Reflections: Hang In There! written prior to last election

Are you a Republican who is ready to throw in the towel, quit working in your local committee, and won't commit to give to any candidate? Well, cheer up and don't give up the fight--it is too important!


No party is perfect. No politician is without flaws. No campaign is without attacks on its opponents. If we have learned anything, it is that politicians are a reflection of the general population of fallible humans. It is our fault when we put people on pedestals--they are apt to fall off. We have to continue to look for the best among us to represent us.


Consider why you voted Republican in the first place. Surely it wasn’t because you thought they were perfect. You probably thought that their party platform most closely reflected your values on the economy and, more importantly, the culture. It was probably because you thought that they offered the most hope for pulling America back from the brink of socialism. You supported a Republican candidate because he/she professed values with which you agreed. Some actually hold to those values later as elected officials; others do not, and they disappoint us.


Without offering excuses for any mess-ups, either real or imagined, there is one overriding issue that should keep you working and involved: Supreme Court and lower court appointments. There may be several liberal Supremes who are waiting for a D president before they will retire. President Bush has appointed two very capable and, hopefully, conservative judges. The balance in the court still leans to the left too often to be considered conservative. If two more judges are appointed by the D’s, the balance will be decidedly liberal. This observation does not mean that the supremes always rule along party lines. They do not. Justice O’Connor has been a disappointment to some conservatives and was appointed by a R. But, the Warren court that ruled for decades took this country so far into the liberal zone, it will take decades more to find our way back to a "non activist court" and to a court that considers "original intent." Liberal judges down the line have so messed with the laws of our nation that they no longer make much sense. The concept of "original intent" offered an anchor to reason and consistency.


Thankfully, members of both parties worked to correct the glaring Consitutional inequities that allowed slavery/racial discrimination and denied women the vote, inequities that were a reflection of the cultural norm at the conception of our nation. These were destined to be corrected by a people who held the wisdom of the Bible in high regard and, occasionally, listened to their consciences.

Continue to be involved. You do it for your children and their children.