election map

I found this map quite interesting.  The counties in blue voted more democratic than in 2004.  The counties in red voted more republican.

newspaper endorsements

I realize that I have already voted and I stated that I am ready to move on.  But, one more thing has been on my mind that I would like to mention.  Is it weird to anyone else that newspapers make it a common practice to endorse candidates?  I mean, it seems to me, that if a network television station, or even a local affiliate for that matter, made a public endorsement of a candidate that everyone would be all up in arms about it.  And yet, newspapers regularly do this each and every election cycle.  Why is that?  Just seems odd to me.

OK…on to other things…

Purple America

OK, there are now less than 50 days until I will cast my ballot in this year’s presidential election.  This is the fourth time I have been eligible to vote in a such an election.  But, this is the first time I can honestly say that I am completely 100% undecided at this stage in the campaigns.

It seems like everyone has an opinion and is predisposed to one side or the other.  I even know some people who seem to be predisposed to not voting for either major party candidate (they always tell me this out of a emphatic and yet odd sense of patriotic duty).

For the first time, though, I don’t feel predisposed to either party…or to neither party for that matter.

In a weird way, I actually kind of like both candidates.  But, at the same time, I don’t trust either of them.  I really don’t want to vote for someone and then regret it in a few years.  I am certainly smart enough to know that neither one of them is telling me the whole truth about everything.  I would even venture to say that they are both probably lying through their teeth on certain subjects.

I am really looking forward to the debates.  I really hope that the contents of the debates gives me something to base my decision on.

It’s really weird in this divided political climate how really smart people can see things so completely differently…and so completely along party lines.

It almost seems like we are all watching a sporting event where everyone takes sides based on what team they are used to rooting for.  It’s like my brother and me.  He is a huge Spurs fan and I am a huge Mavs fan.  No matter how objective we try to be when our teams play each other, we always end up seeing two totally different games.

It’s the same with politics.  No matter what words are said or what actions are taken or what plans are promised or what running mate is selected, half the country sees it as good and half the country sees it as bad.

Pro-Life / Pro-Death

I read this article yesterday.  It’s an interesting write-up on the “young” evangelical voting group and their potential impact on the upcoming election.  (I place the word “young” in quotations because the article ranges this group between 18-29, but I still consider myself in the young christian crowd at 31:)).  The article is interesting to me for a variety of reasons.  One reason is that it references Shane Claiborne – author of an outstanding book I read a few months ago called The Irresistable Revolution – Living as an Ordinary Radical.  (If you haven’t read this book, please buy it and read it).

But there was something else in the article that really caught my attention that I want to focus on for this post.  Speaking about this “young” evangelical group of voters, the author of the article said:

“Most favor stricter laws to protect the environment, for example, an issue not typically associated with Republican platforms, yet remain conservative on issues like opposition to abortion and support for the death penalty.”

OK, does this bother anyone else?  This is something that has perplexed me for quite a long time.  How can anyone be an opponent of abortion and a proponent of capital punishment at the same time?  How can you call yourself pro-life and yet support something called the death penalty?  These two hot-button issues seem to be completely at odds with each other.  But, it always amazes me the number of people I know who are pro-life and pro-death at the same time.

Of course, I do understand there is a fundamental difference between the life of an innocent unborn baby and that of a death-row convict.  But, is there really a difference in the value of their lives?  Does God love one more than the other?  I personally don’t think so.  I think God loves each human being the same and the value of our lives stems from that love.  So, in my pro-life way of thinking, I can’t make a distinction between the killing of unborn babies and the killing of rapists and murderers.  To me, killing is wrong no matter the target.