Candidates waging the wrong war -- voters sent to the wrong battles

By Michael Bresciani

The new catchphrase of the campaign analysts and pundits which seems to be rising above the ordinarily heard terms like democrat, republican, liberal or conservative is the word, 'establishment.' It seems to find definition only when voters pick candidates that regardless of campaign rhetoric, declared platform or past record, look and feel like someone that will lead America out of its sinking fiscal problems.

Pictures of Mitt Romney have surfaced on the internet with the caption "Doesn't This Man Look Presidential." They not only insult the basic intelligence of the voters, but should we dare to ask, what exactly does 'presidential' look like? Voters have indicated that they want to hear the candidates on all the issues in endless debates, but they clearly show that only one issue is what they really care about when they vote. Jobs and the economy alone make the top of the list and all else is highly disputable blather.

How quickly we seem to forget when in 2008 an obscure Senator from Illinois whose record of accomplishments would fit on the back of a postage stamp, thrilled the willing with only a big toothy smile and a slogan about 'change.' The smile still has some Americans hornswoggled but his definition of change is now much clearer. The smile, we now know, says, voters are stupid and the change says, voters are jobless and broke. Who would guess that some still think he is the best bet to be the man occupying the White House for the next four years?

Along comes a man who hears the cry, (Romney) and provides the crowd with what they want to hear. Beating off China, reeling in taxes and producing a climate for jobs and plenty of money for new homes and cars, and now, we can yell bingo, we've got a winner!

Things like the gay agenda, sex-ed for kindergarteners, 4,000 abortions per day, academic failures, loss of freedoms, the coming nightmare of Obamacare, not defending DOMA, attacks on gun ownership, the repeal of DADT and Hollywood mire slinging on us all and our children, human trafficking, the sexualization of children, an immigration problem that is growing faster than the South American fire ant colonies in Louisiana, are now just considered 'hot button' topics. They are not to be taken too seriously until we have fixed the much worshipped money tree and personal securities. The question of, what's wrong with this picture, is now far beyond rhetorical, it is quite critical.

Most of the candidates that have addressed all the issues have either dropped out of the race or are running behind in the caucuses. The mistake is in thinking that somehow the best candidate has emerged because he has honed in on America's real problem. The hot button issues will always be around and we can go on living happily, as we pick the issues to death until the next election cycle rolls around.

Here is a far more honest assessment, but it is the one that seems invisible if not totally ridiculous to a generation that for more than forty years now, has failed to notice that these neglected or abandoned matters are destroying the nation. Right against might, right and wrong and common sense have all fallen victim to what really makes the world go round — bucks!

Before saying much about the GOP version of what's wrong with America we might want to stop off at the White House to get the present administrations view of it. Barack Obama has created a war in his own mind and has figuratively used his office and his ability to gather sycophants who see it his way, to tacitly gather troops to 'occupy' American cities and stand by as they await the next stage in the war Barack calls — "The Class War."

Along come the Republicans who say it is really the war against a sinking economy that we should be fighting. One new warrior comes along who will not mention all the hot button skirmishes, but declares that he fully sees that the whole problem is fixable if we just concentrate on the economy. He is one sided, single faceted and has had plenty of experience in fixing his own economic problems, so this must be the right guy. He is a man with only one reason, but hardly a man for all seasons.

The Protestants are in the background having doctrinal and ministerial personality wars and those who call themselves evangelicals can't be counted upon for much, including voting for candidates who think pretty much just like them. Top culture and conservative warriors like Bachmann and Perry have been sacrificed and others like Gingrich and Santorum are being ignored. Now the old adage that 'the church has the only army that shoots its wounded' is coming into play, yet once again.

The Catholics always had a side by side buddy arrangement with the powers that be, but lately the powers that be, have shifted toward one man whose religious grounding is as nebulous as a fog on the marshes. Now, Catholics are embroiled in a defensive battle with former good pal Obama who, doesn't quite understand that Benedict not Barack calls the shots for most of the Catholics in this nation, even in this day, of liberal winds.

