Fear And Loathing In The Election Booth

November 3, 2002

By Tom Barrett, Editor@ConservativeTruth.org

I don’t think I could be a politician, but I have tremendous respect for the honest politicians who must deal with the liars and double-dealers who populate most political bodies. They use tact and diplomacy (virtues which I lack) when they negotiate with people whom they know are lying to their faces. I’m afraid I would say, “Liar! Don’t talk to me until you learn to tell the truth!”

When I was younger I used to dread election time because I wasn’t interested in politics, and I resented the amount of time devoted to it on television. Today I dread election time because I am interested, and I find it so hard to dig out the truth from among all the lies and truth twisting.

For instance, the Democrats are once again trying to frighten senior citizens by saying that the Republicans are going to take away their Social Security. Here’s a quick history lesson for Mr. Daschle and Company:

1. Lyndon Johnson and the Democratic-controlled House and Senate took Social Security from an independent fund and put it in the general fund so that Congress could raid it.
2. The Democrats put a tax on Social Security income, and then raised it to cover 85% of the income from the money seniors had entrusted to the government for their golden years. Al Gore cast the deciding vote on that legislation.
3. The Democrats weakened Social Security by giving immigrants (who never paid a dime into it) SSI Social Security payments at age 65.

Then we have the funeral that the sons of the deceased turned into a political rally. Senator Paul Wellstone, by all accounts an honorable man, died along with his wife, daughter and staffers in a place crash last week. The Minnesota Democratic Sate Party Chairman announced immediately that no announcement concerning a replacement would me made until after the funerals. But within 24 hours, before their father’s body was cold, Wellston’s own sons were playing politics with the tragedy. They announced that they would support Walter Mondale, not an honorable man, to run in their father’s place. It is well known that Paul Wellstone disliked Mondale because he did not have the same moral principles as Wellstone.

So why did Wellstone’s sons and party hacks rush to put a has-been politician who was a mediocre, tax-and-spend vice-president and who ran a dirty campaign in his failed bid for the presidency on the ballot in Wellstone’s place? Political expediency. They needed someone with a name, and they needed him quickly. No matter that this was probably the last person Wellstone himself would have chosen. Win at all costs seems to be their motto.

Then we come to the memorial service. Usually the press lies to us. This time the press was lied to by the Wellstone sons and Democrat officials, and they are outraged! The media were told that the service was for the purpose of honoring the memory of Paul Wellstone and those who died with him. It quickly became a hate-filled political rally, complete with “boo’s” for Republicans who came to honor the deceased, and foot-stomping, fist-waving shouts and cheers for political favorites such as Mondale and Bill Clinton. The crowd went crazy with cheers when Mondale intoned, “Let us mourn together, but let us also make the music of democracy.”

The media usually protects Clinton from his own mistakes, but they were apparently upset enough over the misrepresentation of the event that they showed footage of Bill, Hillary and Mondale sharing a laugh during the memorial service. Afterward, Mondale, in an attempt to distance himself from the disgraceful spectacle, admitted that Democrats had “crossed the line.”

Actually, astute observers should have realized that the memorial was a sham when Vice-President Dick Cheney, who was supposed to have represented the White House in expressing condolences at the service, was told he was not welcome. This is unheard of. When a well-known public official who has served his country long and honorably dies, regardless of political affiliation, the president or his designee always attends. The families consider it an honor. In this case, though, the Governor of Minnesota had it figured out. “It was strictly a political rally. The Democrats should hang their heads in shame.” Governor Ventura said he walked out in disgust halfway though the event.

"What a complete, total, absolute sham," was how Vin Weber, a former U.S. representative from Minnesota, described the astonishing event. "To [Democrats], Wellstone’s death, apparently, was just another campaign event." As Rev. Jerry Falwell put it, “At Mr. Wellstone’s service, Democrat leaders openly hooted it up, patted each other on the back, and declared open war on Republicans for Tuesday’s elections. The spirit of grief was transformed into a spirit of vindictiveness and revenge.”

