What's Wrong With America?

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Just two weeks out from the 2010 midterm elections a very sad but familiar pattern is emerging.  While the Republicans stand to make great gains in the U.S. Congress, the quality of many of these future congressmen is very disappointing.  Yes, we will get a new Congress in November.  Yes, the Republicans will score well, taking back the House and probably retake the Senate, or at least eliminate the Democrat majority.  Yes, Speaker Pelosi will be gone.  (Ding dong the witch is dead!)  As she will return to Congress next year a lowly member of the minority party, effectively thrown back to the angry mob of her own colleagues, who have grown to hate her over the last four years.  President Barack Obama will find his administration handicapped, unable to push through legislation like he did over the last two years, and now hindered by an opposition Congress that will fight him at every turn.  Obama will be forced back into perpetual campaign mode, as a good deal of his time will be spent warding off Republican accusations and attacks.  The federal government will be gridlocked for the next two years, leaving Obama with foreign policy as the only way to assert his will unencumbered.  (Don't be surprised if he takes the nation to war, as this will be the only means he has left to rally the people behind him.)  Yes, the election of 2010 will be historic, but as we look back over the last thirty years, what we see here is more of the same, except this time on a larger scale.

As a backdrop there is the economy.  Though the market has been temporarily stimulated by some impending election "feel goodism," as the people think they're getting some more of that "change you can believe in" garbage, reality will creep back in before the new year.  The American economy is in a depression.  Nobody wants to admit that, but it's true, and it's not going to emerge from that depression anytime soon.  The Democrat-Republican split in Washington over the next two years will insure that nothing of real substance gets done during that time.  So the economy will be left to stagger along with nothing but Prozac to mask the symptoms of it's depressed mood.  Then of course there is the threat of inflation looming over us as well, as the federal government comes to the realization that the only way to deal with the national debt is to allow the value of the dollar to drop.  Higher grocery bills?  Ah yes, that's more change you can believe in.

America is in decline, and there is a reason for this, but it's not what you think.  Everything has a cause, a root source that leads to the symptoms we see all around us.  Yes, the U.S. federal government has a spending problem, and while that is the source of our national deficit and debt woes, it is not the ultimate source in an of itself.  Washington's spending problem is but a symptom of something much more seriously wrong with the American republic.

Let's take a look at an object lesson.  The 2010 race for Ohio's 15th Congressional District is a perfect example.  Here we have three candidates running for office.  The first is the incumbent, Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy.  She's pro-abortion and tows the party line when it comes to other issues.  She is the quintessential Democrat, a perfect example of the cancer that is destroying this republic.  Opposing her is the second candidate, Republican Steve Stivers, who is also pro-abortion in some cases, has supported the pro-gay "Log Cabin Republicans" and refuses to repeal the Obama Healthcare law.  He is the quintessential example of everything that is wrong with the Republican Party.  Recent polls show that he's losing the race anyway.  With a choice like this, it's no wonder conservative voters can't be rallied to knock out the Democrat incumbent.  With Republicans like that, who needs Democrats?  Any vote for Stivers is nothing more than a vote for the lesser of two evils, and when you vote for the lesser of two evils you are still voting for evil, and that my friends is what's wrong with America. 

America is in a moral crisis.  It starts in our homes and neighborhoods with little compromises.  We compromise on little moral issues, and that leads to compromises on bigger moral issues later on.  We're constantly looking for the lesser of two evils, and choosing that, instead of standing on principle.  Is it any wonder than that our daughters are pregnant out of wedlock?  Is it any wonder than that our sons are smoking weed?  Is it any wonder that our cities are filled with graffiti and schools filled with drugs and violence?  Compromise with evil leads to more compromise, which leads to more compromise and so on, until all there is left is evil.  We compromise with our morals in the home, finding the lesser of two evils.  We compromise with our entertainment, seeking the lesser of two evils.  We compromise with our decisions on just about everything, trying to find the lesser of two evils.  Should we be surprised than when Republicans are okay running candidates like Steve Stivers because they assume conservatives will likely roll over and vote for the lesser of two evils? 

We are inclined to make excuses for ourselves and our decisions.  We are inclined to say it's the only choice we had.  Sometimes that's true, but most of the time it's not.  America's financial woes are just a larger example of this same problem.  For decades Americans have compromised on their moral principles by voting for the "lesser of two evils" rather than more obscure candidates who actually represent them.  So in a moral sense, we as a nation are getting exactly what we deserve.

When our daughters come to us asking for birth control pills, we could rationalize, and say that in comparison to teen pregnancy, it's the lesser of two evils.  However, there is another choice.  We could lovingly teach our daughters, from a very early age, the moral and spiritual problems with sex outside of marriage and the medical problems associated with artificial birth control.  When our sons start hanging out with the wrong kids when they're young, we could put a stop to it, and lovingly teach them the meaning of a true friend, and the consequences of hanging out with the wrong people, as well as the dangers associated with drug abuse.  Yes, we do have options.  No, things don't always turn out the way we had hoped, but we don't have to compromise with evil either, not in our homes, not in our neighborhoods, and not in politics! 

In our object lesson of Ohio's 15th Congressional District, the people do have another choice.  They don't have to compromise with the "lesser of two evils."  There is a candidate running on a truly pro-life, pro-family and staunchly conservative platform.  His name is David Ryon.  He's a veteran, a practicing Catholic, a 3rd degree knight, and the Constitution Party's nominee for Ohio's 15th Congressional District.  He's running against the Democrat Incumbent Mary Jo Kilroy.  The people of Ohio's 15th Congressional District don't have to compromise with the "lesser of two evils."  They do have a principled choice, and they are free to make it.  Sadly, however, the mentality of compromise is all too prevalent in America today.  Thousands of conservative voters in Ohio's 15th Congressional District so far dismiss Ryon's candidacy, with the excuse "he can't win."  It's a lame excuse to say the least, for if those exact same people all decided to stand by their principles and vote for him, he would handily win the election.  That's what is happening in Colorado with Tom Tancredo's gubernatorial campaign, and that involves a whole state, not just a single congressional district.  If such a large group of voters in Colorado could choose to stand by their principles, rather than tow the Republican Party line, it could happen in Ohio's 15th Congressional District as well.  A single congressional district election can turn on a dime, and it doesn't take much for a third-party dark horse candidate to steal the show.  Conservatives in Ohio's 15th Congressional District only need to do a small fraction of the work done in Colorado, and yes, two weeks is enough time to do it in.  So the only question now is will these conservative voters stand by their principles, or once again "vote for the lesser of two evils?"  They've been voting for the lesser of two evils for years.  I wonder how well that's working for them.  So far polling data indicates the Republican nominee won't win.  They're about to endure another 2 years of Democrat cancer eating away at their district.  So my only question to the conservative voters of Ohio's 15th Congressional District is "what have you got to lose?"  At this point you might as well stand by your principles and vote for the candidate who actually represents your values.

The Ohio race is just one example.  Another example is the governor's race in Colorado.  There the people have decided to vote for the man who actually represents them, rather than the Republican Party candidate who was chosen for them.  Yes, it can happen.  Yes it does happen.  Yes, in Colorado, it probably WILL happen.  There is no reason why it can't happen in other states and congressional districts all across America.  All it takes is for the people to stop compromising with evil and start voting according to their moral principles regardless of what they fear may be the result.  It's called "Faith, Hope and Trust" that God rewards those who do the right thing.  If Americans wake up and start doing that, we can save this republic.  If not, well, we will continue to get what we deserve, which is more of the same, and our children will pay the price for it.