by Frank Turk
Before I write this post, let me tell you a story. And before I tell you a story, let me tell you something else. A few weeks ago I wrote a dainty little post which did the political math for you regarding the upcoming Presidential election in the US, and that very day it was said that now, since Phil is gone, the blog has jumped the shark.
Look: this has never been one of those Christian-in-name-only blogs, one of those alleged "GodBlogs," where the name of Jesus is a cuss word and not the name of a good and great savior. We have spent years talking about the theological issues which ought to inform our every-day lives. And most of our readers? They're not pastors. So if we can talk about everything from modesty to how to respond to immoral people who think you ought to call their immorality a virtue (excluding, of course, eschatology), Politics is going to come up.
In that, I realize what makes this distasteful to many of you (the ones who aren't Mennonites, anyway)(Mennonites with Computers reading blogs being my favorite onion of irony ever) is that, at the end of the discussion, this looks like I'm telling you (and if you follow his other blogging and tweeting, DJP as well) that I will be voting for Mitt Romney for President. The reason for that is simple: whatever I want to call it to make myself feel better about it, of course that's what I'm doing. If he is not the next President of the United States, Barack Obama will be -- and it will be his second term, which means Mr. Obama has nothing to lose. So here's the thing: even if President Obama's no worse than he was in the last 4 years, that's plenty of reason not to give him a second chance. In the worst possible case, it is by a long shot better to choose the devil we know from Massachusetts than the Devil who needs to go back to Chicago. Or Honolulu. Or wherever it is he's going to build his Presidential Library.
So I'll just say it: the several posts going up today all effectively tell you that I am voting for Mitt Romney for President. If you stop reading there, you deserve what befalls you -- including any missives which you have deleted from the comments.
Dan and I have agreed that it's worth-while to address these questions once only, and get them out of the way. Some will have the comments open; some will not. Do with them what you will. I expect that the response to these post will cause me to close the comments early anyway, so get your licks in while you can.
Look: this has never been one of those Christian-in-name-only blogs, one of those alleged "GodBlogs," where the name of Jesus is a cuss word and not the name of a good and great savior. We have spent years talking about the theological issues which ought to inform our every-day lives. And most of our readers? They're not pastors. So if we can talk about everything from modesty to how to respond to immoral people who think you ought to call their immorality a virtue (excluding, of course, eschatology), Politics is going to come up.
In that, I realize what makes this distasteful to many of you (the ones who aren't Mennonites, anyway)(Mennonites with Computers reading blogs being my favorite onion of irony ever) is that, at the end of the discussion, this looks like I'm telling you (and if you follow his other blogging and tweeting, DJP as well) that I will be voting for Mitt Romney for President. The reason for that is simple: whatever I want to call it to make myself feel better about it, of course that's what I'm doing. If he is not the next President of the United States, Barack Obama will be -- and it will be his second term, which means Mr. Obama has nothing to lose. So here's the thing: even if President Obama's no worse than he was in the last 4 years, that's plenty of reason not to give him a second chance. In the worst possible case, it is by a long shot better to choose the devil we know from Massachusetts than the Devil who needs to go back to Chicago. Or Honolulu. Or wherever it is he's going to build his Presidential Library.
So I'll just say it: the several posts going up today all effectively tell you that I am voting for Mitt Romney for President. If you stop reading there, you deserve what befalls you -- including any missives which you have deleted from the comments.
Dan and I have agreed that it's worth-while to address these questions once only, and get them out of the way. Some will have the comments open; some will not. Do with them what you will. I expect that the response to these post will cause me to close the comments early anyway, so get your licks in while you can.
