thoughts on politics - part 2

1. Experience. I think the experience of a candidate is crucial if the candidates have similar strategies or viewpoints for our Nation’s future. The experience of a candidate can be the difference in employing a strategy successfully or failing right off the bat. It can mean respect in the global politics or disdain and disrespect. In today’s case however, the candidates could not be more different in almost every issue and factor. If a candidate has more experience but is planning to run the system in a way you totally oppose would you still vote for that candidate just because he has more experience? Maybe the more experienced candidate is also the one you most agree with and then you have an easier choice, but just hypothetically (or really in my case) would you hire a person to be the CEO of a company who has lots of experience but will run the company completely different than the way you want? Or would you hire a younger less experienced candidate who says he plans on running the company your way? I personally would take the risk and choose the latter.

2. Morals. This is the most important of my points and needs the most feedback. This has three sub-points that I’m filtering through.

First. Biblically speaking we know how God feels about abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage and other moral issues. Does this mean that it is the job of the government to enforce these things? Maybe so, maybe not. That in and of itself can be a long-winded argument with no clear winner. That argument interests me very much, but I don’t want to enter into it here for the sake of brevity. Let’s just take the position of yes, it is government’s job to enforce these moral standards. I’m taking this opinion here not necessarily because I agree with it but because in this scenario the morality of the candidate becomes even more important. Even if we should elect a president who will enforce the same values as us, this consideration should be cancelled out based on the fact that the president has no authority over these issues at the state level. Abortion: At best, a president can reverse or influence a reverse of Roe vs. Wade and then the states would make their own laws on the subject, meaning that a teenager who wants an abortion will still get one by crossing the border regardless of who is in office. President Bush is also against abortion and there are plenty of abortion clinics right here in Miami. Gay rights will most definitely be decided at the state level. Stem cell research does get Federal funding and so does Planned Parenthood. This does seem to influence my decision some. The president also has the power to appoint Supreme Court judges, which have some authority on these issues.

Two. Does the morality of the nation actually change by who is in charge? I guess there is some good in this by keeping us from spiraling down in evil and corruption, but everyone’s heart is still just as dirty. The spiritual condition of the people is still the same, we are just trying to protect the innocent from the evil, which by looking at the previous point is not in the president’s authority anyway. Is it possible for a person who is not born again to identify with certain Christian viewpoints? I don’t think they can. The Bible describes those who don’t know Christ as being captive by the devil, (2 Tim 2:26), spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1), they see Godly things as foolishness (1 Cor. 1), why then are we surprised that when we try to force our view on them, they see us as closed minded and hateful? The Bible tells us they are going to react in this manner. When God said “I will write my law into their hearts.” (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10) He was talking about His people only, not unbelievers. Our morality is inherently different from theirs and it is not their fault. If we humble ourselves a little bit, we will remember that we were lost once.
Three. As my friend Abiel has pointed out, does not the moral values of a man provide a foundation where further decisions will be made? This is quite interesting. I would say yes. Without getting into specifics, I would say both candidates lack the moral standard I seek in a president and it is unfortunate we are left with only two options.