YOU LIE!: How the President Has Lied to the Younger Generations About Their Ability to Succeed on Their Own

Several weeks ago, the President gave an address on health care. In it, he gave the following statistic:

"If you're under the age of 21 today, chances are more than half that you'll find yourself uninsured at some point" over the next decade, Obama said in the address, prepared for radio and Internet broadcast. "And more than one-third of Americans will go without coverage for longer than one year.”
Really?

I’m not sure how much I believe in this stat, but without the time, or the care to do the research I’ve decided not to dwell on it too much. But if anyone wishes to scower it over for accuracy, you can look at it,
here.

For weeks that statement has been rolling around in my head. Something about it has been bothering me and today I figured it out. This was my conclusion:

So what?

I don’t want to sound callous or unconcered for people who have real concern about their personal health care. But, I think I can speak to this issue with some authority. See, right now, I don’t have health insurance.

Want to hear my sob story? I got laid off at my job 3 months ago and lost ::shudder:: my health insurance along with 80% of my income. And you know what? I went out, found 2 part time jobs, and I’m slowly making it back. I went almost 3 months without a paycheck, just got my first paycheck in a long time today, actually. Am I living the life of leisure that I once was? No, far from it. I feel like I’m working twice as much for half the pay (both of which are practically true). But you know what? So what? You suck it up, and get over it.

Now before all of you weeping libs with embellished sob stories come running after me, I’m not talking to old people who lose their coverage because of cancer, diabetes, old age, have to go on medicare, or whatever. I’m talking to the “under 21” (well, under 25) crowd here.

It seems to me that you’re as likely to lose your health coverage (if you’re under 21) as you are to get in a car accident “at some point”, have a tooth ache “at some point”, get married “at some point”, get divorced “at some point”, lose a loved one “at some point”, and feel the urge to paint a ceramic cat… Okay then. So, if you are under the age of 21, then you have a 50% chance to experience what it is like to live in the real world, at some piont. Ask your parents if they have ever not had health coverage, heck, ask your grandparents. Ask them what they did?

President Obama continued:
"I refuse to allow that future to happen. In the United States of America, no one should have to worry that they'll go without health insurance - not for one year, not for one month, not for one day. And once I sign my health reform plan into law - they won't."
Wait, what? With all due respect President Obama:

I. Don’t. Need. You.

I don’t need you to succeed. I don’t need you to pull me up. I don’t need you or your socialist world to be successful. I can do it on my own, without you.

That’s how he’s lying to us, young folks. He’s telling us that we will NEED HIM to make it. Well, ask your parents and grandparents who helped them. It wasn’t socialism, it was good ‘ol American hard work and a lucky break here or there.

Don’t be fooled generations X, Y and Millenials. We don’t need Barack Obama, and a nanny state. We just need a work ethic.

Worrying shows the sign of at least one thing:

Responsibility.

And that’s what Barack Obama is trying to take away from us. If he can take away any responsibilty that we have, he can take away our freedom.

With all due respect Mr. President, we don’t need you. I live in a strong and independent generation. We will have more potential to succeed than you ever will because our parents worked for us to have it.

My parents and grandparents worked hard so I wouldn’t need you or anyone else on this earth to succeed. And I believe it would be an insult to their name to act otherwise.So peddle your legislation, scare tactics and your nanny state to some other generation, or better yet, country.

Grace and Peace,
-Mer

Top 10 Commercials I Hate

10. Any commercial with Viagra...TMI...



9. Any ambulance chasing lawyer commercial. You can thank them for the need for tort reform.



8. Any commercial with screaming children.



7. Any commercial that involves a liberal promoting him/herself.



6. Commercials with the Geico gecko talking too much.



5. Any commercial with the Aflac duck, especially ones with him screaming "AFLAAAC!"



4. Any commercial with the Geico cavemen. Dumb.



3. Any commercial by the NYT or the WSJ pretending that they are relevant.



2. Any commerical with the "Progressive" girl, Flo.



...and the #1 most annoying commercial in my world is...



