Dr. No's
A local Protestant minister has a radio show and he performs bits about a fictional character called "Daryl Deacon" who finishes every rant with "...This is Daryl Deacon, and I'm agin' it!".
In this political season blogs are more comfortable being agin' it than for something. But the flip side of conservatism should be a sense of gratitude. We are comfortably middle class but even poor Americans are well-off relative to large parts of the world and well-off compared to all who have ever lived. My complaints about my job are as foolish as the leftist who sees America as the root of all evil. In fact I am to my job what Michael Moore is to America. I was also recently "convicted" of my reluctance to really appreciate and honor the ultimate sacrifices made for us over Memorial Day.
I think if we're not careful reading blogs can make us ungrateful and chronically dissatisfied. The glass is always half-empty and moving towards three-fourths empty. We grow relentlessly critical of ourselves, of our neighbors, of our country, of our world and the net effect - I'm speaking for myself - is not an awareness of the goodness of God or his creation. The net effect is that our joy is robbed by our refusal to be patient. We are not little children, we are unpaid societal critics.
Railing against political candidates is easiest of all. That no one can live up to our standard or what we perceive God's standard to be is a given, and there's a certain cache of sophistication to say "I dislike both candidates." It's becoming passe to stand for any candidate, flaws and all. It's embarrassing. Like patriotism.
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