Kathleen Parker hit the nail on the head with today’s column. Known as an ultra-conservative columnist, I hardly ever agree with what she writes. But her article, titled “Giving Up on God,” was an honest assessment of the GOP’s woefully pathetic state of affairs.

I felt refreshed reading it. Seriously. You should read it.

Basically, she admits that party leaders cower to the religious right — thus creating a party totally out of sync with the American public. No longer is the party setting an agenda that the American people believe in. The party isn’t relating to a diverse group of people. At this point, Republicans can’t get out of their own way.

You know what the GOP has turned into? That crazy Bible-thumping man who stands on the street shouting scripture at passers by. Screaming at busy intersections isn’t going to get someone to convert. Nor will forcing religion on voters. As Parker says:

So it has been for the Grand Old Party since the 1980s or so, as it has become increasingly beholden to an element that used to be relegated to wooden crates on street corners.

Which is to say, the GOP has surrendered its high ground to its lowest brows. In the process, the party has alienated its non-base constituents, including other people of faith (those who prefer a more private approach to worship), as well as secularists and conservative-leaning Democrats who otherwise might be tempted to cross the aisle.

Amen.

It’s rumored that Hillary Clinton will accept the Secretary of State position. I’m torn — not sure if this is good or not. I think Hillary could be a great leader in the Senate, helping Obama pass legislation that will help this country right the ship. But, at the same time, I also believe she could be a great diplomat as being repairing our international reputation.

Here are my questions:

• How does Bill Clinton’s foreign involvement play into this? Not one to ever think a woman should be passed over because of her husband — but a Cabinet-level position is in a different stratosphere, thus requiring a higher threshold. That being said, I trust Obama’s judgemetn and if he thinks there are no conflicts of interest, than I’m on board.
• What happens to Hillary after this job? Multiple media reports have noted that Secretaries of State rarely last a full term — let along two terms. So, what does Hillary do next? Is she setting herself up for a run in 2016? Would she be better off leading Congress? It’s rare that long-term senators actually get elected President, so maybe Hillary is looking for a national position outside the Senate.
• Who will be the new junior senator from New York? I bet Elliot Spitzer is really wishing he had stayed away from the hookers now!
• How does the Guardian get the scoop? If this report is true, a United Kingdom paper will get credit for the scoop. How is it that a paper in the UK outworked the long line of American journalists and bloggers to get this story? Hello, journalists?!? I know the election is over, but there’s still news to uncover!

What do you think about Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State?

Finally, we have a president who understands the power of technology and the importance of reaching out to the American people.

During his campaign, Barack Obama revolutionized how political campaigns used technology. And, now he’s taking this 21st-Century mentality all the way to the White House. Already, the transition web site has an RSS feed (trust me, there are lots and lots of people — not just techy geeks – excited about that!) … and now Obama is expanding the reach of the radio address by posting a weekly video on YouTube. I can watch that on my iPhone!

Mike and I were just talking about the radio address. Can you imagine how awful those ratings must be?!?! I don’t even know what radio stations carry it. Can you listen to it online? Who knows. It’s so exciting to see a new generation of leadership place value on communicating with the American people and finding ways to reach out to them, instead of just expecting them to find you on some radio station that no one has ever heard of.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Wednesday she would consider serving in the Senate if God gave her the opportunity and Alaskans wanted her to take the job. The state’s senior senator, Republican Ted Stevens, fell behind as the count resumed in his re-election bid.

We still don’t know the official results of the Alaska recount. If Republican Ted Stevens wins, he will likely be forced to resign since he’s a recently convicted felon. As a result, Sarah Palin could run for his vacated seat in a special election. While it looked like Stevens may have received enough votes to win, the Democrat moved ahead around the same time Palin announced that she might be interested in his seat if God and her state wanted her to choose that path. Think this might be God’s funny way of sending Palin a message?

UCC Ad Supporting Marriage Equality

On Friday, the United Church of Christ’s national office purchased full-page color ads in upcoming issues of the three largest LGBT newspapers in California in order to offer pastoral support to the LGBT community and others who were opposed to Proposition 8. No one agrees with their chuch 100% of the time, but, it’s moments like this that make me very proud to be a member of the UCC.

One of the most important things we’ve learned in this election is that women and African Americans have come a long way in their fight for equality. There’s still work to be done (as we saw in the treatment of Sen. Clinton and maybe even Gov. Palin, and certainly in some of the hatred spewed at President-elect Obama); however, it may be time to look for the next driving force of the civil rights movement.

After the disappointing votes “defining marriage” in Florida — and even California — it seems clear to me that the gay and lesbian community is being treated unfairly. People hide behind the Bible to claim that God views homosexuality as a sin. I once heard a minister say that gay marriage is an abonination of God.

Finding that hard to believe, I was compelled to do some research to more clearly understand where they were coming from and to justify what I already believed to be true.

I go to a Christian church — the United Church of Christ — and our church is about to go through the process of becoming an “open and affirming church.” That means that we  don’t discriminate — welcoming anyone, regardless of race, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, and so on into the life of our church and our ministry. It’s a foreign concept for many churches — particularly conservative denominations, like Catholics, Baptists, etc.

