There is a questions arising in my heart of late. It asks "how did all my fellow christians arise at the conclusion that our current president George W. Bush is a righteous leader? How did they come to the conclusion that it is ok to approve of a war that didn't need to be fought?"

I know how I came to my conclusions. First off, I didn't personally like George W. Bush when he speaks. Some say this is not the way to judge a man (as if we should be their judge) but I say that the impressions you get from someone can tell much about a person. I am not a bad judge of character. I can look at the way someone speaks, and I can pay attention to their actions, and through this I can arrive at conclusions. The first thing I notice is that he is rude to other people. He puts himself above others. He doesn't know the first thing about being humble, his pride is evident to all. The problem is, I think, that culturally, people now admire these qualities that the bible tells us are bad qualities to have.

Think about this. When George W. Bush thought his microphone was off and he referred to that reporter as the equivilant to an anal cavity, we have to assume that when he isn't trying to make himself look good he is just a jerk. Some might say that because he thought the microphones were off this somehow negates the comment, as Cheney thought. I'm not trying to single out this one err in judgement, though. His appears rude in nearly everytime he is confronted with a view that is in conflict with his own. It is clear to me that he feels he is above questioning because he is George W. Bush, president of the United States, and what he says should be taken for undeniable fact.

Just yesterday my friend was accosted by a christian conservative for his views on politics. My Friend has on a Kerry pin and the guy just wouldn't quit. He was leaning into my friends face, finger pointing, and spouting the traditional garbage you'd expect. Quite frankly, they were just things that Bush had said, Bush the 13th apostle. Bush the 2nd son of God. I didn't stop the man at any time to try to convince him that the things he was saying were completely false, but I should have. The first three issues he brought up was abortion, healthcare, and John Kerry's voting record, while accusing my friend of "ignoring the facts"!

"How can you support a pro-choice (actually, the term he used was 'pro-abortion', a rather morbid term') when you are pro-life?" This is the easiest concept to explain, but perhaps the hardest for the Christian Conservative to comprehend. Abortion is murder. Yes. Killing someone is, in fact, murder. Passing a law against murder doesn't stop murder. There has always been the taboo of murder, and governments have also pointed out that it might not be polite to end someone's life. It goes to say that we probably shouldn't be killing each other, but it happens whether these laws exist or not. Rape happens, abuse happens, and no matter how many laws there are it won't stop.

The important thing to remember as christians is that we are to lead by our example. We shouldn't recommend that someone should have an abortion, but it is far from our christian duty to create laws. We have laws already, and they are the laws of God. If a person chooses to go against these laws, it is their choice to make. If christians want to get involved in this process somewhere, it isn't in the creation of laws, but in the guidence of the people getting abortions. Abortion will happen against the law, and it'll just be worse on everyone when it does.

This same concept applies to gay marriage. It is not the place of the christians to stop gay marriages because it goes against their beliefs, it is merely there place to not go against their own beliefs and, if they so desire, let people know that God doesn't believe this is right. Personally, I don't think the issue any of my business. People sin everyday by my own standards, and to not allow people to sin is not what I've been taught. I've been taught to not condone sin.

After attacking my friend on the issue of supporting a pro-choice candidate when you are pro-life, Finger-waving christian said, as if it were undeniable truth spoken from God himself, that the cause of high cost of healthcare is because of Malpractice lawsuits. This is far from the truth in many ways, but let's talk about malpractice suits and what the president likes to call "defensive medicine."

Aside from the fact that Bush's claims about the savings from capping rewards on malpractice suits is false, we have to look at what is gained by saying this. First, the president can say he attempted to solve the issue when it passes or  doesn't pass. If it passes, doctors won't be held as accountable for what they do wrong as they are now. Conservatives like to say that the quality of healthcare would go down if heathcare were nationalized, imagine what allowing our doctors to be sloppy will bring. I think what Bush really means by "defensive medicine" is "good medicine" or "careful medicine." This also goes to show you how much our president will do for the rich, who just happen to be the doctors that are getting sued.

