I belong to no political party.  The Republicans think they own me because I supported Governor Mike Huckabee eons ago.  Yet they are wrong.

Republicans do not speak for me. Democrats do not speak for me. If I were to lump myself into a crowd, I’d choose the Jesus Party. My political platform is taken from the words of Jesus Himself:

Matthew 7:12
 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.”

If I drew a Venn diagram of the platforms of the major parties, I’d fall somewhere off the side of the page on some issues and smack dab in the middle section in others.

I think we have too many laws in our country.  We have been hoodwinked slowly through the years, inch by precious inch, until our liberties are all but taken away.  If we do not wake up as a country, free speech and other rights will be swallowed up in the name of Hate Speech.

The “Legal” Drinking Age

When my husband and daughter went to Rome last year, they noticed everyone got wine at dinner — even children. At a celebratory birthday dinner, my then-eleven-year-old drank a thimble full of champagne.  The legal age for alcoholic consumption in most countries world-wide is 18.  The United States is one of five countries — FIVE — that maintain a legal age of 21.  We join the ranks of that bastion of freedom, Pakistan, in restricting alcohol use to those over the age of 21.  Even communist-led countries such as China have a legal drinking age of 18. It makes me wonder: just how FREE are we?

Needless to say, there are no mainline Republican candidates who would (at least publicly) join me in calling for a reversal of our 21 law. Too many trial lawyers would be out of work if we actually repealed it!

Illegal Immigration

I disagree with Republicans who are against forms of amnesty.  My position is that our immigration policies are inhumane and archaic and need to be scrapped altogether.  I think if a non-terrorist, hard-working person wishes to be a United States Citizen, then we ought to follow Jesus and do to them what we’d want them to do for us.  If I lived in a country where drug dealers and terrorists ran the country, I’d want to take my family out of that mess and join up somewhere else.  The bigotry we as a nation display to those who just want a better life for their families makes me literally ill as I ponder Jesus’ command that we love one another…and that we go out and spread the good news to all nations.  These are people literally dying for a stable life, coming to us and we have the never to call ourselves Christians while we spit in their eyes and call them derogatory names?  We tell them, in all caps, GET IN LINE without realizing that in many of these places the only way to get to America legally is to pay thousands of dollars in bribes.  These nations are coming to us for help. I say if you want to work hard and have a sponsor, stay here. Pay taxes like the rest of us. Come out of the shadows and into the light.

This position that I take is not shared by people in either party.  Even the liberal Democratic Party thinks that employers who hire illegals ought to be punished.  I think they should be allowed to sponsor these undocumented workers.  If Americans aren’t willing to pick lettuce, then they ought to be able to find workers who aren’t afraid to get their hands in the dirt. That’s why I’m on the Jesus Party.

Education Funds

Republicans want education dollars to be able to follow each child so parents get to choose which schools their children attend. As a homeschooler, that presumably means I would ultimately get to use part of my property taxes to pay for my daughter’s curriculum and tutors.  But guess what?  I don’t want federal money. Or state money. Or school money.  Because whoever writes the check will ultimately get to decide what gets taught.  There are strings attached to education dollars.

Public schools would get better faster if parents wrote their property tax checks payable directly to their local school.  There is a disconnect between what happens in the hallways and classrooms and where the money comes from to fund it.  If that money is taken out of your mortgage automatically, you don’t really see the transaction, and you as a parent begin to forget the schools are there to work FOR YOU, rather than you working for them. You should have a say in everything at the school your child attends, from curriculum to student-teacher ratios to nosy social workers staying out of kids’ packed lunches.

This belief of mine runs counter to both major parties.

Abortion

I don’t think special laws need to be written about abortion.  The usual laws we already have on the books about murder should suffice. Members of both political parties are throwing rotten tomatoes at me on this one.

Having gone through multiple miscarriages, I know without a doubt that life begins at conception. Killing that life for reasons of convenience is no different than killing the gas station clerk who gets in the way of the robbery in progress.  I am unusually small in stature.  For this reason I felt life fluttering inside me at just ten weeks.  These babies under construction breathe. Move. Their hearts beat. They suck their thumbs. An unwanted pregnancy has a solution that saves the life of the baby with only nine months of inconvenience to the mother: adoption.  Millions of parents in the US wait for years to adopt a child.

If you are reading this and have committed this sin yourself, please know that I am not judging you.  Jesus died on the cross for your sins just as surely as he died on the cross for mine.  He forgave the murderer hanging on the cross next to him…he can forgive you, too, if you will only ask him and acknowledge that what you did was wrong.

Entitlements

I don’t believe in handouts.  However, unlike the Republicans who want to cut everything down to the bone, I think there are times that compassionate intervention is warranted.  However, I think that all recipients of entitlements should pay those funds back with community service in their own neighborhoods.  Clean up garbage. Paint over graffiti.  Mentor a fatherless child. Help a teacher with lunch duty at school.  Volunteer in the library.  This work should be mandatory, and any funds paid out should be tied to the work.  Those people who are disabled can help out in other ways.  What we have now is an entire generation that grew up on welfare who genuinely do not appreciate or understand the value of work.  Work is GOOD.  There’s a sense of accomplishment that comes from getting paid for hard work.

I don’t see either political party with me on this one.

For all these reasons and more, I am a disenfranchised voter. I honestly cannot say how or even whether I will vote in this next election. I’m disgusted with both parties. I believe our county is headed in the wrong direction. I believe our moral compass is off track. I believe we are dangerously close to losing our rights.  Just think of all these activities we cannot do without license from the government, in some form or fashion (permits, licenses, registrations, fees, and other governmental requirements):

• get a driver’s license
• sell alcohol
• open a restaurant
• get married
• own a car
• own a house
• educate our own children (in some states)
• protest peacefully (no longer legal when the secret service is present)
• build a pool
• build a house
• drive the speed we want to drive
• talk on the telephone (taxes)
• choose not to vaccinate
• pray at public events
• post the Ten Commandments in public places
• express our religious beliefs if they are deemed “hate speech” by some
• wear crosses or other expressions of our faith in public schools
• drink alcohol at the same age when we are allowed to vote and die for our country
• take photos of downtown buildings

We have men and women daily dying for our country’s freedom and to further the cause of democracy.  My question is: how free are we, really, here in our country?

The answer is: we are free indeed, regardless of our political situation, if the Son has set us free.  There are Christians hiding out in China in huge numbers…though they may be forced to hide in hovels to worship the Lord, they are free in their spirits.

John 8:

³² And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

³³ “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. ³⁵ A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. “

People in both political parties, in all walks of life, are slaves to sin that blinds and distorts the truth. My prayer for my country is that we who call ourselves Christians in name will become Christians in action, leading the way to the kind of freedom that human government can never contain.