Ok. No need to apologize. I'll accept that as long as you accept the same applies on the right too. I also want to point out to you that we are manipulated from ALL sides. The key is to have the WISDOM (based upon but not the same as knowledge) to be able to separate the wheat from chaff.
As for Gingrich, my statements and beliefs about him are based upon my observations of his words and actions over 20 years. Part of my personal ethos tends to hold people accountable for not so much what they say, but what they actually do. It's a pretty tough standard, I'll admit, and it has cost me some relationships along the way. But I am healthier for it. If the rest of the American electorate applied that standard to all politicians, we might get a government that we say we want.
Of course I can, and do! They will all lie to us if we accept it. My problem with the same low standards on the right is that reelecting them is the same as accepting it.. The left will lie because it's part of their default. No surprise there.. As long as Jesus is on the Throne and men have a God given right on this Earth to be free and determine their own destiny, leftists and the godless will lie..
Can I give you something else to chew on? We've heard it said pretty regularly that Lincoln couldn't win the Presidency today.. How do you think Solomon would do in the Church this Sunday at the Deacon's Board meeting?
With that in mind, and while I view Gingrich's redemption as great on paper, but yet to really demonstrated, I will take him at his word until he shows me he's lying. Mostly because I don't have a choice, if I expect you to take me at my word too.. I can spot a liar pretty quickly, for the most part.. I can tell you with all the confidence that one who hasn't been privy to his throughts, that Ron Paul is being honest, as far as it goes. I also think that there is a great deal that he doesn't say.. How many Paul acolytes were just stunned to silence when they found out his policy opinions on Iran and Israel, and foreign and defense policy in general? Have you noticed that before that came out in that debate, every "common tater" mentioned the enthusiasm of Paul supporters. Have you heard more than one comment to that effect since that night? I heard one, before the following debate.
I'm not pointing this out to say that "your guy is as bad as mine".. I'm saying that I'll take Newt at his word, and not trust him as far as I can throw him. That is my Christian and Civic Duty..
In 92, I was a Perot guy. I got blamed for every evil in Washington for years, till they found something else to blame.. I backed away from him when his plans for the Fourth Ammendment came out in his Law and Order policies.. He wanted the kind of thing found in the PATRIOT Act.. I recoiled then as much as I do now. I still voted for him because he was more loyal to me as a soldier than anybody I'd ever known except my then fiancee.
Do you remember all that he said? I can't think of one thing that he pointed out, (and was called crazy for) that hasn't come to pass. Can you?
Support who you want. Advocate with reason, not by spitting up blood.. Do so because you believe
the country will be best served by his election.. I think the whole concept of "electability" is obnoxious, but it's a reality. Wisdom can't ignore that fact, in a
less than ideal world. I see alot of folks support Paul who
seem to be doing it out of
spite or rebellion. That's not a good enough reason.. Not to me, anyway..
Now, let me mess up your hair real good.... I see Libertarians and Anarchists as wanting the same thing. They just approach it from different directions.. As far as I'm concerned, it won't work, no matter how you approach it.. As long as sin exists, laws are going to be needed to govern men..
I'll point to Jefferson to back this one up.. He said that this government was made for a Christian nation, and that it was wholely inadequate for any other..
PS. I just noticed.. You live less than an hour from where I used to live.. If you're looking for an FFL, I'll give you a guy in Sanford (ME) that you won't regret going to.. Happy winter.. You may not remember how blessed you are to live up that way.. I've got brittle grass and mosquito bites..
Joe