Monday, October 15, 2012

Our Political Environment of Election

We live now in, among other things, a market-driven society, where everything is marketed to us, whether we need it or not (even products designed to help with dysfunction are marketed to us whether we have dysfunction or not). And, yes, even Presidents are marketed to us in American Idol fashion (this link on that is worth your time to listen), borrowing heavily on both our deeper hopes and fears about life and the world.  But the government can't do everything we want, much less everything we need:

Governments can do lots of things, but there are a lot of things they cannot do. A government can pass good laws, but no law can change a human heart. Only God can do that. A government can provide good housing, but folks can have a house without having a home. We can keep people breathing with good health care, but they still may not really be alive. The work of community, love, reconciliation, restoration is the work we cannot leave up to politicians. This is the work we are all called to do. We can’t wait on politicians to change the world. We can’t wait on governments to legislate love. And we don’t let policies define how we treat people; how we treat people shapes our policies.


I think this is another helpful read on some of what is going in an election environment like what we are experiencing these days:

If the Thought of Either Romney or Obama Getting Elected Makes You Fearful, Angry, or Depressed, You Have What we Call a Theological Problem