What the Political
Parties are Promising in the Wake of the Election
A WARNING FOR CHRISTIANS
Very soon, American citizens will have the
opportunity to vote in a national election that will
 |
| Dr. Rick Flanders |
determine vital factors
about our lives in the future. The
choice could not be between more contrasting visions. You may have noticed what the campaign fliers
in your mailbox are saying. Some promise
more regulation, taxes for the rich, and free government money. Some pledge to cut the government back, lower
taxes, and give us more freedom. The two
major political parties have told us, through their candidates and their
platforms, what they will do when they assume power, and we can see, if we will
pay attention, what the futures will be in our country under each of them.
Christian voters are the most important people in the country politically. We need to pay attention to what is “coming
down the pike” should the Democrats or the Republicans be voted into power in
2016. As you know, the election campaign
has degenerated into a food-fight of traded insults. The worst part of this disgusting
back-and-forth is the effect it is having of distracting voters from seeing the
radically different views of on the issues of our day. Some time ago, my wife and I realized that we
would not be able to choose a major- party candidate for President out of
enthusiasm over his or her character, but would have to cast our votes up and
down the ballot based strictly on our Biblically-based principles. We advise our friends to do the same thing on
November 8. Learn what the parties say
they are going to do, and make your choice based on what the party will do. Staying home and not voting, or voting for
parties or candidates that cannot win and have no expectation to win, are not
reasonable options for Christians who care about what’s coming. Let me show you where the two parties say
they will take us.
THE DEMOCRATS
The Democratic Party, which was
for many years the political home of millions of Christians, is saying things
this year that horrify us. Of course, we
know that the government has had a degenerating impact on American society in
recent decades. Unfortunately this year
the Democrats are apparently glad for the negative changes.
Their Presidential candidate has
said, “The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality [same-sex
‘marriage’] represents America at its best: just, fair, and moving toward
equality. Now we have more work to
do. I’ll fight to ensure that lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans have full equality under the law, and
to end discrimination in employment, housing, schools, and other aspects of
society.”
The Democrat platform states, “Democrats applaud last
year’s decision by the Supreme Court that recognized that LGBT people—like
other Americans—have the right to marry the person they love. But there is
still much work to be done. LGBT kids continue to be bullied at school,
restaurants can refuse to serve transgender people, and same-sex couples are at
risk of being evicted from their homes. That is unacceptable and must change.
Democrats will fight for the continued development of sex discrimination law to
cover LGBT people. We will also fight for comprehensive federal
nondiscrimination protections for all LGBT Americans, to guarantee equal rights
in areas such as housing, employment, public accommodations, credit, jury
service, education, and federal funding. We will oppose all state efforts to
discriminate against LGBT individuals, including legislation that restricts the
right to access public spaces. We support a progressive vision of religious
freedom that respects pluralism and rejects the misuse of religion to
discriminate. We will combat LGBT youth homelessness and improve school
climates. We will support LGBT elders, ensure access to necessary health care,
and protect LGBT people from violence— including ending the crisis of violence
against transgender Americans. We will also promote LGBT human rights and
ensure America’s foreign policy is inclusive of LGBT people around the
world.“ This party has taken a stand against
the traditional definition of marriage, and the movement against Biblical
morals will apparently continue at full-speed under a new Democrat
administration.
On the moral question of abortion,
we find in the Democrat 2016 platform, “Democrats are committed to protecting
and advancing reproductive health, rights, and justice. We believe
unequivocally, like the majority of Americans, that every woman should have
access to quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal
abortion—regardless of where she lives, how much money she makes, or how she is
insured. We believe that reproductive health is core to women’s, men’s, and
young people’s health and wellbeing. We will continue to stand up to Republican
efforts to defund Planned Parenthood health centers, which provide critical
health services to millions of people. We will continue to oppose—and seek to
overturn—federal and state laws and policies that impede a woman’s access to
abortion, including by repealing the Hyde Amendment [which prohibits federal
financing of abortions]. We condemn and will combat any acts of violence,
harassment, and intimidation of reproductive health providers, patients, and
staff. We will defend the ACA, which extends affordable preventive health care
to women, including no-cost contraception, and prohibits discrimination in
health care based on gender.”
