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September 10, 2008
2008 Presidential Election
When people ask me if I'm a Democrat or a Republican, my answer is usually neither. I'm a vacillating member of the Cynical party. Traditionally, I'm drawn to the Democratic party for local issues: green space, responsible development, etc., and the Republican party for national issues: abortion, foreign policy, etc. Despite my historic voting record and regardless of party, I just don't trust anyone who has "succeeded" in a career of "public service" at the national level. At some point during their career I assume that their success was acquired at the expense of ethics or morals. I know this is a pretty bleak stance to take and recognize that it's much easier to trust no one (e.g. Fox Mulder) than to take on the huge task of independently vetting each candidate. I could only hope that the mainstream media would assist in this venture, but don't get me started on where they stand the in my ethical pecking order.
Regardless, I recently ran across a couple essays that accurately portray both my conundrum as a Christian voter and my stance on certain political hot potatoes.
This article by Dr. Mark Noll was penned in 2004 and I agree with all 7 of his "political convictions." I was even surprised to marginally agree with his views on taxation. Incidentally, I had Mark Noll as a history professor while at Wheaton. I can't say that I appreciated him as much then as I do now; I was a lousy student and he was tough.
The second article exists solely, to the best of my knowledge, as a Facebook note, so there's no externally available link. If you're my friend, I posted a reference to the note on my profile. It's titled, "Status Update: A Brief Expansion on my McCain Comment," by Chuck DeGroat.
Chuck's post didn't appear to be forthcoming, and I assume Dr. Noll will maintain the same stance for this election, so I'm still perfectly confused, despite and perhaps because of their eloquence -- Thanks guys.
Posted by mark at 9:57 AM | Comments (0)