Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Change You Can Believe In

“Change you can believe in” is the motto of presidential candidate Barack Obama. Unprecedented numbers of young people and idealists have “bought in” to his campaign promises. The question is, can Obama deliver on his promises? The answer is No, and it has nothing to do with personality or political affiliation. No political candidate, no matter his or her party, is going to “change things in Washington,” “clean out” special interest groups, or accomplish any of the promised reforms cheered by Obama supporters.
All the things considered “wrong” in Washington are in fact merely the magnification of human nature traits common to the experience of everyone. In Washington, these characteristics are highlighted by TV cameras and fingers are pointed at individuals perceived to be practicing deception and dishonesty. “Elect me,” says the finger pointer, “and I will do away with all this bad behavior and do only good things.” The promises sound good, especially to the young and the idealistic who instinctively know that there must be a potentially better world. Older voters, on the other hand, instinctively realize that such “change” is easier said than done. Their experience is likely to be, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”
This is the experience of the human nature world, which is a world that does not recognize the spirit of God nor its supreme sovereignty. Man builds his own world, and tells God, in effect, to stay out. Laws are passed to prohibit even the mention of God in public places.
To replace God, man devises what he considers “goodness.” It is good to consider all religions equal, for instance, and thereby eleminate religious conflict; Allah is just another word for God, goes the reasoning; man is evolving and getting better all the time. But as a matter of fact man teeters on the brink of self-extinction through nuclear holocaust, starvation, pollution or myriad other perils such as global warming. The United Nations, formed for the good purpose of creating global peace, is in fact composed mostly of rogue nations ruled by dictators. Every “good” thing in the human nature world sooner or later decays into ugly parodies of what was originally intended.
Accusation, Blame, Criticism, these are the abc’s of the human nature world. Listen to any politician’s spiel, and you will hear accusation, blame and criticism of that guy over there who is responsible for this mess. “Vote for me, I won’t make a mess.” But a mess is the only possible result because whatever is created is built upon accusation, blame and criticism. The process is an endless circle, a serpent chasing its tail.
“Change you can believe in” asks us to believe that a better world can result from policies that employ accusation, blame and criticism. And asks us to believe that a politician who uses these abc’s is somehow above the crowd. He’s not, and we should know better.
“Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it.”
The only change you can really believe in is the one that occurs inside a person when he opens himself to the holy spirit. Perhaps someday there will be a sufficient number of those to form a government; in the meantime it might be best to rely on cynical practicality in selecting our governmental leaders.

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