The Voters Nobody Wants (Though They Decide Every Election)

What do Ronald Reagan, George H W Bush and George W Bush have in common? Presidents? Yes. Republicans? Yes.

What do Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney have in common? Republican candidates? Yes. Losers? Yes.

What makes the difference? Therein lies the tale. Reagan Bush Sr and Jr were all strong on national defense, but so were the unsuccessful three. All Republicans have followed the example of that great man Reagan in supporting tax cuts to spur economic growth, and had George H W Bush not went back on his no new taxes pledge he probably wins a second term, but that has not been the thing that separates winners and losers on the Republican side.

We are told that the only hope of winning in a modern demographic is to get the Hispanic/Latino vote therefore we need a candidate that supports amnesty.  This argument fades a bit when you consider that if Mitt Romney had won 70% of the Hispanic vote, a lofty and nearly unattainable goal, he still would have lost to Barak Obama.  As critical as I am of Trump he has done a great service to the American people by blowing up this false amnesty narrative. American citizens, born and nationalized don’t want anything to do with amnesty and illegals don’t vote. (Unless their Democrats).  Reagan did make a deal on amnesty that was supposed to lead to border security but instead led to the loss of California, Reagan’s home state to becoming a Democrat stronghold. The border security measures Reagan demanded and the democrats agreed to were never implemented. You recall the backlash when Bush/McCain tried to sneak an amnesty bill through under cover of night? The Amnesty Kool-Aid is poison to the Republicans but if not for Trump they probably would still be drinking it.

Then there are the moderates and independents, they are the ones! Right? I have dealt with this in detail before http://advicenotaskedfor.blogspot.com/2011/03/oh-for-man-of-mushy-middle-how-my-heart.html but for now let me just say, We are told every election that if only a moderate can get the nomination without that old nasty tea party stopping them, they’ll win the general election. Of course the opposite always happens; moderates get the nomination then fail in the national election.

You think I’m going to say the Tea Party no doubt.  Well, the problem is this: the tea party is a protest movement they tend to vote against rather than for. They even vote in midterms, and they are a powerful force. The tea party voter though is not inclined to stay home because of a lackluster candidate and allow someone like Obama to be reelected.

If it’s neither the Hispanics nor the tea party who decide elections, then who? I take you back to August 21, 1980 when Ronald Reagan seeking the presidency said to a gathering of Southern Baptist ministers “"I know you can't endorse me … but I want you to know that I endorse you and what you are doing."  It was this moment that solidified the relationship between the conservative political movement and the “religious right”.

For what it’s worth, I identify more strongly with this group then I do with the tea party for one reason: the tea party largely shuns social issues. I do not. Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that the nation was founded on can only exist in what Adams called a moral and religious people.  Christian principles and moral absolutes undergird every aspect of American society and every institution. What did Reagan Bush and Bush have in common? They never shunned the social issues; they never betrayed the Christian base.

The Republican establishment claims social issues are a losing battle but history suggests that unless a candidate strongly supports the Christian view on these issues they cannot win. You see an increasing number of Christians have decided that the lesser of two evils is still evil and they will stay home, or skip the top slot on the ballot. Romney claimed to be pro-life now but once claimed to be more pro-choice then Ted Kennedy and failed to make sufficient protection for pro-life doctors in Romney-care. John McCain openly feuded with the pro-life leaders before seeking their endorsement, just 8 years later, Dole though “personally pro-life” sought to add a “tolerance clause” to the GOP platform and allowed no pro-life speeches in prime time during the ’96 convention.  

I have argued with my fellow believers about the quote the best way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing, as a reason to plod along and support the non-liberal candidates even if they’re not as conservative as we would like, but more and more I see the Republican party move further away from Reagan’s stance I begin to question, can I really continue to support this party and be in good conscience to the Lord? The answer is … I don’t know.  

The truth is I will not support someone like Trump who has always been a liberal on social issues, until he magically sees the light when he runs for President, and now believes abortion should be banned sometimes at some point in the pregnancy, or who supports universal health care like they have in Canada.

