I am sure that, like me, many of you were extremely disappointed by the latest election results. That goes without saying; deep inside every student who has ever graduated Patriot Academy, none of them would have chosen our 44th president to serve two consecutive terms (I do not believe that any of us would have even given him the first either). I think it’s time for us as Christian conservatives to step back and take stock of all that has transpired. What is really important to us? Was it only the Presidential election? That Congressman you worked for, the Senator who will not be going back, every judge you knew. I can go on and on I am sure that if it were necessary we could all find someone who lost and should have won. Regardless of wins or losses, what are we going to do with them now? Will we stand up and take a move past the darkness of November 6th? Cast your net on the other side.
Now that it’s over, we’ve been pronounced by every news network and talk radio host in the country as the biggest losers. I even heard one radio host say he hoped Republicans never won another election. I think we need to look past this year of failures–the conservative movement could not nominate a candidate, the whole Republican party was defeated nationally, every judge in Bexar County lost their bench to someone of lesser qualifications, and the list goes on. I think that if we are to move forward we need to start having those awkward political conversations in the line at the grocery store. We need to ask co-workers hard questions like, “Did you vote your values this year?” We (and that’s an all-inclusive we) continually miss opportunities to ask tough questions and are unwilling to wait for tough answers. Just this last week a co-worker was surprised to hear that I attended the Republican State convention. It was humbling that she had not guessed I was a conservative by the way I talked when we had political conversations at work. I know I am more guilty of skipping the tough conversations than anyone. I let guys in my workplace get away with a vote for the 44th because it would be uncomfortable to have that conversation. It is up to us to disciple spiritually and politically those God places around us and remember Jesus’ words to exhausted disciples who had fished all night: “Cast your net on the other side.”
