The day after last week’s election, when I started hearing the reports of a “Great Republican Victory” – not only in D.C., but across the land and even in my own state – my first reaction was, “nothing’s gonna change.” That night, I spoke with my friend, former Missouri State Representative turned podcaster, Cynthia Davis, and her comment to me was (I paraphrase), “nothing’s gonna change.” The next day I read the weekly column of liberty movement leader and patriot pastor, my friend Chuck Baldwin, and his take on the election was, “nothing’s gonna change.” Yesterday, 2004 Constitution Party Presidential candidate, Michael Peroutka, published his weekly video commentary in which he subtly prompts the astute observer to realize that, “nothing’s gonna change.”

Is this just sour grapes on my part? Are my friends and I all a bunch of negative Nellies? After all, aren’t we supposed to give a person (or party) a chance to prove themselves before we judge them?

Did anything change twenty years ago?

The US Constitution. Photo: National Archives of the United States

Well, let’s see – we gave both houses of Congress to the elephant party for six years from 1994-2000, but nothing changed. We added an “R” President to the mix in 2000 and the GOP held total control of the federal government for six years thereafter, but nothing overtly conservative was ever implemented. After two years of complete rule by the donkeys, we gave the U.S. House back to the “Rs” in 2010, yet in the four years they’ve had it, I’m hard pressed to think of anything on the agenda of the liberal left that’s actually been undone, or even unfunded, as the House has the power to do. So that’s 6 years + 6 years + 4 years = 3 chances and 16 years for the “Rs” and yet I can’t think of anything liberal that’s been repealed, or anything conservative that’s been established.

And now, after two decades of watching Republicans growing morally weaker, more compromised and more socialistic in nature, do we really think that putting them in power a fourth time is going to bring about any great change? Well, I say “no.” Not because I’m a pessimist, but because I’ve already seen this movie – three times. It’s like watching old re-runs of a really bad show and hoping that this time it will end differently.

The problem in America isn’t “them,” the other guy, the liberal left, or even the Republican establishment power brokers. The problem is us, the Christian-conservative-right. We’re the ones who let ourselves be duped into electing and reelecting the same people and party time and again, thinking that this time something will change. We’re the ones who perpetually let ourselves be cowed by fears that “the other guy might win,” so we go on supporting the “lessor of two evils,” then wonder why we end up with evil.

Who votes, and who goes to church?

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According to the Census Bureau, about 60% of voting age Americans (229 million in 2010) are registered to vote in so-called “mid-term” election years. In last Tuesday’s election, 36.6% of the those registered voters actually showed up at the polls. That 36% is normally split about 45/55 between any two candidates or ballot issues. That means that for every 100 people who are eligible to vote, 60 are registering to vote and 22 of those show up on election day with about 12 actually determining the fate of the 100.

Now consider that four out of every 10 Americans report having attended church in the last week. That means that for every 100 people of voting age, 40 were in church last week – almost double the total voter turnout. If even half of those attending church were to be instructed in a Biblical world view of social-moral-political issues, were to read and understand the U.S. Constitution and had a grasp of the fundamental principles of liberty, they could all vote in a block and determine every issue – from City Hall to Capitol Hill – by at least a two to one margin.

You see, the problem isn’t “them,” it’s “us.” We, the Church, the Christians, the conservatives, the right – we’re the ones who have grown weak, blind, apathetic, and are groping in the dark. Not only does the church not show up to vote, but when we do, we don’t even agree on political policy because we’ve grown forgetful of sound principles, and many who have known those principles have been convinced to compromise them away in order to “win” at the polls.

Nothing is going to change until we change! The political state of the nation is merely the barometer of the spiritual state of the church.

I promoted it a few weeks ago and I’ll promote it again now – Pastor Alec Rowlands’ book (or DVD), “The Presence: Experiencing More of God.” Until we, the church, are touched, affected and changed by His Presence, nothing is going to change. Once we are again “awakened,” we will need to re-dig the wells of the knowledge of the Kingdom principles of good civil government, seeking again an understanding of the origins of true liberty, which the American founders sought to establish in our land. There are resources readily available for seeking such knowledge. You can begin at the “Resources” page of my blog.

Neither the donkeys nor the elephants are going to save America and nothing is going to change until we change.

Related

For some related content, I encourage you to check out this week’s episode of “Home Front,” with Cynthia Davis. Her guest, Bob Parker, is an impassioned patriot who provides additional insights on this topic and hits it out of the park. If this interview doesn’t light your fire, your wood is wet. http://www.cynthiadavis.net/surviving-elections-making-difference-2/

Reprinted from The American Perspective, copyright by Robert W. Peck. Used by permission.

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