It's less than two weeks now. Thirteen measly days. When you get to be my age, thirteen days goes by like the wind. In less than two weeks, we will know if our country and her Constitution stand a snowball's chance in hell of surviving. It will all be plain as day. How will we know, you ask? We'll know if the balance of power has shifted (or not) from that of the current government. You see, I believe November 8th's headlines will not only announce the "winners" and "losers" of the election, but the life or death of Democracy... but I digress.
This morning, the front page of DU is peppered with all sorts of pep talks and warnings, as are the various political forums here. "Be hopeful", "Don't be defeatist", "Remember you're a Democrat", "Vote for (fill in the blank)", "(fill in the blank - D) just pulled ahead of (fill in the blank - R) in (fill in the blank)!!!", Send money to (fill in the blank), "GOTV!"... right alongside "Will we win by enough so they can't hack the vote?", "Did you see W's smile?", "Karl Rove has a spring in his step", "Will my vote count?", "Diebold (fill in the blank)". My head is spinning. It was giving me mental whiplash.
So, I looked for a thread to soothe my mind. I found a few, but they weren't enough to do the trick. I went over to Buzzflash and felt my throat constricting, so I exited quickly... maybe after my morning walk. I thought Yahoo has enough "fluff" among the real news to buffer against this morning dread, so I went there. I read Madonna's complaints about how difficult the media made her African adoption. She must be too busy to notice their fixation on her adoption is giving them just one more reason not to report on the coming election. I read about how the court "inadvertently" leaked the details of David Hasselhoff's "lurid" divorce, along with all those lurid details right out there for all to see, and thought how great it would have been if they had had this much coverage of the "leaked" Downing Street Memo. (What does it say about a society where a WAR based on a lie is less "lurid" than a Hollywood divorce?) Hey, did you know Keith Urban had to check into rehab only weeks after marrying Nicole Kidman? What about Mark Foley... how's he doing in rehab these days? Don't hear so much about that, do we? Did you know that TomKat is getting married in Italy on Nov. 18th? But, alas, not one story urging people to go out and vote... on what day is that election, again? Nope... nowhere to be found.
Uh-oh... there it was. I was in "that mood" again... the one that has my family threatening to put Prozac in my afternoon tea... the one that has me primal screaming onto a pillow a half dozen times a day... the one that has me using the phrase "hell in a handbasket" in ordinary conversation a lot...
that mood.
It was in that mood I decided to leave the fluff and go back to the political section for relief. I found this article from Salon there...
How would Jesus vote?Tennessee Democrat Harold Ford Jr. goes after the GOP's faithful base in the state with the most white evangelicals in the nation. Polls show his campaign is resonating in the pews.
By Michael Scherer
Pastor Chris Stephens runs his church services like a rock show. Colored strobes dance across the stage, electric guitar solos punctuate the hymns, and his sermons are filled with exhortations like, "We need a God explosion." The roughly 2,000 worshipers who belong to Faith Promise Church know to expect a blunt-talking believer when they come to Sunday services, a man unafraid to take a stand for Jesus.
So it was no surprise two years ago when Stephens devoted a sermon before the presidential election to a discussion of God's hopes for the ballot box. "If you are a Democrat or a Republican before you are a Christ-ocrat, you are an idol worshiper," he told his congregation. As he explained it, God cared most about just a few core issues in 2004: ending abortion, opposing gay marriage, appointing conservative judges and ensuring the freedom to pray in the public square. Christian voters, he told his congregation, ignore these issues at their own peril. "If you reject Christ, if you have never been born again, you are not going to heaven," he said at the end of the sermon.
Entire article:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/10/26/harold_ford/index_np.html?source=rss It was after reading that article in that mood that I wrote the following rant. It is not meant to divide or attract flames, but to get a real dialogue going about this...
I am an old-fashioned Left Wing Liberal in the Mario Cuomo mold. I'm very aware of political things, social slights, and respect for all. I have marched for all the causes, campaigned for all the Democratic candidates, voted for all the Democrats. I imparted my values and beliefs to my kids the best I could by living my values and beliefs for them to see. I have always believed that a person's religion (or lack of one), sexual preference, or anything that differentiated them was unimportant. So, it was even a surprise to me how absolutely livid just those two paragraphs of that story made me.
