Black Tuesday

Today I'm suffering from the agony of defeat. In yesterday's election, out of the 49 persons or propositions I voted on, only 22 went the way I voted (45%). If that sounds pretty good, out of the 23 races I particularly cared about, only 8 went the way I voted (35%).

I have been saying to friends and family for several years now, the Republicans in Congress have squandered away their opportunity to enact conservative reforms that their electoral base was anticipating. So really, now that they've lost the House and probably the Senate as well, I think I can say they had it coming. And, truth be told, America has the leaders its deserves.

What grieves me the most, however, is the stupidity with which Californians seem to vote when it comes to the state propositions. Here are a few that went down the wrong way:

• 85 -- (FAILED) What parent in their right mind wants their teenage daughter to be taken from them by the public school, a college boyfriend, or a sexual predator to have a surgical procedure performed on them without their consent (much less their notification)!? (Apparently 54% do.) Nevermind that this surgical procedure takes the life of their baby grandchild and endangers the physical and emotional well-being of their own daughter. George Orwell's future is becoming our own present, by the express will of the people. (Hey stranger, please come take my children from me and do what you want with them--I really don't care.)
• 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 84 -- (PASSED) Together, these four bond measures will result in 77.9 billion dollars that has to be repaid by the government. If the government doesn't have the money now, they won't have it in the future either. Who will pay this outrageous fee? The same brain-dead people who voted for the measure!
• 90 -- (FAILED) This measure tried to protect Californians from seizure of private property brought on by the unconstitutional (and nonsensical) Kelso decsion of the U.S. Supreme Court. I guess Californians don't mind greedy "Big Business" coming and taking away their homes and churches for its own personal gain.
• M, O -- These three additional county measures will cost the taxpayers additional untold millions. (Not to mention the incessant traffic congestion brought on by additional inadequte road "improvements.")

The only real evidence of any possible remaining brain-activity in the electorate was its vote denying: 1) the $2.60/pack tobacco tax (Prop 86); 2) the $50 "for the children" property-tax surcharge (Prop 88); 3) the additional $4 billion gasoline tax (Prop 87); and 4) Taxpayer-funded political campaigns (Prop 89).

This election makes it increasingly clear that I am not a man of this world. Which shouldn't suprise me. The Bible makes it perfectly clear that Christians are "strangers and exiles on the earth" (Heb 11:13), that "our citizenship is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20), and that we look forward to "a better country, that is, a heavenly one" (Heb. 11:16), to a "city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God" (Heb. 11:10).

Furthermore, bad election results help remind us that it is our sovereign God who "removes kings and sets up kings" (Dan 2:21) and "rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will" (Dan. 4:17). This is imporant, lest we begin to think that we can save the world through our political efforts.

While we await the great and glorious day of our Lord's appearing, Christians must press on, striving to be salt and light in a decaying and dark culture. The only thing that can truly change the current course of our culture toward Gomorrah is the saving power of the Gospel. My prayer is that the results of this election will cause our nation's Christians to remember this fact, and that we will be emboldened to preach the good news and live out our vocations in society such that we may have a preserving and healing influence upon it. Even so, come Lord Jesus!