“…..extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.”
—Barry Goldwater
________________________________________
You could feel it pulsing through the air last Friday. A mighty wave of relief and high excitement after McCain chose his running mate, Sarah Palin. An almost audible sigh from all the conservatives out there from coast to coast. Now they could get on board and support the ticket. Now they could get energized. Now they could feel good about the election. Now they could march forward to victory again.
As someone who for years has brayed loudly about the importance of voting, and as someone who voted twice for Bush the Younger, I completely understand the relief and excitement. The very idea of an Obama administration for the next four years instills anxiety and panic into even the staunchest heart.
And Sarah Palin has impeccable conservative credentials. She’s beautiful, smart, and unafraid to stand up to corruption, wherever it hides. Well spoken too. A lifetime NRA member. She hunts. Skins and guts her own kill. She’s pro-life. Likable. And that speech she gave at the convention, wow. She’s real. I like her. Almost enough for even to crusty old cynic like me to stop and take a second look.
It was a bold and brilliant stroke by McCain. Floundering in the polls, and floundering from lack of support from the conservative base, he unveiled his choice the day after Obama’s historic acceptance speech, effectively stealing the limelight and the wave of accolades the Demoncrats had expected. Obama’s three point bump disappeared almost instantly.
McCain, I believe, will be the next president. When it comes right down to it, and in the privacy of the voting booth, a lot of people will not be able to bring themselves to vote for a vacuous empty suit with a Muslim-sounding name like Barak Obama. Might not be the way it should be, in a perfect world. But it’s the way it is.
Especially now that McCain has given the famished conservative base a positive thing, a real reason to turn out for him. My prediction: McCain/Palin in an electoral landslide.
If they win, it will be without my vote. I’m not participating. At least not in the two major parties. I may vote for Chuck Baldwin or Bob Barr. Or write in Ron Paul.
It’s been a long journey to this point. Now I’m here. Comfortable with my decision. Entering the door that only a few short years ago I would have considered the gateway to paranoia. My eyes are open. I have my wits about me. And I believe I’m right.
If McCain wins and becomes president, the conservatives who voted him in will be muttering and swearing at him from the day of his inauguration. McCain is McCain, and no conservative. Bristly, snarling, half senile. He loves the accolades of the main-stream media. The same people who reached impossible new lows this week in their reprehensible attempts to destroy Sarah Palin. He’ll reach across the aisle. Forward the Demoncratic agenda. Like global warming. He’ll expand federal powers. They all do. He’s predictable only in his unpredictability.
And Sarah Palin won’t be the energetic, dynamic governor of Alaska anymore. She’ll be his vice president, supporting all his policies. Leviathan will devour her, and she will become as corrupted as any mainstream politician you see today. A shame too, because she is today what she seems, a strong woman of character. But you can’t serve Leviathan and not become corrupted. It’s simply not possible.
In four years, the only changes will have been for the worse. More freedoms frittered away. More federal goons invading every aspect of our lives and privacy, turning this country into an occupied zone. More wars, entered into for no real national security reasons. More lying, stealing, killing, more destruction of innocent lives.
When that time comes, I’ll try to refrain from saying “I told you so.” Because I’m telling you now.
It’s all a farce. They need your votes. Will do and say anything to get them. Recruit someone like Sarah Palin to get you aboard. After it’s over, you’ll be forgotten faster than your wacky uncle at the family reunion. And as ignored.
The system is corrupt. The deck stacked. A shell game. I see no reason to legitimize a corrupt system by participating in the voting process. For me, voting would give tacit approval of the slime pit that is the oppressive state.
I first began to feel that something was seriously amiss back in the early 1990s. Waco and Ruby Ridge. But then I was very busy with life, pursuing education and so forth, and did not pursue in-depth studies or reach many concrete conclusions. Other than a vague unease about state powers that can and will destroy lives and property for no discernable reason, except to instill fear.
After law school, I supported forlorn little groups like the Constitution Party. But even then, I almost always voted Republican. Might as well vote for someone who has a chance to win, I figured. No sense throwing my vote away.
And so it went, until the Levi Stoltzfoos travesty unfolded this year in our local court system. (A Wrongful Prosecution) I watched with rising disbelief and increasing rage. As he was convicted and sent to a maximum security prison, among hard core violent criminals, for up to fifteen years. For committing no real crime.
He was prosecuted by a Republican Attorney General. Convicted and sentenced by a Republican judge. In conservative Lancaster County.
