Unintended Consequences?

Hi friends~
I have but a few quick moments to write today; will be leaving town (& thus blogging) until Wednesday, Nov. 19th. This process has been great for me, & so many new friends have added richness to my life. Thanks! I'll miss it in these intervening days.

However, my college friends & I are celebrating turning 40 this year, & are headed to an undisclosed location (okay, the Dominican Republic)! Yippee! And, no, we're not going on a mission trip. A mission, yes; mission trip, no.

Anyway, before departure, there are some things that just need sayin':

• Our country, as Peggy Noonan said today, has "thrown long," a hail-mary of a lunge toward someone/something/anything different. There are already unintended consequences of such a throw. It's like the addage says, "You'd better be careful what you pray for...you just might get it." (And I know, many were praying for 'change'...)


• Unintended consequence #1: Even with massive realignment of Congress, I don't believe voters themselves have moved as far left as the Left would like to think. Evidence? Ban on gay marriage passes in CA, AZ & FL, & largely due to the turnout of African Americans -yes, Obama voters largely- who are not up for any kind of massive shift to the left, it seems. Many, many thanks to these folks who have joined in the marriage debate & weighed in on whether it's a Civil Rights issue or not. Who would know better than these folks? (score 1 for us...but that's about it...)


• Unintended consequence #2: The election of Mr. Obama has sewn up a seam between the Far Left fringe & the left-of-center. They Far Left has, on cue, poured in torrents onto the Culture War battlefield with swords drawn & AK-47's firing (metaphor alert -I hope-, for those who're gonna fill the comment screen calling 'foul'): crashing/bashing of the evangelical Mount Hope church in Michigan, vandalizing Mormon churches, & sending suspicious white powder to several Mormon churches.

This is worse than vandalism & protesting, friends. It's domestic terrorism. Do these people feel entitled to engage their battle because Mr. Obama's campaign remained a blank slate? Because he could then allow himself to be all things to all people, for them to project their 'hopes' & dreams (however twisted) onto him? Do they believe they're entitled, because they identify w/ the most left-wing presidential candidate we've ever seen? I suppose they assume that since he's now on the national stage, they should be too. We knew Mr. O had ties to 'ancient history' domestic terrorism. We just didn't know that 'ancient history' was only last week. (Is it his fault? No, but is it an unintended consequence? You betcha.)

• Unintended consequence #3: Furthering the above, Mr. Obama has disrespected traditional Christians (as some suspected he would, eventually) by consulting w/Bishop Gene Robinson throughout his campaign. (Granted, this article is about as even-handed as the Huff. Post, but the inference can be made...) Will this be his new spiritual advisor? Gene Robinson is the Bishop whose appointment ripped the Episcopal Church in two. I mean, it's not that he shouldn't have an audience w/ the President-elect. But it appears the one seeking the audience has been Mr. Obama. So, for spiritual advisors, could BO have gone from Jeremiah Wright to this guy? Nice. (So far, he's not winnin' real big on doing what he can to earn being my President...)

So, it's grand that our country has elected our first African American president. It speaks to how far we've come as a nation. In my heart-of-hearts, I believe that. I am deeply grateful to live in a country that can progress so far & so short a time.

The victory has a sinister undercurrent though, friends, & I don't think those who've been so enamored of the load of *%@# called "hope" that BO was selling really get it yet. (Sorry, when churches get terrorized in the name of 'tolerance', I get a little ruffled.) But maybe they're starting to...

This man (I don't care if he's black, white, Chinese or Martian), because of his radical & largely untilled landscape of personality & history, is already serving as a launching pad for some of the farthest left, ugliest, most antisocial fringe in our society.

I read a comment yesterday which said, "Oh, let's just give him a chance." Indeed. We're already seeing the unintended consequences of that "chance." It's not even two weeks out from election day & already I'm thinking, "I told you so."

~~~