Thank You to all Veterans

We should probably do this EVERY day, because they live with what they experienced every day. Our Veterans served our country in a way the rest of us haven't, but we all benefit from their courage, strength, commitment and sacrifice.  And a special Thank You to the families of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. God Bless Our Veterans!

Another view of this crazy mess.

Some people have asked me who I am voting for. Until recently, I didn’t know. I knew who I wasn’t going to vote for, but I didn’t know what else. I didn’t want to be a no show, and I certainly didn’t want to ignore the rest of the ballot. House and Senate might be more important this year than the Presidency.

I posted a couple of weeks ago that confusion is not of the Lord. But I was confused. I told my sister over the summer, don’t worry about it yet, its not election day. Then I heard someone say that the way to approach this is with civic engagement. With using your principles to guide your actions.

Vince Lombardi always started off training camp by saying “This, gentlemen, is a football.” Obviously, a guy who is being paid to play at the highest level knows what an oblong, snub-nosed leather ball is. Coach was reverting to fundamentals.  Where did this Republic start? How? What guided it and what defines it. Who defines it? What did the original folks have in mind? I’m not going to have a civics lesson here, but if we’ve gotten away from the original ideas, should we look at enforcing those, first on ourselves, and then on the people we put into office. Not just settling for the better of two evils. In my view, that’s how we got here in the first place.

If you read American History, which most of us got a very misleading presentation of, if not downright erroneous, you know that this mess has been going on since the Roosevelts and Wilson.  Et Al. Yeah, they probably did some good stuff, but their basic view of the American Experiment was that it was all wrong. That they knew better for us than we did for ourselves. Again, I’ll let you investigate for yourself, but this didn’t just happen with Bush. Or Bush. Or Clinton. And certainly not Obama.

This is not a binary choice. Aside from the R or the D, you can vote for somebody else, or not vote at all. I don’t recommend not voting. People died for you to be able to do this. Think of them and their families. Many other countries don’t get this chance. Please though, if you skip the Presidential race, don’t skip the down ballot. Congress and those local elections are still very much in play, and will affect your life more than whoever gets into The Oval.

The rest of this is my view. I’m not trying to convince you of anything. Do what you think is right.Vote for whom you want. If we all prayed and did that, we’d be a lot better off. As our worship pastor said on Sunday, “God is not down to His last two options.” If it weren’t so serious, it’d be funny.

I am looking at this from a bigger view. Yes, this is the most dangerous election ever. However, all is not lost. Maybe the right person wins – whoever the hell that is. Maybe something crazy happens. But if you want REAL change, ya gotta put your foot down. There has to be a re-direction. Maybe the most important thing is to make a decision now that doesn’t manifest itself until 2020. We have been through this kind of thing before. 30s. 40s. 60s. We’ve survived Obama. Barely. We will survive the next one. But somebody’s gotta call time out and change the strategy. Pick a new play. Its risky. But so are all the other options.

I voted for Evan McMullin. A principled conservative independent. He has CIA experience, policy experience with the House, a UN refugee officer, and an investment banker.His principles are listed, and he sounds like he believes them, and knows what to do. Again, I'm not asking you to vote for him. But I believe people like him are the type that belong in office. Not for a career, not for themselves, but for service. To make a difference and not just be on the take. Can he win? Probably not this time. Maybe, if all the cards line up right and the moon is full. I’m not counting on that, but if enough people take action to do the right thing, maybe, just maybe, we can make a course correction. Maybe it only takes 6 degrees.

If you are a Bible believer, there is plenty of encouragement there. The Isrealites survived Babylon. David beat Goliath. Isaiah has a whole book of comfort and encouragement.  If that’s not for you, maybe a Beetles song (Let It Be) or reviewing our history for a view of how things worked out back then. A bit of encouragement, community, thinking of others before ourselves, and just a plain old positive attitude (that’s from my HS Psychology class!). All is not lost. I heard a radio host today talk about a guy from Bangladesh. He’s been here 20 years. He owns a cab/Uber company. 30 drivers. All his kids have jobs. Even as kids. His daughter graduated from an Ivy League medical school and is now employed at one of the top medical facilities in the USA. Doesn't get anymore prestigious than that. And all he can do is talk about how great this country is. How it gave him an opportunity.  Maybe we should just think about how good we have it. Even in all the strife and mess.

Just my thoughts for a quiet evening watching the World Series. Good Night Countrymen.