An interesting sidelight to all this is that since the event was covered live on television, federal equal-access rules may apply. Television officials state that they covered the “memorial service” in good faith, not realizing that a political rally was the real plan. Now they are considering how to deal with a flood of equal-access complaints.

Not surprisingly, the disgusting attempt to use Paul Wellstone’s tragic death for political gain failed. Minnesota Republican officials report that Minnesotans were so outraged that they called in over $100,000 of donations to the Republican Party during the hours the memorial/political rally was on the air!

Apparently Mondale’s name recognition is all the former politician has going for him, because he has repeatedly refused his Republican rival’s requests for multiple debates. As of this writing, he has agreed at the last minute to a single, one-hour debate on the night before the election.

Moving on to other election lies and dirty tricks, Democrats have taken out full-page ads in black magazines featuring a large photo of our president with the caption, “This man doesn’t want you to vote.” Of course this is an outright lie. But it is all the more glaring when one sees the news reports of Democrats going to court to throw out all absentee ballots in the Minnesota Senatorial election.

Further south, four years ago Florida’s liberal newspapers, particularly the Palm Beach Post, viciously attacked Jeb Bush. They couldn’t find anything substantive with which to accuse him, so they cried that he lacked political experience. Interestingly they are silent on that subject with regard to Bill McBride, Bush’s challenger. McBride has less political experience than Bush had, but that subject is no longer open for discussion in the press!

We have always had politicians who lie, and we always will. But the Bible says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Of course, we know that the Truth referred to in that verse was the Son of God. But, like many Scriptures, this verse has another meaning. Truth does set us free.

During the 2000 elections some men from my church were working with a black man who had always voted Democrat because his family had always voted Democrat. They operated under the false belief that the Democrat party served the interests of African-Americans. He was a devout religious man who was ignorant of the truth about the party he supported. When they asked him if he realized that Al Gore and the party he represented supported both abortion for any reason (including using it as birth control) and homosexual marriages, he was outraged. The truth set him free.

I don’t believe that Democrats are all bad people, nor do I believe that the Republican Party is always right. But I do know that the Democratic Party line supports many positions that are against what Scripture teaches, are socialist in nature, and are simply evil. I also know that the Republican Party, by and large, supports Scriptural positions with regard to moral and family issues. The Republican Party is not perfect, but it is far, far better than the alternative. I will support it until something better comes along.

IT IS THE DUTY OF ALL CHRISTIANS TO VOTE

(Editor’s note: This is reprinted from Jerry Falwell’s newsletter. I feel it is an important reminder.)

Roberta Combs, new executive director of the Christian Coalition, recently said, "Over half of the people sitting in the churches are not registered to vote. If all Christians would vote and register to vote, imagine what we could do nationwide."

Indeed, we could literally alter the course of this nation if we could motivate all believers to vote. I believe it is inexcusable for Christians to fail to vote during an election - especially a critical election like this one where control of the Senate is literally up for grabs. A host of abortion legislation is pending in the Senate and it is critical that we elect members who will revere the rights of the unborn.

This nation is a gift from Almighty God. It is therefore up to those of us who continue to uphold the Judeo-Christian values of the Bible to ensure that we elect those candidates who best represent our values. (Proverbs 14: 34: "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.")

To learn about the candidates in your state, visit the Campaign for Working Families Web site: http://www.campaignforfamilies.org/capwiz/candidates.htm. I urge you then to vote on Tuesday for the men and women who uphold Biblical values.

As we head to the polls, let these words of Noah Webster ring in our hearts:
"In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate - look to his character. It is alleged by men of loose principles, or defective views of the subject, that religion and morality are not necessary or important qualifications for political stations. But the Scriptures teach a different doctrine. They direct that rulers should be men who rule in the fear of God, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness. ...

"When a citizen gives his vote to a man of known immorality, he abuses his civic responsibility; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor; he betrays the interest of his country."