People who know me well know that I enjoy politics. I like to read op/ed. columns. I like to watch the discussions on shows like Hardball, Meet the Press, etc. I am a politics junkie.
I am also proud to be a Democrat. Yes, there are real Christians in the Democratic party. In fact, all during the 1980s when it seemed like every Christian in America had become a part of the Republican Party and joined the Reagan "revolution," I held out and refused to participate. I always believed that the Republican Party leadership manipulated millions of good Christian people into voting for them and played on the basic ignorance of many people in America about how our nation was founded, what the founders were really like, and how our nation works today. I also think they played on the race issue to pull many southern Democrats into the Republican Party, the so-called "southern strategy first used by Nixon. But, that is another blog!
I am following the election of 2008 very closely. I believe that for the good of the nation the Democrats need to win this election. I have been supporting John Edwards to get the nomination. I still believe he is the "real deal," and as a Christian I am very interested in his populist message and his desire to elevate the working poor in our nation to give them opportunity. That is the American dream. That is also Jesus-like. I like John Edwards.
I also like Barak Obama a lot. I think he is inspiring. I think he has a great message of change, a desire to move the country beyond the cut-throat politics of the last 30 years into a new era. He is the closest thing to Bobby Kennedy (who was shot in 68 when I was only 9) that has come along in my lifetime. He gives speeches that give me goose bumps and inspires me to see America for the good that it can be.
Hillary Clinton is also a good candidate. She is tough, perhaps tougher than her husband Bill. He has taken the best of the right-wing warriors and absorbed it all to emerge stronger. If she is the nominee she will be a force to reckon with and if the Republicans think she is an easy mark for them to defeat, they'd better re-evaluate things.
My real hope for the Democratic Party though is for none of these three to get the nomination. I would like to see a vigorous debate through the primary season with no one getting the clear majority of delegates which would lead to a brokered convention. Then, I would like to see Al Gore come into the picture, unify the party and get the nomination. He may be the only person who can unify the party right now because just about every Democrat I hang around with has a basic suspicion that Al Gore really won the 2000 presidential election. I think he would be a formidible candidate.
Who knows what will happen. It is fun to watch. It is also good to see that even many Evangelical Christians are starting to move beyond their basic social concerns relating to abortion and gay marriage to some social issues that they can join hands with more progressive Christians on such as the environment and global warming, poverty, peace, death penalty, and a host of other things.
It is truly an interesting time in the life of our nation!
