That’s the name of my new Facebook group where I am attempting to resurrect the idea that “we the people” are in control.

Visit the Facebook group page. Join if you agree. And spread the word as fast and as far as you can before Congress makes an egregious error and gives “dictatorial power unreviewable by the third branch of government, the courts” to Henry Paulson.

Since posting a couple of links critical of Sarah Palin, I’ve received several emails from friends on Facebook with questions ranging from “How can you support Obama?!” to “Could you please clarify what you’re trying to accomplish.”

Instead of writing a dozen responses, I’ll simply post one response here which I believe covers the gamut of concerns raised. Thanks for your input and questioning - I love good and lively discussion!

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To my facebook friends,

Two of my friends told me “Ms. Palin is the savior of our nations values.” That raised some alarm with me. Then seeing almost all of my Christian friends go from “eh, whatever” regarding McCain to “OMG! This is God’s will and we need to help usher it in” moved the alarm to high alert.

Some concerns…

1) How political the church is. Don’t we see that McCain’s strategists are pandering to our view that “God is republican”? Not to mention the (false?) hope our hearts cling to with the thought that we are somehow on God’s side by supporting “values” that are only talking points to win elections.

2) I agree with several commentators on the Christian right that in no other area of life do we give someone our approval to lead based solely on values. You may have heard the analogy drawn by one of Liberty’s guys that “if we are selecting a new pastor for a church of 5,000 we don’t pick a guy who’s previous experience was at a church of 150 just because he has the same values.” We would question whether the experience is comparable and make our decision based on that. (Note: please don’t waste your breath keyboard strokes arguing that “God looks at the heart - look at David.” While that is biblically accurate, the hypocritical chasm between that truth and how every church in America picks its leaders all but nullifies any argumentative attempts to all of a sudden apply that standard to picking a political candidate.)

3) Holding the view that America is a “godly nation” and that picking the “right” leaders will somehow get us back to a right standing with God is completely out of line with Scripture, namely that a) the USA is not Israel of the OT b) Jesus said the whole world lies under the sway of the evil one c) that view absolutely contradicts the new covenant and the glorious truth that blessing crosses nationalistic lines d) it perpetuates a mindset that seems very analogous to the Pharisaical thinking of Jesus’ time - actions that simply prove we are white washed tombs. To me that is the biggest mortal danger of politicizing the church, we are creating a bunch of white washed tombs that equate being a Christian to whether or not we are “pro” this or “anti” that. I can’t overstate how detrimental I think this is to our churches today.

4) On a purely pragmatic level the USA is a democracy, not a theocracy. And you can’t convince me that God is trying to get America back to being a theocracy. We never were one and He doesn’t want us to become one. That’s reserved for his second coming as it relates to the church, not a particular country. Holding to that view distracts us from engaging the culture, and puts the focus on overtaking the culture, which only serves to polarize and moralize people away from God.

I have no problem with someone voting for whichever candidate they choose. However, I do have a problem with the role of the church as it relates to government being manipulated, theological truths being muddled and hearts and emotions swayed on faulty premises - all for political gain, which once in office will have no bearing on the spiritual state of our country.

My aim is to get us thinking about being more careful in how we individually delineate these important issues. But so far I guess all it’s done is inaccurately label me as an Obama supporter and a McCain/Palin hater. I guess such is the nature of our political system and season

Blessings!

Brandon

First, we have Karl Rove saying (I begrudgingly link to Fox simply so I’m not accused of further McCain hating - which is another post all together) the McCain campaign has “gone one step too far” in recent ads attacking Obama and that the Obama campaign took a “deliberate slap” at Governor Palin. Ok, first… duh. And, second, this coming from the man who orchestrated the character assassinations of a slew of Bush opponents over the last eight years, including McCain in 2000.

Second, we have Alan Greenspan criticizing McCain’s tax plan by saying that he is “not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money.” Really? I never would have known this by observing your policy decisions for the nineteen years you served as Federal Reserve Chairman. Need I remind you that our multi-trillion dollar debt is largely due to your policies, Mr. Greenspan?

So why do I bring this up? Is it because I believe that Mr. Rove and Mr. Greenspan have undergone radical transformations on political tactics and monetary policy?

Not in the least.

I mention it because it is one more example, in an alarmingly large pile of evidence that we, the general populace, are stupid. And by stupid, I mean we have the memory of an overly loving mutt. You know, the one that everyone is mean to, but that keeps coming back for more love and attention - its tail wagging, tongue slobbering and eyes brightly lit every single time there is hope of a new tasty treat.

We often assign positive connotations to the term “soundbite generation”, but the resulting short term memory and failure to hold people accountable for their actions is destroying our country, one soundbite at a time. To make it worse, I don’t think we have even begun to see the full, mortally wounding effect this loss of accountability will have on building character, establishing and growing wisdom and critically analyzing and responding to a slew of things that comprise the fabric of our society - foreign, monetary and economic policy; education and the family; freedom and civil liberties; the role, size and powers of the government (I could go on and on.)

However, one thing is for certain, if the douche bags people running the campaigns (and the media and wall street and…) are any indication a day of reckoning is not that far away. But, apparently, if the next “Kibble and bit” is tasty enough then who the hell cares?

Woof, woof. Wag, wag.

I’d love to hear your opinion on McCain’s VP pick. Will she attract Hillary supporters? Do you want her to be Commander in Chief should McCain croak? On a purely strategic level, I think it is one of the only things McCain could have done to delay defeat. In my opinion, if he would have picked some also-ran (say Romney or Pawlenty) I think the air would have gone completely out of his campaigns’ sails and he would have been dead in the water. Keep in mind we haven’t had TV since May, so I could be way off with this estimation. But it appears that the novelty of Palin has at least reenergized his effort for the time being. Thoughts? What are you hearing in your circles of influence (friends, family, etc)?

