Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Is a Righteous Man Electable?

I recently read a 1999 book by S. Michael Wilcox called, "A Nation at the Crossroads: Spiritual Decline in the Promised Land."
He analyzes the scriptural record of fallen civilizations and determines that they provide warning signs to us regarding wickedness.  They are:
  • Violence
  • Secret Combinations
  • Lack of civilized behavior
  • Perversion of procreation
  • Fascination with evil
  • Materialism
  • Militarism
  • Oppression of the poor
  • Failure to protect women and orphans
  • Rejection of values and absolute truths

That's a pretty good list.  And it frightens me to see all of them alive and well in our society today.

But it got me thinking about what our electorate would do if a righteous man were to actively campaign for president.  I think Romney holds back on any talk of the very things that will save our nation.  Things like prayer, fasting, worship, obedience to the commandments.

Obviously it isn't good politics to do too much preaching, but that's exactly what a righteous man would do.

We haven't seen that kind of talk since Eisenhower.

Sure, when there is a tragedy, the president says, "Our hearts and prayers go out to the families....blah blah blah."  But that always sounds more like a trite phrase than a call to kneel down.

I blame the media for their attacks on religious remarks.  I honestly believe there are large numbers of religious people who are afraid to speak up.  It seems somehow impolite to talk freely about religious beliefs these days.

Religion is a negative in campaigning these days.  But righteousness is exactly what we need in our candidates.  And a bold call for return to God.  But such a move would lose the election.  We can't get the very thing we really need.