And that was the catalyst that triggered my mind to break free from the chains that bound it. The scales fell from my eyes. And now I see.
How could a thing like Levi’s conviction happen?
It could happen because the state (defined as all levels of state and federal power) exists for one thing, and one thing only: The increase of its own power by whatever means necessary, at the expense of individual liberty. That’s it, in a nutshell. It’s that simple.
The state will do anything in its primal pursuit of raw power. Anything. It will kill. Ruby Ridge, Waco and countless unconstitutional drug raids on homes in which innocent homeowners were killed defending themselves. It will steal. Levi Stoltzfoos’ money, a tidy sum of $500,000.00, was confiscated and never returned. It will intimidate and terrorize. Remember the INS goons who seized Elian Gonzales from his sobbing relatives and returned him to Castro’s loving arms. It will harass. Try flying from any major airport and dealing with the TSA thugs. It will destroy. Try disputing the IRS sometime.
The state does not have a “social contract” with its citizens. Instead, it imposes a one-sided contract of force and fear. By implementing a myriad of laws that are impossible not to break. The state, if left to its basic nature, which it always strives mightily to attain, will devour all liberty. And after its citizens are consumed, it will devour itself.
At every level, when state power increases, freedom and liberty decline. Free markets wilt. Production declines. Taxes increase.
I have not yet firmed up a solid coherent system of thought, other than this: Liberty is ALWAYS better than oppression. A weak government is ALWAYS better than a powerful centralized government. And the free market can accomplish any task far better than the state can. Any task. Far better.
It’s far better, to paraphrase a founding father (Jefferson, maybe), to deal with an excess of liberty than the effects of oppression.
I expect many, if not most, of my readers to be appalled at my conclusions. Maybe I’ll lose some of you. I would have been appalled too, a few years ago.
I’m not telling you what to do. Vote or don’t vote, as you will. But do some research for yourself. Read.
Read Lewrockwell.com. Check it daily. You won’t agree with everything they post. I don’t. But the site has had a tremendous impact on my thinking.
Read Lew’s columns. And others on the site. Read Doug Casey. Karen Kwiatkowski. Ron Paul. Gary North. William Norman Grigg. Dig into their archives. Read the books of Claire Wolfe and Jefferson Mack and Ragnar Benson (Paladin Press ). And others. These people are rational, coherent and write better than I could ever hope to. Check them out. Decide for yourself.
Recently, I read Albert Jay Nock’s scholarly book, Our Enemy, the State. An old time classical liberal, he is not widely known today because of his implacable opposition to socialism and all other forms of state oppression. But his works are quietly making a comeback, and every serious student of politics should read this book. As should any-one who cherishes liberty.
So check things out for yourself. Don’t just give me the tired old knee jerk responses about the “lesser of two evils.” The lesser of two evils is still evil. Embracing darkness to fight darkness is an exercise in futility, a long-term policy of defeat. And exactly what the state would prefer you do.
Give up. Embrace it. Participate. Support it as it grows and envelops you. Chokes the life from your freedoms. Until there are none left.
I won’t do it anymore. Not this time. I’m done.
I will be free. If not physically, at least in my awareness and in my mind. From this day on.
All that said, I’m not planning on heading for the hills. I’ll keep living in the world, in society, in the space allotted me. Working. Pursuing my dreams. Cooking out with my friends. Watching football. Writing. Speaking my mind. And yes, paying my taxes. All the stuff a normal forty-seven year old single guy would do. And enjoying to the fullest all but the taxes part.
I’ll still listen to Rush. And Glenn Beck. I enjoy their shows. Their hilarious parodies. Love to hear them bash the Demoncrats and liberalism in general. But I’ll be listening to their own perspectives and conclusions with a jaundiced ear. Won’t accept what they say on their credibility. Because that’s diminishing every day.
I still respect Rush in many ways. His cheerful, optimistic outlook in the face of great adversity has taught me much about living for today and allowing tomorrow to be what it may. Without stressing about it too much. His outlook on life has influenced me a lot in these last eighteen months, and I’m grateful to him for that.
But ultimately, even he is an apologist for the state. One of the best.
As a Christian, and a postmillennialist, I believe that Christ’s Kingdom here on earth will prevail. In history. Here on earth. I don’t expect complete victory in my lifetime. (I expect to die someday. For me, that will be the “end of the world.”) Or in the next few generations. Maybe not for fifty generations. Or more. My perspective on time is finite. God’s is not. And in the right time and place, His people will rise to lead. Lead, not rule and oppress.
