Apologetics with No Apology from a Progressive, Part 1

This weekend I received an email from a close friend of the family whom I have known since age 5. As always I was glad to hear from him, and this time he sent a poem "T'was The Night Before Election" which rhymed that Obama was a socialist and McCain was the only reasonable choice. Naturally, my blogger sensibilities go the better of me, so I sent a quick note back to him and several folks that he had copied on the same email. I explained that I didn't think that characterization was accurate and gave a few brief reasons why I volunteer and have voted for Barack Obama twice this year in the Florida Democratic primaries and this weekend in early voting. One of his friends sent me back an email asking if I was nuts. That was fine with me. I replied that no, I was perfectly sane and seated at my law firm desk as a matter of fact, and that if he wanted to have a debate based on facts instead of name-calling, that would be fine with me. Yet another friend of his e-mailed me some well-worn Republican talking points about McCain putting his country first by being a POW, Obama was going to swell the welfare rolls, Obama was a baby-killer, etc. I figured I would politely try to reason with the old lady by stating some facts which I'm recounting below. There is too much info for one post, since we went back and forth several times so I'm dividing it. Enjoy yourselves...

Now, I understand that you are passionate about your politics--but name me someone who isn't. If you want to start a good debate, argument or a war these days you need only mention either politics or religion. I don't begrudge you your politics or values at all, and I often have good, stirring debates with my friends on politics as I have many friends across the political spectrum who are Democrats, Republicans, Green Party, Independents, etc. I have also had the good fortune to be called on to provide commentary on politics by news sources in Tampa Bay because like you, I'm outspoken about my political beliefs.. That's why I'm also a blogger as well as volunteering with Get Out the Vote efforts, voter registration, voter awareness, etc. The good thing about this country is that all of us have some values that are more pressing than others. We demonstrate which of those values are at the top of our list by what we do in our community and how we align ourselves politically. I have absolutely no problem with that. We can do this without fear of being thrown in jail, getting fired from our pension jobs, or being ostracized (for the most part) by our community, or being called names like "leftist, socialist, communist or unpatriotic" because we dare to disagree with George Bush' or John McCain's policies or politics. Read my post, "Who Are the Socialists Now?" Also read, "McCain concedes Obama no socialist."

You mentioned Obama being tested. Anyone who hasn't been President before is going to be tested by someone. Such is the nature of the Presidency with it's daily crises, rogue states, obstinate Congress, and other pitfalls. By the way, John McCain would be tested if he gains the Presidency (by turning mathematics on it's head), just by the fact that there will be almost 60 Democrats in the Senate. He's going to have to go through them before declaring war on some other arbitrary country that like Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.

My respectful disagreement is that so often, God and the Christian faith are characterized as being Republican only--that is somehow I'm supposed to believe that "Voting Right" means that I should only vote for the candidate that John Hagee or Rod Parsley tell me to vote for. God does NOT have a political party affiliation! There are plenty of Christians by the way who are not Republican. As a matter of fact, there is a segment of the Republican party called the Log Cabin Republicans. Now as far as their charter goes, these are national Republican lobbyists and activists who are openly gay and align themselves with the GOP on business and economic issues etc. Where is the Christian Right on that issue? John McCain met with them secretly this year, and no press was allowed inside that meeting--why is the GOP ashamed of them? What's to hide? It tells me that the GOP does not have a monopoly on God or righteousness. Did you also know that there are Republican politicians who believe in abortion? Remember Mitt "I supported abortion in Mass before I changed my mind b/c I wanted to run for President" Romney? Oh yes, don't forget Rudy Giuliani who openly supports abortion while conducting numerous affairs on taxpayer dime while building his political resume solely on the events of 9-11. He was just in Ohio this weekend with McCain. Did you know that in the past, McCain and other Republicans have spoken out against anti-affirmative action amendments noting that these are issues drummed up to divide us rather than bring us together? See John McCain's video on affirmative action here. Oh and of course, (the Obama of the GOP) Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed over 47 bills into law supporting the Gay and Lesbian Bi-Sexual and Transgender community which is more than any Governor is US History. He is by the way a Republican, is he not? That IS the same Arnold that was just in Ohio campaigning for McCain this weekend. So where are the famous "guilt by association" charges here? Wasn't Steve Schmidt, McCain's Campaign Chairman also Arnold's re-election chief? Yes, these questions are just rhetorical. All this information I'm providing you can be easily verified.