Will we remember on Election Day
the horrific harvesting and sale of fetal body parts at Planned Parenthood that
moved many to call for the withdrawal of federal aid to this organization, and
will we remember what “late-term abortion” is?
Can we doubt what the future will be regarding the murder of unborn
children under a Democrat administration?
Their candidate says, “As president, I’ll stand up for Planned
Parenthood and women’s access to critical health services, including safe,
legal abortion.”
Because
of the changes in government about marriage and abortion, many Christians have
been concerned over the impact they may have on our religious freedom. The Democrat Presidential candidate disturbed
us by stating, “Deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs
and structural biases have to be changed.”
“It’s outrageous,” she said, to be “denied a wedding cake for being
gay.” The party platform says, “We
support a progressive vision of religious freedom that respects pluralism and
rejects the misuse of religion to discriminate.” Will Christians be in danger of government
sanctions for following or even stating their Bible-based convictions? Will it happen as soon as the next
presidential administration? You and I
will decide on Election Day.
In statements they are making in regard to the economy, the
Democrats consistently stand in favor of changes that point in the direction of
radical socialism. Their platform says, “Democrats
believe that today’s extreme levels of income and wealth inequality are bad for
our people, bad for our businesses, and bad for our economy.“ It also advocates raising the minimum
wage. “We should raise the federal
minimum wage to $15 an hour [an amount that can be shown to be too much for our
fragile economy].” They are proposing
huge expansions of government, and of federal spending. “Democrats believe that in America, if you
want a higher education, you should always be able to get one: money should
never stand in the way,” says the Democrat platform. “Cost should not be a barrier to getting a
degree or credential, and debt should not hold you back after you graduate.
Bold new investments by the federal government, coupled with states reinvesting
in higher education and colleges holding the line on costs, will ensure that
Americans of all backgrounds will be prepared for the jobs and economy of the
future. Democrats are unified in their strong belief that every student should
be able to go to college debt-free, and working families should not have to pay
any tuition to go to public colleges and universities.” These expensive proposals
come in spite of our $19-trillion national debt, which is already growing at an
alarming rate, and threatening our currency and our economy!
“We are going to fight to make
sure every American has access to quality, affordable health care. We will
tackle the problems that remain in our health care system, including cracking
down on runaway prescription drug prices and addressing mental health with the
same seriousness that we treat physical health. We will fight Republican
efforts to roll back the clock on women’s health and reproductive rights, and
stand up for Planned Parenthood. And we will tackle the epidemics of substance
abuse and gun violence, which each claim tens of thousands of lives every year.
Securing Universal Health Care Democrats believe that health care is a right,
not a privilege, and our health care system should put people before profits.
Thanks to the hard work of President Obama and Democrats in Congress, we took a
critically important step toward the goal of universal health care by passing
the Affordable Care Act, which has covered 20 million more Americans and
ensured millions more will never be denied coverage because of a pre-existing
condition. Democrats will never falter in our generations-long fight to
guarantee health care as a fundamental right for every American. As part of
that guarantee, Americans should be able to access public coverage through a
public option, and those over 55 should be able to opt in to Medicare. “ The solution to our problems, say the
socialist-leaning Democrats, is to keep on expanding the government, and to
keep on spending billions and trillions more into the hole!
Law-enforcement, to a Christian,
is a matter of the state doing its God-given duty. “Rulers are not a terror to good works, but
to the evil…He is the minister of God to thee for good…a revenger to execute
wrath upon him that doeth evil” (see Romans 13:1-5). Of course, law enforcement has been hindered
and endangered by radical revolutionary movements in recent months, encouraged
by people in authority. But the Democrat
platform this year does not bring us back to a law-and-order society. It casts doubt on policing, and also advocates
the abolition of the death penalty and the legalization of harmful drugs.
