I’m a pessimist at heart. It comes from my theology of humanity – it’s hard to read Romans 3 and trumpet the “human beings are basically good” mantra that the politicians love. We are sinners – born that way, live that way, and we die that way unless the Lord Jesus grabs our hearts. And (not to throw an eschatalogical curveball) I believe the Scriptures that tell us the there will be perilous days as the world continues, that this world is not moving toward the liberal utopia many see, but toward a moral meltdown before the return of Christ. So, I guess I will plead guilty to being a glass half (or even three-quarters) empty kind of guy.
I would argue that my viewpoint is rooted in realism as well as a sound anthropological theology.
Because of that I have not been surprised at much of what has happened in recent days. The coming of same sex marriage is something I’ve predicted – my only surprise is how soon it happened. I would have thought it would have taken a few more years to force that through, but Obama’s flip-flop on the issues seemed to trigger a moral mudslide that couldn’t be contained and it happened much quicker than I’d have though.
But yesterday was election day in parts of the country and there were some interesting elections that gave hopeful signs that the forces of darkness may not be having it all their way in the red, white, and blue. Maybe you know about a few I don’t know about.
1. Houston voted down the infamous equal rights ordinance.
Now, if that policy was really about discrimination, the church should have been marching in support of it. But it was pretty clear that there was much more to this than met the eye. The mayor of Houston, a lesbian, tried to intimidate pastors who opposed her by issuing subpoenas for their sermons. She was smacked down in the press and eventually backed off. The ordinance became a referendum on her and on her policies and it failed 62-38.
2. Ohio voted down medical and recreational marijuana.
My daughter lives there now, do I’m glad! The effort had major funding and support and polls said it was likely to pass, but it failed by a nearly 2 to 1 margin. It’s not going away, according to reports. The Ohio constitution is evidently pretty easy to change and these folks will be back. but this was a surprising result. The pro-pot movement has been pretty successful.
3. “Sanctuary City” Sheriff loses reelection bid in San Francisco.
Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, famous for his impassioned defense of San Francisco as a sanctuary city for illegals, lost his election bid in a major way. Latest results I saw had him trailing 61 to 32. This is San Fran, folks, not some Bible Belt city. Of course, he had a series of gaffes and mistakes, but the death of Kathryn Steinle at the hands of illegal was a scandal from which he couldn’t seem to recover.
4. Polls show Carson leading Trump.
Sorry, had to put this one in here. I’m not a huge Carson fan (I like him, he’s just not at the top of my favorites list), but Trump’s declining poll numbers are good news for America. May that trend continue until he’s reached George Pataki levels.
5. Elections such as Kentucky showed encouraging signs (for me, at least).
Outsider Matt Bevin defeated KY Attorney General Jack Conway handily, in spite of big money support from Bloomberg and others. Bevins had a lot working against him but managed to defeat Conway by nearly 10 points.
A lot can change in a year, but there may be a backlash against the progressive mudslide that happened a few years ago. Perhaps the other side overplayed their hand a little. Conservative and traditional values are not completely gone in America and treating them as if they are a disease to be eradicated has been a tactical mistake by the left. It’s one election and its a small sample size. But there were a few things for this pessimist to be less than gloomy about yesterday.
On the other hand – Today’s irrefutable sign of the impending apocalypse – Bernie Sanders Underwear is for sale. “Feel the Bern.” No, I’m not linking to it.
Bernie’s response – “That cracks me up.” I do not know if the pun was intended.
