Gary Vance's blog

Dear Lord,

I come before You today with an anxious heart, yet brimming with hope. I know you are a merciful and just God, so I ask for You to cover our electoral process here in America with Your grace. Let the sun shine across the land as people exercise their right to vote and may every vote be counted with accuracy. Lord, I confess that as a nation, we have veered far from the course of justice and mercy that You have decreed. So, I ask today for Your forgiveness and restoration of America. Help us to strive to honor You and the generations that have gone before us in this nation that You have blessed with such material richness and freedom.

As we vote to change leadership today, may You grant us an outcome that will bring a righteous shift in direction....one that will seek peace rather than war...one that will seek to uplift the poor rather than hold them down....one that will generate a greater concern and help for the sick, the elderly and the disenfranchised. Grant us leadership that will seek to be good stewards of this beautiful green planet upon which we dwell.

Why is it that American Presidential elections seem to bring out the worst in some Christians? Many people I know find the person of Jesus intriguing and appealing yet would never consider becoming a Christian because of the politically tainted image presented by some. The repugnant behavior of many of His so-called followers during this campaign has been rabidly and shamefully hateful. I have never seen such vitriolic, baseless, fear mongering as I have observed among many Christians in this election season.

Many seem to think that GOP stands for God’s Own Party. They believe that God Himself placed George W. Bush in the White House in 2000 and condemned the rest of us to hell for questioning that. No one will ever convince me that the Almighty has to resort to voting fraud, dangling chads and the like to get His will done in an election. If Bush was God’s choice for America, it must have been for punishment purposes because he certainly did not bring any Divine blessings or favor.

Prelude: I am re-posting this essay from September 2007 for consideration. It appears likely that Barack Obama will be our next President and there is even a possibility that the Senate will gain a filibuster proof majority to go along with greater gains in the House. Will Progressive Christians hold the Democratically controlled federal government to the highest standards of Justice, Mercy and Humility or will the Christian voice continue to be a partisan tool complicit in corruption, only from the Left?
Gary

I’ve been wondering lately, where are the prophets? Are there any real prophets cut from the same cloth of an Elijah who confounded the evil King Ahab or a John the Baptist who called out the sins of Herod? Are there any among the fundamentally conservative or the progressively liberal wings of Christianity who are willing to break political ranks and speak truth to power?

Solutions to complex issues like war, poverty, healthcare and environmental deterioration will require greater vision than what is currently possessed by those in power and those seeking to replace them. Our nation stands in great need of the truly prophetic.

Have you ever walked into a room and detected a barely discernible odor coming from somewhere and you couldn’t quite put your finger on what it was or where it was coming from? You wonder what the heck it could be. Is it a dead mouse under the kitchen stove or perhaps an undetected sewage leak in the plumbing? Well, I’ve been catching whiffs of something foul ever since Barack Obama first announced his candidacy for the highest office in the land and I have finally discovered what it is. It is the subtle, but reeking rot of racism.

I keep getting outlandish emails attacking Obama. I find it amazing that he continues to endure countless smear campaigns, rumors and out right lies about his faith, his wife, his past associations, his platform and his intentions. In spite of the intensifying hellish fury of his opponents, he is actually leading in the latest polls. Is that evidence of God's powerful and sustaining hand?

It is my Republican friends that send me this kind of stuff. I have never received anything besmirching the character of John McCain or his wife even though they are both potentially huge targets with some obvious vulnerabilities. It seems the more liberal folks are generally taking the higher ground and the conservatives continue in the Karl Rove approach that operates from a mentality of fear, lies and distortions. This is the Party that gains the support and endorsement of many of my Christian friends? I honestly don't get it. Is it because the Republicans lend empty lip service to being anti-abortion and anti-gay?

The Vice Presidential debate revealed that Palin and Biden were obviously well coached on every subject. Her tactic of ignoring questions and dropping into rehearsed monologues didn't work for me. Whether it's prepared notes in front of her or a teleprompter, she proved once again that, like most Americans, she can read. I don't expect her to be giving many more live interviews that require thinking on her feet or spontaneous answers.

Considering the magnitude of the event and knowing that millions were watching, I don't think she helped or hurt the ticket. Biden on the other hand, was crisp, poised, demonstrated a deep grasp of the issues and defended the top of the ticket well while effectively linking McCain to the failed policies of Bush. He did a good job skewing the mythical "Maverick" moniker Palin likes to refer to. He also underscored the fact that McCain has not put forth any detailed policy proposals for significant change on any issue. This point needs to be perpetually emphasized for the remainder of the campaign because it demonstrates the "more of the same" reality of the Republican nominee.

This morning I received an email from a dear friend with the attached video of Lou Dobbs talking about certain features of an immigration bill being considered. Check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxwR26HnW5s

Here is my response to my friend and this editorial...

Dear friend,

I am not familiar with the legislation that Dobbs is referring to. I am familiar with this man's rabid hateful position he takes on the idea of any form of amnesty for the illegals living in the shadows of our land. So, I am skeptical of his ability to present a fair or truthful editorial on this matter.

The truth is, amnesty in some form is the only workable solution to what we currently face. Estimates of upwards of twelve million men, women and children are currently here living and working illegally. Some, like Lou Dobbs, advocate rounding them all up and sending them back to wherever they came from or even imprisoning them. On the surface that might seem like the best thing, but it would not only be impractical, but impossible and inhumane.

Barack Obama needs to ask the electorate for a filibuster proof Congress as well as the White House. Changing how business is done in Washington has been a primary theme of his campaign and a stronger Democratic majority on the Hill, backing his presidency, would fortify the prospects of that happening.

Suddenly, John McCain is running with a similar mantra claiming to be the true agent of change needed in the Oval Office. He has the audacity to say he and Palin are the maverick personalities needed to shake things up in Washington. Both their records speak more clearly than their rhetoric. They are militant, conservative, de-regulation, trickle down Republicans whose ideology has at last been debunked beyond doubt.

McCain’s many votes and public comments in favor of deregulation clearly align him with the very policies that now have our economy collapsing. There should be no more doubts that Ronald Reagan’s theory of trickle down economics was nothing more than an illusory scam used by neo-conservative corporate pirates to loot the Treasury while robbing everyone beneath them. Reagan, Bush and Bush have thoroughly proven that government regulation is needed in the flow of finance and commerce or exploitation and disaster comes.

Planet Earth is reaching the brink of major calamity on several fronts. Financial markets are crumbling internationally while millions are already starving. Millions more could be plunged into the hardships of poverty through financial ruin as economies collapse and jobs vanish. More wars for oil loom on the horizon as sabers rattle at Iran. Our sickened planet’s air and water continues to be spoiled through exploitative management of dwindling energy and natural resources. Old tensions between Russia and the US are resuming after years of peaceful co-existence and partnering. These situations and others are on a growing list of acutely menacing problems.

Sound reasoning coupled with vision, design and creativity has taken civilization from being hunters and gatherers to the zenith of technological development. Misuse of these abilities has also taken us from merely killing one another with rocks and arrows to the threat of nuclear annihilation. Are we in over our heads?

How much help should we expect from God?