Election Exhaustion

I have spent sooooo much time following the U.S. elections, I feel quite exhausted by it all - and I'm not even American! Meanwhile, the Canadian elections have come and gone with relatively little incident, other than the Conservative party gaining 19 seats in Parliament but remaining a minority government.

Here in Canada there are no legal restrictions on abortion, and same-sex "marriage" has been legalized nationwide since 2005. We also have socialized medicine which, at its best, means you don't have to freak out about the costs of basic medical care - and I am grateful for that. At its worst, it sometimes means you might be near death before they get around to diagnosing and treating your fatal illness...

We also have a real fight on our hands when it comes to free speech because of "Human Rights Commissions". They were originally set up in the 60s and 70s to investigate claims of discrimination in employment and housing. They're now being used to seek revenge against anyone who hurts someone's feelings with the words they use, especially if the speaker of the "hurtful" words holds conservative values.

In following the U.S. election campaigns, it concerns me to see that the U.S. appears to be on the verge of becoming more like Canada, with a presidential candidate who supports unrestricted access to abortion, who would allow individual states to choose to legalize same-sex "marriage", and who apparently leans towards socialism (some might say that's an understatement).

Regardless of the U.S. election results in November, I pray that conservatives, especially social conservatives will re-group and strive to be more united and focused. We can't waffle on the core conservative values that give us our identity, and we have to continually strive to improve how we convey our ideas and beliefs, using all of today's tools to our advantage.

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Recently I've been telling myself that winning hearts and changing minds is more important than winning elections and changing laws - then a friend pointed out to me that winning elections and changing laws also SAVES LIVES. She's right, of course. I suppose with God's grace, we should strive to do both. Whatever the results, we can find peace and strength in Christ who encourages us to keep fighting the good fight...