I Don’t Remember God Being On The Ballot

Why is there not more of an uproar when the President admits that he makes foreign policy decisions based on his religious faith? The man is an Evangelical Christian who may or may not believe in the Rapture, I’d say he shouldn’t be allowed to make any foreign policy decisions, especially regarding the Middle East. He’s taking his marching orders from a God that has specific plans for that part of the world, plans that have nothing to do with the best interests of our country. That is simply frightening.

From Editor & Publisher:

Bush also explained, in unusually stark terms, how his belief in God influences his foreign policy. "I base a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true," he said. "One, I believe there's an Almighty. And, secondly, I believe one of the great gifts of the Almighty is the desire in everybody's soul, regardless of what you look like or where you live, to be free.”

Yes, people do want to be free, you shouldn’t need God to tell you that. And I thought Evangelicals are supposed to “know” there is an Almighty. Bush must not be 100% committed because he only “thinks” that it’s true. Bush’s base may not like that, but I find it a little comforting. Well, I would if there was even a small chance in hell of convincing Bush that he doesn’t have all the answers and that the world isn’t made up of only black and white. So I guess, in the end, him “thinking” that it’s true is in all practicality, the same as him “knowing” it to be true. It’s always difficult to find the silver lining in Bush’s words.

"I believe liberty is universal. I believe people want to be free. And I know that democracies do not war with each other."

This is potentially a bit of good news. Bush “knows” that democracies don’t war with each other. Whew, I guess that means we won’t be starting any wars with countries that have democratically elected leaders. That should give some comfort to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the democratically elected President of Iran and Hugo Chavez, the democratically elected President of Venezuela. Bush should also let Israel in on that little fact as well. They can’t “war” with Hamas, since they were democratically elected by the Palestinian people.

Bush says he “hears the voices.” We know that the voices he’s “hearing” are not those of the public or of Congress, so we can only assume that the voices are coming from his inner circle, or more frighteningly, from his own head. He says that God speaks to him, but how do we know that the voice he’s hearing is God’s? Isn’t it dangerous that he’s making decisions based on anything other than the facts and a vision of the future that we as Americans share?

Of course, we also know from experience that Bush uses his power for political gain in order to build up the capital necessary to implement his God ordained policy decisions. God may have whispered in George’s ear that he was destined to lead this country, but it was his lawyers that made sure that the votes weren’t counted in Florida in 2000. God may have convinced George that his work wasn’t complete in 2004, but it was his campaign folks (Karl Rove) who convinced him that the best way to continue his pillaging was to suppress and manipulate the vote in Ohio. God may have told George to invade Iraq, but his administration lied in order to make his case and to discredit Joe Wilson by selectively leaking classified information, including the fact that his wife worked for the CIA. God may be the nut of the problem, but how Bush and his cronies make His wishes their command, certainly make matters worse.

The President of the United States believes that God is talking to him, telling him how to remake the world. I understand that the Bush Presidency is disturbing on many levels, but how is it possible that this doesn’t even register as something we should be concerned about? I guess with this kind of incompetence, hubris and delusion of grandeur in the White House, it wouldn’t. These are scary, scary times.