I have said this many times, and I expect I will say it many more: You cannot follow Jesus Christ and follow either of the two political parties.
This election season has demonstrated in an obvious way that both our political parties are morally bankrupt. It has shown us, if we would allow ourselves to see what is directly in front of us, that this great nation, founded as it was on the idea that all human beings are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, is in danger of being brought down, not by enemies from without, but from the craven manipulations and lies of our political parties.
We will destroy our country if we do not cease and desist from the self-destructive nihilism and corporatism that our political parties are pushing on us.
Far too many people, Republicans and Democrats alike, have made false gods of their political affiliations. They feed this idolatry by hating the sins of the other party without acknowledging the sins of their own party.
In fact and in truth, there is enough fodder for that gun in either party’s behavior.
The democrats are pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, and, increasingly anti-Christ in their actions. President Obama directly attacked the First Amendment with his invidious HHS Mandate, and the official Democratic Party backed him.
Republicans will pass pro life legislation, and many of them give lip service to support for traditional marriage. They say they oppose the HHS Mandate, although their legislative record on the issue is weak. In truth, they use these more as wedge issues to get votes than they actually will fight for them in the face of legislative opposition. They do not do the deals and horse trade for pro-life, pro-marriage, anti-HHS Mandate legislation the way they do, say, for tax cuts for their wealthy donors. At the same time, they are outright and outspoken advocates for a type of fascist economics that the last three popes have condemned and labeled “corporatism.”
Meanwhile, We the People keep lining up like We the Sheeple, defending our parties when they are wrong and actually putting these political parties and their “teachings” ahead of the teachings of the Church and Jesus Christ. You cannot follow either political party and follow Jesus Christ.
Let me say that a third time: You cannot follow either political party and follow Jesus Christ.
When you begin to excuse your political party when it violates the eternal verities of Christian teaching and even go so far as to claim that the teachings themselves are wrong, then you have stepped outside Christ and into idolatry.
If you are a Democrat, you have to condemn the Democratic party for its anti-Christ nihilism. There is no quarter to be given to attacks on human life, family and religious freedom.
If you are a Republican, then you must repudiate the false economic teachings that place the power of government in the hands of what Dwight Eisenhower called “the military industrial complex.” This is corporatism, and it is evil and cruel all the way through.
Both corporatism and nihilism have been unequivocally condemned by the Church. This is not some new-fangled thing dreamed up by Pope Francis. It goes all the way back to Jesus Christ.
This election season is a sad, tawdry mess. Don’t We the People deserve better choices than a Clinton re-tread versus a vicious demagogue? Are these two people the best leaders that our great country can raise?
Of course they aren’t. They are what the political parties and their quest to control and manipulate the electorate with lies and poll-inspired positioning have yielded to us.
There is a deep anger stirring in the electorate. It is a just and inevitable reaction to the fact that both political parties ignore the will and needs of We the People. Our government has become unresponsive to the will of the people because the political parties are controlled by a few individuals who hold the rest of the people of this country in contempt.
How can we solve this? It would seem that there is no hope. But the hope and the solution are both right in front of us.
Follow Christ. It is as simple as that. The reason the parties continue down their destructive paths is because it works for them. The reason it works for them is that We the People have made idols of our political affiliations. We choose to believe the lies they tell us, even to our own destruction.
We have made false Gods of our political parties, and we are paying the price of bowing down before the gods of this world.
But if we take this false god off the altars of our hearts and put the real God in His rightful place as the arbiter of all we do, then the balance of power changes absolutely.
A true follower of Christ may be just as confused as a sailor lost at sea without a compass. But if we simply follow our true North Star of Jesus Christ, we will slide safely into port, even if we never really know or see the route all the long journey home.
Follow Christ like a blind man hanging onto a rope. That’s what I did when I was dealing with the vicissitudes of being a pro-life Democrat elected official. Just hang onto Jesus and ignore — ignore — the false teachings of the world.
Do not do this to change the politics of this country. Do it to save your soul. Do it for love of Him Who died for you. Do it because, in the final analysis, Jesus Christ is the only One Who is never wrong. He is your only hope. And He is a sure hope.
The side effect of this will be something no one expects. If American Christians simply follow Christ without question, the political parties will change. They will be forced to change, or die.
The political puppet masters brought this beast to life. But We the People have been feeding it with our adulation and subservience to it.
We need to follow a new master. We need to follow the Master.
Cast out the false idols of political party and put Jesus Christ on the altar of your lives. Follow Him and Him only. If there is a difference between the teachings of Christ and His Church and your political party, follow Christ. Do it every time.
We need to convert this country. The first, best and only way to do that is if we first convert ourselves.