“We will work with police chiefs
to invest in training for officers on issues such as de-escalation and the
creation of national guidelines for the appropriate use of force. We will
encourage better police-community relations, require the use of body cameras,
and stop the use of weapons of war that have no place in our communities. We
will end racial profiling that targets individuals solely on the basis of race,
religion, ethnicity, or national origin, which is un-American and
counterproductive. We should report national data on policing strategies and
provide greater transparency and accountability. We will require the Department
of Justice to investigate all questionable or suspicious police-involved
shootings, and we will support states and localities who help make those
investigations and prosecutions more transparent, including through reforming
the grand jury process. We will assist states in providing a system of public
defense that is adequately resourced and which meets American Bar Association
standards. And we will reform the civil asset forfeiture system to protect
people and remove perverse incentives for law enforcement to police for a
profit.”
“The war on drugs has led to the imprisonment
of millions of Americans, disproportionately people of color, without reducing
drug use. Whenever possible, Democrats will prioritize prevention and treatment
over incarceration when tackling addiction and substance use disorder. We will
build on effective models of drug courts, veterans’ courts, and other
diversionary programs that seek to give nonviolent offenders opportunities for
rehabilitation as opposed to incarceration. Because of conflicting federal and
state laws concerning marijuana, we encourage the federal government to remove
marijuana from the list of Schedule 1 federal controlled substances and to
appropriately regulate it, providing a reasoned pathway for future
legalization. We believe that the states should be laboratories of democracy on
the issue of marijuana, and those states that want to decriminalize it or
provide access to medical marijuana should be able to do so. We support
policies that will allow more research on marijuana, as well as reforming our
laws to allow legal marijuana businesses to exist without uncertainty. And we
recognize our current marijuana laws have had an unacceptable disparate impact
in terms of arrest rates for African Americans that far outstrip arrest rates
for whites, despite similar usage rates.
“We will abolish the death
penalty, which has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment. It has
no place in the United States of America. The application of the death penalty
is arbitrary and unjust. The cost to taxpayers far exceeds those of life
imprisonment. It does not deter crime. And, exonerations show a dangerous lack
of reliability for what is an irreversible punishment. “
Bible readers know what God says about the death penalty in Genesis
9:6 and other passages, as well as other law-enforcement issues, and are
alarmed by such extreme and dangerous proposals.
The prayer of Christians for government authorities is that
the state will leave us alone to live our lives for Christ and spread His
Gospel.
“I exhort…that prayers…be made for all men; for kings, and for all that
are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness
and honesty.”
(First Timothy 2:1-2)
The Democrats this year are
promising us more of President Obama’s rule by executive mandate instead of
Constitutional legislation. Their
candidate has said, “If Congress won’t act, I’ll defend President Obama’s
executive actions—and I’ll go even further…If Congress refuses to act to end
the epidemic of gun violence, I’ll take administrative action to do so.” Any objective student of government must
admit that our Constitution is being violated and ignored in the way the country
is being run. Congress has vacated its
duties, the executive branch has overreached its power, and activist judges have
illegally expanded their powers to change the government, and under a new
Democrat administration, we can expect it to become much worse. The candidate promises, “I would not appoint someone [to
the Supreme Court bench] who didn’t think Roe
v. Wade is settled law.” Supreme
Court decisions like this one derailed and perverted the meaning of the
Constitution and its amendments, and transformed our culture from its original
Biblically-based structure. The
Democrats are determined that this perverse and illegal transformation
continues.
THE REPUBLICANS
This election year, the
Republicans have taken an unusually clear stand for Constitutional government,
Biblical morals, fiscal responsibility, religious liberty, and public reverence
for our Creator. Their platform includes
this statement:
“Every time we sing, ‘God Bless
America,’ we are asking for help. We ask
for divine help that our country can fulfill its promise. We earn that help by recommitting ourselves
to the ideas and ideals that are the true greatness of America.”
Their position on the definition
of marriage could not be clearer: “Traditional marriage and family, based on
marriage between one man and one woman, is the foundation for a free society
and has for millennia been entrusted with rearing children and instilling
cultural values. We condemn the Supreme
Court’s ruling in United States v. Windsor, which wrongly removed the ability
of Congress to define marriage policy in federal law. We also condemn the Supreme Court’s lawless
ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which in the words of the late Justice Antonin
Scalia was a ‘judicial Putsch’ — full of ‘silly extravagances’ — that reduced ‘the
disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Storey to the mystical
aphorisms of a fortune cookie.’ In
Obergefell, five unelected lawyers robbed 320 million Americans of their
legitimate constitutional authority to define marriage as the union of one man
and one woman. The Court twisted the
meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment beyond recognition. To echo Scalia, we dissent. We, therefore, support the appointment of
justices and judges who respect the constitutional limits on their power and
respect the authority of the states to decide such fundamental social
questions.” At present, several
important cases are standing in line for the review of the high court which
will decide immense societal issues on the side of the justice that will be appointed
by the new president to replace Scalia.
