Of Rats and Sinking Ships

The news cycle rotates so fast that it is like trying to watch the spokes on a speeding bicycle wheel. In the last few weeks, several prominent Democrats have announced that they will not seek re-election or may switch parties. During this fiasco the voters in New Jersey elected the Republican candidate for governor and Massachusetts elected a Republican replacement for Ted Kennedy. Recently, the Vice President Byden's son, Beau, withdrew from his congressional race in Delaware. Joe Lieberman concedes that he might consider switching again, this time to the Republican camp. The rumors are flying today that Rahm Emmanuel may be on his way out too (back to Chicago, not to the enemy.)

Be still my swiftly beating heart. Can it be that "we the people" are actually waking up this fast? Some of us knew that Barak Obama was a fraud all the way back in the Democrat primaries. Some of us were surprised to watch him crush the Clinton machine. As much as we admire Senator John McCain, we were less than elated with him as an opponent for Obama. In the mold of Gerry Ford and Bob Dole (G.W. Bush also, to a great degree,) McCain was too much the conciliatory go along to get along senatorial type. We wanted a strong (dare I say Reaganesque) conservative spokesperson to counter Obama's far left misanthropy.

The only surprising thing about President Obama is how quickly he has fallen into disfavor, and how deeply the dissatisfaction runs. No American President in history has fallen so far so fast in the public opinion polls. Jimmy Carter runs a close second, deservedly so. But Obama's flame-out is the more dramatic considering that he had a congressional majority behind him that Jimmy could only dream of. But then too, Barak had two of the most inept leaders imaginable in Ried and Pelosi. Shoe polishers in Washington D.C. must be among the swelling ranks of the unemployed, what with the frequency with which the legislative leadership lips their own shoes.

There seems to be at least one clear lesson from all this. I have heard it from the professional punditry on TV and radio as well as my friends at the coffee shop: Americans do not appreciate a single party monopoly. The two party system, for all its shortcomings, does generally provide for a degree of the check and balance that our nation's founders intended. When the executive, legislative and (stacked) judicial branches coalesce in single party dominance, there are only foxes left to guard the chicken house. Not to strain the metaphor, but even foxes can see the potential for mischief in this situation.

Undeniably, Christians are divided politically. Some see Obama's program to help the less fortunate with the wealth of the more fortunate as a noble attempt. Others see it for what it is: legislated robbery, no more moral than the program of Al Capone (a Chicago power broker of days gone by.) Stealing money from the rich to help the poor is only a good thing if your name is Robin Hood and you are pitching Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. I have previously blogged on the subject of compelling good deeds; it doesn't work and it is immoral.

If there is Christian hay to be made in the sun of these Democrat dog days, it is in reminding people of the principles upon which our republic was founded. Socialistic wealth re-distribution was tried in the early days of the American experiment; it failed miserably then, as it has everywhere else it has been tried. For all its risk due to the sinfulness of humans, the capitalist free market system is still the most likely of all the alternatives to provide the best opportunities for the nation which embraces it. Free capital markets and free idea markets will allow for the best to rise to the top.

Christians must agitate for freedom. Truth will eventually prove true; right will eventually defeat might; justice will eventually prevail. The enemy is not the Democrats, the Muslims, the illegal immigrants or the name-your-pet-adversary. The enemy is darkness. Christians are called to be light. Toss the bushel basket and head for the nearest hill; that's your calling.