As the Dems slug it out primary-by-primary, and Senator McCain cheerily lifts up long-term Iraq occupation as a good thing, the economy tumbles - the fruit of Republican economic policy - the same policy that has failed repeatedly every time it's been tried. At first it sounds great, "Every man for himself," but in the end, the richer get richer, the middle class shrinks, and the poor get poorer. Franklin Roosevelt was absolutely right: without government regulation, there is no middle class, because the middle class is an artificial creation. Left to its own ways, capitalism produces a thin upper layer of extreme wealth while leaving the 95% struggling to make ends meet.
As for McCain's love of war - isn't that what it is? - an old warrior's love of napalm in the morning? - when will Christians realize that Jesus is all about peace? For several thousand years, God engaged in war to build a nation, with all the resulting sorrow and tragedy we witness today, and then one day, God put down the sword and paid us a visit with the Bethlehem Baby. War, no more! At least with swords. Now, only a war for mind and soul - a war fought with words and charity, malice toward none, and the peace that passes understanding.
While an absolute pacifism may not be ideal, or even logically defensible, a practical pacifism is the only option for those who claim the name of Jesus. James Dobson’s saber-ratting is so far off the mark as to defy description.
The Western Powers have been fiddling in the Middle East ever since the end of WW1 and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, with the seeming inability to learn from the past, thus condemned to repeat its errors - the fatal belief that we can manage and control the destiny of millions for the sake of oil and so-called "national interests."
There is only one national interest, and that's world peace and cooperation. After all, we're all in this together!
And the economy, driven by fear of terrorism, mesmerized by visions of heroic battlefield warriors "defending the American Way," and all the nonsense of small government (which means borrowing huge sums from China in order to buy oil from the Saudis) is just plain idiocy.
Bush has failed and will go down as the worst president ever. McCain, a far brighter man, is nonetheless, a champion of policies that have repeatedly failed.
It's time for a change, and it's time for Christians to get their act together ... to revisit Bethlehem and embrace God's strategy for the world - a way of deep sacrifice and prayer, shunning violence and building bridges.
