Blah Guy

It seems many of us are caught up to some degree in the excitment of our next president. Listening once again to the debates of the recent weeks, I am reminded of my general discontent with the political spirit of our country: unwillingness to listen, attack after attack, too many promises.

What if some presidential candidate actually had a platform that, ‘Hey, I’ll tell you what I am going to do after I have won…when I do it’. A no promise platform. Even better, what if we had a candidate that told us what they actually thought. That change in our government won’t happen under his/her/its watch, I’ll try to get us out of Iraq (but don’t know if I can)…etc.

We set these people up (and ourselves) by requiring them to make promise after promise. And when they don’t make promises, we call them ‘flip-floppers’. Wouldn’t Jesus call them wise?

I recently read Barrack Obama’s text, The Audacity of Hope. While he is not (should not) be a professional writer, he impressed me with his candor and honesty. At one point he discussed even his own frustration with the American Christian attempt to ‘holify’ our early Fathers. While, yes, there was Christian influence, they weren’t exemplars of the faith. So we accept the idea that our country is holy with that of having ‘Christian’ country fathers, quid pro quo.

Obama writes, ‘The founders may have trusted in God but they also trusted in the hearts and minds of the people he gave them to.’ I appreciate that as an attempt of a man of faith who no doubt is supported by many overly-conservative folk who wish him to ‘holify’ our nation. But he makes it clear in his dialogue with faith. He believes in the power of faith in God, but he also has faith in the thinking of those who believe in God.

Unfortunately there are many who make faith the end-all in politics.

Dangerous!

He also wrote, ‘No one is exempt from the call to common ground’.

I agree. Very much. And at least some are trying to ‘live’ that way. God, help us to find some ‘common ground’ this year.

‘America bless God’