Watching segments of the DNC this week (and I’m sure the RNC next week) remind me of being in my high school gym listening to the popular jocks, cheerleaders and cool kids tell you why we should vote for them as homecoming king or queen or student body president. Not sure if this was true at your high school, but at mine, all of the speeches were filled with lame rhetoric, empty promises and in reality the contest often went in favor of whoever pulled the most ridiculous stunt. I remember one guy partially derobing to flaunt his newly roided, teenage muscles and yet another dressing in a mini-skirt, high heels, wig and makeup. He was careful to point out that he painstakingly shaved his ENTIRE body, which brought uproarious laughter, cheers and a standing ovation.

Simply put, it was a popularity contest.

And sadly, that is exactly what our election cycles have become. Popularity contests.

Is that really what democracy is about? Are we really that shallow and stupid that we’ll vote for whomever makes the most promises or pulls the biggest stunts? Don’t we understand that all those promises cost money? Can’t we see that many of the promises are mutually exclusive? You can’t increase spending and decrease revenue (i.e. taxes) at the same time. I don’t care what the spending is for (war, healthcare, infrastructure, alternative energy development, education or the slew of other things our political jocks, cheerleaders and cool kids are promising) or where the cuts come from. If the first exceeds the result of the second we are screwed. The equation just doesn’t work.

And even if we weren’t dealing with deficits and fuzzy economics I fear we would still make our decisions based upon popularity, or as pundits in media like to call it, “electability.”

Ron Paul didn’t have “electability”, not because of his principles, but because he is a scrawny, 74-year old geezer with a high pitched voice, unconventional charisma and quirky mannerisms. Howard Dean lost his with a simple, visceral scream.

For the last 18 months the Clintons, Biden and a dozen other candidates insisted that Obama didn’t have it. We were assured of this.  But now, miraculously, he does. It must be the Denver altitude. (I don’t endorse the plug for the RNC at the end of that video - I just couldn’t find another one that had the clips.)

McInsane, errrr, McBush, errrr, McCain hasn’t announced his running mate yet, but if he follows in the Dems footsteps, rest assured his pick will reek of the same historical contradictions, dichotomies and scitophrenia that the Dems have displayed.

With both parties we are witnessing opportunism at it’s worse. Malleability at it’s grandest. And who’s to blame? Us. You and me. Each and every individual American citizen who has allowed themselves to be duped by sparkly lights, loud music, silly stunts and, above all the feeling of acceptance.

But, hey? It worked in high school so why not utilize the same tactics now? Let’s face it, we live in a Survivor generation, where alliances in all areas of life aren’t based on principles, but on expediency. Afterall, who cares about reality when you can rest in the fleeting acceptance of your peers?

The Fed keeps interest rates artificially low by printing money at will, privatizes profits while socializing losses and spends gobs more than it actually has. And then we’re supposed to be surprised when consumer prices rise twice as fast as expected? Give me a break. For such supposedly smart people they sure are stupid. Way to bankrupt our country morons.

For several months now I have been using Reuters as my online news hub, occasionally visiting Fox and CNN for comparison and story scanning purposes, but as of this morning I have decided to never visit Fox or CNN again. Their trespasses against objective journalism are simply far too grievous to tolerate any longer.

For instance, it wasn’t until Georgian and Russian officials declared that 1,500 to 2,000 people have died in their recent violence that CNN or Fox gave the story lead coverage on their sites. Yesterday, the headline on Fox was “OUR DOGS WERE LIKE OUR CHILDREN!” about that story in Maryland where police killed two dogs. And this morning on both sites, the death of Bernie Mac took the lead. Yes, it is very sad to hear of Bernie Mac’s passing, but I believe (and please don’t view this as insensitive) it pales in severity to the Russian/Georgian conflict.

So long as consumers absentmindedly gobble up trite entertainment masquerading as news, CNN and Fox will continue to revel in their opportunistic, incestuous, money grabbing affair between big business, slimy politicians and special interest groups.

Until the market demands something different, I suppose they are free to keep their scandal laden, junior high gossip machine churning forward, but as of today, they will have one less googly-eyed bystander following their shallow and baseless pursuits.

From the Washington Post entitled “Travelers’ Laptops May Be Detained At Border: No Suspicion Require Under DHS Policies” - I can’t believe I am witnessing such violation of civil liberties. What happened to “land of the free?” I’m appalled.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you probably know that I’ve come to be a big Ron Paul fan. However, I must admit, from a branding perspective, I don’t remember a presidential candidate who has done a better job than Barack Obama. His purveyance of hope and change is not only compelling in speeches but it permeates all of his marketing materials, not least of which is his website. The “glowing mist” along with his portrait and strategic placement of key messages is very well done. The whole Obama experience conveys hope, which as an innate human desire, naturally attracts people to the feel good message.

The problem, of course, as I’ve heard opponents protest, is that although the message is clear, it is at the same time very vague and mysterious. I tend to agree with this assessment, but it is difficult to deny this campaigns branding prowess.

According to the results from today’s elections Ron Paul is getting owned. I heard one commentator say today that he’s not popular because he “doesn’t play by the rules,” which, is sad, really, because the “rule” he is trying to play by is the constitution, which, I thought was what all politicians were supposed to play by. Where has critical thinking gone? Sad, sad, sad.