Why I'm Voting Republican

I (Steve) have never been a member of any political party, and I don't ever intend to join one. Why? Mainly because I have at times felt compelled to either preach or write on political issues, and I don't want to be accused of being partisan.

Having said that, however, I must confess that I have not voted for a single Democrat since 1994. There were three offices up for grabs on the Kentucky ballot that year. If you remember, that was the year of the Contract with America, which swept the Republicans back into control of the House and Senate. I voted for the Democrat for two of the three offices. The reason was that these Democrats were pro life, as were the Republicans, but the Dems seemed to understand better the nuances of other current issues, so I trusted them to make better-informed, wiser decisions.

Fast forward sixteen years. Though an independent, I have not voted for a single Democrat since that fateful mid-term election. Some would say I am a Republican dressed up in Independent's clothing. Some would say, "A rose by any other name...."

I don't see it that way. As it has turned out, every election since 1994 has been an easy choice for me. In the places I have been registered, each election has offered the option between a pro-abortion Democrat and a pro-life Republican. For me the choice has had nothing to do with whether the candidate has a D or an R next to his or her name, and everything to do with their stand on abortion. I have been called a single-issue voter. I find that term offensive. It is, I believe, an attempt to marginalize folks who have strong convictions on the abortion issue.

Almost anyone has minimum standards for who they'd vote for. Would you vote for an avowed racist? A member of the North American Man-Boy Love Association? You wouldn't? But doesn't that make you a single-issue voter? Of course not. Even if you agreed with a racist or pedophile on most other issues, you would vote for someone else because you find their stand on that one issue to be so repugnant. These are qualifying issues. To qualify for my vote, one must affirm what I'm convinced that everyone really knows, but many refuse to admit: that a baby in the womb is a real human being, created in the image of God, and deserving of legal protection. My arguments against abortion, very briefly, boil down to the indisputable biological facts concerning fetal develpment. You can't treat these facts seriously and conclude that the fetus is not a person. If it is a person, then anyone reasonable person will agree that it's wrong to take an innocent human life. In my judgment, a candidate must affirm this to be qualified for public office. For the past sixteen years all the ones who have done so happened to be Republicans; all those who have failed to qualify have been Democrats.

Of course, there are other very important issues. It's my observation that both parties have been completely out of touch with the American people. When the Republicans were in office, we went to war on a false pretense and the economy tanked due to irresponsible policies. One of these was constantly claiming to be for smaller government and fiscal restraint while habitually passing federal budgets with so much pork and waste that it boggles the mind of anyone who's not a politician. So the people ousted them.

Then the Democrats took over. My observation is that the people gave them a very limited mandate: fix the economy. Then we can talk. But the Democrats failed to fix the economy and tried to implement a radical liberal agenda that the people didn't want. This included trampling on states' rights, record deficits due to government-run-amok (which our children will have to pay back), gay marriage, self-affirming, practicing homosexuals in the military (no one is saying that gays can't serve; only that they stay out of their fellow solders' faces with it), tax-payer funding of abortion-on-demand, and government takeover of private industry (also known as socialism).

The latest polls are predicting that the GOP will take control of the House, and shrink the Dems' majority in the Senate to 52-48.* I'll be faxing in my vote to help make that happen, trusting that the GOP learned its lesson in 2008.

What will you do? Leave a comment!


*Independent senators are counted with the party with whom they tend to lean.

Martha Gets Stitches Out

Martha went to the doctor this past Wednesday and got the inner layer of her stitches out. How do they do that without opening her up again, you ask? Well, as it turns out, the stitches rise to the surface on their own and begin to poke through the skin. Ouch! She still needs to go in for a thorough checkup for hidden moles, and then will have to have checkups every two months for the next year.

The outreach by our kids in Tejarcillos was postponed a week by the rehab center we were partnering with, and Martha and I could not attend on the new date. Fran and Ileana, some adult volunteers, and the children pulled the whole thing off beautifully. The only thing Martha and I contributed was funding. This underscored Martha's and my belief that we have worked ourselves out of a job. If we should decide to restart the church it would require Martha and me to be more involved, but if we continue on as a parachurch ministry, we would feel totally comfortable turning the reigns of the ministry over to them completely, and just continue raising funds for them.

Next week we plan to build an additional bedroom onto Fran and Ileana's house, which also serves as a headquarters for the ministry there in the slums. They have recently taken in two family members to live with them. One is their granddaughter Alexa and the other is Fran's mother Norma who is in poor health and can no longer live alone. Norma is staying in a small bedroom with Alexa and two of Fran and Ileana's daughters. It has created a crowded, uncomfortable living situation for all involved, so First Presbyterian Church of DeLand, FL, and a men's interdenominational prayer group have provided the funds for us to build an extra room.

I taught a class on development and pastoral care of preschoolers at a local seminary two weeks ago. They were trying me out as a teacher in their program for folks who need training in ministry but lack a high school diploma. It went well as far as I could tell, but I haven't heard back from them. This is not unusual in this culture, even when someone is interested in hiring you. Folks just aren't in any hurry. It's also the normal way for Ticos to let you know they're not interested. So it could be either one at this point. I'll keep you posted...