It looks like we now know who will be the primary candidates in our presidential election.  Beating the incumbent is always difficult even with a good candidate.  A sitting president just has numerous advantages over the opponent.  This year will be no exception.  We are in for a historical campaign in 2012.  You have a president who is a first of his kind with his ethnicity.  You then have a challenger who will have his religion questioned each day from now until the election.  Neither gentleman is a particularly strong prospect.  My bet is this will be about as ugly as we could imagine and then some.  My prevailing thought is to wake me when its over.


Some of my reading does happen on more liberal sites than I may like.  Let me confess to my basic approach being so conservative it is almost libertarian.  No one has to share my views but it seems fair to state it up front.  My point was to say how those writers or commentators are daily attacking the other side even if it makes no sense.  I never mind reading the ideas of those who may not agree with me.  The mind needs to be challenged on occasion.  What scares me is the venom in print now towards even simple, basic moral ideas.  My mind can see the eventual outcome of such thought and it is not pretty.  Some are saying there is now a war on religion.  My answer is when did one ever stop?  Believers in our country long enjoyed relative peace from most individuals.  Those days seem to be over.  Great wisdom is essential in our world today.


Do not think that the "other" side gets a free pass either.  It does bother me greatly when believers declare one side or the other as somehow more divine than the other.  Scripture is bigger than any political platform.  Those on the liberal side say that since Jesus took care of the poor then government has the answer.  I don't think Jesus would put those two ideas together.  Then again, to be pro-life means more than protecting the unborn.  That matters greatly to me but so does what our society does to those once born.  Then you throw in the fact we will have our first  Mormon candidate and all bets are off.  Who knows what those who believe solely in Jesus will do now?  Some will say that a believer cannot vote for a Mormon.  We are surely in uncharted waters here.


You should also know that I do not see my minister job including telling groups of people who should get the vote.  We already see churches or pastors declaring one candidate or the other to be God's person.  I think that should be left up to God not the man of God.  It is true that we should vote our convictions.  We need to be informed about the issues beyond the rhetoric.  It does appear we have two very imperfect candidates this year.  But we should still listen closely to do our best with our one vote.  We may not agree on who deserves that vote but we can let our voice be heard.  


Bro. Trey