This concept also applies to the Abortion issue. I'm going to lay it all out right here. It is my personal belief that, in light of more important issues, emotional issues like abortion are brought up to hide the issues that end up effecting us the most. Abortion has long been an issue on the political tables, and if anyone is really paying attention, no one is going to the extremes that it takes to pass legislation against it. Who doesn't get somewhat emotional at the thought of killing a baby? Our own president signed the partial birth abortion act... How many similar acts have been proposed?

This also brings up the conservative's argument that John Kerry's health insurance plan would give control of medical decisions in the hands of beaurocrats, which was also agreed upon to be false. This very abortion bill opens up the avenues that lead down the path to big government deciding on your medical procedures. How's that for hypocritical?

The next thing out of his mouth was about Kerry's voting record. 98 times for tax raises, he can't do what he's proposing without raising taxes. blah blah blah. He spoke all of this like there is no possibility this isn't true, and then when corrected he doesn't even pay heed to the fact that he was lied to.Talk about ignoring the facts! 98 times includes multiple votes on measures that didn't even propose to raise taxes. A senate voting record is a tricky thing to pick apart when you've been around as long as Kerry has, but deliberately using numbers like this to slander someone is wrong.

The fact is that we aren't ignoring the facts. I distrust all politicans, I don't listen blindly to the ideas of democrates. I don't follow party lines, and that bothers the christian right, who tend to have a serious case of groupthink going on. I don't think abortion is right, but I don't think I should make it illegal for people to have them. Sometimes you have to make the right choices on your own and not expect that because we aren't supposed to do something, that we won't. Laws didn't stop the use of alcohol, it hasn't stopped the use of drugs, it hasn't stopped prostitution, it doesn't do much at all. It deters some people, but the lesson to be learned from history is this: It is more effective to convince people that something is wrong than to pass law.

I am criticizing you for believing what you do and not changing when you know you are wrong. It is hypocritical to say we are ignoring the facts, when you are ignoring the facts. It is dishonest when you pass on the lies of your star politican as truth. It is sad that you uphold Bush as a good christian example when he himself is dishonest, arrogant, full of self-righteousness, and so many other things that our bible, what we say is THE WORD OF GOD, says we should not be. It is better to remain out of politics than active in it, if it makes you a dishonest person. It is better to cut off your arm is it causes you to sin, as the bible says.

But perhaps the scariest thing, said perhaps in jest but scary no less, was that we would be better off in times when you could be tried for treason for the things you say. In this land of assumed freedoms, what is worse than giving up our freedoms to obtain different ones? As Ben Franklin said,"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty."

I have to conclude my thoughts here. What were the answers to the questions my heart has been asking? I suppose that my fellow christians are enamored with Bush is because people say he's a christian leader and a righteous man, but it is not through his actions that he has earned this title. People whose opinions aren't likely to be "the man is jerk" has said he's a good christan man, people on his pay roll, the people he sleeps with, his family, and well... most of his friends work for him.  What I'm saying is that the people who say good things about him have a motive. He says good things about himself, but think about it. Who is going to say "well, I'm a pretty arrogant guy, I don't really deserve this job, but I'd be glad to do it. I'm not the best guy in the world, not the brightest, but this is me. Vote for me"

I've got to say that republicans, and people in general, are just taking his word on things. What else can we expect from most people, anyway? People aren't really good at questioning authority, as is showed in Milgram's experiments. I think this must be the answer to the war issue as well. People are having a hard time dealing with the facts that we went to war on false pretenses. I'm not going for all that crap that the intelligence was wrong, I'm going to tell you what I think. I think the intelligence came into existence with the purpose of being wrong. I don't think it mislead the president, I think it was just to mislead us. There is no other explaination as to why we attacked Iraq when we were fighting a war already.

My conclusions on the subject, though, are up to debate. I'm going to leave this up for a while, and perhaps a follow-up post in a few days. I don't have internet access for now, so please leave comments so I have something to do when I get internet access once again. haha.

Excuse typing errors and such, I'm in a hurry and can't check it over, not that I would anyway.