this election season...

Kim and i have been wading through this election season with steps seeped in amazement. so many notable things have surfaced in these last few months. I'd like to make a few observations that express this amazement.

within the lifetime of my coworkers and some family members African-Americans have secured the ability to vote and now know the next president will be one of their own. this change has come with painstaking determination. some of you don't face racism everyday. since i moved to NJ/Philadelphia my attempts to understanding the deep seeded racial tension Kim and I live in has changed my view of the world. i wonder what it feels like to overcome suppression. this amazes me.

many of the Christians I know believe God's choice for president ran under the slogan of "country first". McCain said in his speech last night that he has no higher loyalty than to the country he loves. this romantic nationalism should have no support from Christians who claim their allegiance and citizenship are to Christ and his kingdom. this amazes me.

through the recent microscopic inspection of the candidates and their policies, a relatively few number of people have taken a step back to look at the larger picture of historic liberal politics of which both modern "conservative" and "liberal" politics are a part. the differences between Obama and McCain are minute in comparison. both candidates want to continue the foreign policies that have come back to haunt us such as supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan to fight the Russians in the 1980's and then dropping them when our purposes were served. both candidates support these policies. this shortsightedness amazes me.

the accusations of socialism thrown at Obama are very disturbing. socialism would entail the government taking all of your money and redistributing it evenly. taxing the very richest Americans to help the very poorest Americans may, at a glance, look socialistic, but it is far from socialism. these accusations amaze me.

in many center-left Christian circles Obama was praised as if the kingdom he preaches was the kingdom of God. the kingdom of God as described in the gospels does not have a commander-in-chief that is willing to "switch focus" from Iraq to Afghanistan. this delusion amazes me.

a couple of thoughts...if Americans spent half the energy they used in this election on loving their neighbors, we'd be the salt and light Jesus has called us to be. government is not our savior. Jesus, who has beaten sin and death on the cross, is in the process of turning wrong to right and evil to good. if we believe in his program of redemption we cannot buy either candidate's policies.

hope all is well with you. feel free to tell me what you think.
bryce.