1. Any commercial involving the "roll-over minute mom."





Just for contrast, my favorite marketing campaign was put on by Sam Adams. I don't drink beer, but if I did, I would drink Sam Adams because their commercials rock. Enjoy one for me.







Grace and Peace,

-Mer

You Lie!: How the Mainstream Media has Covered Up the GOP Solutions to Health Care Reform and Why It has to Be That Way

Well my treasured facebook friends, you have driven me over the edge on this health care thing! I am so sick of seeing comments, statuses, wall posts, tweets (and whatever form of condensed electronic communication) with the misinformation about GOP and health care.

"The GOP hasn't offered any solutions to the current crisis..."

That statement is blatantly false and with just a little bit of research on the right sites you can debunk this theory in about 30 seconds.

Throughout this post I'm going to share with you several links that support my claims. You may notice, however, that my links all seem to come from the same "side". Before you get in a tizzy about the bias of my links, let me share some research with you:

I pretty much can tell how much GOP news is being shared on the lib networks by my friends' demonstration of their knowledge of GOP activities. Since all of my lib and "centrists" friends seem to be completely oblivious of any GOP activity related to health care other than tea parties (which actually have very little to do with health care, but that's another blog), I can hypothesize that no one on the major news networks is sharing anything about GOP proposed solutions.

The most aggressive and comprehensive reform I have seen from the GOP is the Empowering Patients First Act, also known as HR 3400. To find a one page synoposis of this proposal, click here. I figured for a journalist to be fully intellectually honest about the GOP health care solutions, they would probably at least put the bill's name somewhere in the article. I decided to test my hypothesis by searching for the phrase Empowering Patients First Act on all the major network news sites using their internal search engine. Below are my results using the "relevance" feature of the search engine.

CNN - Most relevant result was Obama's speech over health care on 7/22

MSNBC - Under "full articles" the most relevant was the "Rachel Maddow Show" talking about Obama's speech on 7/22. Guess what was #2?

NBC - Nothing, their filter was a mess...

ABC - On the main site no results. On the news site the most relevant was a swine flu article.

CBS - A blog about the DNCs solution coming under "opposition." I thought, This looks promising , only to be disappointed. The blog quoted only Democrat officials and had three sentences talking about GOP "concerns" which are not solutions. So, that doesn't count.

Fox News - The first story covered all the proposals given by the GOP as of 9/10 (which is when the article was written). According to that article, the GOP has put up 35 different proposals having to do with some type of health care reform. To see a list of these proposals with accompanying links click here.

So, if the rest of my links in this post are biased, I think you should be able to see why. Complain to the MSM for not doing it's job, not to me.

With all of Pelosi's false promises to "objectively consider reforms from the 'other side' ", she seems to be completely oblivious to their existence. Perhaps one of her staffers should google "GOP health care solutions". That was all I needed (actually, I used bing.com).

Wait, hasn't the President said he would meet with GOP leaders to talk about solutions?

Well, he lied (and I will not apologize for saying so). As of now, the chair of the GOP effort Representative Tom Price, M.D. has sent 3 formal letters to the President asking for a meeting to talk about health care reform. The latest was sent on the 14th. He has received no response from the White House.

How very bipartisan of our President.

This administration in conjuction with the mainstream media has been ignoring any plans/solutions presented by the GOP. Why, you ask? Because it has to be that way.

The administration cannot get their full government run system if the American people know there is any other option. The administration has given us two options:

Do nothing and everyone dies in the streets from swine flu.

Single payor/obamacare/Canadian care/UK care/whatever other name the White House "blog" calls it - system.

My friends, there is more out there and it pains me that you don't know it. I hope you found these links helpful.

If you want to know what I think about the health care situation and my solutions, please see one of my previous blogs.

Do your research on this thing. Know our options and stop saying that the GOP hasn't offered any solutions. That is just a lie from the pit of hell where CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC and this current administration's politics currently reside.

Grace and Peace,
-Mer

Early Thoughts from the Insomniac

So, this is the new blog. I will hopefully be somewhat moderately faithful in posting. I made this blog because I was tired of my only outlet being facebook "notes". Below are some of my previous notes so you can see where I'm coming from and where I'm going.

