A little introduction on what I find interesting in politics

I am pro-life, pro-gun, pro-military. I favor low taxes and efficiency in government. I am pro-Israel. I am against suppression of speech in general. If people start suppressing Christians and Conservatives, especially Conservative Christians, they will not be around to stand up for the rights of others. However, I believe in being respectful in expressing thought and religious beliefs. Sarcasm is welcome. I believe campaigning period should be short and sweet. I am sick of this election. But, I love Election Day. I believe that the government should not be involved in sanctioning marriage. I know I make some of my friends and family mad about this. I have friends on both sides of the issue and for various reasons. However, one of the only ways to make everyone happy is to acknowledge the truth: marriage is a religious institution not a government institution. I understand that homosexuals want legal recognition not only for family reasons, but for estate planning reasons. However, my fear is that churches, such as mine, that take a traditional stance toward marriage will be forced to sanction homosexual marriages. If the state is taken out of marriages, then churches would be independent on deciding who should be married. I am in favor of states rights. I am against judges imposing beliefs on others. I am young enough to be idealistic, but smart enough to acknowledge that I am idealistic.

I am interested in politics. It affects the long run condition of our lives. Regardless of who wins, the sun will still rise tomorrow. And, in the short run, nothing much will change in our daily lives. However, we will be different in four years, regardless of who wins today (or next month). I’m not educated enough to make predictions on which state will turn in which direction. The only thing that I am sure of is that I want Bush to win.

This said, there are a few interesting things that will be going on tonight and also in the next four years. Tonight, it will be interesting to see at what percent of precincts reporting will be enough for networks to call a state. In the past, it was between 1 and 3% of the precincts needed to call a state. My guess is that they will wait a little longer to make the call, especially for Ohio and Florida.

I would also like to explore the next four years. I want to explore what will happen if Kerry wins, if Bush wins, and some things that Republicans need to do regardless of the outcome.

If Kerry wins, Hillary can kiss her chance of running for president good-bye. Kerry will run for re-election; and Edwards is young enough to run after Kerry. Apart from the obvious social policy, foreign policy, and economic policy changes, we can also expect some further suppression of conservative and Christian speech. Those who, like me, believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, will have some of their speech rights taken away. And I’m not just talking about certain passages against homosexuality and other sexual practices. The New Testament is pretty clear that the only way to get to Heaven is by faith in Jesus. This statement appears to be very closed-minded, and will be suppressed either through law or through social pressure. We will also experience a greater amount of judicial activism. This is a welcome thing for liberals.
If Bush wins, Hillary will run in ’08. This means that the Republicans will have to come up with someone good to beat her. Most women are not bothered by the idea of a female president. And I know a lot of women who, when given the chance, vote for the female candidate regardless of the issues. If Bush wins, and the Republican Party is not united behind a charismatic candidate, we can look forward to Hillary. Other things will not change that much. We all know what Bush’s economic policies, social policies, and foreign policies are. We’ve lived with them for four years. We can expect four more years.

Regardless, the Republican Party is in a quandary. One of the issues that needs to be addressed is how we feel about foreign born citizens running for President. Arnold seems to be the most charismatic person in the party, and if there is not a Constitutional amendment allowing for foreign born citizens to run for President, we will probably see him in the Senate, if the opportunity cost is not too big. Another problem is there are people elected under the Republican banner who are consistently unfaithful to the Republican platform. There will need to be a purging of the ranks to get rid of people who do not support the Republican Party platform. If this does not happen soon, many conservatives and libertarians will feel discouraged and may either vote third party or not at all. A third issue is who is next? If not Arnold, then who? It will be interesting to watch to see which Republican Governors, Senators, and Congressmen start making frequent public appearances in states other then their home state. Regardless of who is the victor tomorrow, the process of selecting a successor should start fairly soon. Finally, Republicans need to come up with a strategy on how to outreach to Libertarians and Constitutional Party members. Both parties value personal freedoms. Some Christians see the Constitution Party as a more godly alternative to the Libertarian Party because of pro-life and homosexual marriage stances. The point is that there are a lot of people who are discouraged with the Republican Party. If no effort is made by the Republican Party to outreach to third party voters, I think we could easily loose the next Presidential Elections.

To sum up, Hillary’s political future is determined tonight, free speech and free practice of religion could be questioned in the next four years, and the Republicans need to start working on the future.

On an administrative note: I will begin Live Blogging around 7pm Central Time tonight.