I'm seriously troubled by something that the Conservative pundit spin machine, some clergy, and Republican politicians are tacitly approving of, is doing: painting Obama as a terrorist, repeatedly invoking his middle name, and sprinkling it with accusations of being the Antichrist.
These things are false. And these folks know that they're false. (The average voter, however, may not.) The problem is, how responsible is it to say to the American people, most of whom are genuinely frightened for their country and are just trying to vote for what will keep it safest in the best way that they can figure, that their possible future president is a Terrorist Muslim Anti-Christ?
At rallies, there are folks screaming, 'Kill him!' And politicians say things like, 'We know what kind of person he really is,' whilst juxtaposing words about terrorism, wink wink, nudge nudge.
What if Obama does become president?
What are these people, convinced by the party machine that he is in fact the Terrorist Muslim Anti-Christ, going to do? They're already screaming for his death while the politicians smirk.
What are they going to do to those who voted for him?
I don't know if things are being set up for an assassination, though there have been attempts on presidents before in the last few decades. I do know that the rhetoric is being stoked to an unbelievable level. In the fifteen or so years that I've lived here, I do not remember this level of sheer hatred leveled against any presidential candidate by any political machine.
I understand wanting to win. I understand that every presidential election will have nonsense flung from both sides. I just think -- and this is my opinion -- that in this case, the rhetoric is escalating to genuinely, frighteningly, dangerous levels, and I think that it needs to stop.
I know it won't, though. I just wish that folks could say, "I don't like Obama's policies so I don't want to vote for him." That is an entirely reasonable thing to say! One needs no more reason to vote for someone else than that. Why do they have to portray him as a Terrorist Muslim Anti-Christ who is trying to destroy America when that is not the case? Why not just say, "I don't like his policies so I won't vote for him?"
For example, the reason why I don't back McCain is that I just don't like his voting record and the way he's changed his stance on certain issues over the last few years. I supported him against Bush when he ran against him for the presidential nomination years ago. I don't like how he treats his opponent ('That one.') but that's not really enough not to vote for him, in my opinion. The selection of Palin might have been enough of a reason, had I still been a supporter of his, to make me not vote for him-- I really don't like the positions she's taken, either.
One doesn't need to insist that he's at the head of some America-destroying conspiracy to dislike him or his record. And I don't know why people feel the need to insist that he is, and why it's okay to make those accusations. It's completely unnecessary.
The religious overtones of this kind of rhetoric bothers me too, both personally and because I am clergy and I feel that we have a responsibility to those who come to us for guidance; they deserve to be served with honesty and good faith.
One of the Ten Commandments is, 'Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness (Against Thy Neighbor)', which is sometimes shortened to, 'Thou Shalt Not Lie'. IE, don't accuse your neighbor of something that he hasn't done. For centuries, Jewish folks were persecuted by Romans and other tribes, who would often pay, or threaten, other Jews to fabricate evidence against them in order to dispose of inconvenient people. This commandment was set down by God to tell his people that doing that against another child of God was sinning against God himself: it weakened the tribe and set people against one of God's chosen.
How can a good Christian or, even moreso, a clergyman who knows better, do this? Barack Obama is a fellow Christian!
Something Jesus said was, 'Love your enemy' and 'pray for him'. As a good, god-fearing Christian, why not just pray? If one is so worried about evil after all, why not devoutly pray for God's love to fill him and guide him, and everyone else for that matter? Why not trust in God? God's more powerful than Satan, isn't he? Pray for the best outcome for the American people.
How can a good Christian or, even moreso, a clergyman who knows better, not do this? Jesus himself said to do this, because God ultimately forgives all sins for those who truly repent.
I'm just really troubled about it all.