Saturday, December 27, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Country or God first?
If you've followed the political/election season and campaigns at all, then you've probably seen the posters or have heard talk about how each candidate puts "America first." This of course should be no shock to anyone, it is an election year after all. However I have some concerns:
1. Exactly what does that mean...put "America first." Is there a president we have had recently that didn't say they did that? It seems like meaningless hype and without any content..it's something anyone can claim..how do they presume to do this? It also assumes that the other candidate is somehow less patriotic...or at least puts something other than country first.
2. Check me on this, but I believe that God has said to put Him first. It seems that faith is playing a significant role in this presidential election. I would ask each candidate what it means to put God first over country as apparantly that is not either's conviction, though both publically have claimed Christian faith. I'm not here to disagree with their public profession, just would like to see the fruit :-)
3. I wonder if God understands himself to be an American, or if he actually thinks that there are other people of worth that He loves that live in other countries? Just a thought...
3. It seems that each party, (though Republicans seem more overt), claims the corner on Christianity. Somehow they both claim a moral superiority, albeit on different grounds and over different issues. It's put in terms of "family values," "social causes," "small town values," or even religious language. I'm not trying to disparage a particular candidates faith convictions, nor a particular political party. However, I'm not sure God is a Republican or a Democrat. I'd like to hear more about issues and how their faith informs their position on the issues, instead of making claims about how great their faith is.
4. I'm not sure that either candidate is as bad as the other tries to portrays nor is as good as their campaign managers and speech writers would suggest their particular candiate is. Do they believe that we are so dim witted as to not see past the hype? Perhaps they are right..we seemed to have become a nation that puts faith in sound bites over substance, and spin over accountability.
5. Can it be that both candidates are using Hurricane Gustav for political advantage? It almost makes me ill. If they want my attention then do less speech making about how they plan to help, and actually do something that will help that doesn't require a photo opp or sound bite. Of course, that's not election year politics....
6. This is an historic election for our country with the first African American running as the candidate for a major political party. Funny how the Republicans chose this year to find a female running mate for office lol. We know more about the fact that she is a woman than her position on issues. It didn't take long to get the fact that she is a woman...we get it. Both parties do this...running mates just seem to be ways for presidential candidates to fill holes in their popularity polls. I hate that...it seems to lack integrity and both parties are guilty.
7. I think campaign managers must think the voting public is just either really uninformed, non-critical, and mostly naive. Otherwise, why would they focus on the junk they do? Unfortunately, I think they are right, most people are distracted by just "making a living" to really be informed about candidates so we are pressed to learn what we can through packaged speeches, planned sound bites, rah rah conventions, and correographed debates.
8. The american dream is alive, anyone can become president...as long as you have enough money and the right campaign manager...it doesn't really matter what you think because no one will ever find out until your president, then you don't have to be accountable because there are so many other people to point fingers at over mistakes. It's good to be the king :-)
9. Am i wrong or did I see in the RNC a former actor, Sen. Fred Thompson, talk about how Obama's background doesn't suit him to be president? Seriously, the Republicans could have chosen a better speaker than that.
10. Funniest moment of the RNC speeches...how Joe Leiberman kept calling himself a Democrat over against the video scrolling under him that identified that he is an Independent lol. That was too rich.
11. I'm not a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or any other party. I just have a mind to be able to think past rah rah stuff. I'd critique the DNC too but I've slept since then.
12. I am a Christian..I don't "vote my conscience." I try to vote according to God's will...unfortunately there's not many candidates that represent it..."country first!"
13. Even with all the problems, it's still a marvel to see how our nation's leadership changes in a peaceful, if not in a particularly life-affirming way.
1. Exactly what does that mean...put "America first." Is there a president we have had recently that didn't say they did that? It seems like meaningless hype and without any content..it's something anyone can claim..how do they presume to do this? It also assumes that the other candidate is somehow less patriotic...or at least puts something other than country first.
2. Check me on this, but I believe that God has said to put Him first. It seems that faith is playing a significant role in this presidential election. I would ask each candidate what it means to put God first over country as apparantly that is not either's conviction, though both publically have claimed Christian faith. I'm not here to disagree with their public profession, just would like to see the fruit :-)
3. I wonder if God understands himself to be an American, or if he actually thinks that there are other people of worth that He loves that live in other countries? Just a thought...
3. It seems that each party, (though Republicans seem more overt), claims the corner on Christianity. Somehow they both claim a moral superiority, albeit on different grounds and over different issues. It's put in terms of "family values," "social causes," "small town values," or even religious language. I'm not trying to disparage a particular candidates faith convictions, nor a particular political party. However, I'm not sure God is a Republican or a Democrat. I'd like to hear more about issues and how their faith informs their position on the issues, instead of making claims about how great their faith is.
4. I'm not sure that either candidate is as bad as the other tries to portrays nor is as good as their campaign managers and speech writers would suggest their particular candiate is. Do they believe that we are so dim witted as to not see past the hype? Perhaps they are right..we seemed to have become a nation that puts faith in sound bites over substance, and spin over accountability.
5. Can it be that both candidates are using Hurricane Gustav for political advantage? It almost makes me ill. If they want my attention then do less speech making about how they plan to help, and actually do something that will help that doesn't require a photo opp or sound bite. Of course, that's not election year politics....
6. This is an historic election for our country with the first African American running as the candidate for a major political party. Funny how the Republicans chose this year to find a female running mate for office lol. We know more about the fact that she is a woman than her position on issues. It didn't take long to get the fact that she is a woman...we get it. Both parties do this...running mates just seem to be ways for presidential candidates to fill holes in their popularity polls. I hate that...it seems to lack integrity and both parties are guilty.
7. I think campaign managers must think the voting public is just either really uninformed, non-critical, and mostly naive. Otherwise, why would they focus on the junk they do? Unfortunately, I think they are right, most people are distracted by just "making a living" to really be informed about candidates so we are pressed to learn what we can through packaged speeches, planned sound bites, rah rah conventions, and correographed debates.
8. The american dream is alive, anyone can become president...as long as you have enough money and the right campaign manager...it doesn't really matter what you think because no one will ever find out until your president, then you don't have to be accountable because there are so many other people to point fingers at over mistakes. It's good to be the king :-)
9. Am i wrong or did I see in the RNC a former actor, Sen. Fred Thompson, talk about how Obama's background doesn't suit him to be president? Seriously, the Republicans could have chosen a better speaker than that.
10. Funniest moment of the RNC speeches...how Joe Leiberman kept calling himself a Democrat over against the video scrolling under him that identified that he is an Independent lol. That was too rich.
11. I'm not a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or any other party. I just have a mind to be able to think past rah rah stuff. I'd critique the DNC too but I've slept since then.
12. I am a Christian..I don't "vote my conscience." I try to vote according to God's will...unfortunately there's not many candidates that represent it..."country first!"
13. Even with all the problems, it's still a marvel to see how our nation's leadership changes in a peaceful, if not in a particularly life-affirming way.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Greetings and Welcome!
As this is my first post on my first blog, let me begin the conversation by saying "hey!" It is my hope that this blog would be the begginning of a great conversation with anyone interested in sharing their ideas, thoughts, feelings, convictions and opinions. Feel free to respond, rant, challenge, or aggree...just as long as everything is sprinkled with grace, because the conversation does matter...
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