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Saturday, December 15, 2007

Why every Christian should be a Registered Republican

We're entering another election season. The primaries and caucuses will be held soon. In light of such, I thought maybe a series of posts making political commentary would be helpful.
Most of you who would be reading my blog would be fairly conservative. So the title must have caught your attention.
So, why am I a registered Republican? I guess I could just be an independent. Many times I am disappointed with the GOP leadership. Sometimes they just seem to forget and abandon their principles. Sometimes I don't feel like I can say I'm a Republican. What is a Republican anyway? Certainly not a principled Conservative; there are a lot of liberals under the Republican banner. When people ask my political position, I don't say, "I'm a Republican" or even "I'm a Conservative Republican." Rather, I say, "I'm a Conservative," or even better, "I'm a Reagan Conservative."
My Grandpa (who lives in Southern California) has lately gotten fed up with Republicans. He commented to me, "You know, I just might become an independent." But I suggested to him that maybe he should hold on. There is really only one reason I'm a registered Republican (vs. an independent), but that one reason makes all the difference in the world.
Let's face it. Every presidential election, either a Republican or a Democrat will win. That's the reality we're in. Now, as Christians, we want to be able to vote for a candidate in November who will run the country in a way consistent with Biblical values.
So, here's a rhetorical question: If one of the two parties produces such a candidate, which party will it always be, and which party will it never be?
(Here's a hint. The first one starts with an R and the second one starts with a D.)
OK, so we've established that basic reality. Now, since it is only the Republican party that can produce a candidate who will run the country even somewhat right, we can ignore all other parties. The democrat party is lead by people whose world view will lead them to destroy this country; third parties like the Constitution party or the reform party don't stand a chance of winning even a county.
So, now, as we enter this primary season, the question is who will the Republican Party Nominate? Every American Christian who cares for his country, let me tell you something.
Half of the battle is in the Republican Primary. And you can't vote in it if you aren't a registered Republican.
If you care about unborn children, if you care about marriage and family, if you care about the size of government and the liberty to raise your family without bureaucracy intruding on you, and you want to make a difference (you should!), then register Republican. It is your Christian duty.
We've got a handful of candidates on the Republican side right now. Some of them will be good moral examples as President, and some of them won't. Some of them will protect the life of the unborn and the innocent; some of them won't. Some will support Israel, some won't. Some will fight against Islamo-fascism to win; others won't. Some will fight against big government, some will expand it. Some will do both in different places of government. Some will be ashamed to admit that their religious beliefs influence their policy. Some won't be.
You get the point. There are a lot of issues to think through. You may not find the perfect candidate; in fact, no candidate is perfect. But if you want the most Reagan like candidate of the bunch, you will probably soon come to realize that all of them fall short of the standard Reagan set one way or another. I won't endorse any of the Republican candidates over the others right now. You must decide for yourself which one would be the candidate who would most please God. But that is my whole point.

You must decide.

And you can't unless you are a registered Republican.

6 comments:

Ezra said...

That's some good sense...

James Dunn for President!

BTW, I may be able to help you with your story when I get back. Any way, you will be interested in what I have to show you.

Jacob said...

The entire notion of "Christian duty" as far as government and politics is concerned is a controversial one that I'm not ready to address at the moment. But for the sake of accuracy, I thought you might want to know that, in some states, Republicans hold "open" primaries. This means that any resident-- not just registered republicans-- can vote. The state of Nebraska is one of them.

Peace! --Jacob

James Dunn said...

You're absolutely right, Jacob, thank you. At the time I wrote this post, I was unaware of that. I have since been enlightened. I guess my point only stands in states that don't have open primaries.

Anonymous said...

I know this is an ANCIENT post, but I can't help commenting anyway.

I can't say for the case of other elections, but in this past election my family voted for the Constitution Party.
If it weren't for Palin I believe we would have voted for McCain, however, we felt that it went against our standards to vote for a mother to be Vice President.
I can't speak for other cases, and I may be reading your post wrong, but it seems like you're more willing to vote for a lesser of the two evils while there's a better out there, even if he doesn't win.
Do you seriously think it's right to compromise your conviction like that?

Just curious.
Kyleigh

James Dunn said...

Yes, this is an ancient post. I think I overstated my case. I did end up buckling and voting for McCain with great distaste; I regret doing that now (a lot of my good friends repremanded me). But my original point still stands. If you're a registered Republican, you can still vote for a third-party candidate in the general election, but you can't vote for a good candidate in the primaries for the Republican Party if you're not. (Unless, as Jacob pointed out, there's an open primary.) Oregon has a very late primary. McCain was already selected, so the ballot only had a choice between him and Ron Paul. So I wrote-in Alan Keys.

Anonymous said...

Ok, I see what you're meaning by that now.

Voting always makes me wonder about my future... I honestly don't plan on ever really living in the states for good. I've lived 1/3 of my life outside of the states, and it's definitely been the better 1/3 of my life. I do like the states... but not to live there. And I can't imagine not being sure if I'd ever come back to the Middle East.
My parents vote and we follow American politics, but I do wonder if I'll ever vote apart from an absentee ballot.