Right now I'm watching "Death Race."

Eh. Better than what I thought it was going to be.

Well, that's all I have for now. Enjoy the reading until I figure out how to use this thing...and come up with something new...

Good morning!

My Thoughts on Healthcare - as posted Sept.8, 2009

As a sick person who just recently experienced the marvel of the American healthcare system, I decided to write a few thoughts about it.

On Friday I woke up with a sore throat. Afraid of getting sick, I drank lots of water and invested in some throat lozenges. For the next three days I took vitamin C and other vitamins to help my immune system, which were easily purchased from a successful business that participates in the wonderful American free market system. Seeing no improvement this morning, in fact, taking a turn for the worse, I called my doctor and scheduled an appointment with one of his PAs for two hours later in the day. Try doing that in the UK.

I walked into my doctor’s office at the exact time of my appointment and was seen 20 minutes later. Not a great wait time, but not a bad one. There were people who were there before me, that weren’t called in front of me. We’ll get to that in a minute.

I was seen within 15 minutes in the waiting room, diagnosed, handed prescription scripts and sent to the font desk. I sheepishly explained how I had recently changed jobs and do not carry insurance. I reassured the clerk that I would be paying the full amount today with no problem. She took my credit card and changed $55 and I went on my way.

I then went straight to Walgreens and placed my prescription scripts in a little box outside of a window in the drive-thru. The clerk behind the window said, “We are a little behind today, give us two hours.”

Two hours?! I thought to myself. My lungs are burning right now! Just then, the newsbreak came on the radio and reminded me about President Obama’s speech to children today to try to salvage some poll numbers. Realizing that the messiah’s healthcare bill would change my two-hour wait into two weeks, heck, in most cases, two months I quickly turned my head and said, “No problem.”

I came home and marveled at what a glorious experience I’ve had in the great American health system. I was sick, immediately able to see a qualified medical professional for diagnosis and able to get my prescriptions within two hours of me turning them in.

When have you ever had anything close to that type of efficiency when dealing with ANYTHING government controlled?

With any type of government-controlled plan, this would NEVER happen. How do I know this? Remember the people in the waiting room?

There were at least 10 people in the waiting room in front of me. All but 1 I am pretty sure were on Medicare. I mean, I don’t like to judge people’s age, but, they were old. So, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that they were on Medicare since your forced on Medicare after age 65 (there is not enough space in this note to explain this atrocity).

Medicare and Blue Cross/Blue Shield are very similar in how they work. They aren’t the same entity but they are pretty close. Blue Cross/Blue Shield does not allow patients to see anyone but a licensed physician - in other words, a doctor. If you are over 65 and happen to fall and need a hip replacement and some physical therapy, you could not see a PTA (physical therapist assistant) for any of your PT visits. They simply won’t pay.

When I came out of the doctor’s office, 6 of the 10 people in front of me were still there. Why? Because on Medicare they can’t see a PA. Although doctor Miles is pretty chatty, the main reason he is slow to get to you is because he has so MANY patients. For good reason, he’s a great doctor.

You may be thinking, Okay, so, fine, government dictates what type of physician you can see, it sounds like to me they are making sure their patients only see the best of the best. What’s the problem?

Well, for one thing, PAs and PTAs have a great place in the world. For another, if the government can dictate what type of medical professional you can see, they can also dictate everything else. Such as, “You can’t see the doctor for a sinus infection unless you have a fever over 102.” If you go to the doctor, have a sinus infection but without the fever, the government can refuse to pay the doctor. They do it with Medicare patients. If a Medicare patient happened to see a PTA for a PT appointment, Blue Cross/Blue Shield will refuse to pay for the visit.

Of course the American healthcare system is not perfect. That’s because it is run by humans. But it sure is the best thing out there. Just ask the most wealthy in all the other countries all over the world. Ever been to Mayo Clinic? Probably not. But if you happen to ever venture to Minnesota, take a look at the demographics of the Mayo Clinic patients. You’ll see a heck of a lot more than just American’s there.

But what can we do to improve the healthcare system?

