call us the “American Taliban.”  What???  First off, I would never kill someone unless they threatened me or my family.  Second, I don’t kill civilians.  Third, I don’t kill people from other religions to instill fear and make them convert.  Fourth, I don’t advocate modesty police for every citizen.  Now what are the similarities?  “Oh, you both want our government to be a theocracy.”  Now, I believe that government is best run by non-hypocritical Christians, but I would never impose by force or politics my religion on anyone else.  Then they say, “Just like the Taliban, you want to impose your morals on everyone.”  Again, that is a false and non-informed statement.  Do I think that our society is better without alcohol?  Without a doubt.  Do I believe that people should never live together unless they are married.  Definitely.  But to do that through politics or mass forced conversion would be like trying to paddle up a waterfall.  This is foundational: without people genuinely–by their own decision–being born again, the moral makeup of a nation will never completely accommodate the Christian.  Of course, I believe that we should never let our country become Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abortion should be outlawed because it is murder.  This is not a religious argument!

Altogether though, I simply wanted to illustrate a few points where the liberal elite–religious or not–are so blinded by their own pattern of thinking.  They believe what they want.  They cannot tell me what I believe nor try to hyper-analyze who God is.  God is my creator, savior, and life.