By John Sykes
It sure looks like a disaster for the Democrats come 11/2/10! The question is what will it mean for us, Americans, We The People? Are we headed for just more of the same?
Ken Connor in Deja Vu All Over Again:
We've been down this road before. In 1994 the Republican Party, led by Gingrich, capitalized on public disenchantment with the Democrats and seized control of both houses of Congress. Its message to America was clear, compelling, and above all conservative. Why then, 12 years and one Republican president later, was the Democrat Party able to execute an electoral revolution of their own? And why is that revolution, four years and one Democratic president later, on the brink of collapse? The answer is simple, and points to a problem that has plagued both parties for far too long: An absolute dearth of integrity and authenticity in Washington. Candidates campaign one way and govern another. They espouse one set of beliefs and principles, only to abandon these beliefs and principles once they get to Washington. On the stump, they are for the people; in office, they are captives of the special interests. On the trail, they are for change; in office, it's the same old same old. In campaign mode they advocate changing the guard; in office they seek to perpetuate power.
Connor again:
In 2010, the American people are once more sending the message that enough is enough. Government has gotten too big and too intrusive in the day-to-day lives of its citizens, our national debt and budget deficits are out of control, the two major entitlement programs are on the brink of collapse, the economy is suffering from woeful mismanagement at both the federal and state levels, and the president seems determined to advance a far left social agenda by any means necessary. The people long for candidates in whom they can place their faith once more, candidates who will place the interests of the people ahead of the K Street lobbyists and their clients, candidates who will not abandon principle in favor of political power.
Is there a chance that we will not just be exchanging politics for politics rather than politics for principles? Will we truly elect servant representatives rather than ego-driven, power-hungry elitists? Will we elect the kind of politician that would vote for term limits, for a balanced budget, for smaller government, for capitalism?
Connor makes the case that the electorate appears to be ready for those changes but then suggests:
This election cycle, the American people are poised to once more give the GOP a chance to be the party of honor and integrity. That party failed to live up to this standard the last time around. Will it fail again?
I do believe that the answers begin with the Tea Party movement, most of whom no longer accept party identification as an overwhelming voting rationale. But I really wish that the word Party had never been in our new label. I wish we were “The Conscience of America” or something less politically slanted. I do know that we are ethnically and politically far more than a child of one political party. I know that we have the right hearts.
What worries me, as I footnoted in We Are Not Fighting A Physical Battle is that “in the battle for our freedom from statist ideologues we have errantly set apart and almost forgotten the need for morality, for the universal truths which transcend all politics. We are now on the bulwarks and need more than just political change. We need Jesus.”
Some may have found the moral turning point at Glenn Beck's Restoring America rally. But we must now ask, maybe even demand, that the leadership of our churches and synagogues come out from behind their pews and get behind this moral revival. If our spiritual leaders don’t openly, loudly and publicly take up the shofar and be “in this world but not of it”, they risk being left behind by a major revival, or worse, not defending the freedom that Christ gave us on the cross!
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