... Right On Man!

In my pontifications of yesterday (understand that I AM infallible in my pontifications, just like the pontiff...) I discussed my nomination for chief problem of our time. I suggested that we MUST find a way to bridge the left-right divide. That we must quell this bickering and get on with things.

The problem with blogging is that I end up mulling over my own posts. I've been mulling this over. Here's my difficulty...

I believe the left is damaging. I believe that the political construct of the left moves us to less freedom and to more bondage.

SO I'm a hypocrite. I say I want to open dialog and work in a shared manner.

But I'll admit, the answers have to come out in a way that my political template can accept. If they don't, I can't accept them.

Does that mean the divide will live? That truly this can't be dealt with? That we are split and that's just that?

My problem is that looking at the left I see a template that generally seeks government to solve problems. I believe if solutions come down that way, the unintended consequence is a government that grows ever-bigger, more onerous and more dictatorial.

My left friends believe that if my laissez-faire approach is followed, that the poor will suffer and the rich and powerful will run roughshod.

As Drudge would say ... developing

D--

... the most important thing ...

A long conversation today with a person I care for deeply convinces me all the more that there is a vital need in this country. The need is to bridge the gap between left and right.

Those of us on the right often feel marginalized. The common currency of conversation is far to the left of where we believe we need to be. The media now is beginning to admit that they ARE to the left (by some numbers 90% of reporters in major media outlets self-identify as left or far-left).

We feel the pressure to tell us our morality and our spiritual certainty are offensive. We are taken as unloving, mean, nasty.

To be honest, some of our number ARE all those things.

But mostly, our defensiveness shows.

But what must it be like to be left and look at our gospel of love? Acquaintances of mine who were involved in anti-abortion activities openly adopted military tactics and communications equipment. Gay couples get screamed at. Our churches come off as sanctuaries for the perfect.

So how can we EVER solve problems? A left-leaning friend asks, "How about some kind of nationalized health care?" My response is... "That's socialism, whaddya want, a fallen Soviet Union?"

I propose moving aid back to churches. Their response is, "Yeah, and then the non-believers will go hungry. You're heartless."

We've got a knee-jerk chasm. I honestly believe it's our number one issue.

How can we EVER fix Iraq, terrorism, health care, taxation, etc. etc. etc. if we can't talk? The talk further and further degenerates. Good ideas are swept away. WE alienate the middle who think we're all crazy... and they become prime pickings for silver throated despots.

We need the healing of leadership. Leadership that IS founded on a solid world view and political view.

We need someone who is solid in a particular view. A faux middle can fake this, but it will make things worse. Only Nixon could go to China, only Clinton could cut welfare.

We need a leader of principle who understand this. And yes, I DO believe that Huckabee is the only one addressing this issue. Others talk about it, he's named the solution approach (vertical politics).

Left or right, check it out. SOMEBODY has GOT to get this done. We need decency and honor and we must demand it from both sides. And somebody needs to lead that charge.

D--

Do we want a Christian President?

A link from a visitor kind enough to leave their URL (see comments in the preceding post) has started a blog. The point of the blog is to support Gov. Mike Huckabee (YEAH!) and to usher in a Christian President (?).

I put a ? next to that because I don't think I agree with that aim.

This is a tough one to explain.

I went to a Huckabee event on Saturday. More on that later. For now, consider the overheard words of a woman at my church. This woman was rehashing the event with my pastor. I don't know the lady, but she was obviously there at the event.

"I'm a social conservative, but I don't want the Church to try to usher in morality through politics. I think that's the wrong way to go about things. That's the Church's role and I don't want anyone or any party getting in the way of that."

AMEN SISTER!

I've valued Chuck Colson's writings on the Church and Politics. He points out how the Church can so easily become the servant of a party or a campaign.

The Church is the Bride of Christ. HE is our ONLY Master. In bowing before Him WE are changed, and that change may well rankle the party or the campaign. So be it. That is the nature of how Jesus changes the world.

I do not want a Christian President. I would love to have a man of passionate Christian faith in the Oval Office. I see those as different. I will not vote for a man just because he is the "Christian Candidate". Nor will I shy away from choosing a secular man over a Christian if I believe him to be the better leader or the better President.

All that being said, I want Huckabee for President. He's my candidate. But I don't want to limit support to the 25% of people or less in this country that claim "Evangelical Christian" as their affiliation. I'd love to see a "Jews for Huckabee" or "Atheists United for Mike" spring up.

D--

Wondering About Blogs ...

There's a whole lotta bloggin' goin' on. NABLOPOMO or whatever it's called is encouraging folks to blog every day. I'm not doing that program, but it HAS encouraged me to blog more often.

But that leaves me with a question. Personal blogs tend to be ... personal. There's something very therapeutic about the lives and struggles of others... but how much is too much? How much is just whining?

Will my blog have value on the serious political subjects if I also include those struggles that beset my life?

Food for thought. I suppose if I decide that the mhy blog should not be too personal, all these blogs will just

Poof

Disappear :)

D--

... There's Gotta Be Chamberpots ...