In a definite way, we voters will decide what kind of judge that will be,
and what our society will be like.
The platform states that “only a
Republican president will appoint judges who respect the rule of law expressed
within the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, including the
inalienable right to life and the laws of nature and nature’s God, as did the
late Justice Antonin Scalia. We are facing a national crisis in our
judiciary. We understand that only by
electing a Republican president in 2016 will America have the opportunity for
up to five new constitutionally-minded Supreme Court justices appointed to fill
vacancies on the Court. Only such appointments will enable courts to begin to
reverse the long line of activist decisions.”
Furthermore, “Article I of the
Constitution directs that ‘All legislative Powers herein granted shall be
vested in a Congress of the United States….’
For more than a century, however, Congress has delegated increasing
amounts of legislative authority to executive departments, agencies, and
commissions, laying the foundation for today’s vast administrative state.
Unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch now write countless rules with
the force of law and arbitrarily punish individuals who disobey those rules.
The Constitution makes clear that these powers were granted to Congress by the
people and must therefore remain solely with the people’s elected
representatives. We call on Congress to begin reclaiming its constitutional
powers from the bureaucratic state by requiring that major new federal
regulations be approved by Congress before they can take effect, such as
through the Regulation Freedom Amendment. We further affirm that courts should
interpret laws as written by Congress rather than allowing executive agencies
to rewrite those laws to suit administration priorities.”
One of the most amazing
characteristics of the work of our government in the last eight years has been how
little attention has been given to the explosion of spending and debt during
this time. The Republicans say they will
take on the challenge of tackling this crisis.
Their platform states that our “national debt is a burden on our economy
and families. The huge increase in the
national debt demanded by and incurred during the current Administration has
placed a significant burden on future generations. We must impose firm caps on
future debt, accelerate the repayment of the trillions we now owe in order to
reaffirm our principles of responsible and limited government, and remove the
burdens we are placing on future generations.
A strong economy is one key to debt reduction, but spending restraint is
a necessary component that must be vigorously pursued.” We read, “The federal fiscal burden threatens
the security, liberty, and independence of our nation. The current
Administration’s refusal to work with Republicans took our national debt from
$10 trillion to nearly $19 trillion today. Left unchecked, it will hit $30
trillion by 2026. At the same time, the Administration’s policies
systematically crippled economic growth and job creation, driving up government
costs and driving down revenues. When Congressional Republicans tried to
reverse course, the Administration manufactured fiscal crises — phony
government shutdowns — to demand excessive spending…The Republican path to
fiscal sanity and economic expansion begins with a constitutional requirement
for a federal balanced budget. We will fight for Congress to adopt, and for the
states to ratify, a Balanced Budget Amendment which imposes a cap limiting
spending to the appropriate historical average percentage of our nation’s gross
domestic product while requiring a super-majority for any tax increase, with
exceptions only for war or legitimate emergencies. Only a constitutional
safeguard such as this can prevent deficits from mounting to government default.”
The threats to religious liberty
posed by the expansion of our government will be met by the Republicans. “America’s
healthcare professionals should not be forced to choose between following their
faith and practicing their profession.
We respect the rights of conscience of healthcare professionals,
doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and organizations, especially the faith-based
groups which provide a major portion of care for the nation and the needy. We
support the ability of all organizations to provide, purchase, or enroll in
healthcare coverage consistent with their religious, moral, or ethical
convictions without discrimination or penalty.
We support the right of parents to determine the proper medical
treatment and therapy for their minor children. We support the right of parents
to consent to medical treatment for their minor children and urge enactment of
legislation that would require parental consent for their daughter to be
transported across state lines for abortion. Providers should not be permitted
to unilaterally withhold services because a patient’s life is deemed not worth
living. American taxpayers should not be
forced to fund abortion. As Democrats
abandon this four decade-old bipartisan consensus, we call for codification of the
Hyde Amendment and its application across the government, including Obamacare. We call for a permanent ban on federal
funding and subsidies for abortion and healthcare plans that include abortion
coverage.”
