The Golden Rule Applied to National Leadership

I wrote this as a plea to my Christian brothers and sisters. Please read it with an open heart, pray and share it far and wide. Please feel free to comment or ask questions.

Every four years, pundits, pollsters and Christians seek out the presidential candidate to whom "evangelical Christians" will flock. In 2000, it was George W. Bush. His personal testimony of faith, solid pro-life stance and campaign based on personal responsibility convinced conservative Christian voters that he was one of us. In 2008, former Arkansas Governor and Baptist Pastor Mike Huckabee, joined on the campaign trail by a born again Chuck Norris, was the natural choice. Huckabee, of course, didn't win the nomination. John McCain, the nominee, firmed up his formerly weak pro-life position and brought Sarah Palin in to smooth over his own less than conservative credentials. Many of us felt that supporting McCain/Palin in the final election was our only choice. Prominent christian leaders, whom we trust, endorsed these candidates. And, many christians, including our pastors, flocked to them as the right choice. But, as a nation are we fulfilling Christ's Greatest Commandment at the voting booth?

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12

Look at the scripture again. Christ said, "in everything" follow the Golden Rule. He told us that this rule was as important as God's revelation through the law and prophesy. As Americans, we consider the right to vote sacred. When voting, we are literally using our individual judgement to choose those who will lead our nation. When performing this act should we not allow scripture to direct us? And, should we not expect our chosen leaders to direct our country in accordance with this Greatest Commandment? We hold that America was at the founding a Christian nation or at least founded upon the concept of liberty in law in accordance with general Christian values. The aforementioned leaders, who have gained the support of Christians, have not proposed to lead our nation in the way which Christ said is God's way for us: treating others the way we wish to be treated. This should concern us.

During the Bush years, we began two wars. No, I have not forgotten 9/11. I have rejected the idea that it was an attack on our freedoms and way of life and come to realize it was an outrageous counter-attack of America's past interventions in the Arab world. Beyond the issue of Just War Theory, these wars are being waged outside of Constitutional requirements. The US Constitution says that the Congress has the authority to declare war, not the president. A declaration of war has not been made since 1942. All of the above "Christian endorsed" candidates supported the prosecution and advancement of these wars which have caused immeasurable suffering by innocents. Our chosen leaders have also all supported a system that provides foreign aid to brutal, oppressive and pagan regimes. Of course we should support the troops. We should support them as Christian soldiers, not foreign crusaders but protectors of all the innocent. We should not allow our leaders to use them as a mercenary force for the interests of nation building, world policing and profit.

All of our chosen leaders have endorsed the corrupt financial system of price inflation that lead to the 2008 financial crisis and is leading to the next even bigger crisis and possible economic collapse. George W. Bush and John McCain even orchestrated and approved the bailouts of the responsible parties in 2008. Many Americans accept the cost of rising prices in groceries, fuel, automobiles, homes and household goods as a natural economic process. The real issue is not that the prices are rising but American dollars are becoming worth less and able to buy less goods which makes prices higher. This is not a natural process but an orchestrated scheme by the US Treasury Department and Federal Reserve (a private banking cartel, not an accountable government agency), which allow the Federal government to spend more money than it collects. The scheme works by increasing the supply of dollars, allowing the government and large private institutions to benefit from the new dollars, leaving the American people with less valuable money. The scheme increases prices of everything, discourages saving, encourages spending and the taking on of personal debt, and makes the purchasing of essentials harder for the poor.

Our leaders have endorsed the current police state consisting of the Patriot Act, which allows search and seizure without court issued warrants; the torture of American citizens; the current homeland security system, which institutionalizes the touching of children that would be considered molestation under any other circumstance; and imprisoning and killing American citizens without a trial as long as they are subjectively labeled enemy combatants. I can't even begin to describe how dangerous these precedents are for Christians. We are a people who have been warned by Christ that in this world we will have trouble and that we will be arrested, persecuted and killed for his sake (John 16:33 and Matthew 24:9).

By choosing the lesser of two evils, Christian voters are endorsing and giving a mandate for immoral war practices, economic servitude and a system of nationalized law enforcement that assumes the guilt of American citizens.

There is one Christian candidate who has made the opposition of these evils his platform. The candidate is a firmly pro-life Obstetrician and Congressman from Texas named Dr. Ron Paul. He ran for president in 2008 and though he had a passionate support base, he was not permitted to participate in all of the debates because he was not considered a mainstream candidate. This may change in 2012. CNN has recently reported, that of all the Republican primary contenders, Ron Paul polls the strongest against President Obama. Christians in 2008 did not flock to Ron Paul like they did to George W. Bush and Mike Huckabee. The presumption is that the lack of Ron Paul's support among Christian voters is driven by his past lack of mainstream media coverage, his radical and steadfast defense of liberty and support for individual freedom and the view that voting for such a principled candidate is a wasted vote.

The lack of media coverage is changing. Ron Paul has become a popular guest in the past two years on cable and financial news networks. He is virtually the only political leader who predicted the 2008 financial crisis, when mainstream economists did not see it coming. He is also warning of an even greater crisis to come due to increasing government expenditures and liabilities, while mainstream economists are heralding a false recovery.

Christian voters must not be afraid of individual freedom and liberty. God created us to be free. We were created with rational minds that are inclined, without his gift of grace, to reject him. It is foundational that as Christians, we allow fellow mankind that same freedom. There is no forced righteousness. And, in order to remain in a legal framework where we are free to worship as we believe and to fulfill the Great Commission, we must allow others to be free in all their endeavors that do not harm the life or property of others. We should not take from others the freedom that God created for all of us and Christ assured on the cross. We must not legislate a false righteousness but pray for mankind and live a worthy life of witness. Individually, we should strive to live by the Golden Rule and choose leaders who will lead our country on the same path in accordance with Christ's example.

Candidates must be judged not by their words but by their past actions. Ron Paul, like Samuel Adams or Patrick Henry, has been a radical and steadfast defender of the principles of liberty and individual freedom. An old Barry Goldwater slogan, "In your heart, you know he's right" has begun to become popular among Dr. Paul's supporters. Search your heart and decide for yourself if a vote for liberty and peace is a "wasted" vote. For the constitution and the rights of man to stand against evil, the slippery slope to tyranny, which is only steepened by voting for the lesser of two evils, must be reversed. Christians must stop the back door endorsement of evil. The lesser of two evils is still evil.

In C.S. Lewis' The Last Battle, the last book in the Chronicles of Narnia, the forces of evil are overcoming the world. The noble warrior Roonwit sends a last message to the good king, "to remember that all worlds draw to an end and that noble death is a treasure which no one is too poor to buy." Let us Christians always stay focused on eternity, remembering that winning is not as important as doing the right thing, even in the face of likely defeat.

If you would like to learn more about Ron Paul's candidacy, liberty and peace, I would suggest watching the following three minute YouTube video of Ron Paul speaking in Congress:

http://youtu.be/FqAF-Alc7CM

and pursue the following links:

http://www.ronpaul2012.com/

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/

http://www.meetup.com/Ron-Paul-Meetup-2012/