I remember when my Political awakening very well… I was about twelve when my Father who I knew was a “Democrat” – but I sure did not know what that meant, called me into the living room to watch a debate between Carter and Reagan.  I recall that Reagan struck me immediately as a very transparent, honest man, an incredible optimist, and one who had no problem with his religion.  He knew that his Faith was the most important part of who he was and that it would guide him in making wise choices for our nation.  My dad asked me which of these men I thought he should vote for.  We both agreed that Reagan was the best man for the job.  Since my coming of age, I have voted about 97% Republican, 2% third party, and 1% Democrat.  I could see myself voting for Zell Miller, if I had no better option, but I have recently had a change in perspective.  I remember many times over the last twenty years when my concerns over the candidates for President, Congress, Governor, etc, were not to my liking, and when I feared the direction that BOTH parties were going.   I often asked people whom I respected greatly, about whether or not they would vote for this third party or that Extremely Conservative candidate.  Even in the Churches, when the candidate was a member of the same denomination, or held very similar beliefs, I always got the same answer – “I wouldn’t waste my vote, on someone who cannot win the nomination”, or “…who couldn’t win the election”.  They always made it sound soooo profound and wise….  

…I told myself they were right, but deep down it always bothered me.  My conscience screamed blasphemy!  My bible knowledge said it was wrong!  The more I have thought about it, and the more I have asked people this question, the more I came to realize that I could no longer compromise my vote.  I am convinced that the reason that there are so many politicians who compromise their convictions or who betray their voters is because so many of the voters have sent them the message of compromise through their compromised votes.  If everyone who has used the “wasted vote argument, were to vote for a third party candidate, we would have a very different set of leaders.

While I agree that we cannot vote against someone just because we do not like their denomination and expect to win anything, I do not agree completely that we should just separate religion from politics.  I do not even believe that you can separate them without changing who you are.  It is true that Kennedy showed that a Catholic could be elected, but have you noticed how often that has been repeated?  There are good reasons for not having witches, or Satan worshippers as leaders.  Nearly every one of the presidents of the United States has been a Christian, not a Mormon, not a Catholic.  There have been no Muslims or Hindus or Buddhist Presidents, because they CANNOT lead this Christian nation without destroying it’s very nature.  It is because their religion is an integral part of who they are and it affects everything that they do.  The world tells us that we have to separate our religion from our politics, but this is a lie.  If your religion does not motivate you to do what you believe is right in every area of your life, then your faith is weak; your religion is a lie; and your God is no god at all.  This is why many people say that they will not vote for Romney.  It is not Hate speech, or bigotry; it is simply that some of us believe that his religion will motivate his decisions as a leader.  It should, if it is True Religion.  If this were not true, we would not have the legacies of William Wilburforce, Thomas Paine, William Penn, Patrick Henry, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and G.W. Bush and so many others.  Yes I realize that none of these men has been perfect, and at the time, many of them were less than popular at least with a segment of the people, but eventually history remembered them for the great things they did and forgot most of their mistakes.  We must remember that it is the Christian heritage of the United States that has made her great.

The Founding Fathers proclaimed their faith - AND its vital Role in guiding their political and decisions in leadership often.  Some even declared that they could not have done the great things they did, without it. They also said that our nation would not be great without Following God.  They did not refer to Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed, Allah, nor the God of Mormon, nor the Pope; Only to the Almighty God of the Bible.  The Constitution was modeled after the principles found in the Bible. 

Now let me return to the beginning of my message: On the surface, I used to believe the arguments about "not wasting your vote" on someone who could not "win the nomination" or "win the election" [read beat Hilary or fill in the blank]; …I told myself they were right, but deep down it always bothered me.  My conscience screamed blasphemy!  My bible knowledge said it was wrong!  The more I have thought about it, and the more I have asked people this question, the more I came to realize that I could no longer compromise my vote.  I am convinced that the reason that there are so many politicians who compromise their convictions or who betray their voters is because so many of the voters have sent them the message of compromise through their compromised votes.  If everyone who has used the “wasted vote" argument, were to vote for a third party candidate we would have a very different group of leaders now.  Ask your self this question:  "If you knew that hundreds of thousands of voters were just as conservative as you are, but were all just as afraid to vote that way as you are, and used the same compromising reasoning, but could all be shown and convinced of the number of voters who felt the same way, wouldn’t you want to persuade them all to vote their conscience instead of the same old compromise? 

Why do we go through election after election, wishing and praying for a truly conservative man of God to lead our nation, only to vote for a compromise and then express disappointment, when we did not get what we asked for because we did not believe that God could do it, and our actions betrayed our feelings?  Of course we don't have a conservative government because we compromise.  The bad news is that the liberals will not compromise.  They do not have moral principles guiding them.  They will continue to try to elect staunch liberals.  It is because Republicans compromised that the candidates in a certain state moved to the center.  Then when conservatives saw that their Republican candidates were not conservative enough, they compromised some more and voted for Lieberman!  The Good news is that we can do better.  With God all things are possible.  We are going to have to do some research, and talk to people and vote our conscience to get it, though, and we cannot fall prey to the main stream news media. 

The liberal media will always tell us the bad news, but they will only tell us the good news when it suits them.  We allowed them to tell us who the "top running candidates" were when the campaigning began and because we did not do our own research, but believed them, we have let them choose the field.  So who did they pick? The most liberal ones they could find, of course! The ones they could most easily live with.  We must remember that their world view has no moral absolutes, and condemns those who do.  It says that their "job" is to mold our thinking and our behavior to fit with theirs.  But you may say, what about Huckabee?  They have continued to tell us he was doing well.  Once again that is convenient for them.  They want any Christian candidate to look like a nut, and to divide us so that we will not win a conservative vote.  They call him conservative and those of us who are too lazy to find out for ourselves believe it!  In addition, later on, when people claim that they were biased and prejudiced against Christians it will be handy to be able to say that they covered the story of Mike Huckabee – knowing all along that the conservatives would never elect him.  Their hope is that enough will be fooled to cost us the election of anything close to a  true conservative.  Thankfully, there are enough thinking people, who do not just listen to the media but checked it out to find out that the man lied and that his record does not match his claims.  There are others, who are far more conservative and are still religious, and HONEST, but the media has hardly mentioned their names and even the Republican committees do not mention them because they do not want a true conservative either.  They want big Government too!  So, where do I stand?...

I CANNOT vote for Guiliani, McCain, Huckabee, Romney, or Thompson.  They are ALL WAY TOO Liberal.  I have been looking very carefully at Alan Keyes.  I have decided that he is the only remaining Republican - other than maybe Hunter - that I could vote for.  If neither of these two candidates makes the ticket, I will be forced to consider either writing in  "Alan Keyes", or voting third party.  I have never done this for the office of US President, but I am willing this time.  It is far too important to have a TRUE Conservative in the white house, to even think about voting in a compromise.  I have also been looking at the US Constitution Party and the US Tax payers Party, as well as the America First Party.  Please consider these things carefully and prayerfully.  Check out the website www.alankeyes.com

God bless you all until next time,

Doyl L Watson II