No, if the Republican Party ever wants to regain the support Reagan enjoyed they need to return to what Reagan believed in. not election year catering but a history of commitment to real Judeo Christian values. Contrast  the wishy- washy  stand of the modern Republican party with Reagan “When Americans reach out for values of faith, family, and caring for the needy, they're saying, "We want the Word of God. We want to face the future with the Bible"...

I'm accused of being simplistic at times with some of the problems that confront us. But I've often wondered: Within the covers of that single Book are all the answers to all the problems that face us today, if we'd only look there. "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever." It's my firm belief that the enduring values...presented in its pages have a great meaning for each of us and for our nation...

Now, I realize it's fashionable in some circles to believe that no one in government should... encourage others to read the Bible... that will violate the separation of church and state...Well...the father of our country, George Washington, kissed the Bible at his inauguration...

John Adams called it "the best book in the world." and Ben Franklin said, "... the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men... without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel... our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach, a bye-word down to future ages."......

This is but one of Reagan’s many quotes that show why Christians supported him, his landslide victories have seldom been duplicated (49 of 50 states supported his reelection, and he narrowly lost Mondale’s home state of Minnesota by 3,761 votes.) it can happen again, someone who unites all conservatives, social, fiscal, and economic, but if the Republicans continue on the path of taking back that endorsement of the Christian Community that Ronald Reagan offered over 30 years ago we will withdraw our endorsement,  and votes, from you.  After all fair is fair. I don’t believe we have time to start a third party and build it in time to save the country, but if things continue as they are we will have no choice with a good conscience but to try.

Trump: The Republican Version of Obama

Did that title get your attention? Trump supporters already mad? Let me develop my point then tell me where I am wrong.

I have been attempting to put my finger on the meteoric rise of the Trump campaign and it still somewhat eludes me. There is a boldness and audacity that is refreshing, he shrugs off political correctness and defies apology, these are all positives but not unique to Trump. Cruz has battled boldly against the Republican establishment, Walker turned blue Wisconsin around over the slings and arrows of the union attack dogs on their own turf. Want someone not in politics? Dr. Ben Carson looked Barak Obama right in the eye and challenged him on principle in front of the world. Contrast this to Trump’s spat with Fox reporter Meghan Kelly which consists mostly of snipes and insults on twitter and other media outlets and you see the difference between bravado and bravery.  Still, Trump’s voice has largely drowned out these other men, he is after all louder and he owns his own microphone, at first I thought this explained it.

If I am near a radio between noon and three eastern I usually have Rush Limbaugh on. Recently he had a caller who was a Trump supporter who was talking about Trump’s economic policy (or lack thereof) and she said (quoting from memory) “Donald doesn’t need to give specifics, he knows that if you cut taxes and get rid of all these regulations that the economy will fix itself,” to which the host replied, “You realize Trump hasn’t said any of this, you are inferring it.” The caller replied, “He doesn’t have to say it I know he believes it.”  “Hmmmm” I thought, “this is anecdotal but enlightening. What if Trump supporters are projecting their own beliefs on Trump, i.e. he’s rich therefore he believes in free enterprise.”

The next piece of the puzzle came a week later on the same program where guest host author Mark Stein said, “Donald Trump has stated many views over the years some of which were conservative but many were not. What Trump is is a business man who sees the Republican Party as a listless and leaderless business ripe for a hostile takeover” (Again quoted from memory). I jumped up like Charlie Brown and proclaimed “THAT’S IT” so loud I could have sent Lucy flying was she near. If Trump is treating this as a business venture, what business model is he using: the last successful campaign Barak Obama’s!

What did Obama do, what is Trump doing? Pick one or two issues that will excite the base (Obama had Iraq Trump has immigration) then avoid specifics on everything else. Think I am exaggerating? Go to Trump’s own website look under positions and nothing appears except immigration. Obama gave many flowery speeches and about hope and change but never defined the change, Trump says he wants to make America great again but gives no specifics as to how. Obama criticized Bush as a substitute for principled debate, Trump resorts to personal attacks rather than substantive debate in every case. Trump is not Obama, he adapts the model of the Obama Campaign not the style, Obama is a snarky elitist, Trump an egotistical blowhard but the end result is the same, both men would much rather destroy the competition than defend the merit of their ideas and positions.

