DO POLITICAL PRIMARIES MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

It has begun, the  political campaign season, that is. The two parties are holding their primaries to certify their respective nominees for the president of the United States. The political season has begun. Really? Not really, no it hasn't. We're subjected to politics immediately after the election of a new president or the retention of the old. Immediately after the winner is declared, we hear of the possible candidates four years down the  road and those seeking the position start gearing up their fundraising machines, the taking of polls, and the "experts" start talking about who the front runners are. There is no surcease the politics of primaries, ballots, speeches, and promises. It wearies the soul. Will all of this make a difference and save the republic?

Unfortunately in the midst of this around-the-clock and year political banter, speeches, and posturing, we've forgotten something somebody told us decades ago but we didn't listen then and aren't listening now. He did warn us, you know, but we had ears of stone.

The one who came to warn us was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn a Nobel Prize winner in Literature in 1970. When he came to America, his warnings began. He said, "The strength or weakness of a society depends more on it's spiritual life than its level of industrialization. If a nation's spiritual energies have been exhausted, it will not be saved from collapse by the most perfect governmental structure. A tree with a rotten core cannot stand." (Pause and think about that.)

One of the Founding Fathers said the same: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." (John Adams) In other words, character counts. 

It was most interesting a few decades ago to listen to what the liberal establishment had as their talking point in defense of President Clinton when his adulterous character made headlines; "We elected a commander-in-chief, not a pastor-in-chief." Like most sloganeering, this one rings hollow.

Michael Brown was correct when he wrote: "I’m not keen on the line, “But we’re electing a president, a commander-in-chief, not a pastor-in-chief.” But when it’s used to justify voting for someone who has a long track record of being ruthless, cruel, unchristian, immoral, profane, full of pride, greedy, and double-minded, then I have a real problem with it. . . .Does the fact that we’re electing a president, not a pastor mean that the president doesn’t need to have a solid moral base? That he doesn’t need integrity? That he can mistreat and abuse others? That he can be petulant, self-centered, and nasty? That ethics don’t matter since he’s our political leader not our spiritual leader? . . .I will confront the empty, 'We’re not electing a pastor-in-chief” slogan wherever I find it.'"

Let's switch gears and move to the local church. When God instructed Paul to lay out the qualifications for being an elder, 86.6% of them have to do with the man's character. It bears repeating, character counts. 

As we tread on the tiresome path of politics, politics, politics,  we see Solzhenitsyn standing by the side of the road, pointing to a large sign with large letters: A TREE WITH A ROTTEN CORE CANNOT STAND."