I apologize to all the Christians on this board, who day in and day out are so respectful to the rest of us by not imposing their Christianity on us like a ton of bricks, but I have to say this: It is a sorry day when an American can go into his or her church and be told that unless they are a "CHRIST-o-crat" before they are a Democrat or a Republican, they are idol-worshippers. Does that apply to Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, or even Atheists? I guess we're just damned where we stand. Pastor Chris Stephens says "We need a God explosion." in front of "2000 worshippers" and is a man "unafraid to take a stand for Jesus".
"God cared most about just a few core issues in 2004: ending abortion, opposing gay marriage, appointing conservative judges and ensuring the freedom to pray in the public square. Christian voters, he told his congregation, ignore these issues at their own peril." God cared about ending abortion? Really??? What about Capital Punishment? What about War? Does God care about those things? And, wouldn't God tell this one man, who seems to know His feelings about abortion, about those things, too? But, instead we hear God opposes Gay Marriage. Would that be the same God that Martin Luther King, Jr., worshipped and sermonized as the God who championed all Civil and Human Rights is against Gay Marriage? God cares about our being ensured the freedom to pray in the public square? Really? The same God who praised the simplicity and beauty of the lilies of the fields over the grandest of all Churches... the same God I was taught as a child, heard every prayer no matter where it was said or how silently it was uttered... that God? And, Rev. Stephens goes on to end his sermon, we are told, by warning his parishoners: "If you reject Christ, if you have never been born again, you are not going to heaven.", with the implication being you vote for those who do not believe those things at the peril of your mortal soul. Excuse me while I take a moment to primal scream into the nearest pillow.
I have to tell you here and now that I could not make myself go on and read the rest of that article. I've left you the link, in case your heart is stronger than mine. I just couldn't. They were enough to leave me ready to ask you -- ALL of you -- Christians, non-Christians, Atheists, whatever --
What the HELL has happened to our Party? This article is about a Democratic Senatorial Candidate. The title alone, "Who Would Jesus Vote For?", is nearly a gauntlet thrown at our feet!
Seems like you're not a "Christian", and damned to eternal hellfire if you don't agree with those tenets as set forth by the good Reverend. The tenets that are some of the backbone of Liberalism itself. Is there really a part of our Party that believes this? Evidently. Why else would the likes of Harold Ford, Barack Obama, and other "centrists" in this Party make such a huge deal about their religious beliefs? Do they feel "forced" to do this in order to get elected? I am left with so many questions, and so much anger at this. Even those to their Left, like Kerry, Clark, and Boxer have felt the need to speak openly about their religions and their "values", like none other matter. Say this shouldn't happen, and you hear words like "pragmatic", "necessary", and "counter-productive" thrown back in your face. Say you stand for the values of "religious freedom", "human rights", "Choice", "Peace", and "Equality", and you are asked to keep such things to yourself until safely after the election. So, I repeat,
What the HELL has happened to our Party? I am so sad! I feel disregared by, disrespected by, and disillusioned with all those who feel we need to wear Religion on our sleeves this election eve. I feel disappointed by those in my Party who feel the need to pander to these "Chrstocrats" (their own word!) just in order to win. When did true Christianity become at odds with the beliefs of Liberals? And ARE THEY now? Why can't a God-fearing, born-again, Red State Christian understand why peace is necessary? Or why it is unnecessary to own an Assault Weapon? Or why it is the love that counts in a Marriage, not the number of Y Chromosomes? Or why it isn't necessary to be able to kneel in a public square to talk to God? Why? Because they are fed that total (please forgive me) RUBBISH from the pulpits week after week after week, and so WE are forced to support candidates who have been forced so far Right in order to win in those states that I can't even recognize this Party any longer?
We Democrats are at a real crossroads, and Democrats like me are standing here with you. Will you rejoin us, or leave us here?
TC
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