David Jeffers

For the Greater Good
November 1, 2008

“We can overcome evil with greater good.” – First Lady Laura Bush

Many are the complaints of evangelical Christians and other American voters of having to choose the lesser of two evils. Christian pundits have rightly offered that the Bible no where allows for choosing evil. My pastor has counseled that we should not vote against someone because we as Christians are not to do anyone harm. With the choice of Barack Obama and John McCain for President for the two major parties, what should a Christian do? Both candidates are flawed in light of biblical principles and not the ideal choice for a Christian or conservative voting his or her conscience. This evangelical Christian has decided to do as Laura Bush suggests; I am voting for the greater good.

I imagine the next comment will be . . . “There is no difference between the two major candidates.” I have also been told that there is no difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. Both comments are nonsensical because they ignore clear facts that take very little effort to discover. However, consider this a public service and looking at the latter first, let us examine the differences of the two major political parties.

First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The comparison on both the free exercise of religion and speech between Democrats and Republicans is vast, so a narrow focus of a couple of issues will make best use of time and space. The first is the so-called “Hate Crimes Legislation,” also known as the Matthew Shepard Act, which is based on House bill H.R. 1592 and Senate bill S.1105.

Many evangelical leaders have rightfully commented that this legislation would make pastors possibly liable for any violent acts against a homosexual. Many proponents of this legislation have said this is an evangelical overreaction to a bill that simply protects homosexuals from hate crimes. However during House Judiciary Committee hearings on the bill, a proponent of the bill was asked:

“If a minister preaches that sexual relations outside of marriage of a man and woman is wrong, and somebody within that congregation goes out and does an act of violence, and that person says that that minister counseled or induced him through the sermon to commit the act, are you saying under your amendment that in no way could that ever be introduced against the minister?”

The proponent answered “no.” In other words, if some nutcase attending a church one day hears a sermon on the sin of homosexuality and then goes out and attacks a homosexual, that pastor could inevitably be held liable. The House bill passed 237 to 180 votes with 93% of Democrats voting for the bill and 86% of Republicans opposing the bill. The Senate passed the bill 60 to 39 with all Democrats voting for the bill and all but seven Republicans opposing it. That means 93% of House Democrats and 100% of Senate Democrats voted for the Hate Crimes Legislation and 86% of House Republicans and 82% of Senate Republicans opposed it. As a conservative I do not like a B+ voting record for Republicans on this issue, but it is far better than an F grade.

When it comes to free speech, no one really doubts that if the Democrats win a Super Majority especially in the Senate that Democrats will move to reinvoke the Fairness Doctrine. And this renewal of censorship will not be confined to just the airwaves but also cyberspace.

In an August 14, 2008 article by the Rasmussen Report, it was reported that 54% of Democrats support more “government involvement in the airwaves.” And only 48% of Democrats oppose regulating the Internet as compared to 61% of Republicans and 67% of unaffiliated voters. More importantly, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry to name just a view are in favor of limiting Americans’ free speech rights.

And dear Christian radio station and blogger do not think that you are not in the Democrats’ sights because you are. It is the evangelical vote that has denied Democrats the White House in the last two presidential elections and it will do so again if evangelicals vote for the greater good.

Second Amendment

A simple check on each party’s platform will show the difference on gun control. Additionally, a majority of Democrats clearly want to ban handguns as evidenced by their opposition to the Supreme Court’s ruling on District of Columbia v. Heller finding Washington D.C.’s ban on handguns as unconstitutional.

House Resolution 6842, the National Capital Security and Safety Act, is a bill that requires the District of Columbia to revise its laws regarding the use and possession of firearms as necessary to comply with the requirements of the decision of the Supreme Court. Sixty-one percent of House Democrats opposed the bill while only 3.5% of Republicans opposed the bill, some of whom did not vote. Democrats have always been rightly labeled as the anti-gun party.

Right to Life

The 2008 Democratic National Platform: Renewing America’s Promise says on page 50:

The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.

The Democratic Party not only supports a woman’s right to an abortion but also wants government to pay for it if needed. Quite a contrast from the Republican National Platform:

Faithful to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence, we assert the inherent dignity and sanctity of all human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life.

The Republican Party affirms that a human life, born and unborn, has an individual right to life. Democrats cannot even agree if the unborn child is even a viable human, and its presidential nominee says that knowing when life begins is above his pay grade. There are too many Republicans, including the current presidential nominee, who want to allow the states to determine this important life issue and much of that comes from ignorance of our founding documents. That being said, the Republican Party is clearly stronger than the Democratic Party on protecting the unborn.

Education

The Democratic Party would have Americans believe that they are advocates for educational improvements for American children but they are in fact the impediment. Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum wrote the following in her July 30, 2008 article about the National Education Association (NEA), “The NEA Spells Out Its Policies”:

The NEA fiercely opposes any competition for public schools, such as vouchers, tuition tax credits, parental option plans, or public support of any kind to non-public schools. The NEA strongly opposes designating English as our official language (even though this is supported by more than 80 percent of Americans).

