Obama won.  I have prayed for him and will continue to do so.

When I awoke this morning, I had someone ask me about the election, specifically the fact that few of the 50 largest cities voted for McCain.  After I shared my response to my friend, I thought I would just post it for the world to see this morning (though I have revised it a tad).

I think there was a primary factor expressed in a variety of ways.  Now I admit I haven’t examined the exit polling, just my thoughts on what I have seen and heard over the past year or so.

I don’t believe this was a vote on ideology; in fact, the extreme liberal-voting Obama moved right during the general election.  This was an emotion-based election.  It was displayed in the following ways:

The Chains are Gone

First, I think part of it is the emotional compulsion of the African-American vote. I think it was an embracing of a messiah-figure. Obama was Moses and they believe that this is their exodus. I saw (or maybe heard) video of an African-American lady who believed that she will never have to pay for gas again if Obama became president. Centuries of repression - whether real or perceived - were released in this vote. It may be this is the opportunity for race relations in our country to totally heal en masse, though not en total - it will always exist.

I think even outside the African-American vote, this was a messiah-istic election for many who have felt repressed, again, whether that repression is perceived or real.

I also think that this was a referendum against George Bush. There was great anger towards him. I think had Bush been a true conservative, in the likeness of Reagan, instead of a pseudo-conservative who attempted to placate the democrats to win their support, this would have been a different election.

I think Europe loves Obama because they perceive he will move the country more socialist.  The Europeans finally believe they will have someone that will make us like them, thus ending (in their minds) the domination of the US in a variety of areas. Again, an expression of emotional repression.

I think for the democrats, this was emotional in that they felt a right to be in power and would do anything to get it back. I think there is an unhealthy fear within the liberal expression of our democracy.  They want to bring back the fairness doctrine not because they want fairness in the media, but because of the loss they have felt since the 1990’s.  Again, this is an emotional issue, not a fairness issue.

I think the polarization of the country was brought to full display in this vote. People are so emotionally unhealthy that civility and integrity are gone (and has been for a few years).  Our country is looking for meaning and wholeness, but they are trying to achieve it through destructive behaviors.

Finally, I think this was a guy who could really communicated in a way that moved the emotions. While there was little substance with his style (in general) he was soooo much better than McCain in communicating that he influenced the influencers. Communication theory has taught us that commercials are not the major factor in an election. They actually just influence the opinion-leaders. It’s the opinion-leaders who are the influencers.

Syndrome, from The Incredibles

I’ll close with a thought from the movie The Incredibles - yeah that cartoon a couple of years ago. At the movie’s conclusion, Syndrome applauds what Dash had bemoaned in the movie’s opening — his master plan to kill all the superheroes and stage a false save-the-world story for himself ends with him selling his inventions to the general public. At this point, he says, “Everyone will be special, and then no one is.”

The danger of fairness is that it destroys uniqueness, both individually and corporately. Who wants to be average? Well if you have felt repressed for years, average is better than where you feel you are. The issues will come when those who become average want to become better than average, and what they will do to achieve it.

In addition, Christians have to recognize the reality that fairness is not part of God’s plan. Wholeness and Uniqueness are. Unless we are able to live out our uniqueness, our identity in Christi will be repressed and we will not be able to discover who we are in Christ. Even in heaven, we will not all be the same.  We will be who we were created to be.

Just my thoughts…

In case you did not hear, there has been a important discovery made concerning Obama’s belief’s regarding the redistribution of wealth.  A recording of a conversation Obama had in 2001 on public broadcasting in Illinois has Obama noting that the Warren Court could have been more radical during the civil rights era. In addition to mandating civil rights (with which I agree), they could have mandated redistributing wealth, which is socialism at best and marxism at worst. He doesn’t belief it can be done in the judicial branch, but does feel that it can and should be done legislatively.

Here is the video:

It could be that the constitution contains a deep flaw that continues to this day:

This morning, one of my facebook friends posted an email from someone regarding wealth distribution:

Yesterday on my way to lunch, I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read “Vote Obama, I need the money”.”

Once in the restaurant, my waiter had on a “Obama 08″ t-shirt.

When the bill came, I decided not to tip the waiter. I explained to him that he had given me exceptional service, but his tee shirt made me feel he obviously believes in Senator Obama’s plan to redistribute the wealth. I told him that, although I am a McCain voter, in the spirit of bi-partisanship, I was going to redistribute his tip to someone that I deemed more in need - the homeless guy outside. He stood there in disbelief and angrily stormed away.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $5 and told him to thank the waiter inside, as I had decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy looked at me in disbelief but seemed grateful.

As I got in my truck, I realized this rather unscientific redistribution experiment had left the homeless guy quite happy for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn.

I guess this redistribution of wealth is going to take a while to catch on, with those doing the work.

But, at least I gave it a fair shot.

What do you think?

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Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin, the formerly unknown Republican VP Candidate, has had reporters in Alaska scouring for background information about her.  Here is some of the things they have found:

1. Sarah Palin doesn’t actually have an accent, it’s distortion from her telepathic broadcast directly into your brain.
   
2. In 2003, the US considered deploying Sarah Palin to Iraq as a 1-woman commando squad, but wanted to make it a fair fight.
3. As head of Alaska’s Nat’l Guard, Sarah Palin taught troops in a training exercise to scare a grenade into not exploding.
4. The diamonds in Sarah Palin’s earrings were crushed with her very hands.
5. Sarah Palin doesn’t have a favorite web framework. She is a web framework.
6. Sarah Palin is the reason compasses point North.
7. Sarah Palin’s enemies are automatically added to the Endangered Species List
8. Sarah Palin is what Willis was talkin’ ’bout
9. Death once had a near-Sarah Palin experience
10. Sarah Palin can win a game of Connect Four in only three moves!
11. Sarah Palin was not flown to Ohio in charter jet- she ran as part of morning workout.
12. N. Alaska is sunny half the year and dark half the year because Sarah Palin needed the reading light, then wanted a nap.

You can read the rest here.