And the lowest voter turnout on record; about 59%.

Nevertheless I am thankful for the results. Considering the alternatives this is indeed a triumph.

 

I was hoping for a majority, but 143 is a better minority than the previous 127 (in a house that needs 155 to pass legislation).

I was at first disappointed that my riding has been NDP for 30 years, and again, that it seemed to designed to isolate into one great camp a bunch of NDP voters. I say, I was disappointed, and have been disappointed in the past to be in a socialist riding - but then I thought about it, and thought - I would rather have all the socialists in one riding so that while they may win a seat in the house for my riding - that same population isn't spread into other ridings where their presence could do more damage - (i.e., better one strong NDP riding, than shuffling them out and having three or four weaker NDP ridings). When I thought of it as taking a bullet for the team, it made it easier to stomach - though I would have liked to see Steen pull it off.

 

"taking a bullet for the team." lol

Just think of the witnessing possibilities you have.

 

The Conservatives are just as bad as any other political party. They are political opportunists who do not have any moral right to govern. They broke their promise on income trusts (see: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061101.wincomemainsb01a/BNStory/incomeTrusts ), and they broke their own law on fixed election dates. Conservative candidates, and Steen in particular, avoided debate and discussion of any issues of substance. It was a pathetic campaign (by all parties) that was just such a stupid waste of time. It's no wonder people don't vote when there are no issues in play worth voting over and no party that is worth voting for.

As for the Mohler article, the abortion issue simply isn't an issue anymore. The Republicans (and Conservatives in Canada to a lesser extent) have had more then ample opportunity to change the laws regarding abortion (How many years since Roe Vs. Wade have been Republican? How many Supreme Court Judges have they put on the bench at the moment), and there hasn't been movement on the issue. If any political party that has as much power as the right wing ones do wanted outlaw abortion it would have been gone already. No political party has the will to do it, they want to stay in power, not to make a Christian stand. Abortion is only a issue in this election in the minds of very few.

Also it is NOT the only issue. Anyone remember people dying in the ongoing wars? The poor that scripture speaks about?.

I'm sick of the governments we have, I'm sick of the secular liberal society we live in. I'm sick of how Christians have embraced it and expect it to use it to produce Christian results. Great, lets paint with black paint and expect to get a white wall.

 

You make me smile Bryan. Not because I think you are shortsighted or even stupid. But because I remember my own idealism when I was a young man (like yourself) in university. Just this morning, prior to reading your comment, I was remembering a conversation I had had with one of my professors. I had written a piece that caught his attention and he called me into his office to discuss it, in that conversation I recall that I was rather against consumerism and materialism (being influenced no doubt by my Buddhist leanings at the time) and I said with earnest conviction that I shall never become the sort of person who would need things. If I owned something and someone else wanted it, I would give it up without hesitation - even a house or a car. Nothing was so valuable in my understanding as to warrant desiring it.

His reply struck me as arrogant, blind and full of condescension - at least it did at the time, but now that I old enough I see that he was either a prophet or just plain wise. He said, "You say that now when you have nothing, and are nothing - it is easy to be an idealist when nothing matters. Give yourself twenty years of living without mommy and daddy - work for what you have and become responsible for others besides yourself - that is, grow up a bit, and your idealism will either fall apart or ruin you."

You make me laugh I say, because you remind me so much of myself.

I don't think anyone is saying that the PC's have a moral right to govern, or the Republicans for that matter, rather people with something to lose tend to vote for the government that is going to protect their interests the most.

I believe that a mother should raise her own children, and that having a large house with two or three cars in the driveway is not a good enough reason to have a double income when raising children. I have no desire (therefore) to see the government subsidize daycare - which would reward this very poor life choice while leaving the rest of us (homeschoolers, stay at home moms, traditional families, etc.) without the benefit, but paying for it through our taxes. The conservatives didn't cave in and subsidize daycares - instead they subsidized parenting. That is, their governance served my interests, and therefore they had my vote.

Keeping an election promise as a minority government isn't always possible. The opposition stands to gain in the next election if they keep you from keeping your promise, so I don't immediately cry, "foul!" when a minority government is unable to follow through on every promise.

