The Political Season Closes

As the election is tomorrow, all good little bloggers are supposed to say something like, “No matter whom you vote for, be sure to vote.” I guess I am not a good little blogger, as my philosophy is more like, “Do not vote, it only encourages them.” 

I thought I would conclude this season on the prophecypodcast.com blog by listing all the different analogies I have used this electoral season with links. I did not realize I had so many. I need to get a life. 

Let me begin with my two favorites. 

Are Obama and Romney klowns? Click Here. 

The Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede as an analogy for the election.  Click Here. 

Partisanship compares our elections to characters from Star Wars.  Click Here.  

Are we headed for an economic hanging that concentrates the mind?  Click Here.  

Which Oligarchs Will Benefit?Is American hooked on debt?  Click Here.

Unfortunately in most systems the people that rise to the top are not the best people. Are Obama and Romney good examples of a sociopath and a psychopath?  Click Here.

Are Obama and Romney like professional wrestlers?  Click Here.

In 3 to 7 years I talk about the necessity of hard choices that neither candidate will admit to.  Click Here.  

Is an Economic Grand Mal Seizure coming?   Click Here. 

The story of the Tyrant of Syracuse.  Click Here.

And finally my prediction for tomorrow.  Click Here.

Obama is ToastFor those of you who are interested in voting you might want to check my blog later today for my advice on whom to vote for. I will embed two videos for my first and second choice for president. 

Tomorrow I will don my prophecypodcast.com turban and offer predictions for the future.

I agree with the tot I embedded yesterday. I too am ready to cry: Thanks to God this is almost over. 

Another Reason Not To Vote

Yes the two main candidates are different, like aqua is different from aquamarine. 

From the mouths of babes ...

Living by the Sword

As I wend toward my conclusion on the series where I note that the US is overdue for some divine retribution, or as one minister put it, “the chickens coming home to roost,” I thought I would talk about military spending. 

Romney has been surprising me lately with some of his statements. He has announced that he wants to increase defense spending to 4% of GDP, gross domestic product. What makes this statement surprising is that right now we spend 4.7%. Limiting defense spending to 4% actually makes a lot of sense, but this is another example of Romneyspeak. (We will leave Obamaspeak for another day.) What Romney has done is to ignore the part of our national defense that is spent in other departments—the Energy department pays for nuclear weapons, the CIA budget, and the Veterans department for example. In fact I would guess that if all the hidden parts of the defense budget were brought to the light and consolidated it would be more than 4.7% of GDP. 

Jesus said this about the sword in Matt 26:

^50-51 Jesus said, “Friend, why this charade?”

Then they came on him—grabbed him and roughed him up. One of those with Jesus pulled his sword and, taking a swing at the Chief Priest’s servant, cut off his ear.

^52-54 Jesus said, “Put your sword back where it belongs. All who use swords are destroyed by swords. Don’t you realize that I am able right now to call to my Father, and twelve companies—more, if I want them—of fighting angels would be here, battle-ready? But if I did that, how would the Scriptures come true that say this is the way it has to be?”

I have heard similar things said in seriousness. We need to be careful not to over-interpret what Jesus is saying here. Jesus was not a pacifist. There is a time and a place for self-defense at the individual, and yes, even the national level. What he said, based on the King James, has become a proverb for the English culture, “Those that live by the sword, die by the sword.” That is what Jesus was saying. 

If you are a Christian, do you agree with Jesus that those that live by the sword will die by the sword? If you do, then ask yourself, “Does the US live by the sword?” Look at the chart at the top of this blog post. No—meditate on it. Is 46% of all worldwide military expenditures an indication that the US does live by the sword? 

You might argue that it is needed to fight the Soviet menace. Oh wait, there is no Soviet menace. (If you want to understand why Romney is so bellicose against Russia, it is to justify the enormous defense spending he advocates. The Russian Federation cannot even control the Ukraine anymore!)  You might argue that the defense budget is needed to fight terrorists. How many aircraft carriers does al Qaida have? 

President Eisenhower said this in his farewell address: 

I suppose he could have been wrong. But looking at our situation today, it seems he could not have been more right. This is one reason why I refuse to vote for either Romney or Obama—they are both toadies of the “military industrial complex.” 

I ask you to meditate on what Jesus said. If the US lives by the sword, it will die by the sword. 

For those interested, here is the full Eisenhower speech. 

