History was made tonight. Put simply, a major shift has been made in the thinking and philosophy of the nation as a whole. We, the United States of America, have voted for someone that is not white.
While I cannot say that I am thrilled about the election of Mr. Obama as president I cannot help but be thrilled to be alive at a time like this. No, I didn’t vote for him. But it is still historic. It is still a great learning lesson for my kids. It is still an opportunity to pray for our leaders. And regardless of whether it was McCain or Obama I can feel good knowing I did nothing to elect him. However, he is my president so he is deserving of my family’s prayers.
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:1-4
I love how Timothy did not leave any wiggle room when he wrote this. He did not say that if you approve of the king, or agree with those that are in authority, or if you voted for the new president that you should pray for that person. No, he said that we should pray for, intercede for and make supplications for all people, kings and all those in authority. Make no mistake about it, president-elect Obama is a man in a position of authority.
I do not agree with him. And he was not my choice for president. And all of my children knew my position on Obama (Adriannah almost cried when they announced Obama was the winner - and they were not tears of joy). But I do want him to be saved. I want him to think in a manner consistent with how Christ would think when he makes decisions. To that end the first thing we did, as a family, when it was announced Obama had won, even as Senator McCain was giving his concession speech, was pray for Barack Obama, his family, his appointees, our congress and our country. That is what we are supposed to do, regardless of our feelings for the man. Have you prayed for him yet?
To my new president I have only this to say to you: Congratulations on shattering a line that has desperately needed to be shattered. Please use discernment, wisdom and conscience in office rather than partisan ideology. We have had more than enough of that.
With much talk swirling around about who is voting for who and why I thought it only appropriate to post my thoughts about this. It would seem that many people are split between a McCain/Obama decision. Since there are more choices out that for president than just those two I thought I would make my preference known like everyone else.
Let me say this first off… I am not a supporter of Barack Obama. It is not because he is a democrat. It is not because he is black. My unwillingness to support him as a viable candidate for president rests on his values and the promises he has made during his campaign as well as how he presents himself as a leader in the various debates and television appearances he has made.
Here a few of the reasons that I cannot vote for Barack Obama:
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Economic policy
Obama has stated repeatedly that he intends to give 95% of working families a tax break. What he hasn’t said yet is how he intends to pay for it. What it looks like, and what he has inferred, is that the wealthiest people in America and big corporations would end up footing the bill for this idea. While I like getting money back on my taxes, it seems eerily socialistic to rob from the poor to give to the middle class.
Obama has also stated that he intends to offer tax cuts to small businesses and start ups. But he has very quiet on what he intends to do for established businesses and medium to large size companies. From what he has said it seems clear that big businesses will get pinched even more on their taxes so small businesses can be given relief. I am not a financial expert but didn’t American business start off shoring work because it is do darn expensive to do business here? Just asking.
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Education
Obama is promising to put more government into the educational plan for our children. This scares and saddens me greatly. There is so much government intervention in the education of children as it is now and our kids are suffering all the more for it each year.
More and more kids are failing, getting pregnant early, dropping out and generally not getting the education they deserve. There is not enough money for schools or for quality teachers. Nor is there enough money for material for instruction. What you end up with is fewer teachers teaching more kids with less resource. And his plan involves putting kids into school even earlier than they are now.
Since when has government been responsible for teaching our kids?
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Energy and environment
Renewable energy is a major buzzword in this election because of the recent spike in fuel prices. Dependance on foreign oil, environmental issues surrounding the use of fossil fuels and cost of filling up a tank have given the candidates a wonderful field of competition for votes.
Obama’s position that he will invest in alternative fuels and increase energy efficiency in America while creating new five million new “green” jobs sound wonderful. In theory. In practice there is no way to do any of this without significant government money. Money the government does not have. The only way for the goverment to get this money, outside of just printing it, is to raise taxes. Which seems oddly contrary to his plan to cut taxes. Unless he plans on having big business foot the bill for this one too.
Almost makes you want to NOT be rich, huh?
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Abortion
Barack Obama, though he has evaded this question repeatedly, has finally came out and said that he supports a woman’s right to choose. In other words, he is for maintaining a woman’s right to abort an unborn child even to the extent of late term, partial birth abortions.
This does not sit right with me at all. I support a woman’s right to choose as well, just not choosing whether to abort a child. Conception starts with sex. Most anyone that has gone through an American public school knows this either through classroom education or street education so there is no excuse for getting pregnant when the number one cause of pregnancy is sex. A woman can choose to not have sex (in most cases - yes, rape and incest are edge cases but we are not talking edge cases are we?). When a woman chooses to not have sex she is in essence choosing to not be pregnant.
Abortion issue settled.
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Healthcare
Universal, government supplied healthcare sounds wonderful. The big warm fuzzy gubment taking care of its peeps. But in a system where our veterans are getting screwed for medical attention I cannot imagine a universal healthcare plan doing much better for us.
Not to mention the fact that something like this would need governance and oversight, which means expense and cost. And again, Mr. Obama has said that he is going to give 95% of Americans tax cuts. So are the wealthy 5% supposed to cover this one, too? And if they are, can a brother get a little of that action up in here?
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Iraq
This is a hot topic right now. It has been for the past few years. It is an ugly situation in which American men and women are getting killed by people that really hate Americans. We went into Iraq because there was cause to go into Iraq.
Now the enemy has moved into Pakistan and Obama believe that our work in Iraq is handled and we can just come home. That seems counterproductive for a few reasons. First, if we chase the enemy into Pakistan the same thing will happen there that is happening in Iraq. Then, when we are all out of Iraq the enemy will just go back there, or Afghanistan once Obama gets our troops out of there.
There is no right answer to this situation. Leaving Iraq to run to Pakistan is a monumental risk that will ultimately end up in epic failure. Just saying.
So that is it in a nutshell. I think Obama is a great orator and public speaker. He knows how to communicate to a crowd, he knows how to politic the media, he knows how to evade questions, he knows how to appear sincere. He has all the makings of a top tier elected official.
Just not one I could ever vote for.