I don't know enough about the fixed election law to really comment on it. I think Harper probably took advantage of the polls by calling the election when he did, though (like everyone else) I can't prove it. And I know there was some kind of work in play that was supposed to fix election dates - though I haven't read the text of it to learn whether or not Harper violated the letter of it, or just a spin on it. Either way, in a multi party system like ours, fixed election days would mean stalemated government for years waiting for the next election in many cases. I don't like having an election every other year, but I don't like having a seperatist party as a national legislator either.

We live in a lazy society - one that is willing to argue that if there is a tractor, no man should plow with an ox. Sometimes we have to work with the tools we have and not sit dormant in the field because we lack the best case scenario. There is no moral government, and there likely won't ever be one in this country, but that doesn't mean that we throw up our hands and say "its all the same, so no vote is better than the other." The fact of the matter is conservative Christians have far more in common with a conservative government than they do with a liberal government. I liked Harper's "hang 'em high" youth crime approach - whether you like the guy or not, that's a moral position - to commit to reversing the privilege of criminal immunity in youth is a step in the right direction - whether the thing is politically motivated or morally motivated matters little to me - so long as at the end of the day a more objective morality is the result.

War inevitably follows when foreigners hijack american planes and crash them into American buildings for the purpose of punishing America for supporting national Israel. How should the US have responded? They had, and will continue to have, three choices [1] ignore, [2] give in, or [3] oppose. The moral response is to oppose evil. Obama wants to shift from opposing to ignoring or worse, giving in - which would be turning terrorism a proven and viable means of manipulating the US. It is not merely an act of cowardice, it is shortsighted and foolish. They are in it now, and they have to deal with it - and they have to see it to the end, or America becomes a hollow puppet on the world stage.

Poor? You mean like our welfare recipients who live in a three bedroom subsidized "low rental" for $200/month, have an internet connection, three televisions, new furniture, a dog, a cat, and every appliance known to man?? Pffft. The poor in our country live better than the middle class in the rest of the world.

Yeah, there are -real- poor people here too. People who fall through the cracks - but that is a local, and not a national problem. Not something to compare to the radical legalization of infanticide, or the tearing down of the family unit - or other nation building issues. It is something that needs to be addressed, but when the boat is sinking, your first worry is the hole in the middle, and not the warped oar.

In twenty years your political opinions will change, and twenty years from then, they will change again. We all move from idealist to realist eventually.

 

In twenty years your political opinions will change, and twenty years from then, they will change again. We all move from idealist to realist eventually.


Caveat: People who stay in school all their life, or teach in universities are, of course, exempt from this reality, since they never actually get into the real world.

 

The title by the way, and first two lines are the opening verses of the song one hears at the end of the video game "Portal".

 

So your basicly saying what Churchill said (at least it's attributed to him):

"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

In a lot moee words of course ;)
I know I'm two idealistic, a very synical pragmatist friend of mine (who sahres the same name as you) tells me that in nearly every conversation. I just haven't got over it yet, nor do I have plans to at this point. It's biblical ;)

About the whole war thing. Who is talking about the war because of Sept 11 in the US right now? It's all about Iraq (which was a HUGE mistake). I agree that NATO had the right to go into Afghanistan after Sept 11, but they have botched that war so badly. Why are we still there? To fall back into my idealism: We are supporting a goverment that is corrupt, and either executes converts to Christanity or declares them insane and ships them out of the country. Why is Canadian blood beinmg spilled to protect these kinds of values? Either impose Canadian values on them, or leave them to their own devices.

And there is also another option to prevent more attacks (if the US was attacked for the reason you said, which is somewhat debatable since it's more complex): Get out of the Middle East and stop supporting Isreal like they can do no wrong. But that won't happen becasue having the pro-Isreal lobby supporting you makes it much easier to get elected, and well enough popular right-wing Christian voices think that Isreal deserves speal political consideration becasue of "biblical promises"...which in the end amount to having the nation built up and supported just so it can be destroyed in the end and all the people in it die.

See this is why I try not to talk politics and try sticking to religion. My political views are an outgrowth of my Theology, but when I talk about applying theology to politics it's no longer safe. As long as it stays theology and doesn't effect the world it's fine, but as soon as I turn it into politics I get myself in trouble with people.