Don’t Go Along With The Crowd

One of the techniques of propaganda is the bandwagon effect. Here is how Wikipedia describes it: 

The bandwagon effect is a well-documented form of groupthink in behavioral science and has many applications. The general rule is that conduct or beliefs spread among people, as fads and trends clearly do, with “the probability of any individual adopting it increasing with the proportion who have already done so”. As more people come to believe in something, others also “hop on the bandwagon” regardless of the underlying evidence. The tendency to follow the actions or beliefs of others can occur because individuals directly prefer to conform, or because individuals derive information from others. 

Or as the Chinese say, “Three men make a tiger.” This refers to an old story about a Chinese emperor who said that if he was told that there was a tiger loose in the market he would not believe it, but if three men told him ... 

In the same way, it does not matter how many people repeat a rumor or idea, it does not become true just because people believe it. It may be true, or not. It depends on the facts, or as your mother told you, “If all your friends jump off a cliff, will you jump too?” I do not know about you but I always found this annoying, probably because it was true. 

So next Tuesday when your friends and relatives go to vote, ask yourself, “should I jump off the cliff too?”  Is your perception that both candidates are evil? (If you have repeated the phrase “voting for the lesser of two evils,” that is your perception.)  If so, do not vote for evil, or as Exodus 23:2a tells us “Don’t go along with the crowd in doing evil.” 

One bright note of not voting is that no matter who wins, you can put the bumper sticker on your car that says, "Don’t Blame Me, I Didn’t Vote For Him.” 

Sociopath vs Psychopath

There are distinct differences between a Sociopath and a Psychopath, Here is one list of the characteristics of a sociopath:

1. Sociopaths are very charming. 

2. Sociopaths can be extremely manipulative and will try to con you whenever possible. 

3. Sociopaths feel that they are entitled to everything. 

4. Sociopaths will lie continuously to get what they want. They can even sometimes manipulate a lie detector. 

5. Sociopaths have no remorse, shame or guilt. 

6. Sociopaths will show love and happiness only when it serves their purpose. None of the feelings are genuine. 

7. Sociopaths have no room for love in their life. 

8. Sociopaths need to have excitement in their lives or live on the edge. 

9. Sociopaths have lack of empathy when their victims suffer pain that they have caused. 

10. Sociopaths believe that they are all mightier than thou, there is no concern on how their behavior impacts others. 

11. Sociopaths usually have a long history of juvenile delinquency as well as behavior problems. 

12. Sociopaths will never take blame for anything they have done to anyone no matter if it is family or friend. 

13. Sociopaths have many sexual partners and tend to act out many sexual acts. 

14. Sociopaths rarely stay in one place for a long time (home/work). 

15. Sociopaths will change themselves if they know it will keep them from being found out.

This same source describes a Psychopath:

1. Psychopaths use superficial charm to lure their victims. 

2. Psychopaths are extremely self-centered. 

The Trick Is On You. 3. Psychopaths must always do something to keep themselves from boredom. 

4. Psychopaths are very deceptive and tend to lie continuously. 

5. Psychopaths show no remorse of guilt towards their victims. 

6. Psychopaths are very predatory and usually will live off other people. 

7. Psychopaths have many sexual partners in their lifetime. 

8. Psychopaths are very impulsive with their lifestyle. 

9. Psychopaths are always blaming other people for their actions. 

10. Psychopaths never have a realistic view of their lives. (king of the world or from another planet) 

11. Psychopaths always want psychological gratification in sexual and criminal activities. 

12. Psychopaths tend to try suicide, rarely succeeding.

While not every characteristic applies to every Sociopath or Psychopath, these characteristics do form two patterns of behavior. I do not know about you, but when I read this list I think of two very prominent politicians. Not every point fits, but a surprising number of these traits do fit. 

So when you tell me to vote for the Psychopath (Romney) in order to defeat the Sociopath (Obama), I am not interested. While the cliché is that cream rises to the top, there is something else that floats too. I said this in a previous blog post, The Scum Also Rises:

I have felt for years that I could filter out the scum from my milk and everything would be fine. Lately I have come to understand that while I can get most of the scum from the milk, to continue with my analogy I began with, the milk is still poisoned. Do you really want your milk to have unseen, but still present, scum? This is what will inevitably happen if you become a part of the system that God has set us here on the earth to fight. 

It would be nice if it was the cream that always rose to the top, but alas, the scum also rises.