The future

What does the future hold? Senator Obama had a solid lead at this point, with just over 22 days to go. We are facing a crossroads in our history: will we take a left turn, or will we go to the center with McCain? Will we allow liberal Supreme Court Justices to be appointed and keep Roe vs. Wade for the next twenty years? Will we instead elect McCain and possibly overturn Roe within the next four years?

John McCain has a lot of faults. Campaigns tend to cheapen and lessen the honor and courage and dignity of men, and this one has been no different. But underneath all the invective and dishonesty and fudging of the truth is a man whose character was formed long ago. His life has always been devoted to his country, and he has tried, often at great cost, to do what is honorable and right. He has fallen short many times, but where he fell many others had never even reached for. He is old now, but I'm hoping that America will give him one more chance to serve, one more mission to complete, one more order to follow.

Barack Obama is one of the most profoundly interesting politicians of our lifetime. As a conservative, I disagree with him on several very important issues. But he has a wisdom far beyond his years, and a tempered view of what is possible in life that is rare among liberals. I believe this is because of the life he has lived. We conservatives like to say that he is arrogant, pollyannish, and pie-in-the-sky, a man who never struggled to get where he is.

I believe only the first to even remotely resemble the truth, and perhaps one day he will get his chance to lead this great country. Perhaps when that day comes, he will have realized the poverty of his pro-abortion position. One can only hope. I sincerely do.

Either way, America will live on. It is up to us to preserve her greatness and ideals, and as others have said, keep that beacon shining brightly. Whoever America chooses as her president, I wish ourselves luck in one of the most challenging times we have ever faced. May God Bless America.

Politics isn't worth someone's life

Angry Republicans, Democrats, and Americans for that matter: politics isn't worth a man's life. The election of Barack Obama as president would do great damage to this country in a few important ways, namely the social issues. I understand that, and I wish it were not so. But I cannot countenance the rage I have seen and the threats to his life and call myself a honorable, moral, and Christian person. This is not right, America. Everyone needs to calm down.

This is a man who has faced greater danger every single day of this campaign than we know, partly because he is black, partly because his name sounds Arabic, partly because of his upbringing. He received Secret Service protection earlier than any candidate in history. Racism and ethnic-ism, if you will, are declining in this country, but the kooks are out there. All they need is a little rage and scare tactics to bring them out. That is why it is not only irresponsible but dangerous for McCain, Palin, and conservatives to pretend that nothing is happening out there and that all they are doing is asking legitimate questions about Senator Obama's record.

We all know about the sustained smear campaign on the internet. As others have said, every time someone introduces McCain at rallies by reffering to Senator Obama's middle name, it legitamizes these smears and fear of the 'other': People hear that, and many no doubt have gotten the bogus emails, and they think: perhaps he's a terrorist. Perhaps he hates America. Perhaps he hates the troops.

McCain's error is not so much that what he is saying is directly contributing to the rage and inciting these remarks; he doesn't intend for that to happen. His great failure has been that he is not strongly condemning these remarks, and the rage in general. He needs to. This is dangerous and it needs to stop.

I'm a conservative and I don't want Obama to get elected. But this isn't the way to do it, folks. It's wrong.