We are now entering what used to be called the “silly season,” that time in the political cycle when elections are on everybody’s mind. Perhaps we’ve already entered it. The national headlines emphasize the Presidential contest even though it’s still more than a year away and, being so close to Iowa where they have early caucuses, we Nebraskans are subject to even more of the hype, the hoopla and yes, the hypocrisy of rabid electioneering.Actually, the idea of a “silly season” is rather outdated. Certainly the silliness remains. After all, the charges are as mean, the promises as outlandish, the ego trips as soaring, the expenditures as crazy, and the press as biased and bamboozling a group as ever. But with the courts taking over the practical leadership of our nation’s affairs, relegating elected politicians and their appointed bureaucrats to the junior varsity as far as governing power goes, the “silly season,” which was the election, is almost an exercise in nostalgia. Nowadays, with judges overruling the Constitution and the people’s will at every turn with decisions that favor criminals over victims, spotted owls over preborn human children, profanity over political speech, and so on…the modern “silly season” has become an all year long affair!
Anyhow, our attendance at a particular candidate’s rally a couple of nights ago combined with Lee Williams’ stirring portrayal of Abraham Lincoln at Monday night’s VSM pie social has caused me to reflect a bit on politics and, more particularly, on the standing between politics and Vital Signs Ministries. For while Vital Signs is generally an apolitical agency, the very nature of the evils we combat require our interacting with politicians, voter education, grassroots advocacy, the courts, political protest, and so forth. Sorting through these things, with a few memories and cautionary remarks along the way, will therefore be my task for this LifeSharer letter. Let’s go...
Read the rest of Denny's monthly "LifeSharer' letter right here.
