Sign Of The Times

As I have gotten older, I have found that my belief in the goodness of mankind has eroded and I have become significantly more cynical. I can remember, when Bob Dole was running against Bill Clinton, clinching my fists at the television and proclaiming: is this really the best that this nation has to offer? It was disgusting then and even more so today.

What is in a label? Conservative, by definition, means favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change. Are we, who define ourselves as conservatives, really conservative anymore?

Ronald Reagan, who in my opinion is the last great president of the United States, was a Democrat in the early 1960's. This seems like such an amazingly odd thing to me until you listen to some of John F. Kennedy's speeches. Kennedy sited things like the Monroe doctrine when it came to communism in this hemisphere. He lauded the Bible, and even in promoting a doctrine of separation of church and state, emphasized the need for this nation to have a moral compass. I am not blind to the many other things JFK brought to the table, but I wanted to point out that a tremendous degradation of both parties has occurred. Can you imagine making a statement like below today?

'The 1930's taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged ultimately leads to war. This nation is opposed to war. We are also true to our word. Our unswerving objective, therefore, must be to prevent the use of these missiles against this or any other country, and to secure their withdrawal or elimination from the Western Hemisphere.

Our policy has been one of patience and restraint, as befits a peaceful and powerful nation, which leads a worldwide alliance. We have been determined not to be diverted from our central concerns by mere irritants and fanatics. But now further action is required--and it is under way; and these actions may only be the beginning."

Monday, October 22, 1962 (Kennedy addressing the nation concerning the Cuban Missile Crisis)

Does this speech sound familiar? Perhaps you heard what George W. Bush said concerning Iraq and thought his speech was 'hawk-like'. Bush has been lambasted for the very thing that Kennedy was praised for: there are times when war must be waged to minimize global impact. It is the mandate of those who can to do.

40 years later, our infrastructure has failed us; social security is in trouble; our healthcare system has been cannibalized by our litigious-happy society; abortion is legal and openly accepted; Christianity is now considered a taboo subject; there are lingerie catalogs mailed to my house that JFK would have labelled a 'scandalous gentlemen's magazine'; even the pledge of allegiance has been drawn into public scrutiny and banned in some 'forward thinking' sectors. It saddens me that I have two daughters and I cannot tell them to go outside and play because I went to a website that says that we have 3 pedophiles that live within 2 miles of my house.

Our world has turned upside down: the things that are now legal, I want illegalized. Actions that are considered morally acceptable need changing. I am now the liberal, and I am watching my civil liberties be trampled on and revoked both left and right.

Anger can come when people see the frustration and futility of fighting for what they believe in: this can occur in the workplace, between our spouse and us, even in sports. Our society and the slippery moral slope that we seem to be on have angered me, yet I still believe. There was a song back in the 80's from the Call, I Still Believe:

I've been in a cave for forty days, only a spark to light my way.

I want to get out, I want to give in, this is our cry, this is our sin.

But I still believe. I still believe through the shame and through the grief.
Through the lies and through the storms, through the cries and through the wars.
I still believe.

I love this song for what it says and it is the mantra that I want to dwell on. I still believe: in this country and its greatness, in moral absolutes, in a God who is waiting for His wayward son. Upon reflection, I never did buy into the 'goodness of mankind': I bought into the redemptive power that atones for man's goodness', and the Man who made it all happen. And in that I can rest knowing that God is still the leader of my party.

-Doug