And now, a word from our sponsor:

Romans 9:20-23
(20) But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?"
(21) Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
(22) What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
(23) and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,

I want to be a vessel of honor. I want to be a vessel of glory. I want to shine. I want to glow. I want to be special. I want ... I want ... I want ...

For 40 years now, I've begged God to tell me what I should do, and who I should be. I look at that now and think it's silly. I look at it now and realize what I was really asking Him was how I could find a road to greatness.

Not greatness before Him (though ask me, I'd tell you that was what I wanted, what I want).

Nope, the greatness I sought was the greatness of man's adulation. I tasted more than a little of this... I had a pretty great run in school. Lots of academic awards, lots of praise.

But it ended. I associated the awards and the praise with pleasing God. I associated it with being GREAT for God.

But I lay Romans 9 alongside The Discovery Channels hit show, "Dirty Jobs." and a message is born.

First, the silliness. "Lord, what do you want me to be?"

He already made me. He already gifted me. He already promised He'd never leave nor forsake me. He already has led me through every page of my life.

Sounds like He's already made me (and is further making me) into what is right for me.

So what's the hassle?

Maybe it's that I don't like it. Or THINK I won't like who and what He's made. My prayer really could be, "Lord, make me something different... PLEASE!"

Romans 9 says he makes vessels for work. Some utilitarian pots for cooking and serving, some beautiful decorative pots to show the wonders of His artistry, some chamber pots.

Man, there's gotta chamberpots. Don't know what one is? Wellll... before there were toilets, stuff still had to be ... collected and disposed of... and ... well... those pots were held in the bedchambers ... Yeah... you probably catch the drift.

The wonders of Dirty Jobs is seeing how incredibly vital poop removal, pee filtering, garbage hauling, etc, how vital it is. Imagine if there were no way to get the poo out of the house.

God has already made me, and is constantly shaping me. Stop already with the "what should I do?. Start with the Thanks be to God for giving me life and salvation. And then be ready for whatever use this vessel has in store. If it's poo collector, then I will do my best to thank God for giving me such a vital position.

D--

A Ford, not a Lincoln...

A decent man. A good man.

I have just finished an outstanding book, Write it When I'm Gone. It is the work of former Newsweek political correspondent Thomas DeFrank.

DeFrank was assigned to Gerald Ford when Ford was made Nixon's VP. The Newsweek editors rightly thought Nixon wasn't going to last long and they wanted a reporter who could become trusted with Ford.

DeFrank not only became trusted by Ford, but became a friend and later a confidant. Ford agreed to regular interviews in the years after his presidency with the caveat that the contents would not be divulged until after his death.

What a walk down memory lane. What a great reflection on a man who served his country in the toughest post... patching together a torn and battered land.

Thank you, Jerry Ford. Thank you for holding us together, for being the stable, calm helmsman for our battered ship of state.

A good reminder that we can't alwasy predict our path, but that character and courage shine best in darkness.

D--

My choice ... Huckabee

My night at the New Hampshire Presidential Debates in Durham a few weeks back was different than I'd expected. I'd thought I'd be accompanied by my eldest (a politico in DC) and my good liberal Democrat friend.

Life intervened and my kiddo won her prized job in DC and my friend had a commitment she could not shake.

I pressed my 15 year old son and 16 year old daughter into being my companions.

They were not pleased. It seemed it was going to be the most boring event ever forced upon them. There was a virtual coup in the SUV on the way to Durham. If either had had a license, I have no doubt they would have forced me to the side of the road, dumped me in the back and headed to Hampton for fried dough.

But instead, we scarfed down pasta and tasty cakelets at the pre-dinner and made our way in to the debate. Slowly they were won over by the hoopla and the pageantry.

And then the real fun began! Their highlight of the night (and mine) was the heated exchange between Rep. Ron Paul and Gov. Mike Huckabee over our role in Iraq.

Yes, I pretty strongly lean to the libertarian side of things. I believe that we work best when we govern least. But I'm a realist and was glad to see Gov. Huckabee fire back at Paul. His cut and run would absolutely destroy our military.

Huckabee showed life, a grasp of the issues and an ability to articulate. Guiliani came off as a recording ("What I did in New York"), Romney seemed robotic and lifeless, McCain seemed like a tired, wise (and a little bit cranky) grampa. The others were almost absent from the stage, except for Paul ... whose libertarianism seemed more crazed than sage.

I'm an evangelical Christian. I believe (as my sporadic posts show) that faith MUST inform politics... that it does whether we admit it or not. I believe that it is our duty to serve in the temporal world as well as the spiritual one. And this service takes the place of being well-informed citizens.

But I am NOT a lock-step evangelical conservative. I am conservative and libertarian. That is an informed decision primarily from my faith. But I am deeply suspicious of most of the moves to get an evangelical power base.

So I come to my support of Gov. Huckabee NOT because he is an evangelical like myself. I come to my support because he makes sense. He seems to be a man of his word. He is a principled pragmatist.

AND I believe he is in touch with what I believe is the biggest issue our country faces, our deep divide. His "Vertical Politics" that seeks to reach the issues and deal with them and strip the left/right argument resonates with me.

So today I have signed up to work for and be a part of the Gov. Mike Huckabee for President campaign.

D--