I spent the evening at the Sarah Palin/Glenn Beck event, "Defending the Republic." The event was emceed by Jamie Allman and the speakers were introduced by Dana Loesch and Dave Glover, so I knew before I got there that it was going to be at the very least an entertaining evening.
During her introduction, Dana said something that really stuck with me. She talked about the tendency to measure candidates based on the lowest common denominator rather than measuring them based on the Constitution. And it occurred to me that I have used that same basic argument on a different topic. When arguing creation vs evolution on a forum where I used to post, I was accused (as many Christians are) of ignoring the science in favor of religion. I explained that I wasn't ignoring the science, I just wasn't using it to measure truth. "The Bible is truth," I responded, "and by it I measure the truth of all things." Dana is right - that is what we should be doing with our candidates. The Constitution should be the ruler by which we measure all candidates.
Sarah Palin also made one point that really hit home with me. She talked about her famous (now infamous) beef with the mainstream (lamestream?) media. She said that it drives her crazy when all that people want to talk about is the way the media attacks her. "I don't give a hoot what the media says about me!" she said. Her problem with the media is that Americans (to include her own son) have volunteered to fight, to risk their lives - some have given their lives - to protect one of our most essential liberties: the freedom of the press. But with that freedom comes the responsibility to provide the unfiltered and unvarnished truth to the people. When the press ignores that and reports only what they want to and only in the way that they want to, they abuse that freedom and they abuse the sacrifices of those who provide it for them.
After a highly amusing introduction from Dave Glover, Glenn Beck finally took the stage. He began with a rather disheartening story, then paused briefly midsentence. The crowd suddenly and inexplicably began to cheer. For a moment, Glenn looked confused. Then he nodded and said, "The Cardinals won, didn't they."
He talked about the crowds of people who are currently "occupying" Wall Street and many other locations across the United States. He talked about the hypocrisy of a President who basically endorses the protests and publicly decries the evil Wall Street "fat cats" and private jet owners - while he himself travels freely about the country in Air Force One and his wife flies separately in Air Force Two, he allows the taxpayers to foot the bill for his campaign stops disguised as "speeches to promote the jobs bill," and he holds $25k-$35k per plate fundraising dinners to which he invites the Wall Street "fat cats" he has just publicly insulted. (But if you think about it, the billions they stand to get in bailout/stimulus money probably help to take some of the sting out of being called a "fat cat"...)
But mostly, Glenn talked about the importance of God. He stressed the difference between claiming that God would be on our side and making sure that we were on His side. And he cried (well, he IS Glenn Beck) while reading Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural speech about rebuilding a nation without malice. We have to rebuild with that same attitude, be willing to get on our knees and pray for our ideological enemies, our political enemies. But mostly we have to remember that real change comes from the people, not the government. And people only change when God is in their hearts, and at the heart of the change.
Beck. Palin. Glover. Loesch. And a Cardinals win to top it all off. That's not an evening that will be easily surpassed. (And now I'm going to sleep. Seriously.)
No comments:
Post a Comment