Obama counted on his previous positions and statements to be largely ignored, aided by a long history of voting present in the Illinois legislature, Trump also expects that his previous positions on most things will be forgotten, as very little of what he believed in 2000 still applies today, he suspects that his lack of political experience will shelter him. To anyone willing to look however there is one telling truth that betrays all. Obama was willing to break away from his policy of never putting down a recorded position in Ill. To vote in favor of letting infants who survive late term abortions to be killed by a second doctor. This would have shown us how radical he really is, had we paid attention. Trump has one similar telltale sign as to what type of President he would be. He once supported spoke kindly of and donated to Hillary Clinton. He now condemns her as the worst Secretary of State in the country’s history but truth be told she hasn’t changed since the days of Trump’s admiring praise. Trump could like Bill and Hillary, could respect them, even befriend them, but donate to her campaign? Hillary was a radical leftist then she is a radical leftist now the difference? Supporting her was in Trump’s interest then, criticizing her is in his interest now. He had no principled opposition to her and her ideology, her lies about WMD’s her turning against our own troops in combat, her attempts to socialize medicine in the first assault that helped pave the way for Obama-care, her lack of ethics and profiteering at the expense of national security. Trump didn’t turn a blind eye, he actively supported it! Obama’s infanticide vote proved him a radical, Trump’s Hillary support shows him a self-serving pragmatist. Name one time where Trump has taken a principled stand on anything where it cost him money. Of course the answer thrown out is that’s how things are done in NY send Trump to Washington so he can change it. Really? Give him more power and he will suddenly grow a set of principles? Faithless in little faithful in much? I remember that quote a different way. Trump reminds me of the Groucho Marx  quote ““Those are my principles, and if you don't like them...well I have others.” 

If, God forbid, Trump becomes president, we know which way he will go if the good of the country comes up against the good of the Donald. Rush Limbaugh has recently been referring to the “conservative literary class who write about things but don’t do anything” as those who oppose Trump, well that isn’t me. I am just some dumb farmer in WV writing a little blog read by tens of people all over the world, but I know a huckster when I see one.

In years past having a complete lack of class would have disqualified a candidate from the Presidency of the US. What we learned in 2008 and 2012 is that a classless individual can not only be elected but reelected to that high office. Though in fairness Obama pretends to have class, most people not paying attention perceive him as a nice guy, heck Mitt Romney’s key campaign point seemed to be pointing out Obama was a nice guy. With Trump there is no pretense, he does not have any class at all and he doesn’t pretend to be a nice guy. This is a negative to old fuddy-duddies like me but in all honesty class would be an expendable trait in the right candidate with the right stands on key issues, though I cringe at the press release from the Trump white house on the day Angela Merkle the fiery prime minister of Germany refused to support an initiative of the Trump Administration: “no one takes Merkle seriously her face looks like it was hit by a VW and she has blood in her whatever, (according to Trump a polite term for a lady’s  nose) and besides Germans are stupid, that’s why they lose all those World Wars”. Tell me you can’t imagine Trump doing this? Is class expendable? Maybe in the right candidate but Mr. Trump ain’t 

No more Hiding, I aim to Misbehave.

The title of this blog is a quote from the character Malcolm Reynolds in the movie Serenity, based on the series Firefly.  It’s the story of a man who once fought for a cause but lost his faith, until finally the oppressive alliance pushes him too far. Generally speaking this quote would not be used in the context of Christianity and its relationship to government, after all respect and obedience to civil authority is a Biblical axiom.  Is it not? I refer to 1 Peter 2:13-17 13Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 15For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 17Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. So no on a normal day misbehaving would not please the Lord, but we do not live in a normal day. The same Peter who penned (or possibly dictated) this passage also said Acts 4:19

But Peter and John replied, "Which is right in God's eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!