But they won’t do it by participating in our current corrupt, thuggish two-party system.
*******
Now to close on a normal, happy note. Congrats to my nephew and namesake Ira Lee Wagler and his fiancé, Rosa Miller on their engagement. The wedding date has not yet been announced.
Today I was driving by the License Bureau and had a few minutes, so I stopped in and changed my voter registration to Missouri. McCain got nominated without my help, but I’ll feel good about voting in the general election.
I’m not always happy with the way the government runs things (have you been to a licence bureau lately?) I just quietly go about my way; trying to make a living, helping people when I can, voting when I feel like it, and paying taxes when I have to.
Comment by Reuben Wagler — September 5, 2008 @ 8:16 pm
On the Electoral vote. Obama already probably has California, Washigton state and Ore. on the west Coast. On the East Coast, a gaggle of the small New England States, plus New York state, Ill. and Iowa, and then the liberal Commenwealth of Pa. should put him over the top. Figure that.
Comment by Granpa Jess — September 5, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
Will always read you, Ira, agree or not. I myself am just starting to unfold my political wings a tiny bit after many years of zero thought and participation, so enjoy hearing all sides and opinions.
I too worry about what will happen to this awesome woman if she is elected – you put into words what’s been kind of bothering me. As for the State, I am of the opinion one can do nothing about it anyway, local politics is where the action is.
Have an excellent day, and congratulations to your namesake!
Comment by pilgrimhen — September 6, 2008 @ 6:48 am
You go, Ira and all others who are considering to join us.
From the great North West I will answer. It is with great joy and anticipation that I publicly welcome you to a revolution that is far older and larger than either you or me. Rather than thinking you are alone in your thoughts and conclusions on this matter of grave consequence, I encourage you to remember that you are surrounded. We are many and we are growing.
This choice of VP may set back the movement for a time, and yet we never know how it might propel it forward. And then there is always a third or fourth alternate. Sarah Palin could become president by tragic means before she has compromised all her soul, and fourthly, of course McCain could become converted to both Christianity and a staunch belief in the constitution of These United States of America by the influence of the very one he choose to use as a decoy to draw the base. If truth and the belief of truth is as we believe it is, then by definition we should assume that those around Sarah Palin will begin changing and compromising their shallow ungrounded views rather than her compromising truth.
As always, I too am optimistic about the future of this great country and its continued and future role in the Kingdom of Christ and its ever advancing and victorious influence. I am voting for Chuck Baldwin as a candidate for the Constitution Party.
Comment by Dave Nis — September 6, 2008 @ 11:08 am
I am caught between the rock and the hard place. I am a traditional premillenniumist , seeing a future seven year tribulation where anti-Christ reigns in this world until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to establish his kingdom on earth. I do not speculate on when this time of troubles will come. We have now lived in the church age for 2,000 years and the end date has been predicted exactly many times before now. I am to live as a pilgrim and stranger, a citizen of the heavenly kingdom, but I am here in these United States and do participate in this earthly kingdom as well.
I served four years active duty in the United States Air Force’s Strategic Air Command with clearances that allowed me access to nuclear weapon technology. I would not do so today as a member of a non-resistant church, but I will not condemn my choice or motives at the time I made my decision. As I look at the government of the United States and the State of Iowa, I am disappointed in the erosion of personal liberties. Yet I continue to work a mainstream job and pay my taxes without protest.
I am concerned, but I also remember my Mark Twain. This was a muck raking author who castigated the government and Congress with almost every other breath, telling stories of utter corruption that shock the contemporary mind. I loathe the Richard Daly machine in Chicago, the one that helped create the empty suit we address as Senator Obama. Can’t you just barely see the strings from the Senator doll to his master, His Honor the Mayor? However, this mayor has a long way to go to beat his father. Mark Twain would remind us that either Daly is a piker compared to Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall (look up New York City government in the 1870s to learn more about this person and his corrupt political machine). So the quandary for me is politics worse now than any time through American history or is this the same old story with new characters? Thus the rock and the hard place.
Comment by Mark Hersch — September 6, 2008 @ 8:24 pm
Daniel 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.
Daniel 4:32
and thou shalt be driven from men; and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; thou shalt be made to eat grass as oxen; and seven times shall pass over thee; until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
There are a couple of PRINCIPALS set forth here….
1. God is the one that sets rulers up…in the ‘kingdom of men’.
Never forget that.