The problems in American Healthcare can be summarized in three words: doctors, insurance, and consumers. (I know, I know government could be added to this. But government intervention is only making these problems worse, not creating them. Government intervention will create more problems – and has created more problems – that I feel falls into these categories. Since this is my blog, I’m right.)

In short, doctors (many, but not all) try to screw over insurance companies by coding their cases and their visits to get the most money out of the insurance company, regardless of the actual case.

Many (but not all) insurance companies screw over consumers and doctors every day. I highly doubt I need to elaborate on this one, considering that just about everyone I know doesn’t like insurance companies. I find insurance companies are a lot like lawyers, everyone hates them until they need them.

Lastly, consumers pretty much find any way they can to screw an insurance company. They want to pay as little as possible, and have every bill fully paid - and then some. Obviously those are gross generalizations but you get the idea… It is a major over-simplification, but a good basis.

For these purpose of this explanation, we will assume that each one of these categories contributes to the overall problem of healthcare equally (i.e. 33%). I have a major solution that deals mostly with the insurance part of the problem.

So here it is:

My 25% solution is two-fold –

First, congress MUST stop trying to create a public option/single payer system/UK health care/Canadian health care/whatever new shiny name President Barack Hussein Obama tries to call it on his “White House Blog.”

Why? Because it is completely, 100% unconstitutional for the federal government to create a health care system for the American people. Seriously.

No really, read it.

Article 1 Section 8 is where the constitution lists Congress’ powers. There are 17. None of which include health care. Just so you know. So, the job of healthcare regulation must be given somewhere else, right??

How do we know this? The 9th and especially the 10th Amendments… Any powers not given to congress are expressly given to the states. Period.

Now for all my lawyer friends who are at all savvy with how the law/courts interact with the constitution, you’ve probably already figured out the argument that one might use when defending a federally mandated health care system…this, however, would actually require you to read the constitution…

Oh there it is, the second “enumerated” power – more commonly known as “the commerce clause.” The idea behind the “commerce clause” argument is that because one of the powers of congress is to regulate commerce between the states, government has the right to create Obamacare… They would say, “Well, you’re doctor went to school in another state, and the drugs that he prescribed you were manufactured in another state, so, that is inter-state commerce.” However, “regulate” here is not in the sense of “create a bunch of rules for them to abide by”, it is meant to “make regular” or to ensure states aren’t preventing inter-state commerce.

So, for any of the congressmen to get any peace at their “town hall” meetings, they must stop debating this/trying to create UK/Canadian/single payer/medicare for everyone/Obamacare - simply for the reason it is unconstitutional.

(Let me take a moment to point something out: No one in congress has made this argument. No one in congress is trying to argue that this is constitutional. What does this tell us? Psst. They don’t care if it’s constitutional. They aren’t even trying to pretend that it is. As they say in the movies – this is the time to panic.)

Good news, though, the commerce clause is actually the second step to solve the problem. Congress is supposed to regulate the trade between states and ensure that commerce can move between states.

Now, what form of commerce, that has to do with health care, currently cannot freely move/compete between states?

Anyone?

Insurance.

Yep, that’s right. States have been shutting out some insurance companies and been giving preferential treatment to others. This does not promote good commerce or competition in the insurance market that operates between the states.

So, what congress SHOULD be doing to solve at least part of the health care problem is going after the states who have shut off insurance providers for the purpose of giving preferential treatment to others that operate within the state. THAT is what congress is supposed to do under the commerce clause.

Will this solve all the problems of the healthcare system? No. Will it solve all the problems of the insurance system? No. But I am resolved that this is a large portion of the solution. Good competition promotes better business. (Please, don’t try the ignorant argument that that is all the government is trying to create – competition. It’s not. Government doesn’t allow for competition for long, it regulates any competition out of the market.)

Allowing competition to move freely will not create a perfect, moral insurance market. However, it will allow moral insurance companies the opportunity to compete in the market on a more level playing field.