The patriots still call for a return to the right, but between the RINOs and the pressures of PC, the mighty high flying eagle has been struck with a malady usually seen only in land locked creatures and commonly referred to as the fear of heights. What is known as 'inter species' evolution is the pipe dream of Darwinism, but 'intra species' evolution is a cornerstone of the science of animal husbandry, yet, not even that can be used to explain why the noble eagle won't take to the skies. All that is left is the knowledge that even the mighty eagle can be reduced to a chicken by the fear of heights.

Is it, fear that makes us afraid to say that hot button topics are actually the chief problem of the nation? Hot button topics are not a subset of issues that can be tended to later, after we fix the economy. Prophets, preachers and some darned good writers and ordinary citizens are forced to take up their trumpeting in what is thought of as, the backwaters of all media — the internet. The MSM was sidestepped by many for the few media outlets that actually ignored the PC trend to set truth aside for political nonsense, but even they, have begun to show signs of PC induced fatigue.

Now the only the internet may be the only remaining bastion of truth even if you have to weed your way through a jungle of wild eclectisia. (My word) With the best conservatives entertaining us with news of the stars, nostalgia games and the latest tripe about Madonna or Gaga, the internet may be the only place left to find some untarnished truth.

The truth is that if we nominate a one-sided candidate with an extreme case of tunnel vision who thinks the economy is the only issue, we will fail. We will see a slight economic recovery, but a complete breakdown in all other areas. A conservative in the White House is the only chance we have of a full orbed recovery and the renewal of our nation.

In these complex times we must forgo the over simplified answer and hunker down on all issues not just one. Sometimes referred to as the 'Master Minstrel,' Maryland born, Harvey Reid, an American folk music icon, expresses such a simplistic approach to all of a man's problems in a classic song called, Dreamer or Believer. The sentiment in these lyrics might have worked in a simpler America, but that day is undoubtedly gone.

He's a dreamer or believer, call him what you will
But he's gonna get lucky some day for sure
The worst is behind him love's gonna find him
He's got no troubles that a dollar won't cure

There are available many good comparisons and charts to help us to discover the real differences between the candidates. The truth is that the only candidates left in the entire field that dare or care to address and fix the full range of problems we now face are, Gingrich and Santorum. If America just needed an economic fix then Romney would be our man, but America is a nation made up of many contributing assets, problems and factors, not just one.

With only ten months to go until the general election and Romney now enjoying the momentum of recent wins in Florida and Nevada it might seem a bit late to wise up, but that is one of the most amazing things about this nation, she often does wise up, in a nick of time.

These remarks are not necessarily aimed at Mitt Romney if you have not already gathered that, they are rather, directed toward the kind of thinking that assumes that we can leave all the other issues alone and continue to prosper as a nation. From the prophetic point of view this is totally impossible and the generational long run into the twisted and prurient are about to force God to pull our ticket. There are two ways to make this much clearer.

First, If Governor Romney wins both the nomination and the election we will still see the decline of the nation, but be very certain that it will not be because of Mitt Romney but in spite of him.

Secondly, it is our own persistence in perversion, mocking marriage and everything previously stated that will cause us to get our ticket punched. We have refused to see the handwriting on the wall but the translation of the writing is as meaningful today as it was millennia ago. Every nation comes into God's view and is dealt with sooner or later, America is already very deep into its own 'later.'

The message was for the ancient Babylonian Kingdom (Modern day Iraq) but our nation is not exempt from the result of its own behaviors. The great laws of reciprocation cannot be averted. To borrow, in part, a phrase from renowned Evangelist Billy Graham — If God does not judge America he will be forced to resurrect Babylon and make an apology.

Let's take the short route to the Biblical story of the handwriting on the wall. This is what was written — "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN." This is what it means — "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." This is what followed — The end of the kingdom and its total defeat by its own enemies. (Daniel 5: 25, 26)

The moral standing of this nation was once the model for the entire world. Can it be again? Trying to find an encouraging scriptural message to appendage this article with, has created quite a surprise for this writer and I hope it will for you. Consider these words.

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Mt 6: 19-21)

Where is the heart of America today?

© Michael Bresciani