I cannot overemphasize how much Bob Novak's new column disturbs me. The best I can hope for is that it gets some details wrong and is alarmist in nature and not a serious threat. Knowing how thorough Novak is and has been for over 50 years of journalism, though, I'm not optimistic.
For those who don't take a few minutes to read the whole piece, Novak writes that many former Huckabee backers secretly predict and are rooting for an Obama victory as God's judgment on a sinful nation. The ultimate goal is a successful Huckabee run in 2012.
This is impressively foolish on so many levels that it is hard to comprehensively cite them all, but I'll address a few of the latent fallacies in this ridiculous gamesmanship.
People said the same thing about Bill Clinton in 1992, that God was punishing America for its sins by denying Bush 41 a second term. Presumably, God's ultimate political strategy was national purification over 4 years of suffering so that we would be ready for a GOP President again by 1996. Wow, that worked out well, didn't it? (Think "oral sex in the Oval Office.")
In the grander scheme of things, though, I fail to comprehend the view that an imperfect political leader is God's punishment on a sinful nation. If this is true, we've been punished more or less continuously, except for when Washington, Lincoln and Reagan were in charge, maybe. (Wait....that theory doesn't work either, because Lincoln presided over the bloodiest conflict in American history, Washington was a Freemason and Reagan didn't pass any anti-abortion legislation.)
But worst of all, these Christians are attempting to engineer a spiritual outcome by tampering with the political process. This is putting the cart before the horse, at best, and at worst, is cynical religious profiteering.
Jesus told His followers to be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves, but all too often, we're tempted to invert the equation. I don't think we obey this injunction when we do other than strive in straightforward fashion for righteousness and justice. Hoping and even rooting for an Obama win, if you believe that his election is a step in the wrong direction, as I do, seems to me like "doing evil that good may come." (Let me clarify; I am not saying that people who vote for Obama are evil. I know too many Christians who will probably do so to make such an assertion. I am simply describing the thought process referenced in Novak's column.)
I highly recommend that everyone read the fictional Prologue to Chuck Colson's non-fictional bestseller Kingdoms in Conflict. It is more timely today than ever, and illustrates the tendency of many evangelicals to try to influence God's timetable through political machinations.
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2 comments:
Amazing. I will admit to being disappointed with McCain as the candidate left standing as the Republican choice. There were several people I would have preferred to give my vote in the next Presidental election.
If you only address one of the issues that will come up for the next President you can make a case for McCain.
Take abortion rights for example. This may not be McCain's passion but what do you think Ms. Clinton or Mr. Obama will do as President with abortion rights? They will do all they can to get rid of every protection won since Roe vs. Wade!
And of course this isn't the only consequence we will face with a more liberal Democratic President. If we take other conservative concerns look at them from the perspective of each remaining candidate-- The advantages of John McCain as President far out weigh the alternatives.
One thing truly bizarre about Novak's column is that he quotes Huckabee saying that America will get what we deserve this election as if it's a bad thing. America ALWAYS gets what we deserve. That's the beauty of a democratic election. In the slightly disturbing political thriller "V for Vendetta" V tells the English people to look at that person in the mirror if they want someone to blame for England's problems.
The fact is that Huckabee's in 2nd place with his delegates, him and McCain are buddies, and Huckabee can garner far righties like Dobson and my man Chuck Norris. He very well could be the next VP nod. I seriously doubt he's that fatalistic to Falwell into that territory.
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