So, the next time you get the sniffles, or wake up with your lungs burning, and you can get treated for it within the same 24 hour period whether with over-the-counter drugs or by prescriptions, just thank God your not living in Barack Hussein Obama’s ‘changed’ world. Then write your congressmen (and maybe a few others) and express your gratitude for their courage to stand against the President and his insane, fatal policies.

Grace and peace,
-Meredith

The State Rock Song: A Small Rant - as posted on April 24, 2009

Today, it seems that the most important thing on the agenda of the Oklahoma State House and Senate is the State Rock Song.

Really?

But, seeing as it is a Friday I was willing to excuse this until I started doing the math...

Number of Senators 48
Number of Reps 101
Minimum salary per legislator $38,400
Days in session 160
Total salary cost $3,878,448.00
Cost per session day $24,240.30
Cost per session hour (8 hour work day) $3,030.04
Cost for 2 hours $6,060.08

Again, the $38,400 is the MINIMUM salary. You get paid extra if you are the chair of a committee or if you are the Speaker of the House (btw, I think this salary is BEYOND reasonable). However, if the House and the Senate spent a COMBINED amount of time totalling 2 hours to debate, vote and revote on this bill (including all of the time it spent in committee and the time writing the bill) it cost the Oklahoma tax payers a MINIMUM of $6,060.08 for us to get a state rock song...Seriously?

Isn't there something more important to do with our money? Even on a Friday? Commercial moment:

Price of State Legislators' salary: $3,878,448.00
Price of State Legislators' salary per hour: $3,030.04
Estimated minimum price to vote on state rock song (only to have it overruled by the Governor): $6,060.08
Spending the Oklahoma taxpayers money by doing something that will actually matter in 48 hours: Priceless

Why I care...Why I fight - as posted Oct. 20, 2008

At the beginning of last weekend I got really discouraged. I was sick of hearing the garbage from the media and the libs. I was sick of being yelled at, called names, cut off, and generally disrespected for no other reason than the fact that I like Palin. That’s what it really comes down to, I discovered. Because I support Palin.

It doesn’t matter what I think about McCain v. Obama’s tax plan, it doesn’t matter where I stand on the life issue, it doesn’t matter what I think about congress, it just matters that I support Palin. Because I hold the same ideals as Palin people are shocked, SHOCKED, that I might want someone who thinks like me being in office, yes, one heartbeat away from the presidency. Anyway, I was feeling pretty disheartened. I’m told by people on the right and the left that it is over, Obama is going to win, and that is that. It’s just how it’s going to be. I am forced to see my wonderful country turn socialist by one of the most dishonest men in America: Senator Barack Hussein Obama.

I just kinda shut down from politics. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore, I didn’t want to talk about anything. What’s the point? If he’s won and we’re all doomed, why fight, why care about ACORN, Ayers, “spreading the wealth around”, or the media attacking Joe the plumber? You’re just going to get yelled at by a bunch of people who can’t get over the fact that life isn’t fair. These are the same people who believe that Bush is solely responsible for the fact that life isn’t fair and some will have to work harder than others.

I was sick of it, I was done. But after events on Saturday and having the weekend to think about it, I came to realize why I care so much, why these conversations with my friends yelling at me and calling me names were on my mind, why I continually research, read, and discuss even though I really didn’t want to: her name is Feruza. Why do I care? Because of people like Feruza.

Feruza is a wonderful friend of mine from Uzbekistan. She’s a little older than me and doing her first year of school at O-Trip. She was just now able to come here this year to begin studying in America. This alone is a foreign concept to me because I have no clue what it is like to desperately want to go to another country and study to get an education. Sure, I would like to study abroad for the cultural benefits, but, I think the best education is found in America. Feruza spent the 4th of July with my family and has since fallen in love with the “real American family.” At least, she really likes my family. I asked her what she was going to do with her business degree. She said that she was wanted to stay here and own her own business because she really couldn’t do that in her country.

Think about it, a woman from another country wants to come to America so she can study, drive (which she can’t really do in her country and wouldn’t do because of some of the cultural ramifications), own a business (which she said women couldn’t really do in her country either), and just live in America. After taking Feruza out for one of her very first birthday celebrations ever it made me realize why I care about American government so much: (I mean, aside from being a Christian and it being part of our stewardship to Christ.) because of people like Feruza.

