ENGAGING CULTURE

I try not to write about politics. I think the whole election process in this country is a farce. It’s an overblown popularity contest. Such a small percentage of the population really knows what their candidate believes. Most base their votes on purely aesthetic or stereotypical guidelines. They find someone that looks the most like them, or who belongs to the party that their daddy voted for. Some will listen to their favorite talking head and follow the person that they suggest at the moment. In reality, neither candidate is the antichrist, and neither will be the messiah. They both have a mix of good and bad that they bring to the table, both will go back on promises made during their campaigning, and both will make some changes or decisions that the American people will love or hate.

With all of our talk about bipartisan efforts being the pathway to bringing some sanity to our system, then why don’t we force it? Let’s take a page out of reality TV and use a tense and uncomfortable situation to bring change. We would have the primary system as we currently do. Stop the mudslinging, that would get you disqualified. Your ads must present your platform without attacking the person you are opposing, feel free to attack their views, but avoid cheap personal attacks. At the end of the primaries we would have two solid candidates. One that each side is happy with. Lets not drag it out for another 6 months, let’s have the popular election then and there. The winner would be the president and the runner up would be vice-president. In that case, both sides would be forced to work together. Forced to see the common ground and come to a consensus. Perhaps both sides would grow a bit and the country would be better for it. On top of that we film the first 6 months of the presidency and show it as a reality show called “Running Mate.” I smell a hit, where’s Simon Cowell when you need him? Or maybe the candidates should have to convince a panel of all of the living former presidents. So have a 6-week sweeps series where “the formers” ask the contenders questions to see how they would deal with a number of different possible situations.

Sadly, we live with a flawed system where we have to become lie detectors and determine who we think is the most authentic and truthful. Because I could care less about most political issues, but I want our president to be a person of personal integrity. So I will continue to vote for the man (or woman) who embodies confidence with humility, and has realistic ideas for positive change rooted in a positive moral system. My ideal president would show that they are not a puppet of special interest groups and that they have the ability to stand up for what they personally believe. And in the category of “special interest groups” I include evangelicals. I doubt that either McCain or Obama are more than nominal Christians, they believe in God and think that ethics are important, but they aren’t “Jesus Freaks.” They are politicians before they are theologians, and with that in mind they weigh every word with a constituent counter in the front of their mind. If either were to stand up and say, “I believe that all people are sinners in need of a savior, and his name is Jesus Christ.” You can just imagine the proclamations of intolerance and bigotry that would be leveled. McCain would lose all his independent votes and Obama’s camp would try desperately to spin the statement as a proclamation of personal devotion not political position.

This is why I was not surprised in the least to see that John McCain, at a recent town-hall meeting in Nashville, put none other than Joel Osteen at the top of his list when asked to name an author who inspired him. “He’s inspirational,” McCain said. McCain just a few days ago met with Billy and Franklin Graham and came away will all but an endorsement from Franklin. This is the same man who in 2000 called Jerry Falwell an “agent of intolerance.” Perhaps this is a genuine Pauline conversion. Perhaps the scales have fallen off of his eyes but he has just failed to get his hands on any good biblical teaching. I’m inclined to think that McCain’s love affair with Osteen has more to do with the millions of people that follow him religiously rather than the risen son of God.

This political flip-flopping is nothing new. And intelligent Americans see through the facade to the shell of a person beneath all the political lies. Rolling Stone columnist Matt Taibbi was insightful enough to put Osteen in his place, and call out McCain for pandering to the fears and prejudices of the American people. He reflects my views of Osteen when he said, “Of all the… money-grubbing shyster scumbags on the face of this planet, there is perhaps none more loathsome than Osteen, a human haircut with plastic baseball-size teeth who has made a fortune selling the appalling only-in-America idea that terrestrial greed is actually a form of Christian devotion.” Well said Matt, well said.