Pandering to the Wacko Fringe

God help us!  Can we survive another eight years of ideology in place of leadership?

This past week, James Dobson exposed his self-righteous agenda by dismissing non-candidate Fred Thompson as failing the litmus test of being a "born-again" Christian.  It seems that Dobson could not support Thompson because he has not repeated the Sinner's Prayer on Dobson's program, Focus on the Family.  He has not bowed to Boulder.

The notion that some kind of public Christian confession trumps experience and intellect in guiding the ship of state is so screwy as to be almost funny, were the Christian Right not such a factor in the choice of our present leadership.  More alarming is the potential of a Christian ghetto-bound James Dobson whispering in the ear of power.

James Dobson, long the Keeper of the Gate in the Christian publishing business, is jockeying now to selectively become the Keeper of the Gate politic.  As he has destroyed the careers and witness of many Christian authors who have fallen from his grace, so he desires to guide America into the Millennial Age, stopping for a brief moment at Armageddon.

Is there not in America a leader, Christian or otherwise, who will stand up for what is right or what is just?  Or is winning more important than truth?  This crop of presidential candidates is one of the most disgusting displays of pandering that we have seen in many a decade.  The spectacle of Hillary Clinton preaching in a southern accent to McChurch is revolting.  John McCain has lived up to his Arizona reputation of being mentally challenged.  Newt Gingrich has already had his fifteen minutes.

What a breath of fresh air it would be for someone – perhaps Fred Thompson – to stand up and say:

It is my expectation today that I will not be elected, but if I am, I pledge to stand for what is right, not necessarily for what is expedient or for what is expected of me because of the support of some person or group.  In keeping with that pledge, I ask that those on the extreme right and those on the extreme left vote for somebody else.  I do not want to owe either of you anything.  I shall look for my support from the 80% in the middle who are being steamrolled by the wacko fringe.

I am reminded of God's declaration through the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer 25:9), "…my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon."  This American Evangelical Right that has abused its freedoms to promote a non-Scriptural theocratic agenda, is in dire need of being carried off into captivity to reduce its influence to a faithful remnant.  Only then will truth emerge.

It's time to take off the gloves, folks.  For far too long those of us who have been working out our salvation "…with fear and trembling," have cowed to these righteous bullies in the interest of survival.  Now, survival itself is at stake – survival as a nation and survival as peaceful neighbors.  With domestic and foreign policy being dictated by worshippers of the words of God rather than believers in the Word of God, the ship of state is without a rudder.

God help us!  Can we survive eight more years of ideology in place of leadership?