Write In Votes

 

I did my civic duty of voting today. It was not thrilling or even mildly exciting, but it was important. I knew years ago who I was voting for today for the national races. The local stuff is always the ones that I have to wait until the last-minute to decide who or what to vote for. Most of the time I will just vote along the party lines, but every now and then I want to shake things up. This year I voted for the “write in” on three different races.
In SC, the national race always goes for the Republicans. My vote means very little there. But I think the real way to make a difference is on the local positions. Often one or two votes decides who will fill some of these positions. Because many of these people are locals, you can actually vote for someone who you know and not just from a campaign ad or what the media says about someone. But in three of these I did not know the person, and there was only one person in these, so I used the “write in”
I did not know the person on the ticket for one of the county council seats. I had not seen a sign nor an ad, so in this one I wrote in my youth pastor. I think that he would do a fine job. If you ask him, he would tell you that he does not have a clue about what this position does, so I figure that he is perfect for the job and will fit in nicely with the others who don’t have a clue.
I did not know the person running for the water and sewage person. I am not sure why this is an elected position and I don’t remember the actual title of the position, so I wrote in my youth pastor’s wife. She would be the first to tell you that she has to put up with a bunch of crap, so I think that she will do a fine job. Between the two of them, I am confident that my little portion of our country will rapidly start improving.
The last position that I used the “write in” for was a school board position. Again I saw no sign nor ad for the only person on the ballot so I wrote in my wife. As I have said before, she loves kids and can’t seem to get enough of them around her. She thinks that she knows everything, and she will be the first to tell you that, so a position in the education part of politics is perfect for her. I know that once these guys read this and especially if any of them get elected, that they will thank me later.
Yes, the American political system is working well in my precinct. I can’t wait to see the results of this year’s voting. I hope that my wife and my friends serve us well and if they don’t, I can’t wait until next election to vote the bums out of office!

Force Fed God

Yesterday I saw on the news the vote to allow God to be part of the DNC platform again. Somehow the brilliant move to eliminate God from the platform was actually made and they had to vote on bringing Him back. Many think it was an oversight and never meant to have been such a big deal. If it was on purpose, I personally don’t understand why they would not want God there. He is usually very quiet and for the most part just observes such events. When you watch the vote that took place it was not convincing that the majority wanted God back on the platform. Either way, I believe He was being forced on those who did not want Him there to begin with. But there is no way to have a convention without God, like it or not.
Politics is a strange thing. You are either very passionate about your political views or you are barely aware of these sort of things. Those who are very passionate take great offense to anyone who would criticize their point of view and those who are not involved act as if they have never heard of the election system, other than the fact that we vote for who we would like to have as our leaders. I tend to be more of the type that could care less about most things that make the news and only focus on a couple of major issues. I don’t voice my politics to loudly, but don’t hide how I feel when asked.
God is a major factor in how I lean politically. But at the same time, I am not persuaded by just talk about God. I like to see the actions and most importantly, does what a politician say match up to what the Bible says. This is only applicable for moral issues. There are many issues that I have to go with my gut on and I always remember that there is no way a politician can keep his word on everything nor can he remember everything he has every said. So I don’t go for the gotcha moments that news programs like to run.
I do not believe that anyone who runs for public office wants to kill any people in our society. When I see images of people rolling little old ladies off cliffs, I laugh and think about how stupid some people must be to expect anyone to believe such garbage. I also don’t believe that politicians who say they will never raise taxes actually believe that we, the people, believe that is true. Most ads ran during a political campaign are designed to shock and play on the emotions of people. I believe that both political parties know that if they just ran ads with facts and figures that the people would probably fall asleep during election cycles. Politics have become big business for big egos.
I have good friends who are Democrats and good friend who are Republicans. Some are very involved in the process and others are casual observers. Neither are bad people, even the ones whom I totally disagree with politically. Some of them are very vocal about their affiliation to a particular party while others probably don’t even care enough to vote. But here is a fact.Your political party affiliation does not make you a Christian nor does it make you a good or bad Christian. It only makes you a Democrat or a Republican. All governments and their leaders are a result of a sovereign God allowing that leader to rule over His people. Christians are to respect whoever that is and follow the laws of the land. We are free to voice our opinions, but never free to condemn solely because we disagree with their policies. We must follow the laws of the land and use the proper means available to peacefully change the things that we don’t like.
We can not force God on people, nor do we have to. God has made Himself known through the wonder of His creation. He has set things in order according to His will and not ours. He will be at the DNC with or without a vote. He will be with the Republican nominees whether they want Him there or not. God is not elected by man and will never be dethroned by any vote or popular opinion or political affiliation. God is God because He always has been God and always will be. No need to force feed Him to anyone. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess. Not believing will not stop you from meeting Him. God is God alone.