As an ever-evolving Libertarian, shockingly I’d like to say something that may matter to other people. I may be accidentally relevant.
The election yesterday was the most interesting I can remember in my lifetime. I think it was interesting because I personally believed it was the most irrelevant presidential election in my lifetime. Maybe in America’s history. Not because I thought the candidates were the same. They weren’t. They have drastically differing opinions on matters of the economy. But that’s about where their differences ended.
The problem for me was that the issues that mattered most to me were not really at issue. Those issues were as follows, in this order:
- Abortion
- Gay Marriage
- National Debt
- Foreign Involvements
I’ll tackle these one at a time and explain why these issues weren’t really issues being discussed at all.
1. Abortion
I’ve had no faith in the Republican party to advance the cause of life in our nation since George W. Bush became president. Fighting for life was one of his big platform positions. I was worried at how many Christian friends I had who thought he’d be our modern-day savior, but I had high hopes he would advance the cause of life. He and all his fellow Republicans failed. They found a few wars to distract them from doing anything productive at home. I’ll talk about the wars later. Even still, we find out now that all along Laura Bush was pro-abortion to the core. A house divided will not stand.
This go around, the Republican party selected a candidate who obviously only believes in the cause of life when he feels like it’s what he needs to say to get elected. Romney was pro-abortion when he ran as a Republican in one of the most liberal states in the union. And it worked for him. He flip-flopped when he knew that’s what was needed to be elected a populist Republican president.
The Republican party has been filled this go-around with fake pro-lifers. Could a pro-lifer really say that “legitimate rape” never results in pregnancy? Not a chance. Only someone getting his talking points from mass-forwarded emails could say something so stupid. Akin was never more than a pro-life candidate in word. So many Republicans know that they have to be pro-life to get elected, but deep down it means nothing to them.
I voted Republican only because their party platform is pro-life, but I know their are maybe 5-10 true pro-lifers amongst their ranks. I have no faith in them. At least the Democrats mean what they say as pro-abortionists.
2. Gay Marriage
I have great compassion for every person involved in the homosexual lifestyle. For most of them it is a truly terrible path to openly admit they’re gay. Religious, family and societal rejection and abuse are still the norm. To be clear, I fully believe homosexuality is sin, but so is alcoholism. Both are tragic and self-destructive, but nothing carries a stigma like being gay.
That said, I believe a nation must oppose unrighteousness in its laws. We can have compassion for individuals, but corporate sin must not be allowed. And if you think I’m picking on gays here, I don’t think our alcohol laws are strict enough. When it came to this election though, I had no one to vote for. Obama definitely wants to advance the homosexual agenda. But I had no faith that Romney or any Republicans care what happens with gay marriage either. It’s just a party platform for them.
Think about how many Republicans you’ve heard interviewed on the subject. Now think about how they talk about how the Bible or Jesus says gay marriage is wrong. How often can they quote anything, ANYTHING from the Bible to back that up. I’ve not heard one yet. Why? Because they don’t believe what they say; it’s just a talking point that sells to their base. Fail on gay marriage.
3. National Debt
This almost goes without saying. Nobody cares about this it seems. They like to talk about it, but nobody has any desire to change things. I will say that at least Obama wants to try and oppressively raise taxes on everyone to try and pay for our out-of-control spending. It seems the Republicans want to keep the spending rolling and just hope that money falls from heaven to pay for it. Well, it has actually. The Federal Reserve keeps printing money and making what’s in your wallet worth less. Good luck saving.
In all the discussion about the economy, this is the most important topic. All the jobs talk is a temporary band-aid. You don’t need to be an excellent student of history to find case after case of utter economic destruction from the path we’re on. Our national debt is the single biggest economic problem we have. I think it’s so bad that it’s not an economic problem but a moral one. It is an issue that will absolutely crush the poor in our nation when it comes to roost. The wealthy always make sure they survive hard times. It’s the poor that truly suffer when an economy collapses because of debt. We’re in for sad days ahead and the poor will suffer the most. And none of our leaders care.
4. Foreign Involvements
Wars kill people. Lots of them. We should never enter them lightly. That’s why we have LAWS in place that require the president and Congress to take formal measures to engage in them. Even when the War Powers Act was put in place to make it easier for the president to commit us to undeclared wars, he was required to get congressional approval within 60 days. Why? So we don’t have an emperor.
Well guess what? Obama attacked Libya without good cause and then when his 60 days came due the congress was absolutely complicit in allowing him to attack without accountability. We now have a military emperor. Not in Obama, but in the presidency. We’ve allowed the president to attack at will with no one to answer to. And both Republicans and Democrats couldn’t be happier about it.
Relevance?
In the end, the most pressing issues facing our country were never even discussed in this election. We had plenty of smoke and mirrors to distract us from our real problems. Jobs and the economy. What does that even mean? So what if we lower taxes? Sure, maybe a few hundred thousand will find employment right away because of the emotional high job-creators will have. But because of our debt it’s not long before everyone’s out of work because of a collapsed economy.
In the end, this election was all about the economy and the nation couldn’t see a difference between Obama and Romney, Democrats or Republicans. They couldn’t see it because there isn’t one.
So, I’m sorry to have to say this, but the relevant topic of discussion today is that this election was completely irrelevant.
I am a writer, author and purveyor of ink on paper. I also preach, teach and create Excel spreadsheets.