The pundits got it all wrong on Tuesday. Most thought that Barack Obama would beat Clinton in New Hampshire. But they were clearly wrong, proving again that voting is still very important. If anything the last eight years have proven this point time-and-time again yet the majority of us still do not take the franchise very seriously. There are many reasons offered for our voting passivity, some valid I am sure, but much of this is just disinterest.

I have listened to ministers, both liberal and conservative, urge their flock to vote on the basis of some kind of biblical appeal. I see no clear and obvious argument for such in Scripture. I have never missed a major election and make almost all the minor local ones as well. But I do this not out of guilt that I might break God’s law if I do not vote but out of a sense of freedom to express my views and to help elect leaders who I think can best govern our nation, state and community. This is not my Christian duty but […]

Four times today I was asked, by Christians who were very earnest and quite confused by an email that has been widely circulated: "Is Barack Obama a radical Muslim who intends to take over the country and destroy the US?"
Apparently one of these Internet "myths" has gained so much steam today, oddly after the primary last evening in New Hampshire, that it is now being passed around to hundreds of thousands via the Web. I read the letter this evening. What grieves me profoundly is that Christians read and forward this stuff to their friends as if they are warning people of impending disaster. Frankly, this is akin to slander and commits the person who forwards it to carelessly sinning against both this man and the truth.

I do wonder who creates these kinds of letters and why they are sent in the first place? Did someone from a campaign do it? Did someone who has an agenda to destroy Obama create […]

Watching the election results from New Hampshire tonight now makes it clear that Senator John McCain, given up for dead politically in August-September of 2007, is alive and well.
Senator McCain has created quite a stir over the course of his public career in the U. S. Senate. He is a self-described "maverick" and never seems to fit into the comfortable categories of any single interest group. He is clearly a social conservative, if you check his record, and at the same time he can appeal to both Republicans and Independents. He even appeals to some Democrats, like Joe Lieberman sorts, who believe the president needs to be a strong commander-in-chief.

McCain won tonight among those who were looking for a person who was most qualified to be commander-in-chief. Personal qualities were more important than leadership qualities, at least to voters for John McCain. His fiesty and no-nonsense style is popular once again. And 74% of NH voters today said John McCain is […]

One of President Bush’s most debatable legacies will be his idea regarding the spread of democracy. The vast majority of people seem to disagree with him. I have had my doubts I will admit. In theory I do agree with him but then when you look at the world as it really is I have doubted that his view can be sustained in a meaningful way. But columnist Charles Krauthammer has a distinctive way of making me rethink my conclusions and today he did it again.

Krauthammer’s syndicated column in my paper this morning is titled: "Difficulty of Spreading Democracy Throughout the World." What an understatement! He admits the great difficulties that are apparent to everyone who knows anything about the modern world. He sets Pakistan forward as exhibit A. With the death of Benazir Bhutto her nineteen year-old son will now represent the Pakistan People’s Party, which really is the Bhutto "we deserve to rule" party. Elections in Pakistan have historically been about the way the Bhutto family regains power. Benazir gained power after her father was hung following a […]

Republicans are right when they seek to invoke President Ronald Reagan’s legacy as their standard. Because Reagan redefined what it meant to be a Republican so profoundly his legacy will remain the gold standard for some time. George W. Bush ran on that legacy but did not hold to it in important ways once he was elected. In much the same way Democrats have invoked the legacy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt as their standard bearer for over sixty years. The major difference is that modern Democrats are much further from FDR, at least on foreign policy, than any of them would ever care to admit.

But most Republicans have already abandoned the Reagan legacy too, it is just not so obvious yet. My friend Andrew Sandlin captures this fracture very well in a piece that he wrote this week. I urge you to read it. Andrew expresses well what I noted a few days ago on this site when I outlined a simple three-point test for what should guide a modern conservative political philosophy. I also think he is quite […]