Sure He has many ways of bringing that to pass.
And many reasons as well.
THis country IS going to reap for not only the corruption that IT is FULL of….but the great corruption that it HAS and IS causing thruout the whole world!! [thru TV/movies/internet]
2. Those rulers are…the BASEST of men…in HIS eyes!!
That is not what “I” say, but what the scriptures say!!
As for the ‘rock and the hard place’ compare the SINS of this country NOW vs back when Mark Twain lived.
Abortion at the top of the list. The taking of these little human lives by the THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS and accepted by our society as being OK!!
Homosexuality is next!! This sin wasn’t even mentioned when I was a lad, as it was almost non existant. Now it is not only done OPENLY and running rampant, but being looked at as an acceptable/normal thing!!
Divorce was very rare…considered a great shame by EVERYONE!
I remember as a lad when the word ‘divorce’ was spoken in hushed terms…it was considered so awful!! Now we have divorce by the thousands upon thousands. Many…many being raised by a single parent. Some being raised by 2 of the same gender!
Drugs…rampant. Terrible mind altering/damaging ones!
Food genetically engineered. Cloning….going on! Folks messing with altering species of all kinds! Far more than what the general public knows!!
Thousands homeless. Living in the streets. Thousands upon thousands upon welfare…that program being abused by many! The Biblical principal IS..if a man isn’t willing to work…he shouldn’t eat!! [And..I KNOW that doesn’t fit ALL cases….but it does MANY!!]
Kids raised on violent video games/movies/tv/radio/rock music.
Runaways….rape….murder…!
A person must be blind…nay…also deaf and dumb…to not be able to be AWARE OF the tremendous corruption on every hand!
Church on every corner. Christianity divided x’s thousands/teaching a great diversity of doctrines for truth. No one sure what TRUTH actually IS! Just ‘believe in Christ’ and everything will be ok!!
There IS the law of ‘sowing and reaping’ that MUST come to pass by His principals.
This nation IS going to reap what it has and is sowing.
And, remember these words….’there will be no rapture’! [for those thinking they are going to escape the reaping this country is going to have to go thru!]
I’m not a prophet of doom. I’m not preaching at anyone.
It is time to WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I give Ira credit….at least he IS waking up…realizing SOMETHING is dreadfully wrong!!!!!!!!
There are simply some principals that are absolute when it comes to how things work. If we learn those principals, they will help us KNOW of some things that lie ahead.
They will let us know how HE works.
Just some things to think about.
Comment by Fritz — September 7, 2008 @ 7:27 pm
ps…
…forgot to mention the sexual sins of our country. Kids being taught in school what should never even be on their minds at that age!
But, due to the society around them, that is what their mind is FULL of!
Books/magazines/check out isles/movies/TV/video games/internet…once again planting/fueling the thots….
I don’t think i have to go into detail about the great fall of our country in that area.
How do these things tie in with what our leaders are?
Well, just try to disassociate what this country IS…with what it’s leaders are!
You can’t!
The one is a reflection of the other!
Comment by Fritz — September 7, 2008 @ 8:15 pm
I will concede the matter of abortion. No nation will escape the murder of >50 million babies. That reaping will be terrible. Does it mean the end of this country as we know it? Don’t know. God was patient with Israel and Judah, finally extinguishing both kingdoms but after much long- suffering.
As far as the rapture, I will not be dogmatic that there must be a rapture, the reading of Daniel, Matthew and Revelation has created several different interpretations of the same scriptures by bible believing Christians. However, I do not accept the blanket statement, “There will be no rapture.” Sorry, I will wait until I am home and the inspired Word becomes crystal clear when I receive perfect knowledge in Heaven. Until then, I believe that the traditional premillenniumist view best fits the imperfect knowledge that I now have.
Comment by Mark Hersch — September 8, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
Excellent post! So, basically, I would put you at the ‘four legs good, two legs bad’ stage right now; any thoughts on how to keep from morphing back to the ‘two legs good, four legs bad’ stage? After all, you are continuing in your old pursuits (mostly) and… well you know how it goes!
If you will permit me to say so, your ‘Christians rising to lead’ sounds idealistic, to say nothing of contradicting the teaching of Christ that many are on the broad road and few are on the narrow. My worldview is by no means fully assembled but I really do think there’ll be two kingdoms, a spiritual and a (what’s the word I want, legal?) till the end of time.
