Mt Soledad
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Christian Citizenship Council
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“When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.” (Prov 29:2)

“Stop Crying ”

This last election has something for everyone, depending upon which end of the political spectrum you’re on.  The Democrats chortle over taking control of both Houses of Congress.  Republicans took solace that many Congressional races were close and could have been a lot worse.  Locally, two California statewide offices went to Republicans, while Propositions 85 and 90 were defeated.  All state bond measures passed, while all new tax initiatives failed.  What surprises me though, is a general perception that conservative values were repudiated in the last election.  You may disagree, but I see the national elections as vindication of our principles and values!

Two years ago the Republican Party owned the White House and a commanding majority of both Houses of Congress.  This was the dawn of a conservative, Republican dominated federal government for the next generation.  However, given the normal drop in support during mid-term elections for a second term President, and the major contention over Iraq, Republicans stood to loose much of their dominance this year.  Tremendous economic growth mitigated this some, but catastrophe was assured when sincere Christians, that cherish conservative values, walked away from the polls - fed up with the lack of moral leadership.  Through leadership arrogance, the Republican Party began compromising on the very principles that helped usher it into power.  Some of the ignored values include: fiscal conservativism; protecting marriage from judicial activism; embryonic stem cell protection; enforcing illegal immigration laws; and finally self-policing immoral party members.  The writing on the wall earlier this year was when party loyalists began withholding contributions to high profile political campaigns and organizations.  Our values weren’t defeated nationally, political leadership walking away from those values was defeated.

For California, San Diego was one of the bright spots.  If statewide results would have been the same as our county, Republicans would hold four of the seven statewide offices, and Props 85 (parental notification) and 90 (eminent domain protection) would be law.  This is a tribute to the organizational skill and dedicated work of volunteers locally, and the fact this is a conservative region.  But San Diego can’t carry the entire state, and even it’s success is doomed if it walks away from it’s base – fiscal and social conservatives that subscribe to Biblical worldview values.  The moral to the story: leave the basics and your conservative base, and all the organizational skill in the world won’t help for long.

Given the situation now, I’d say “stop crying” and become excited about the next several years.  We’ve opportunity for tremendous influence on the next round of candidates and how politics will be conducted.  We can force recognition and support of godly, solid men and women to run for office that will defend moral and fiscal values.  But even that is not enough, we learned once more that politics is not a “fire and forget” activity.  Our leaders must be held accountable once in office, and continually encouraged to do the right thing, no matter which political party they’re from.  Our clarion call is to ensure the moral basis that made our nation strong and provides for the common good will remain predominant.  Our naive expectation that a conservative Congress and President would turn back the national shame of abortion and the onslaught of open sexual depravity was thwarted by self-serving power politics.  Political power should only be entrusted with those that acknowledge their accountability to God and the need to stand firm on the Biblical moral values and principles we hold dear.  The next two years will pass very quickly.  Is the Republican Party willing to return to its roots?  Are conservative Democrats willing to embrace both fiscal and “traditional” moral values? If so, they should be listening to us in a big way to gain our support.  Finally, what are you going to do to make a difference?  Let me know, I’d love to hear from you.

Frank Kacer
frankkacer@hotmail.com
Executive Director, Christian Citizenship Council of San Diego
www.christiancitizenshipcouncil.org

First published as a Guest Commentary in the December 2006 issue of Good News Etc

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