DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS

I'm up late. I'm praying about my voting decisions.

Here's a few things I'm concerned about, if you happen to be up late too.

I WANT TO BE A THINKER:

• I'm not in favor of telling Americans to vote to show their freedom. Too many do so out of ignorance. I don't want to do this either.
  
• I have come to really value and appreciate the words and wisdom from Patrick Lencioni. He lives in Nor Cal and one of these days, when I'm back visiting family, I just might have to try and schedule a long shot coffee with him. I've read several of his books and I subscribe to his monthly newsletter, which never disappoints. The October newsletter started like this:

"I always find it interesting—or maybe troubling—when people encourage everyone to go out and vote on election day. Don’t get me wrong; I’m an ardent fan of democracy. I just don’t think it’s a good idea for people to vote unless they’ve taken the time to understand the issues and make informed decisions. It would be far better, in my opinion, if those who are too busy or disinterested to stay abreast of the issues exercised restraint on election day. I think that makes perfect sense, and yet is often viewed as politically or socially incorrect."

• I couldn't agree more.

PROBLEM IS, MOST OF THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO ME IS BAD.

• campaign ads are full of partisian bullcrap.
• law makers write long bills and then stuff pet projects in the small print between the lines, making my distrust for law makers and politicians mountains high. No other industry would tolerate this junk.
  
• what they send me in the mail is either ridiculously simplified to the point that it is of little or no use, or so complicated, I need like 20 hours and a poli-sci degree to comprehend it.
• many media sources tend to be one sided in their criticism.

SO, HERE'S WHERE I'VE FOUND SOME HOPE:

• I read this blog post and the comment streams and then chased that stuff all over the place.

• I enjoyed this site and spent several hours reading about stuff I cared about. It's seems to at least attack both sides equally.

• I have a friend who has thoughtfully posted a bunch of stuff on his blog. I don't agree with everything, but I did appreciate the process and found it immensely helpful in my own decision making, confident I had someone helping me sort out truth from lies.

SO, NOW I HAVE TO SORT THROUGH IT ALL AND BUBBLE IN MY BALLOT. NOT AN EASY JOB FOR ME THIS YEAR CUZ OF:

• COMPLEXITY: Hardest part of my decisions is that I agree and disagree with parts of like everything. Whether it be I agree with the policy, but not the methodology a proposition employs or visa-versa, I'm finding a lot of decisions hard for me this year.

• DOUBT ABOUT THE SOLUTION: I think politics and government can be tools by which the Kingdom of God can be seen, but it's rarely the first goal of either of them. I have trouble believing that voting changes the human condition that I believe is in desperate need of grace and truth and love and redemption. That is so much more than any vote or ballot can accomplish. I go the poles a bit skeptical that much of it will really deal with core level issues and not just be bandaids on much bigger problems.
  

• I'M NOT A REPUBLICAN: I'm registered as one, but I'm not one. I'm also not a Democrat. I'm a follower of Jesus, and there is no such thing as the "Jesus political party" and I pray no one tries to create it either. But regardless, I'm no longer willing to walk into the polling station and simply pick someone based on party allegiance. I've done it in the past. I'm not doing it tomorrow. I'll vote for some on both sides of the isle.

• MONEY IS LAME: only thing lamer, is how government spends and raises and borrows it. The whole tax deal, wall street buy out, and yatta yatta makes me wonder who is in charge or what it is I must be missing.
  

SO, IN CONCLUSION:

1. I'm praying for our country and our world. This is literally a global decision these days.
   
2. I'm proud and honored to be a country where I can have a voice. So I'm voting as informed as I know how.
3. A bit random, but I'm still a little weirded out by the fact that Rachel Maddow has become a TV personality. I sat in Calculus, English, and several other classes with her in high school- she is part of my graduating class. She now has her own TV show, is a regular on the Today Show, will be a big part of tomorrows coverage on MSNBC, and interviewed Barack Obama last week. Someday I'm gonna get my picture on a box of Wheaties and then she'll be calling me for an interview.