The American Dream

The other day I was reading an article about a certain republican candidate for president written by a secular news commentator. I won’t reveal the name of the candidate, but the article talked about how this person wanted to impose on America a set of strict, Biblically based, new laws. This candidate believes that the law of land must bow to the law of the Lord.

The commentator went on to describe how terrible this would be. He talked about what a horrible world we would have to live in where babies would be allowed to live and marriage would be a sacred institution. He talked about how awful it would be to live in a country where pornography was illegal, and where something mattered beyond the bottom line. And he was completely serious. He hated the thought of a country governed by someone with Biblical standards.

Now, I’m not suggesting that electing the right president will solve all of our problems in this country or that this person would actually do the things that they said they believed in. What I am saying is that we have degraded so far as a nation that we gripe about how terrible it would be to have love and justice as the national ideals. There was a time when we did our sinning in secret, now reality television allows us to do it for a world-wide audience. This country doesn’t need a Christian president, what it needs is for the Christians in the local churches all over this land to reach out into that darkness and help lead people into the light. Then and only then will we see a change in the hearts and lives of the people, and maybe live in a country that has the blessing of God.

Shoot Your Television

I saw on the news today that a man in Wisconsin shot his television because he was so upset about Bristol Palin making it to the finals on this year’s edition of Dancing with the Stars. Everything about that last sentence is wrong. Allow me to list the problems as I see them.

1) Let’s start at the end of the sentence, with the problem that has bothered me the longest. The show is called “Dancing with the Stars,” and even though the program has been on for several years, I have not once seen a genuine “star” in the line-up. No one should be watching this show. It is stupid, and based on a ridiculous premise that the producers have never been able to actually deliver to the audience. They should call it “Dancing with the Has-Beens” and they would have a more accurate depiction, and yet not always, which brings me to my next point.

2) Bristol Palin is not a star. Not even close. She’s not even a has-been. For Palin, we would have to rename the show “Dancing with the People who have Parents that are Quasi-Celebrities/Political Figures/Laughingstocks.” She is a teenage mother, not a star.

3) Brandy (who got her start as a pop singer and actually has done some dancing) didn’t make it to the finals. Now I don’t watch the show, so I have no idea if she’s any good or not, but I have to assume that if she has done some dancing PROFESSIONALLY, she should be ok.

4) A man shot his television over this! They had to bring in the cops, for crying out loud. Are you following me? A grown man destroyed a perfectly good TV set with a shot gun because of something that happened on TV’s worst program ever (at least before “Sarah Palin’s Alaska”, another one I refuse to watch, but which would finally give Bristol a possible claim at “stardom” however weak, but that’s never stopped the DWTS producers before).

It is this last point that gets to me the most. While the others are irksome, it is the fact that Americans have let our priorities get so out of whack. We don’t shoot our televisions when we see stories about people dying in Haiti. We don’t shoot our televisions when we see programs that degrade women and contribute to the breakdown of the family. We don’t shoot our televisions when lies are presented as scientific fact. But we are more than willing to shoot our television when we don’t get the results we want on “Dancing with the Stars.”

This leads me to two possible conclusions. Either our collective consciences have become so scarred that we should have shot our televisions years ago, or I can’t wait to see what happens when we get now judges on American Idol.

John Adams and a New Tyranny

John Adams once said "Without virtue, people may change governments, but in doing so they only trade one tyranny for another." I think this is a meaningful quote for Election Day. I participated in my civic privilege today (it’s not really a civic duty when you think about how few people get around the world get to participate in it), and I voted for the people that I felt best shared my view about where the country should be going. But this election means nothing without a proper understanding of what God would have statesmen to do.

The people on the news are talking about making a shift, just like one was made two years ago. And yet it seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. What Washington needs is not another political party in power, it needs a renewal of what used to be important there in the first place. It is easy to elect a new power, but it is hard to get that new power to do anything good if they themselves do not wish to do what is good. American politics are less about parties and more about finding people who will do what is right.

I voted, and no matter if those individuals win or lose, my prayer is that whoever is elected would do what is right. Not for themselves, or even for our country. I pray that they would do what is right in the sight of God. Otherwise, Mr. Adams is correct, we have merely traded one tyranny for another.