1776

I was watching the Democratic Presidential Debate on TV the other day (I DVRed both the Republican and Democratic debates hoping to ascertain some idea of what's going on), and a questions was asked that still has me stunned. Now let me preface this by saying, several years ago I would have considered myself a hard core Republican, but that was mostly because the "Church" taught me that's what Christians were – Oh how foolhardy – and we wonder why no one wants to be a Christian; We NEVER seem to think for ourselves. Anyways, I have more recently decided that I am going to try to vote for the person who I think will do the best for the most people and not just for me. (Unlike say Christians who vote their agenda, or to be fair, people who only vote pro-union to increase their own wage or . . . ) See, too often we have made politics about what I can get out of it as supposed to the "what's best" approach. But I digress.

The question was "Is human rights more important than national security?" Let me preface briefly by saying the question arose from discussions of who to handle the war and other issues of diplomacy and trades in other countries. Let that questions sink in for a minute. What is really being asked here? We are talking about human rights measured against National Security. What sorts of implications do you get from this? Maybe my interpretation is a little extreme, but are we actually saying is it ok to disregard the rights of a human (whether they be guilty or innocent (and how do we define guilty) in the eyes of America) in favor of protecting our nation (or in other words, whats ours, or rather, what we think we have earned?) In other words, is it cool if we screw everyone else to favor and protect ourselves?

Have we really earned anything? Or is everything truly a gift from God? How much of your life have you acquired and how much of it is birthright? Does the American lifestyle make you better, or just more socially unaware? Should I be thankful to America because it affords me the freedom to question it? Is our world the world?

Here is what was scary. Every candidate said national security was more important, but then again, whether I say it or not, I think my lifestyle tells people I feel the same way. For that I repent, and am sorry. But how do I change? As a follower of Jesus, I cannot theoretically ever favor my luxuries over basic human rights . . . but I do. And its awful.