The UCC is very different than the churches that most people are used to going to. But, we believe that God is still speaking. God spoke to us through Jesus in the Bible, but it’s not like he stopped talking to us. Homosexuality and gender identity issues were so far off the radar screen during Biblical times — no one would have ever thought to “come out” as their true selves. As such, this isn’t an issue honestly dealt with in the Bible. So, how do we really know what God and/or Jesus would think about it?

Most Christians like to point to the absolute literal meaning of that that verse in leviticus about not laying with a man as you would lay with a woman. I find it hard to believe that we all of a sudden believe that we should take everything the Bible says to be literate. (Wouldn’t we also have to stone to death youth who don’t agree with their parents, and murder adulterers?) it’s important to remember the cultural context of the Bible. When it was written greatly influences what was written. Which is why my chuch believes that God continues to speak to us and to guide us in our daily lives.

Bottom line: Marriage and family is supposed to be a union based on love and faithfulness. In fact, recently in church, there were two women sitting in front of me with their son. They looked like a lovely family. And, the week before, in the pew across the aisle, there was another couple of women and their three adopted children. I think it’s great that these women have found love and are sharing that love with children. I bet God would be happy about that, too.

To paraphrase what I just heard on ESPN radio: Our generation just pulled off our “Jackie Robinson-esque” moment by electing Barack Obama president. No longer can so-called “adults” call us apathetic, unmotivated or self-centered. We’re anything but. We’re totally engaged in the process. We’re ready to bring about change.

In fact, preliminary studies indicate that the youth vote was out in force, with 22-24 million young Americans going to the polls — 2 million more than in 2004. And, by more than a 2-1 margin, we favored Barack Obama. A new generation of voters brought a new generation of leadership to the White House and to our country.

Nice job, Gen X-ers and Millennials! The key now is to stay involved and to continue to make our voices heard. Once every four years isn’t enough to enact real change.

You couldn’t make this up if you tried:

“I don’t know about turning the debate around, all I know is that a simple question has turned my life upside down and more people know about me than Obama,” claimed the ordinary-looking American, wearing sports pajamas and T-shirt.

Joe the Plumber thinks he’s more famous than Barack Obama. You know … the guy who just became the president-elect in a landslide.

And, this guy — who clearly has a good handle on reality — is launching two web sites, one of which he wants people to donate to.

Mr. Wurzelbacher said he planned to launch a Web site, www.secureourdream.com, with the goal of making it a political watchdog. “We will keep a check on both the Republicans and the Democrats for not only living up to their promises, but also not let them dictate to people how to live and spend their hard-earned fortunes,” he said.

 

He added that he also planned to launch www.secureourdream.org, which he said will be a charity branch of the watchdog site to raise money “for all sorts of charities and causes for fellow Americans.”

 

Praising his countrymen for being very generous to various charities, he said he hoped people would donate at this Web site. He said his Web site would be run in a very transparent way so everyone will know how much money is raised and distributed.

I just got done writing about how my faith was restored in Americans’ ability to make smart decisions. Please, please don’t take steps backwards by supporting this attention-craving, not-quite-truthful loon. Don’t give him money. If you’re doing to donate, there are lots of established charities that have demonstrated the ability to spend money wisely. Look into those and let Joe’s 15 minutes of fame finally run out.

I tend to like being involved in local political races more than statewide or national races. That’s mostly because I think the politicians have more of an opportunity to develop a relationship with their constituents — and are therefore held more accountable. If you’re city council representative is doing a bad job, in theory it’s not all that difficult to find a quality candidate, put a campaign together and get elected. It’s much more difficult to make those types of drastic changes on a national level — where money, special interests and just the grand scale can be overwhelming.

Last night, we learned last night that democracy does in fact work on a national level. I couldn’t comprehend what drove voters in 2004 to re-elect George W. Bush. But, maybe their votes were just as much a rejection of John Kerry as they were an embrace of an incompetant president. But, when push comes to shove, and the situation is dire, Americans showed last night that they can be motivated to force change. We are willing to pay attention to politics — presidential, Congressional and otherwise. Voters showed a willingness to go outside their comfort zone. By annointing Barack Obama as president-elect, Americans rejected the fear and hate embedded in the Republican party. People across all demographics, races, and religious beliefs united to make their collective voice heard over the voices of the powerful few.

There were lots of factors involved in this historic occassion (one candidate who ran a near-perfect campaign, the other candidate who made blunder after blunder … one candidate who embraced technology to communicate with voters “on their terms” … one candidate who relied on outdated methods to persuade voters, etc.). However we arrived at this point, this election restored my faith in the American electorate — our willingness to reject ultra-conservative, out-of-the-mainstream views … and our ability to “hire” the best candidate for the job.

Tonight was incredible. More coming tomorrow. For now, I hope everyone recognizes the historic nature of tonight’s developments.

We have a friend who wrote a paper when he was just a young black kid growing up in the South about how he never thought he’d see the day when an African American was elected president. America can surprise you sometimes.

I watched the results roll in with 3500 other people in a downtown Orlando park. It was amazing to see the reaction of people of all ages. Speechless, I watched the acceptance. There aren’t words to describe the coolness of tonight.

more tomorrow …