I want women (and men, too) to want to come to my country and be encouraged to start a business. I want people like Feruza to have hope that they can have whatever life they want for themselves. I want Feruza and people to live in a country where if you just work hard, you’ll get to where you want to go. You’ll have struggles, set backs, deception, and hard times, but in America, you have a better chance at success from just plain old hard work than anywhere else in the world.

I care, study, campaign, discuss, vote, pray and cry for the Feruza’s who haven’t been able to make it here yet. So, I haven’t given up. Am I sick of being yelled at by emo libs? Yeah. Am I tired of the media strangling the truth? Yeah. But God is faithful. Second Chronicles is very clear on what this country needs to prosper. Repentance.

If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

So, all we Christians need to do to win this election is repent and live perfect. =)

Let me include another verse in here:

Let Your mercy be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Philippians 4:5-6

The word used for prayer here is where we get our word “prosecute”. And the word for petition is the concept of begging for mercy. Bro. Tom put it this way, first, you are the prosecutor making your case to God, being specific, on why you are praying for the things you are, then you crawl up into the witness stand and beg for mercy.

So, let me challenge you, don’t sit and fret like I’ve been doing, and don’t get depressed that this thing is all over. The Lord is near and he will hear our cries. Repent and seek His face, make your case to God and then beg for mercy. Do it for not only yourselves but for Feruza’s everywhere.

Grace and Peace,

- Meredith

This Is to All You Christians Out There - as posted Nov. 8, 2008

WARNING!
This is long. No really, it's long.

This is to all of you who have called for unity, who have given a call to “rise above partisanship”, who have written notes about this “historical” election (as if all presidential elections aren’t historical), have written notes about your disgust with “divisive” or “hateful” Christians and last and certainly least have personally (directly or indirectly) called me a hatemonger, divisive or some other name.

This note is for those of you Christians who have been posting scripture about being unified, or respecting your authority, or equality of all beings or other topics (obviously, there is nothing inherently wrong with that unless you take the scripture out of context which I don’t think anyone has).

I have one question for you: Where have you been for the past 8 years?

While Bush, the Iraq war, Sarah Palin, John McCain, Inhofe, and other leaders have been brutalized by other Christians or people in general, where have you been? Where are the notes, the tags, the posts, the comments, the name calling, where has this been? Where were the notes posting of the historical nature of Clarence Thomas, Condeleeza Rice, J. C. Watts or Colin Powell entering office? Where were the comments about the race barrier being broken then? Where was the excitement from you then?

Where has been the disgust with Christians who go and protest Bush for the Iraq war, or who say hateful things about Bush, or any leader (like Sally Kern)? Where has been the call for “unity” to everyone for the past 8 years? Where have you been, fellow Christians? Obviously, I know the answer to this question. What’s worse is that I know that you know the answer to this question. You could say that this makes the question somewhat rhetorical. Regardless, the answer is simple:

Silent.

You have been utterly, completely, deafeningly silent.

While Bush has been thrown under the bus, while Chaney has been dragged through the mud, while Inhofe, Sally Kern, and other leaders have been completely and utterly destroyed by other Christians or just people in general not ONE NOTE was written, not ONE COMMENT was made by you Christians about “unifying under our appointed leaders by God” or “rising above partisan ship” or “unifying to work for the future.” (note: caps meant for emphasis, not anger)

Nothing.

While you all were sitting on your religious butts either because you were apathetic, unknowledgeable or simply didn’t care, some of us were out there putting ourselves on the line and getting slaughtered because NO ONE had our back. And now, when those of us who have been up for long hours fliering, calling, knocking on doors, contributing actual money (*gasp* you mean, you give money to the candidates? As a college student?), when we rise up and say “This choice is wrong!” who do we get stabbed by? The very people we were fighting for. Who are the ones attacking us on forums? The Christians (or liberals who don’t know us and I take their comments with a grain of salt because they don’t know me, but I expect more out of Christians who actually do). Might I also point out that it is really easy to type things at an avatar, many of you have said things that you would never say to my face (and if you think I’ve done the same, think, it’s me you’re talking about /moderate sarc).

