We must have Principles!

It is simultaneously amusing and pathetic to watch so many Christians suddenly acquire principles when it comes to Presidential elections. Neither of the two current candidates that have a chance of winning are acceptable to them because, as a nationally-known local pastor has said, "both fail to clear a basic threshold of personal integrity, sound judgment, and trustworthiness."

This is a hopelessly naive and deluded sentiment. Politicians, as a class, are among the most corrupt and untrustworthy people on the planet, who perennially exercise poor judgment and fail to live up to nearly any of the lofty ideals they express as candidates. This is true of candidates from both of the major parties, or, should we say more truly, from either candidate from the one party with two names, as Fred Reed puts it. To be unaware of this and apparently to believe that this Presidential race is the first time both candidates are morally bankrupt is inexcusable for a discerning mind.

How many of these very same Christians voted for a cult-member in the previous race? One Christian friend told me that he had no problem doing so, because "he was a good man." How many of these very same Christians complained loudly in the past that failing to vote for the lesser of two evils is no different from casting a vote for the enemy? How many of these very same Christians have been criticizing me for decades for not voting?

Suddenly, they now have Principles!

Ironically, their newly discovered devotion to political integrity comes at a time when there actually is a difference between the two candidates that can have an existential influence on our nation. This is the first time in my lifetime that this has been true. But, these Christians are too busy wringing their hands over qualities that no Presidential candidate in my lifetime has possessed. 

Somehow, they have missed this.

On second thought, it is much more pathetic than amusing.