Unprecedented examples of corruption
in the executive branch have been exposed but largely ignored in recent
years. The Republicans say that they
will straighten out the messes that have been found, and punish the criminals. In their platform we read, “Many good civil
servants work at the IRS, but the agency itself is toxic. Its leadership
employs known tax delinquents, rehires workers previously fired for misconduct,
spends user fees without congressional oversight, and awards bonuses for
customer service that would put any private company out of business. Worst of
all, the IRS has become an ideological attack dog for the worst elements of
today’s Democratic Party. It systematically targets conservative, pro-life, and
libertarian organizations, harassing them with repeated audits and denying
their tax exempt status. Its commissioner has lied to Congress, hidden
evidence, and stonewalled investigations. He should be impeached by the House
of Representatives and convicted by the Senate. We value the right of America’s
churches, pastors, and religious leaders to preach and speak freely according
to their faith. Republicans believe the federal government, specifically the
IRS, is constitutionally prohibited from policing or censoring the speech of
America’s churches, pastors, and religious leaders. We support repeal of the
Johnson Amendment, which restricts First Amendment freedoms of all nonprofit
organizations by prohibiting political speech. We also support making the
federal tax code so simple and easy to understand that the IRS becomes obsolete
and can be abolished.”
The safeguard of our republic and
our freedom is our Constitution, which we have seen slighted and ignored as
well as flagrantly violated under the current administration. The Republicans say in their platform, “Our
Constitution is in crisis. More than 90 percent of federal requirements are now
imposed by regulatory agencies, without any vote of the House or Senate or
signature of the President. The current Administration has exceeded its
constitutional authority, brazenly and flagrantly violated the separation of
powers, sought to divide America into groups and turn citizen against citizen.
The President has refused to defend or enforce laws he does not like, used
executive orders to enact national policies in areas constitutionally reserved
solely to Congress, made unconstitutional ‘recess’ appointments to Senate-confirmed
positions, directed regulatory agencies to overstep their statutory authority,
and failed to consult Congress regarding military action overseas. He has
changed what John Adams called ‘a government of laws and not of men’ into just
the opposite.”
The Republicans pledge to restore
our crippled economy through free-market, Constitutional means. Their platform declares, “Government cannot
create prosperity, though government can limit or destroy it. Prosperity is the
product of self-discipline, enterprise, saving and investment by individuals,
but it is not an end in itself. Prosperity provides the means by which citizens
and their families can maintain their independence from government, raise their
children by their own values, practice their faith, and build communities of
cooperation and mutual respect. It is also the foundation for our nation’s
global leadership, for it is the vigor of our economy which makes possible our
military strength and our national security.”
“Republicans consider the establishment
of a pro-growth tax code a moral imperative. More than any other public policy,
the way government raises revenue — how much, at what rates, under what
circumstances, from whom, and for whom — has the greatest impact on our
economy’s performance. It powerfully influences the level of economic growth
and job creation, which translates into the level of opportunity for those who
would otherwise be left behind. Getting
our tax system right will be the most important factor in driving the entire
economy back to prosperity. The current tax code is rightly the object of both
anger and mockery. Its length is exceeded only by its complexity. We must start
anew. That will be an enormous undertaking and, if it is to succeed, it must
command the attention and approval of the American people. It cannot be
engineered from the top down, but must have a common sense approach, and be
simplified.”
I am not a Republican, but the
great difference between the plans for our future proposed by the Republican
Party in 2016 and the vision of this year’s Democrats cannot be missed. It is the difference between more government,
more debt, more undermining of our civilization, more corruption, less God,
less growth, less law, and less freedom, as opposed to more law-and-order, more
protection of life and liberty, more prosperity, more Constitutional
government, less endangerment of individual rights, less executive power, and
less deficit spending. I have a
responsibility to make a responsible choice on November 8, and so do you. May the Lord show us our duty.
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have
set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life,
that both thou and thy seed may live…”
(Dueteronomy 30:19)
Dr. Rick Flanders
