Trying to get elected President sure isn’t the way it used to be.

Sure, throughout American history, politicians have almost always needed stacks of cash, connections to business tycoons, a soap box and testicles.  We’ve recently relaxed that last requirement.

But that’s about the only requirement that’s been relaxed.  Sure, American politics have always been dirty.  But watching this year’s campaign heat up with the continual swirl of accusations of moral impurity and past transgressions has made me realize something.

We have set a really high standard.  We expect a hell of a lot of our public leaders.  We all think that’s a good thing.  Maybe it’s not…

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It seems like everyone wants to put labels on everyone.  You know, put everyone in a box.

When I tell a new acquaintance that I’m a pastor, I instantly see a thousand calculations pass through their minds about the kind of person I must be, the things I must like to do, the politics I must have, the thoughts I must think.  Almost inevitably, the very first question out of their mouths is what kind of church do I pastor?  By that, they mean to ask if I’m Presbyterian or Baptist or something like that.  Another box with another label.  Even calling myself “non-denominational” puts me in a box, a box marked “miscellaneous.”

Maybe that’s a good label for me: miscellaneous.  Maybe I am just a miscellaneous person.

Let’s check all the other boxes and see if I fit in with them…

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Well, I’m glad we can stop talking about this whole debt “crisis,” and start arguing about important stuff…

…Well, maybe not.

The fact is, although the U.S. government may have averted disaster (by agreeing to borrow more money), we haven’t solved any problems.  Because no one really has the stomach to solve any problems.  Never fear though!  As an amateur money manager, I’ve got all the answers on how to solve our debt woes once and for all.

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Barack Obama should not be President for a second term…

What I mean to say is, more often than not, a President’s second term is just awful, even if the first term was great.  By the time eight years are over, most of the country is sick to death of him.

Even the great Presidents, we grow to hate, no matter how much we loved them on election day.

I’ve been reading the biography of one of our great Presidents, Teddy freaking Roosevelt.  Here he is, depicted in one of his life’s great accomplishments: defending America from Bigfoot with a machine gun in the middle of a raging forest fire.  Also, little known fact: his face on Mount Rushmore is life-size.  He was actually a golem.

And my conclusion from reading about a man like this is how much our culture has changed in the last century.  We’d probably never elect Teddy, or anyone like him, President today.  We’d hate his guts.

Here’s four reasons why we’d hate one of our greatest Presidents if he were alive today…

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Who are your enemies?

When we think about Jesus saying that we should pray for our enemies, maybe we think of people we don’t get along with at work…or terrorists.  Or maybe when we’re super spiritual, we realize that we are our own worst enemies, which leads to a huge existential crisis when we try to pour hot coals on our own heads.

But you have a lot more enemies than that.

You don’t even know who they are.  They might be just like the people pictured here.  They might be perfectly respectable people who you would love if you knew them.  But right now, they’re out there, trying to take what’s yours.  In fact, you have more enemies than ever before in your life.

Who are these supposedly respectable people trying to steal from you?  About one in every ten people.

Are you praying for them?  I certainly haven’t been.

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Part of being an American is saying that you love freedom.

We sing songs about freedom.  We worship freedom.  We wear denim jackets and bandanas and say “freedom isn’t free.”  We all love freedom, and we’ll fight tooth and nail anyone who tries to stomp on freedom.  We fight terrorists because terrorists are enemies of freedom.  We’re also certain that the political party we don’t belong to is out to take our freedom.

But we don’t really love freedom.  I used to think that the differences between American political parties were deep and cavernous.  But they aren’t.  Every Federalist, Jacksonian, Whig, Democrat and Republican has not really loved freedom.

I used to think I was a libertarian.  But then I realized that I hate freedom too.  (more…)