I have needed to decide what I am going to do in this Mad Hatter election, and I have needed to give my reasons for it here. We have already discussed many of those reasons back and forth, but I want to give a brief summary of my thoughts now. I have not voted for a Republican presidential candidate for many, many years, and I continue to remain an independent. In past presidential elections, I have voted either for the libertarian candidate, or for the constitution guy, depending. But this year I am going to vote for McCain/Palin. In brief, here is why . . . and why not.
I live in Idaho, and so I do not cast this vote because I think it will in any way contribute to keeping Idaho safe from going Obama. Idaho is going to go heavily for McCain, regardless of what I do. I get a free vote here, and can be as principled as I wanna be. This decision of mine might have an effect if McCain carries some swing state back east by 20 votes, and five of those votes had been influenced by this blog, which is of course not all that likely. So I am not voting this way because of fear or panic. I am voting this way because of how I am reading the narrative, and more on this in a moment. I am voting this way because, given how I see the story, I believe it is the principled thing to do. It is not pragmatism.
And I am also not voting this way because I think that the Republicans have been in any way an example of principled conservative governance. The Republican Party is a shambles, and the more pathetic it gets, the more difficult it is to persuade anybody just how pathetic it is. There are examples beyond my ability to count, but for just one take the fact that the “conservative” candidate is running on public funds, and the thug and commie candidate is privately funded by capitalists.
Before I say how I am reading the story, let me outline how we should evaluate whether this was in fact the correct way to read it or not. If Obama wins, the whole thing will be moot — God is clearly telling us a different story, heavy on the chastisement. America is about to take off our collective shirt, because a rod is for the back of fools.
And let me insert here a quick comment on why principled conservative opposition to the erosion of our civil liberties was so necessary, even though it was so lacking. With a few notable exceptions, conservatives and neo-cons were all about the war on terror, and listening in on phone calls by swarthy guys named Ahmed. But now, Obama, who really is friends with a terrorist named William Ayers, will quite possibly be the guy running the Patriot Act. That particular tool will have been put in his tool box by a conservative talk show host near you. Thanks guys!
If you understand conservative principles, you build your forms of government not knowing the names or the parties of the people who will run it. The Bible is clear that there is nothing wrong with empires per se — both Joseph and Daniel were happy to lend a helping hand. But there is a problem with building an empire to be run by men who do not fear God, and who will serve their idols faithfully. And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
So how to test whether this reading of the story was correct or not? If McCain wins the election, my eye will be on one thing only, and that is the future of Roe. If McCain does not pick Supreme Court justices who will be instrumental in reversing Roe, then my reading of this election story was entirely misguided, and I will acknowledge that here. I clearly read the story wrong. But if Roe goes down, as a result of this election, then I believe a lot of other things will tumble with it, and this will constitute a reversal, a political repentance. It will represent, to use an image I used earlier, the arrival of a political Moses, and not your standard Republican Pharaoh in slow motion.
If Roe is reversed, I believe it will have only happened because of the presence of Sarah Palin on the ticket. I grant that it might not happen, even with her there, but this is an evaluation of facts that are currently hiding in the future, and not an abandonment of biblical principle.
I am seeking to be faithful in figuring out what to do in a bizarre election when I believe that both major political parties are under the judgment of God. The Republicans are like the Pharisees and the Democrats are like the Saducees, and did Jesus lean one way or the other? Sure — He said that the Pharisees sat in Moses’ seat, and that to the extent they differed with the Saducees, they were right and the Saducees were wrong. But this did not prevent Him from flaying the hypocrises of the Pharisees, and when Jerusalem went down, it took both Pharisees and Saducees with it.
So then, there we go . . . McCain/Palin in 08. Wahoo.