Friday, October 17, 2008

Election

Do you know who you are going to vote for?

I don't usually talk about politics because it can be such a dividing issue among people, but lately I've been asking a lot of people if they know what they are going to do. I sometimes hear a clear definitive answer, but just as often, I hear "I don't know." Their "I don't knows" are usually followed by a frustration over how the campaigns have gone, the continual bashing of the other candidate, or complete cynacism over all the corruption that continues to be uncovered in one administration or another.

I feel a frustration over the lack of dialogue of the US presence in the world. I just read a provactive and timely book called "The Way of the World" by Ron Suskind. He wrote about the world has changed since 9/11 and how the US has responded to it. He said over and over, that the US has lost its voice of moral authority. We have traded force for our voice.

This is our reality in 2008. We are no longer just the US. We are the United States in a global world. Every decision has implications around the world. We can't live in a vacaum, we must open our eyes to see the suffering that exists through poverty, disease, human trafficking, drugs, corruption, the list can go on and on.

I just wonder what would happen if we would spend less on our military and more on helping to bring justice through providing ways for basic needs to be met. I wonder what would happen if we laid down our territorialism and began real dialogues about how to work together to bring creative solutions to the challenges our world faces today, this year and for the future.

Jesus came and offered a different force: the force of love and Holy Spirit power. His government is the Kingdom of God and it brings a whole new vantage point on how to think and how to move.

More on that later....but until then, who are you going to vote for?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Tamara,I happened to buy two second hand books written by Ron Suskind and he was recommanded by my teacher in UW. I know he is a really special writer who criticized the Bush Administration. Freedom of speech is one of the most impressive things i met in the United States.

Anonymous said...

Most recently, my vow of silence on the subject was broken, because I am very concerned about this election year. Too often in conversation, 1) a person's opinion is really a repeat of what they have overheard and is NOT really their deep thought or heartfelt personal feeling based on facts and truth, or 2) a misunderstanding between the people occur due to the inability or lack of time to hear each other out and say all that is on one’s mind. Either way, do you really learn what the other feels, politically and what truly motivates them to make the decisions they make?

Truth and Balance in everything are vital and very few are willing to do BOTH. Living in a country in freedom with a President who will put our country, our Constitution, our Liberties, Our Freedoms, and our Security FIRST, is vitally important, so I CAN choose to focus on helping others in need. It goes back to the basic question, “How do we care for the sick, if we are sick ourselves?”

MSNBC, one of the most liberal and biased broadcast news agencies, and the Associated Press recently made a public release stating how President Bush DID indeed find 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium and other WMDs after the Iraq War started in March 2003, but instead of saving his own skin, President Bush put the safety of his own country (and that of the American people, as well as the people of Iraq), by staying silent - knowing that if he went public, he was signing the death warrant on millions of lives of not only the Iraqis, but also our American Troops. President Bush has been called a liar, an idiot, and many other unkind and treasonous names, and he like Jesus, made the martyred choice to stay silent.

So you ask, “How would I vote?” The questions ought to be, “Have you dug deep enough for the truth? Do you truly know the heart & mind of the candidate?” I for one believe that Obama is not fit to be president of our great nation for many reasons; laying personal feelings aside, based on the very fundamentals of the American qualifying criteria, shouldn’t we be asking if he was even born on American soil? Why does he cohort with known terrorists and those who would “G-damn America!”??? Truth!

We need to balance funding for both securing our country from terroristic acts against us; to protect our nation and rights to liberty, freedom, and religious rights and as well as working to find creative solutions to work on a global level to help those in great need. Stepping into and nourishing ALL of the Fruits of The Spirit would be a good place to start with a President who personally embraces these beliefs, and will foster and allow us Americans to freely practice them as well.

Tamara Buchan said...

HI Yi,

It's good to hear from you. I am glad you picked up those books by Suskind, he is an impressive man with his breadth of knowledge.
How is school going?

Anonymous said...

Everything is good and my tests will begin on next Tuesday till 11/4. Then I will go back home to start my intern in the law firm. I really miss the cake made by your daughter. haha~~

Anonymous said...

It is interesting that Colin Powell has endorsed Obama as a candidate. Here is the interview on YouTube if you missed it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2U63fXBlFo

Anonymous said...

Who would Jesus bomb?

Who would Jesus torture?

Would Jesus help the most powerful army in the world in a third-world country?

Would Jesus give tax breaks to the richest people in the world?

Would Jesus own a gun?