Fight For Principles, Not For Parties

Don't vote for a man. Vote on principle.

I've seen much hand wringing taking place over the last few days regarding the polling data that shows how bad a certain Combed Over reality TV star gets beat by Monica's ex-boyfriend's wife. It is no one's fault but those in the conservative intelligentsia and the so-called conservative/Republican media machine. The Orange Faced One could have been fully vetted when he threw his hat in the ring and roundly drubbed out for being the misogynistic, unprincipled boor that he is. Instead, he was dismissed and his rhetoric was encouraged by some in the media. I saw through him from the beginning.

He is just playing on people's fears and feeding a long dormant white power/populist nationalist movement that has now found their figure head. This isn't battle for a nomination. It is now a battle between good and evil. The forces of evil must be defeated. Last night, things became crystal clear to me as I spoke to a friend about the state of our nation and this presidential race. This election isn't about electing a Democrat or Republican.

Our nation is at a crossroads. I'm no longer just fighting for my candidate, Ted Cruz. I'm fighting for a nation that will respect our right to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am fighting for our ability to be able to send missionaries to all corners of the globe to tell people about Jesus Christ. A respected pastor said something to me several months ago that has stayed with me. The United States is the base for 83% of the world's missionaries and much of the world's charity.

I'm fighting for the ability of people to raise their children as they see fit, according to biblical principles and in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I'm fighting for people to educate their children without federal government intervention. I want a country where one income is enough for a family to succeed so that children can have a parent at home so that they aren't raised by a government school that isn't looking out for their individual interest. I'm fighting to end the federal Department of Education.

I'm fighting for a fair and flat tax rate that doesn't penalize success. I'm fighting for a business tax code that encourages companies to make things in the United States again. I'm fighting so that a small business isn't buried under a mountain of federal regulation. I'm fighting so that a farmer isn't treated better than the hardware store owner in the small town that he lives next to. I'm fighting for equality in taxation.

I'm fighting so that each state can become the laboratory of policy and democratic experimentation. I'm fighting so that Texas isn't treated to the same stupid laws and policy that New York is. I'm fighting so that Iowa isn't subjected to the same policy that Florida is. I'm fighting so that states that haven't adopted backward big government aren't forced to do so by an overarching, all powerful federal government.

But most of all, I'm fighting for each and every staffer and volunteer that has become my friend during the course of this campaign. I'm fighting for the church that I've found through this campaign. I'm fighting for my family and my friends. I'm fighting for the people that have given so much and asked little in return other than a chance to see their principles reapplied. I'm fighting so that my nephew and my young friends have the opportunity to live in a country more free than the one they were born into, rather than have to live with the decline of a nation, once the freest in the whole world.

I urge you to join me. I urge you to get involved. Don't just vote. Volunteer. You can even volunteer from home to make phone calls. Don't sit back and waste the opportunity to stand for principle. We finally have an opportunity to do just that.

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Christian Principles Matter

Christmas and the lead up to it has given me time to be contemplative about what has happened in my life over the last few 0months. I have found myself taking the high road in arguments more, perhaps reflecting the leadership of the Cruz campaign but also reflecting what I've learned from the pastor and members of Marion Avenue Baptist Church.

A bright light was shown before me the first Sunday I stepped foot in Marion Avenue Baptist Church. I've been going to church my whole life and knew that I was a Christian, but I didn't know how to actually be a Christian. I hope I don't lose you. I had slipped into thinking that Christianity was a works based faith rather that a faith based upon God's grace. The works come after the grace, not prior to. The work of a Christian is the work of trying, while all the time failing, to be more like Jesus. Perhaps the man that has had the greatest impact on my life in recent years has been Marlin Bontrager, just by asking me to come to church with him and his amazing family. Becky and Marlin have raised the most impressive bunch of children I've ever seen. I enjoy their company and I hope to call them friends for the rest of my life, no matter where God leads my life. Pastor Joseph Brown also must be commended for showing me that I can be both bold in my opinions and faithful to Jesus.

This has helped me to realize that I should not expect anything of anyone that I first wouldn't do myself. A great weight has been lifted off of my shoulders in realizing that faith only need be placed in God and not man. There is truth in knowing the peace that passes all understanding.

Christian principles are also the reason that I see the good in the campaign I've decided to invest my time and effort in. It has a trickle down effect. I see a noticeable difference in the way people that are backing this campaign deal with other people and the way people invested in other campaigns do. Those of us in the #CruzCrew will defend Ted and his family but we don't go out of our way to besmirch someone for being who they are unless they tell lies about Ted Cruz, his family or one of our many supporters. I will not hesitate to stand up for my friends and many involved with the campaign are my friends. Many other candidates' supporters, namely of the national Republican "front runner" see no need to have a foundation in moral or ethical principle. They only see the need to destroy the system. While I see the system as being fundamentally broken too, I also realize that there needs to be a principled plan to fix the system. Destroying something and hoping that someone has the right ideas to fix it just because you like the way that person talks to the people you hate(and hate is the right word) is a fool's errand. What someone says today must judged against what they have said in the past if they have shown no actual change of heart or conversion. If someone comes to God through Jesus, I truly believe they will change. If not, I see no real evidence of change.

Barrack Obama was elected on hopes and whims of people who saw him as a transformational figure with no evidence of him doing any of what he said. The current Donald Trump phenomenon is eerily similar in construct. A giant swell of support for someone just because "he fights" against the bogey man of political correctness in the same way that Barrack Obama fought against "corporate America" and for the "people". Political correctness is dispatched with the truth, not hot air and empty promises.