A.D.D. moment: To all you libs out who actually know me (like Jon, Jeff, and others), thank you for being civil. You’ve never personally attacked me or called me a hatemonger. It’s nice to have your comments. I know you don’t agree with me, think I’m too assuming, and that I probably make your eyes bleed by some of the things I say. During this you know exactly how I feel because you dislike Bush so much, so it doesn’t surprise you to see my disdain for Obama. You haven’t been calling for “unity” or trying any “holier than thou” tactics. I feel like we’ve always had great forums, especially during this. I hope you feel the same about me.

Okay, back to you Christians: If my comments to you, suddenly interested Christians, on notes, comments or anywhere else seem short or frustrated please take a moment and contemplate why this might be:

For those of us who have been working for the past 2, 4, 8, 10, or 15+ years (like myself) having Christians who have been interested in this election and politics in general for the past 3 months comment and tell you how to be after an election is a little frustrating. Having Christians who have never delivered a flier, contribute to a campaign, made calls, knocked doors, researched candidates, been to a party meeting or even had a political conversation (outside of the last 3 months) attack you is a little annoying. Hopefully, you can see why this might be.

So, before you start calling me and others names, calling us divisive, call us to unity, post scripture at us, or whatever you have been doing, try getting an election under your belt. Try actually DOING something in an election before you start lecturing us on political Godly unity. I hear you in church talk about the tenants of the Christian faith, talk about how much you love our country and yet you have done physically NOTHING, absolutely nothing, to make sure those Christian ideals are kept in government (prior to this election or probably even in this election).

Do I blame you totally for this? No. Because our church and just about every other church I have ever heard of sucks on educating its people on issues. When was the last time you heard about why abortion is wrong preached from our pulpit? When was the last time you actually heard an argument from scripture about homosexuality, about the need for war, about any mainstream political issue taught from our pulpit or heard it from any other? I don’t ever remember hearing a message from Tom over those topics or a Sunday School lesson over this. I don’t recall Tony tackling these issues although he has acknowledged them. I never heard a sermon over any of these issues on a Wednesday night while in youth with any of the 4 youth pastors I had. Needless to say, I believe the church has failed over issue education for its people. So keeping this in mind, I realized you haven’t been fully equipped by our church about these things.

This is my prediction for those of you Christians who just decided to tune in the fourth quarter (heck, we are in 3OT). You know, those you who only came along for the finish, to pretend you’ve experienced it or helped in some way: Two months after the inauguration your excitement will fizzle out. After Obama signs a few unscriptural bills into law or vetoes a few partial birth abortion bans or gay marriage bans your calls for unity will fade away. I suspect by summer you will have no interest or idea on what he’s doing, you’ll probably stop watching his speeches and go back to trying to stay as far away from politics and issues as possible. If Christian’s are anything, they are inconsistent. That’s what you have done before this (been uninterested or ignored politics) and so you have no past behavior to prove that you would do otherwise. Know this, I will be ecstatic to see you prove me wrong. I would be so happy to see you Christians come alongside and ferociously fight the good fight, but I highly doubt it will happen. Please, prove me wrong. I will close with this thought (and I stole it from an “unnamed source”):

Take heed when people start preaching unity, it means they want you to not question something (or stop thinking). When someone starts preaching “go along” for whatever reason, that’s the time to question the most. If you’re a Christian and this made you mad, good, then maybe you’ll get up and do something to prove me wrong. If you’re a Christian and this didn’t make you mad, excellent, it wasn’t meant to and that means you took this correctly (or this wasn’t talking about you). Everyone is entitled to an opinion, of course (and in our country they are allowed to post it! Thank God!). So please, respond with your thoughts and questions. I would love to read them.