The NEA opposes homeschooling unless kids are taught by state-licensed teachers using a state-approved curriculum. The NEA wants to bar homeschooled students from participating in any extracurricular activities in public schools (even though their parents pay school taxes, too).

You may be wondering what the NEA has to do with the Democratic Party: money. The NEA gave $26,582,497 in donations to the Democratic Party in the last 10 years as compared to $2,875,436 to Republicans in the same period; that is a split of 93% to 7% respectively. In 2008 alone the NEA gave Democrats $1,283,038 compared to $175,500 to Republicans for a split of 88% to 12%.

A look at the NEA’s congressional report card clearly shows a favoritism of liberal Democrats over conservative Republicans. Who were some of the NEA’s teacher pets receiving an “A”: Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California, Harry Reid of Nevada, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton of New York, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts, and yes, Dick Durbin and Barack Obama of Illinois.

Who are some of the Senators wearing the NEA dunce caps with a grade of “F”: Senators Jeff Session of Alabama, Tom Coburn and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, John Cornyn of Texas, David Vitter of Louisiana, Kit Bond of Missouri, and yes John Kyl and John McCain of Arizona.

The NEA and its Democrat surrogates will do everything in its power to ensure it teaches what it believes to be best for your children, including teaching about homosexuality.

National Security

This really does not require much discussion; Democrats and many Republicans opposed the troop surge in Iraq, the very surge that has resulted in the once-declared-as-lost Anbar Province being given over to Iraqi control. As of October 30, 2008 thirteen of the eighteen provinces are now controlled by Iraqis including all of Southern Iraq.

Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid said “the war is lost.” Speaker of the House Democrat Nancy Pelosi has continuously called the surge a failure. Senate Majority Whip Democrat Dick Durbin compared American soldiers in Iraq to “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others.” Democrat John Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, accused Marines of killing “innocent civilians in cold blood.” And the man who is the Democratic presidential nominee, the man who desires to be Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama accused our troops of “air-raiding villages and killing civilians.” No intellectually honest person would deny the level of disdain that the Democratic Party leaders have for our military. Granted there are many patriotic and heroic Democrats, but the party leadership clearly loathes our military.

John McCain put his candidacy for the White House on the line by supporting the surge when it was political suicide to do so. John McCain is a retired Navy Captain and is clearly head and shoulders above Barack Obama in qualifications as Commander-in-Chief.

The Economy

Many people are surprised and angry at how Democrats and the mainstream media have attacked “Joe the Plumber” for asking a question no one was willing to ask Barack Obama. The only issue for Barack Obama is that he was completely truthful for once in his campaign and the cameras were rolling at the time. The Democratic economic plan failed before and it will fail again because any form of socialism does not work.

Would someone please differentiate, if you can, the difference between these two statements?

“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need.”

“It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who   is behind you, that they’ve got a chance for success too...I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

The first quote is from Karl Marx and the second is from Barack Obama. A free market economy is what generates wealth; excessive taxation and government intrusion stifles wealth and punishes success, regardless of what Senator Obama says.

Republicans want to make President Bush’s tax cuts permanent and Democrats want to abolish them and in reality bring a tax hike. Basic economics teaches that production is always stymied when incentive is decreased. While the Republican Party is guilty of excessive government spending, which is something that can be brought under control, Republicans as whole support lower taxes and less government intervention.

The Candidates

Many of you have made up your minds, however there are some 10% of registered voters who are still undecided, many of you evangelicals. Many of you want to punish the Republican Party because it deserves to lose. While there is some validity to that, it would not be just the party being punished; America will be punished.

The contrasts between John McCain and Barack Obama are so vast that they overpower any conceived similarities between the two candidates. Although Senator McCain’s “pro-life” stance and desire to make abortion a states’ issues is undesirable and in need of great enlightenment, Senator Obama’s support of unlimited access to any type of abortion, at taxpayers’ expense if necessary, is far worse. Of course we should never accept any compromise on protection the lives of all Americans, born and unborn, it is still clear that John McCain would bring the greater good.

For conservatives who do not think of John McCain as a conservative, he has a conservative rating from the American Conservative Union of 80% for 2007 and a lifetime rating of 82.7%. Barack Obama’s rating for 2007 was 7% and after 3 years in the Senate he has a lifetime rating of 7.67%. While it would be much more desirable to have a Grade A conservative on the GOP ticket, it is far greater to have a B student than a miserable failure at conservatism.

If you are still undecided ask yourself these questions:

1) Who do I know the most about between the two candidates?

2) Based on what I know, who do I trust the most with our future?

3) Of the two, who would clearly overcome evil with greater good?

The choice is clear; choose well America…your future is at stake.