As a common saying goes, if I were put on trial for being a Christian, I would hope there would be enough evidence to convict me. I don't know if I'm there yet, but I'm trying. What is disappointing is the large number of people that spout conservative Christian views when running for office but show nothing of the sort once they are elected. We even see it with candidates that have had a modicum of success in years past that have now had the Ted Cruz light shown upon them. They are actually just big government social conservatives that are not interested in liberty or freedom. All they want is their world view to be imposed by government. As Christians, that type of thinking should terrify us. All we need is the freedom to worship and tell people of our faith though deeds and words. Having a President that believes in Jesus is important, even paramount, but I also think that same President should also know that government should be smaller and less intrusive. I think this is where the self centered big government social conservatives lose most voters. Ted Cruz is happy to take questions from atheist voters and will happily tell them they are free to worship, or not, of their own free will, but their free will stops at the point of someone else practicing their constitutionally protected rights. He will then tell them he hopes they choose to follow Jesus, but that must be their own decision and no one else's.

"But Huckabee, at his core, is a big government social conservative." Truer words have not be spoken. #Huckabee https://t.co/QdQRPhZuOk

— Matt Wells #CruzCrew (@bigredmatt1011) December 26, 2015

I have waited so long for a leader to actually turn us toward Constitutional government. Frankly, I think this election is more important that any of us actually knows. As Christians, we mustn't push our views by making the government do our biding, rather we must show people the way through being ambassadors for our faith in Jesus Christ and showing people His grace but we must also not be afraid to call out those who treat Christianity as a weapon for their own purposes. While we may have the armor of God, we can't force someone to believe. Belief comes through being born again in Christ, not the strong arm of the government. The government, when directed by just men, will allow His Church to regain its rightful place in American society through free will and Christian example.

All of this doesn't mean that we should slink away and not be involved in the process of electing our leaders. Quite the opposite is true. We must be quick to defend what we know is true and just as quick to call out wrong doing. We must be more discerning and less tolerant of injustice. We must elect leaders that will respect our faith, our churches and allow freedom and liberty to rule the land for all people. We can be both good Christians and advocates for smaller, less intrusive government.

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Would You Kill a Seven Pound Baby in the Womb? Me Neither.

Abortion. The leftists' most holy sacrament. If you don't believe me, read a quote from the transcript of an interview that Democratic National Committee Chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz gave to Fox News' Megyn Kelly earlier in the week, “So, from my perspective, from my party’s perspective, we do not support rolling back the protection that the Constitutional right to make your own reproductive choices established in Roe versus Wade has given to women”. Translation, abortion is the Democrat keystone issue. This quote is in reference to Senator Rand Paul turning the tables on the leftist media when they asked him what his position on abortion was. He then asked the local reporter to ask DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz if she was OK with aborting a seven pound, nearly full term baby. It actually worked. Mrs Schultz has been asked the question by several networks and has done nothing but show how much the issue of abortion means to her and her uber left leaning base. Dr Paul has turned the tables and has moved the needle on the debate more than any right leaning politician in recent memory. Why shouldn't those that support what amounts to murder of unborn children be made to answer for it?

One thing is clear, the abortion loving left is a known group of science deniers. A new life is created when a fertilized egg attaches to the wall in the mother's womb. The same people that will protect every animal life, I'm looking at you Delta Smelt lovers out there, will not afford the same courtesy to that of unborn human children. A CNN poll from 2014 showed that a strong majority (58%) of people surveyed either said that abortion should be completely illegal or illegal in most circumstances. A Marist poll released in January of 2015 shows that 84% of those surveyed believe that abortions should be illegal in most cases, especially after three months gestation. Only 9% favored completely unrestricted abortion. These number include people that call themselves pro-choice and pro-life. The number has been trending toward the side of life for a number of years now. 12 states have now passed pain-capable bans on abortion after five months of gestation. Mrs Schultz is on the wrong side of this issue. The great thing all of her interviews have done is to make sure the voting public now have her on record. She supports killing children up until the day they are born.

The Republicans should recognize this as an issue where they are on the right side and the Democrat party is on the wrong side.  Senator Ted Cruz, when asked by David Brody in a March interview with CBN News, if he would compromise with those across the aisle, said that conservatives should follow Ronald Reagan's lead. “Reagan said what do you do if they offer you half a loaf? Answer: you take it. And then you come back for more”. Republicans need to treat the issue of protecting innocent life in Reagan's half a loaf manner. Keep asking for more.

This issue is near and dear to me. As the uncle of a little boy who was born at 30 weeks gestation, most elected Democrats would have been fine with a baby of his gestational age being aborted. He is now almost nine months old and starting to eat solid foods. He also enjoys chewing on everything as if his life depended on it. My nephew was barely over three pounds at birth, barely bigger than my brother-in-law's hand. He is now the most special thing to happen to my family in years. He is the light in my sister's eyes and he knows, already, just how to push her buttons. 

Those of us appreciate every new life need to make our voices heard. Let pro-life candidates know that they have our support. Make sure that those who seek to allow babies to be killed up until they are born hear our righteous anger. We, as pro-life voters, need to make our voices heard. Make our opponents understand that they are on the wrong side of this issue. I, for one, am not afraid of people that advocate killing innocent babies. You shouldn't be afraid either.

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