Grace and peace,

-Meredith

My thoughts - as posted Nov. 5 2008

So this is what God taught me while I was praying for this election:

I spent several nights in my room (as many of you know) crying, begging and pleading with God about this election. I begged for mercy and for Him not to turn us over to ourselves. I pleaded with Him to stop the corruption in the voter registration fraud and show the world His power by allowing a McCain victory (even though, it was really impossible because of all the fraud). There were two times that I really felt God speak to me.

Once while I was laying on the floor of my room and I was staring at the ceiling bawling over 2 Chronicles 7:14. I was begging God not to let my sin, my failures keep me from what He had for this nation. I remember saying, “God, if it were up to me, up to my life, up to the way I live without sin; if You said, ‘The fate of America rests on your ability to turn from your sin’ or ‘how you live your life’ then America would lose. Because I have sin that I hold on to.” And then God just said to me, “But the problem is, that verse is talking about people who are just like you, it’s because of you and people who are like you, who hang on to their sin, just like you, that I allow My nation to be the way it is.”

I was overwhelmed.

Then today as I was driving I was asking God to give me peace. I got on facebook and everyone was exploding. Dems were freaking out and reps were freaking out. Everyone was emo charged. So, when I left for lunch I just started asking God for peace. The same peace that God had given me the day before when I asked Him for it. I then said, “God, I’m just disappointed and I need peace to get over it.” Then God reminded me of what had actually happened last night.

Jeff Cloud won by 40%
Dana Murphy won at 52% over Jim “the snake” Roth.
Jim Inhofe won at 56% over punk kid Andrew “I’m a really bad liar” Rice.
John Sullivan, Frank Lucas, Tom Cole, Marry Fallin, and Jonathan Nichols all won.
Brian Maughn won County Commissioner (I don’t know by what margin but it was a tough race as well)
Dan Newberry won at 63% over Nancy “I switch my party after elected” Riley.
Jim Reynolds won by 159 votes. This was after a smear campaign by his opponent David Boren who lied and was funded completely by lawyers from Washington D. C. and he only started campaigning two weeks ago. Jerk. Anyway…
Randy Terrill won at 62% over his slimy opponent Troy Green.
Sally Kern won at 58% over her opponent, Ron Marlett that was funded by activist homosexual groups from California and he started campaigning against her long before hers started.
Mike Christian won a very tough race for Al Lindley’s seat. He has been campaigning for almost 2 years and has done a fantastic, clean campaign. He received 54% over the other two opponents.

And the list goes on and on.

Long story short, Oklahoma Reps picked up 3 seats and Senators picked up 2. This gives republicans the (can you believe it) FIRST ever Republican congressional majority. This is the first time in OK’s history that Republican’s will have a majority in the house and the senate. It was after God ran all that through my mind that He said, “And you’re unhappy? You think that I ignored you and all your pleading and begging?” This made me realize that God had provided for me. The people who actually govern me, not some bully-pulpit suit in the distance was actually on my side. They were the ones I asked for and they were the ones I needed. And I wouldn't trade these election results for any other. So, just as I was feeling all cocky God immediately said, “Why don’t you beg me to protect My country every day? Why aren’t you on the floor crying, begging Me to keep you safe every night?”

My friends (ha, get it?), we should not pray for our country just during election season. It shouldn’t even be more during election season. That’s when our elected officials aren’t doing anything to govern us, they’re just campaigning. We should be praying, begging, pleading, crying, discussing, debating (*gasp*), and educating ourselves throughout the years and our peak times should be the times that are the furthest away from election cycles, because that’s when our governors are actually doing something to govern us. So, if you, like many others and myself, had a fire lit under you to pray for our country’s leaders and the elections don’t let the fire die. We should be on our knees every night begging God not to give us over to ourselves and to keep interceding in our government. Think of it this way, today is the first day of working for 2010 (yes, there are elections then) and 2012. Call your county chairmen and find out who your precinct chair is. Go knock some doors, go to some meetings, go meet some officials, go get informed and by doing that, you will be fulfilling your stewardship to Christ with the responsibility that He has given you called the American Dream.

Stop being silent or whining. Go.

Speak up for those who have no voice. Speak up for those who are oppressed. Speak up, judge righteously and defend the cause of the oppressed and the needy!
Proverbs 31: 8-9