Iowa Caucus Eve: May the Science Be Right

On this eve of the 2008 Iowa Caucus, I'd like to take just a moment to reflect on its significance. I vote religiously, but never by party--more by candidate, issue, or state of the country.

We look at the violence sparked by elections in places like Pakistan and Kenya, and we feel so lucky to be living where we do. And we are right, to feel so. Yet a horrible shadow has fallen over our wonderful land, this past couple of decades, and my prayer is that we will be able to lift it by the strength of our own belief in ourselves as humans and as Americans. Evangelicals, please be reminded that your Apocalypse was to be marked by an Antichrist who would lead great masses astray. That day has come but you are looking at the wrong place, for your Antichrist. You've been tricked. You need to rise up with all of your massive power and say 'No.'

The power that seduced you told you that you must consider all persons not of your persuasion to be The Enemy. This is not Christ. This is the Mother of All Evildoers.

Mother of All Evildoers always looks better than Christ. It dresses better, it makes more money, it banks on charm, it never admits to failings. If it's a pervert or a criminal, you'll never find out about it. And it preaches that if you repeat a thing enough times--including the most blatant lie--the thing will become reality. This is not Christ. This is Antichrist. Christ is truth, even when it hurts.

The power that tricked you banked on the 'divide and rule' maxim; and in that, it has succeeded. The only way that we will ever overcome the damage, will be by uniting.

I have no more stomach for left-wing radical ranters than I have for right-wing righteous bigots. Both spout Doomsday, insider prejudice, or hatred in various guises, and it's usually because the poor individuals spewing haven't done their deep-down personal housecleaning. Maybe it was just too hard to do. We are, in the end, only human.

This blog's tongue-in-cheek title, 'They Got the Science WRONG', is more a lampoon of human judgement than it is of Science itself. We could no sooner stop this insatiably curious, miraculously creative species from tinkering with Nature, from inventing things, than we could stop it from breathing. The problem is in what we DO with the Science. Take electricity, for instance. We can use it for pure profit at humankind's expense, a la Enron, or we can use it to help humankind first and reap the profits that we earn from it, a la Google. It's a question not of intelligence, but of wisdom.

The last election is an example of what can go wrong when 'the Science' falls into weak hands. My sister is now dead, largely due to the depression that comes of outrage turned inward. Her county was a nearly-pure 'blue' county. Technologically more ahead-of-the-game than many, it used the newest electronic voting machines for the election. The vote count for her county came up, rather fantastically, solid 'red.' There was no paper trail, and she could do nothing. She was a federal inspector, an extremely effectual, admired, and peaceloving lady; and rather than assassinate people or commit violence, she took her own life, in the end.

Is this really Christ? I don't think so, folks. 'Winning at all costs' is not a Christlike goal. Remember...Christ chose to lose, on Earth.

However the Election 2008 turns out, may all of Creation bless America; and may America become a blessed star to all of Creation.