President, Shmesident

I'm sooo happy that another weekend has arrived!! And it has started early for me and Bistro! He finished work WAY early today so he came home for lunch and our weekend has now officially begun! We weren't able to watch the Democratic Presidential Debate last night, so we recorded it and are watching it as we speak. Interesting stuff...

Speaking of democrats...I feel like I am severely lacking an understanding of where I stand politically. I have strong opinions about a few issues, and then on others I have too abstract an understanding of what the REAL effects of a particular decision would be. I have never been able to classify myself as either a Republican or a Democrat. I credit that partially to my lack of political knowledge, and partially to the fact that I don't see eye-to-eye with either "side". Plus...I just can't stand "choosing sides". Choosing one side or the other is just... so definitive and concrete. How can you have such a concrete opinion on something sooo complicated and involved? It sucks. Anywho, this year we are giving a sincere effort to educating ourselves on the candidates and trying to choose wisely and with Godly discernment.

I threw the following hypothetical situation at Brian the other day:

There are 2 presidential candidates whom you are trying to decide between.

Candidate #1- You agree pretty soundly with his/her stance on each of the "hot topic" issues. He/She plans to make changes that you truly believe will benefit our country, our economy, our healthcare system, etc. However, you have no idea where this candidate stands spiritually.

Candidate #2- You do not necessarily agree with all of this candidate's ticket positions, however you know that he/she is a Christian who has made his/her faith and relationship with God very clear.

Who do you vote for?

At first, I thought this was a reeeeaally juicy question. How in the world do you, as a Christian, choose? I feel like my desire to have a president who will make changes to provide aid for the less fortunate (in terms of jobs, taxes, healthcare...) is motivated by The Holy Spirit living in me. Didn't Jesus help the less fortunate ALL THE TIME while He was here on this earth? Doesn't God love and cherish the poor? Doesn't he say to love you neighbor as yourself? So...shouldn't I want to do everything in my power to help those who I believe are in need? And...does that include voting for a president who I believe offers the most effective solution for helping them?

Well...then after I asked the question I thought, "Wait a sec...DUH! Vote for the man you KNOW is a Christian. OBVIOUSLY. A Christian president will seek the Lord's guidance in His decisions. If the spirit lives in him then He has access to an impeccable moral compass. 'If God is with you, who can be against you,' right??" Anyway, this whole thought process has just really made me feel burdened with the duty of not only choosing my presidential vote, but the duty of understanding the issues at hand & what steps I can take to move towards a better situation on this earth. I know that The Love of Christ motivates these desires in me...the desire to help make the world better...the desire to spread love to any and everyone I possible can...and I guess politics have a place in there somwhere. But I just can't get it all figured out in my head.

I DESPISE the thought of getting overly caught up in the propaganda that DEFINES a presidential campaign (or any political campaign for that matter), but I want to be educated too. Sometimes I feel like it's a waste of time, though. Do I need to be more focused on my own personal efforts to continually dedicate myself to God's work on earth instead of worrying about someone else?

AH. Politics intrigue me and drive me NUTS all at the same time!

K...my rant is over. That helped me to get my thoughts kind of ironed out a little bit. I apologize to anyone who just had to read that! However, any input is 150% welcomed and invited!