Turning a New Leaf

yesterday, while raking heaps and loads of leaves in the yard, my mind searched for things to ponder upon. jonathan has cooled his jets with mom so there isn't much to think about in that direction as one normally would--even if one did, it would accomplish nothing. you (me personally) can't change another person's life and make them be nice and thoughtful to your aging mother. so, that area of discussion is rather redundant. so, my thoughts rambled back to the events of the day...the election.

i have never considered myself a politically active person. i gripe and grumble about government with the best of them but in the long run, i know that it is a very great gift to be an american--even in the worst of times. i do have my strong views on things in general but i do wish that i understood the whole wad of politics better.

while the muscles in my shoulders and back ached with each scrape of the rake (eight hours and two dump truck loads of leafs worth) i did ponder. why would anyone be a democrat. it is not an accusatory statement but a sincere question. i sincerely wondered why people would want government in their business all the time. this is a land of liberty! in past years, i assumed that it was only the poor and those who lived off welfare who affiliated themselves with the party. but in recent years, it has come to my attention that there are some highly educated and wealthy people (such as those who bankrolled Obama) who firmly believe in the cause. i figured that the reason the majority of movie stars leaned that was wasn't because they were concerned with sharing their vast riches with the poor (government doesn't need to be a part of that if a person is sincere...there are many ways to help the poor without any government making you "share the wealth"), but because they loved the liberalism of being a decadent set of people. after slapping myself back into reality, i realized that i still had no idea as to the question of why.

then it came to me and it was a simple answer as most answers are when we are peaceful and quiet enough to hear them. we live in the greatest country on the world and it is because of democracy that we are great. it is a system of checks and balances! if one were to compare the governments of the land to the gospel, one might say that the democrats represent the law of moses. the law of moses was a set of "rules" that helped them stay on the straight and narrow road to good. it was an "in your face" type of government--outward performances that in the long run should make you in to a better person--a more caring and Christ-like person who is focused on doing the right thing.

the republican party (and i hope that i am not committing heresy here) is the law of Christ. the main thrust of Christ's life and teachings were to get people to act responsibly from the inside out; such as in Matthew 5:21-22. It is shown that in the law of moses (v.21), you should not kill. the new law that Christ brought went to the core of the problem when he said that, yes, you shouldn't kill, but even better yet, you shouldn't let your anger get the best of you--and anger is the seed of killing. Christ tried to teach us how to govern ourselves and asked for a sincere heart rather than mere outward observances.

the republican party tries to let people govern themselves more than the democrat party. and here is where the wonderful world of checks and balances comes in to play. one must admit that with the bush administration there were a bus load of problems that poor ole president bush is being held responsible for. the enron scandal, countless financial leaders losing their integrity (if they ever had any), greed and lies, idiot people who bit off more than they could handle in the mortgage scandal, and of course, the war. i doubt that there has ever been any president who has had to deal with so much his term of office. but, HE didn't do it all. it was the freedom that was given the people by the republican policies that enabled so many people to hang themselves. too many people, if you will forgive the phrase (IF you are still reading) pissed in the pool and dirtied the waters of those freedoms. so, now, mommy has to step back in and straighten out the country because we did not behave appropriately when we had the chance to act responsibly. that is where the greatness of our country comes in! it is totally necessary to have both the democratic and republican party (although the independent party sure looks better than either) in order to keep things in check.
although i did not vote for Obama, i do hope that he will step up to the job and lead us as a united country. i reluctantly say that i almost believe that if Heavenly Father were to have cast his vote, it would have probably been for Obama simply because we needed to be disciplined and reminded that freedom isn't free. freedom is the ability to act responsibly for ourselves without the government making us do it. in a few years, we will probably tire of the thumb that the democrats will have on us and another great republican will crazily step up to the plate. but, that is the way of things. isn't it wonderful to be an American!