To Mark: in your position as resident historian, could you give us a brief history on the origin of premillenialism? Or perhaps that’s a rabbit trail our good host would rather not go down.
Comment by jason yutzy — September 8, 2008 @ 5:54 pm
no harm intended…
It is easy for those that live in Amish/Mennonite communities to fail to know how corrupt the world has really become…to fail to realize how serious things have become, how bad things really are.
There are some that are becoming aware…i feel. Ira has done enough reading to develop a feeling of sorts….that something is wrong.
So when Ira sounds somewhat of an alarm, and folks quench that, it upsets me greatly.
I want to amplify that alarm, not disspell it!!
The plain people are MY people…but they need to wake up!! We as a nation are headed for DEEP trouble!
What can we do about it?
Read Ezekial 9:1 thru 11. God kept track of those that grieved and mourned over the abominations done in the midst of that city!!! God marked them, and spared them. Why? Because they grieved and mourned over what was taking place!!
If we just go about our merry ways in the MIDST of the abominations our nation is guilty of, WE are ALSO going to have to PAY along with the rest!!
God IS keeping track about WHO is CONCERNED!!
Believe me!!
I feel that the thot of folks getting ‘raptured’ out when serious trouble hits, has lulled many to sleep.
They feel disattached to future troubles…because they think they won’t be around to partake of them!!
What is going to happen, is folks are going to find themselves in the midst of great turmoil, wondering when this ‘rapture’ is going to take place.
You may not have to wait till you get to heaven to find out if you were right. That is not meant to be a smart remark, as such, but just a realistic fact.
We can simply wait and see.
What good is ‘perfect knowledge’ going to do once you leave this life?
It is NOW when we NEED it…to help us thru THIS life!!
God IS capable of giving us PERFECT knowledge thru His inspired Word, don’t you think?
Right here and right now!
Do we not DESPERATELY NEED IT NOW!!!!!
What in the world is going to be the benefit of understanding the TRUTH of the Revelations once we leave this life!!!!!
6 ¶Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Again….there is no guile in my heart towards anyone.
I am…very troubled about the times in which we live…that is true!
Just some food for thot…is all
Comment by fritz — September 8, 2008 @ 8:41 pm
It all sounds very convincing but until you have truly convinced yourselves, you will not convince me. Your thoughts are good, perhaps even great!
“Where good men do nothing, evil will rule.” Voting for the Third-Party candidate sounds good, but what is it proving? You are still a part of the circus.
Men have died to give you the right to vote and be a free “American” citizen. Did they die in vain?
Comment by Andrew Yutzy — September 9, 2008 @ 1:32 am
I must disagree with the writer, and hope all that read Ira’s writing will not be influenced by it.
McCain needs every vote he can get. There is a lot at stake in this election. Ira, you called Obama an empty suit. McCain is close to an empty suit, but not completely empty. In politics, most of the time, you vote for the lesser of two evils.
McCain has a much better record if you stop and think rationally. It’s hard to do that because McCain has aggravated us to no end. I was very disappointed that he got the nomination. But when I compare him with Obama, I’ll go and vote McCain.
Gerald D. Hochstetler, Jr.
Comment by Gerald D. Hochstetler, Jr. — September 9, 2008 @ 8:51 pm
Whether there is a rapture sometime in the future at the end or not is an interesting point of conjecture (I believe that is the best reading of the scriptures) but not something to hope removes us from times of troubles. Suppose the end is several hundred or thousand years in the future. The Christians of that future time will be removed from the ultimate extreme of the time of Jacob’s troubles. I would not. I assume that my life here will probably end sometime in the next 40 years, as soon as today.
The world of today has many trials and persecutions for the Christians of today and that future rapture would not relieve them. I hope John McCain is the next president. Will he save the world? No. Only Jesus Christ will do that. I am more concerned with the salvation of individuals than seeing politics as the “salvation” of the multitude. I desire for abortion on demand to be overthrown. I desire for the collapse of marriage (one man and one woman) to reverse. What if this does not happen in my lifetime? Am I gripped with fear? No. Am I gripped with concern? Yes. The thought of individuals choosing death over life everlasting should concern Christians. However, I do not see a Christian seizure of the instruments of political power as the solution. A Christian seizure of the hearts and minds of people through prayer and evangelization is the solution. Will all be saved? No, consider the comparison of wide and narrow ways. That parable seems to say that most will be lost, despite the desire by God that all should be saved.
