In My Opinion...

It would seem a great many people are afflicted with the fear.
Fear of what?
Fear of them.
Who are they?
They are people who disagree with us.
Who are we?
That, finally is a good question.

I was about to embark on another snarky political column inspired by the rancorous debate of last evening, but as I sat down to write I was afflicted with sympathy for the many Americans who are going to approach the polls next month with fear and trembling.
First, let me say this: breathe.  No matter who gets elected, God will still be in control, and America will still be the best nation on earth for its citizens.  The highly contentious atmosphere of the election will subside and we will settle in to see if the opinions and promises that have been foisted off as facts and doctrines actually bear fruit.  I suspect that a year from now, we will probably (once again) come face to face with the grim reality that politicians cannot be trusted.  As long as politics embodies a power struggle more than it embodies truly serving the people, we are doomed to repeat that dire discovery.
Nations always rage and people always plot in vain.
Second, let me say this: Sennacherib.  Aside from being fun to say, Sennacherib was an Assyrian King who terrified ancient Israel during the reign of Hezekiah.  He made Bashir Assad look like Mr. Rogers.  Assyrians in general were known for their brutality and sudden violent conquests.  Yet Assyria never conquered Judah, God just made them go away.  Empires, no matter how grand and glorious, always decline and fall.  It happened to Assyria, it happened to Rome, it happened to Britain, and it will happen to us, the question is: how do we deal with it.  Do we simply dissolve our civilization and fade into the sands of history like the Hittites or do we remain with dignity and resolve like the Brits.  We share more raw material with the Brits than we do with the Assyrians, maybe there's an outside chance that, as our hegemony fades, we might become something even better than a colonialist police force.
Third, and last of all let me say this: fear is the mind killer.  I have heard too many reasonable people begin propounding the most enfeebled conspiracy theories with regard to the machinations of the political machine. I have no great love for the propaganda and the vitriol, but please the type of manipulation that has been suspected under every bush is not a reality.  It is not a reality because, even if there is a will, there is no way to accomplish such chicanery.  If Obama could "cook the books" on the unemployment figures or magically make gas prices drop, don't you think he would have tried that a little sooner?  There are plenty of lies to go around on both sides of the fence, but the perception of the truth is generally more flavored by the opinions that people share or do not share with the candidates.  It became rather apparent to me that Romney truly thinks he can fix things, which may be true or it may not, but it's not technically a lie, because he thinks it will actually happen.  Obama has been disillusioned of the notion that grand bargains can be reached in the current political climate, but he thinks that maybe, in his next four years, without the specter of trying to get re-elected, he might actually get some important things turned around, it's not a lie, it's a belief, an opinion.
Remember that Presidents and congresspeople are human beings, there are things that they can fix and things they cannot fix.  We could do with less vitriol and rancor and more reasoned discourse.  It would be nice if we could advance to a point where fact checkers are not necessary, where honesty and integrity were more important than winning, but that's probably just a pipe dream.
Large Sigh.