Random Thoughts on the 2008 General Election

As I watched the election coverage on Tuesday evening, I began to grow frustrated at what I was seeing and hearing. I started to catalog my thoughts and feelings, as I am becoming more convinced that we, as Americans, are sliding down a slippery slope and are not the same country that our Founding Fathers risked their lives to start.

We are a country that is legalizing a drug (marijuana) for supposed medicinal purposes, trying to legalize prostitution (in San Francisco), legalizing assisted suicide, opposing a ban abortions, and the list goes on. We are a country that now seeks to have government involved in all aspects of our lives and to provide for us, not limit it in our lives and allow freedom for prosperity to abound. We now have government officials who are seeking to crack down on businesses making money because they make too much. We have a government that seeks to tax those who have been successful in order to give to those who are not trying.

The list below is not a comprehensive list of my thoughts for the evening, but it is a sample of what I was thinking, and you were probably thinking some of these things also.

1. This Presidential race was all about race. As I watched the early returns last night, the talking heads were talking about the historical nature of this election, because it would lead to the first African-American (a term I do not like) President. I have news for these media people: All elections are historic, not just this one. It was not about what Obama stood for or what his platform was. It was about his race. Many of the people they interviewed (including Oprah) were talking about his race, not his platform. Blacks voted almost unanimously for Obama, yet this is not considered racist. And because of this..................
2. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream has yet to be realized. His statement was that someday his children would be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. You see, this has not yet happened. It was all about the race of the candidate. It had nothing to do with the character of the candidate (or the lack thereof).
3. Only liberal blacks are allowed to realize the dream. In 2006, I was an ardent supporter of Lynn Swann for Governor of Pennsylvania. Yet, when white people in PA did not vote for him, they were not considered racist. They were considered principled democrats who thought this guy was too conservative. The same goes for Michael Steele when he was running for governor of Maryland in 2006. Democrats were digging in to his personal information in order for him to be defeated. How dare a black man be a part of the Republican Party! Apparently, no one told them that they are supposed to be Democrats.
4. Sarah Palin is NOT the reason that McCain lost. This is one that the media is trying to sell right now. If McCain would have selected Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge, it would have turned out differently. While these may be 2 fine men, they are not men who appeal to the conservative base of the party. They are 2 men that actually tend to turn off the base of the party. Sarah Palin is a conservative that energized the base. If this turned off some of the moderates in the party, then they were not true conservatives to begin with. McCain lost because he acquiesced too much. He was not firm enough or aggressive enough in challenging Obama.
5. Moderates and Independents are not worth reaching out to. This group of people are those who cannot make up their mind and then jump on a bandwagon so that they can say they supported the winner. They have no values that they are willing to stand up for. It is far easier to go with the flow than it is to fight against it for a purpose.
6. Nobody really wants compromise (except for the group listed above). If my candidate wins, I want that person to enact the platform that they ran on. I do not want them to compromise those principles in order to get along. There is most definitely a right and a wrong. Likewise, the other side is not going to want their candidate to give in once they get into office. They voted for a person with a certain platform and set of principles, and the last thing that they want is a compromise of those issue.
7. The media is biased. Not that this comes as a revelation to anyone, but it was very much in the forefront during election coverage. Not even the so-called conservative propaganda machine (FoxNews) was able to fight this one off. There is such a salivating at the mouth for Obama (unless you are Chris Matthews, then you have a tingling up your leg). The pundits really do not have a clue as to what people outside the beltway are thinking. There is too much of a reliance on polls and not enough focus on people.
8. Hope and Change are not an agenda. They are cheesy slogans. I really have yet to hear this defined from Obama, and all of his supporters bought into it. What is he going to change (his underwear, his favorite team, who he is going to throw under the bus next)? What are we hoping for (tax relief, a renewal of America on the world stage)? People bought into slogans without any idea of what they really meant.
9. I do not care what Europe (or the rest of the world) thinks about our election. Obviously, they see this as an opportunity for a weaker America. They want a more compassionate America (as if our generosity hasn't bailed out many of these countries multiple times in the last 200 years). They hail the fact that America elected a black man. When have all of these racist countries ever elected a black man?
10. America is not the Christian country that we once were. Our Founding Fathers wanted this to be a country where we could worship freely, where the name of God could be praised. If you read many of our state constitutions, you will see the reverence and respect for God that these men had. Now, people have done all they could to get God out of the public square.
11. Geraldo Rivera is an idiot. Most of you already know this, but the thought was renewed in my mind this morning. Being interviewed on Fox & Friends, he was trying to perpetuate the myth that McCain would have been better off with Ridge or Lieberman as his running mate. According to Rivera, the Republican base would vote for McCain, he needed the moderates. Rivera would not have voted for him anyway. Why this guy still has a job is beyond me.
12. They are getting what they wanted, but they will lose what they had. This is the title of a sermon I heard many years ago from Dr. Bud Bierman. The basic tenet of the message is that people will sell out their principles and their values in order to realize a short-term benefit, but int he long-run, they will lose everything that they hold dear. This will take some time, but it will happen.
13. Obama is the President-elect. Not that I am happy about that, but this is what the result of the vote was, and I must deal with it. I do not need to be happy about it. He is the President, and I will respect that. However, I will speak out when I believe he is wrong.
14. God is still in control. Prov. 21:1 says 'The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will. Enough said.

Again, these are a few of my random thoughts from last night. I am sure that I could go on and on, but you get the gist of my thoughts. I do not need to spell them all out for you.