I should be heading to bed right now but instead I’m sitting in my living room listening to Neutral Milk Hotel records and trying to prognosticate the future.  I’m trying to figure out what I want to say in my grad school admissions essay.  I don’t know why it seems so hard to put down words about something I feel so passionately about.  I’ve been working on this two page essay for about a month now and I can’t get it down ono paper.  Anyway, I need to get a little bit more done with that before I head to bed so I’ll wrap this up.

Mostly I wanted to post tonight just to remind everyone that come what may, at the end of the day tomorrow we will have a new president-elect.  For some it will be the candidate they wanted, others obviously not.  But it is important to remember that no matter what the election, God still reigns.  Earthly presidents come and go, they make policies that effect lives for a time before circumstances and people change and move on, but the Kingdom of God remains.

I decide to take a break from blogging for a bit and look what happens, all the sudden we have a new gauge on the state of the Presidential election, what does Joe the Plumber think?  It seems like this has happened in the last several elections.  In order to seem more at touch with the people watching at home, one or both of the candidates highlight the story of someone they met on the campaign trail.  Perfectly understandable.  It also drives me crazy, and this time, it just about pushed me over the edge.  Apparently, Joe the Plumber (actually Joe Wurzelbacher) lives in Ohio and dreams of purchasing the plumbing company he works for but is afraid if Obama gets elected, he won’t be able to afford to run said company.  This is a perfectly legitimate and meaningful question and debate point, how do the tax proposals of each candidate impact small businesses?  Joe, and the American public, have the right to know.  Here’s what makes me so frustrated though.

Joe is a plumber, probably even a good one.  According to the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average plumber in Ohio makes $47,930 per year.  Lets round that up to $50,000 since Joe is actually a good plumber and a nice guy.  Now, for the ease of discussion, lets say Joe pays back 20% of his wages in taxes, $10,000 per year.  This leaves him with $40,000 in take home pay.  Now, lets say that Joe, after purchasing the plumbing business, is fortunate enough to make $250,000 per year, the point at which Obama’s higher tax brackets would kick in.  Even if Joe then paid 50% of his wages in taxes, his take home pay would still be $125,000 per year.  Heck, even if Joe paid 68% of his wages in taxes he would still take home $80,000, twice his original $40,000.  My point is this.  There are certainly tax reform issues that need to be dealt with in America, there are things that need to be examined and discussed and fixed.  However, decisions about the future cannot be made based on the possibility that maybe someday we might become rich.

Furthermore, how rich do we really need to be?  We already, and still, are the richest country in the world.  I, on my meager ministry wages, can afford what by the standards of several billion people is a life of luxury.  I do not want for food or shelter, if I see something I want I buy it, no questions.  Do I hope one day to have more money than I currently do so I can pursue my hobbies of photography and computers?  Of course!  I just get tired of people who protect essentially meaningless tax rates on the rich because they think one day they might be rich too.  I certainly do not wish anyone lose their home or even their job in the coming months, but if we are headed into a deep dark recession, hopefully it will become a chance for America to re-examine our priorities and the measures by which we judge the quality of our lives.  Because I can tell you, even if you are living in your car, you have it better than billions of people fighting starvation, war, and disease in the developing world.

When I was going into Quiznos today for lunch the lady who went in right before me held the door open after she stepped inside.  This seemingly inconsequential nicety represents a much more profound truth that is the reason I’m not worried about the future of the country.  There is a lot of fear right now about a coming recession that is going to hit all of us very hard.  Personally, I don’t think it is going to be as bad as people say, but I’m not exactly a paragon of financial knowledge so don’t take my word for it.  That said, the sky isn’t falling.  If a recession really does hit and the economy slows, there will be a few hard years, maybe some tight budgets, but we will pull through and be alright because we are a country of people who inherently want to be nice to each other.  Sure there are greedy and less altruistic people who are only interested in others based on what they have to gain, but by and large, people want to help each other out.  We know that at the end of the day, come recession or economic boom, we are our best assets.  I think as Christians this is one of those great times where we can lead the way as the example of how to treat each other with love and respect, to show the light of Christ to those around us who might take a big hit.  This is also the reason that I’m increasingly drawn to support Obama for President.  As was referenced by Ted Kennedy today (who thought I would see the day where I agreed with that guy!), Obama is offering people a platform of change and hope.  He is hearkening back to Presidents like Reagan and JFK who lead the country through dark times with messages of hope.  Men who reminded us of why we, America, are the greatest country in the world.  I don’t mean that in an arrogant ethnocentric way, but rather in the sense we can be that City on a Hill, that Camelot, serving as a beacon to a world full of war and famine.  He is the only candidate that I see as someone who gives us a legitimate chance at a New Politics, a political landscape where we no longer are bickering over party lines but having substantial discussions of foreign and economic policy.  Maybe we can finally do something about Stage 2 subsidies, maybe we can finally find a real, lasting solution to illegal immigration.  Maybe we get policies that are more than just vote grabs.  We have had nearly 10 years of fighting over which party is the most corrupt and sleazy and with Obama we get someone who has no reason not to throw open the gates and run a transparent government that values truth and openness over deceit and bureaucracy.  This is the future I want to live in, this is the country I think we can be.  Will you join me?