I am of the invisible kingdom, placing my hope in Lord. If someone asks me, vote for McCain or Obama, I will say McCain. Do I think John McCain is the key to reversing the degradation of American society? No, but he is more part of the solution than the Democrats.
Comment by Mark Hersch — September 11, 2008 @ 1:38 pm
Well said, Mark….
Comment by Gerald D. Hochstetler, Jr. — September 12, 2008 @ 5:04 pm
Just a thot…but the ‘troubles’ that folks expect to escape thru a rapture is not your everyday troubles.
Anyone living in this time world expects those.
Most folks believe that there are times of great trouble coming upon mankind [tribulation….n such].
THAT is what they are expecting to be ‘raptured’ out of.
Mankind has always been looking for a literal kingdom on earth. Some golden rule age as such.
That is why Jesus was rejected 2000 years ago. They were looking for a literal king ruling over a literal kingdom.
Exactly what folks are looking for to this very day.
They feel the REAL fulfillment is the literal fulfillment.
The spiritual kingdome is the ULTIMATE kingdom!!
Top of the line. Greatest thing there is.
Spiritual knowledge/wisdom/understanding is the greatest wisdom there is.
It is knowledge/wisdom/understanding on Gods level.
It is obtainable now.
How many folks, if they realized that the wisdom they left here with was what they were stuck with thruout eternity, would start trying to obtain all they could?
As the tree falls…so shall it lie.
The spirit of God reveals the DEEP things of God….NOW.
Most folks are simply too caught up in life to care.
Read why the stony and thorny ground won’t make it!
Is it because of great sins?
Nope.
Stony ground won’t develop into good ground because somewhere along the way standing for truth costs too much.
Thorny ground won’t become good ground because they let the cares/riches/pleasures of this life choke out the word. They will be too busy to seek for truth.
Thorny ground/stoney ground hearts are all professing to be Christians.
They will just never develop into good ground.
Just a thot on voting….
Those that pull the strings dangle a couple of puppets before the people and now the people feel satisified because they feel that they now have a ‘say’ in the matter.
The truth of the matter is, doesn’t matter WHICH puppet gets put in.
If that puppet should fail to ‘dance’…why….they simply won’t LAST long!!
Isn’t it rather amazing that every single puppet that has ever been ‘chosen’ belongs to a certain…organization!
Puppets are dangled before us….
A puppet show…with live people!
But wait a minute….
There is more…
Some are awakening to the fact that WE are also a part of the show!
Puppets on a string as well!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh…many will declare up and down that this isn’t a puppet show!
That’s ok.
Believe what you will.
Time will tell.
Information is out there if folks care to do some reading.
Most folks are too busy living LIFE!
Comment by fritz — September 12, 2008 @ 9:39 pm
I’m happy to hear you won’t be voting, because that means one less vote for McCain. (And as an ardent Obama supporter, that is exactly what I like to hear.)
But I read your post with interest, because I think you make some very good points. Politics in the U.S. are a far cry from what they should be. From what I have seen in Europe, a 4-8 party system with coalition governments makes a lot more sense and means less gridlock. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be happening here.
I personally disagree with your decision not to vote, because I think we can still be more effective by voting. But I respect that you are trying to make a statement and hope that it will bring the change you want to see.
Comment by Mariann Martin — September 13, 2008 @ 12:49 pm
Those who vote for McCain because he chose a Christian running mate are deceiving themselves in order to idolize a party and therefore deserve what they will get. Same for Obama-nation.
Comment by LeRoy Whitman — October 4, 2008 @ 10:50 pm
“We do not have two political parties in this country, America. We have one party; called the Big Government Party. The Republican wing likes deficits, war, and assaults on civil liberties. The Democratic wing likes wealth transfer, taxes, and assaults on commercial liberties. Both parties like power; and neither is interested in your freedoms. Think about it. Government is the negation of freedom. Freedom is your power and ability to follow your own free will and your own conscience. The government wants you to follow the will of some faceless bureaucrat.”
Judge Andrew Napolitano
Comment by Melv Beiler — February 1, 2011 @ 7:58 pm
What I wouldn’t give to have the opportunity to vote for a righteous man. A man that loved the Lord and truly cared about people. Is this too much to ask for? Obviously it is.
Sigh. It’s such a sick world. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that God was, is, and always will be sitting on His throne. Sick indeed, yet how can I discount the beauty and kindness that is all around me? Bitter sweet this world.
Comment by francine — August 1, 2013 @ 12:43 am