And again Acts 5:27-31 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, 28Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. 29Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. 30The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 31Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 32And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

Remember that before the day of Pentecost all this apostles did for the Lord was hiding and denying. Then he became a fireball and when told to keep his faith to himself he might as well have said what the Serenity’s  fictional captain said, “No more hiding, I aim to misbehave”,  and misbehave he did until the world was turned upside down.  In fact not many years after writing 1 Peter the apostle would again face an increasingly oppressive administration that would replace the relatively tolerant Roman republic with a totalitarian Emperor who would turn his fickle ire against Christians and once again Peter set out to misbehave, until the Romans had him executed.  But Nero and those worse tyrants who followed him could never flip the world back to where it was before a few Galilean fishermen decided to misbehave.

I tell the story of another Believer in Christ, she was ordered by and increasingly tyrannical regime to acquiesce and actively participate in a practice clearly condemned by scripture, and she refused. She decided to misbehave and that increasingly oppressive increasingly totalitarian government decided she must pay, and sent her to jail.  That believer is Kim Davis, and that tyrannical force is the totalitarian mindset of the anti-God anti freedom forces that have taken hold of our government in these United States of America.

The story is this; Mrs. Davis is a county clerk in the great state of Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.  Federal judge David Bunning decided to take action and imprison Mrs. Davis as an example to any who deny the Federal Leviathan its due subservience.

Let me quickly deal with this, perhaps you look at it and say what she did is covered by 1 Peter 2 not Acts 5, she should obey. I disagree; ordering her to violate her conscience was no different than ordering a doctor to perform an abortion rather than simply finding a different Doctor with lesser convictions. Gays could simply have gone elsewhere to get their marriage licenses but the goal is not to get married, the goal is to obliterate all who dare oppose the leftist agenda. So maybe you don’t draw the line where Kim Davis does, where do you draw it? That is not an acceptable place. Once Kim Davis has been destroyed they’ll come to the next  line they have already run roughshod over private businesses who simply exercised their freedom to not do business at gay weddings, next they’ll come for pastors who won’t perform gay weddings, or for Churches who won’t hire gay pianists. Or those people who simply say they personally don’t believe in gay marriage. You will acknowledge gay marriage you will support it, you will love it, you will prefer it you will acquiesce or else will hide your convictions lest you suffer Kim Davis’ fate.

No more hiding, I aim to misbehave.

Oh foolish Christians in America, you have been so free and so blessed for so long, protected by the wisdom of the constitution and the blood of our soldiers on foreign battlefields that you don’t recognize persecution when it drags one of your sisters off to a Kentucky prison, or when it orders an Oregon bakery to pay 135,000 dollars in damages to a gay couple for refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding.   Churches were always heavily involved in the policy and morality of law until Lyndon Johnson, a progressive Senator in 1954 proposed an amendment to the tax code designed to cower Christian’s organized opposition to the New Deal agenda. Christians who had for millennia braved torture and beheading, and who spearheaded the fight to form a country where they could be free once and for all were  suddenly cowered by the threat of losing tax exempt status.   

Not all of us are quaking in fear; some of us aim to misbehave.

Memories Pizza in Walkerton Ind and Sweet Cakes by Melissa in liberal Oregon raised huge sums of money and garnered vocal support from Christians and freedom loving Americans despite being kicked off Gofundme sites that yielded to pressure from gay rights groups. The Alliance Defending Freedom is launching a challenge 60+ years overdue to the Johnson Amendment, through the Pulpit Freedom Initiative.  Twenty states have religious freedom protection laws, and some states are up to fighting the Feds whenever it deems it appropriate (Don’t mess with Texas).

Of course we don’t misbehave out of anger or prejudice. We pray equally for the soul and salvation of judge Bunning as we do for the protection and strength of Kim Davis. We offer God’s love and Christ’s forgiveness to gays and lesbians, not by accepting their lifestyle but by offering them freedom from sin. It is the same freedom and forgiveness that we experience when we bowed our knee to Christ. Further as Americans we are willing to enter the debate and follow the constitutional guidelines to affect the law. We do not recognize the right of 5 of 9 justices to cast aside all separation of powers and religious freedoms to achieve a social or political aim.

I have quoted this before but I remind you again of Jefferson’s words, “ I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”

If Tom Jefferson, Mal Reynolds and the Apostle Peter all agree who am I to argue:

No more Hiding, I aim to Misbehave.