 

Very interesting way of doing government. We all have our crosses to bear. ;~)

Daniel,
How can I get my comment compose box to go to the bottom of my comment page like you have? (I couldn't find an option for it in my comment settings). Do I have to update to the new blogger templates to do that?

 

Rose, I am not on the new blogger template, so I don't think you have to do that.

I haven't set anything up special - this is just the default as far as I know? There is an option in the setup tab that lets your comments be in a separate window - I have that checked. If you don't have that checked, blogger closes your blog page, and opens (in its stead) the kind of comment page you have.

 

"How many years since Roe Vs. Wade have been Republican?" -bryan

28 years of presidents. not sure about Congress.

Aborting children has been legal for 35 years.

It took William Wilberforce 46 years to finally overturn the "issue" of slavery.

"In later years, Wilberforce supported the campaign for the complete abolition of slavery, and continued his involvement after 1826, when he resigned from Parliament because of his failing health. That campaign led to the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which abolished slavery in most of the British Empire; Wilberforce died just three days after hearing that the passage of the Act through Parliament was assured."

Mohler is spot on.

Have a blessed Lord's day in His sovereign grace, and loving presence.

 

Good point Don, we can never give up standing for what is right.

 

Daniel,
I also was pleased by the results - our riding voted the NDP out! Had a 60% turnout here.
Liked the comments you made about a minority government. Wish more people understood the way it works in reality!

Personally I am grateful to be Canadian, even if we have to actually pay taxes up here. (read Rose's blog)
I'm also grateful our election process takes 5 weeks total. My husband is a CNN junkie and after 2 years of speeches, mud-slinging and election hype... I'm tired of it. If I was American I'd have just turned it all off by now. Just think, whoever wins will barely be in office and it'll all start again. How do they ever get any actual governing done?
Proud to be Canadian Eunice

 

I am not overly familiar with Wilberforce, but a few questions come to mind right away:

1. Was his whole party against slavery, or was he a lone person going in against it? I have a suspicion that he was a lone person (or a very small number) which is far different from the large party that claims to be against abortion.

2. Did he use the slavery issue to get elected as Republicans do, or did that issue actually take votes away from him?

3. Was he ever the leader of the country, and in a position where he could end slavery before he did?

See if I thought that there was a Wilberforce out there on the abortion issue they would get my vote, hands down. But I don't see anyone out there who I actually think wants to do something about abortion? Obviously not any Republican who has been president up to this point, or else it would have ended, or the President would have been forced to resign because he wouldn't let up on the issue. All I've seen is conservatives using the issue to get elected, and then actually doing very little about it.

 

I don't know if your blog indicates links from other sites, so I'll let you know that I linked to this blog post about this victory in two different sub-groups of a closed (by invitation only, with a sign-up list) knitting/crochet on-line community. I moderate a Reformed sub-group there and am a member of a McCain/Palin sub-group as well, so I linked to your blog post, since I thought it would interest those groups. Since it is a closed community, I didn't know if you would be able to "see" those links and what I wrote, but I only indicated the news and linked to your blog so readers could see for themselves.

Thanks for keeping us posted on this. I hadn't read about it in my usual on-line news sources. It's encouraging news right before our own elections stateside.

 

"..or else it would have ended, or the President would have been forced to resign because he wouldn't let up on the issue."

President Reagan was firmly sold out against abortion, and did exactly want you say here.

There's a lot more to running America than the president. He's only one man. An important man, but he's not a king, or a final authority.
In fact, Congress has all the authority. The founding fathers created it this way, because they knew the sinfulness of man. So we have all the checks and balances.

The problem today is that America has turned to paganism, and the once Gospel culture, and the Church's influence has long since evaporated.

I believe that through faith in Christ, and prayer, and by speaking the truth in love, abortion can become an illegal crime once again as it was in 1973.

I think you're making it too complicated Bryan.

Sure there are politics going on. But there are sincere men like Ronald Reagan, who hated abortion for the evil that it was.
He spoke out against it with fervor.

have a nice weekend.

 

Don's mention of Reagan and abortion just brought to mind one of my favorite quotes of his. Hope you don't mind my sharing it:

"I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born."

- Ronald Reagan, September 1980, quoted in the New York Times