Category: 2020 Election

Well, I can’t claim to have been the sower of the seed that prompted a 9/8/21 New York Times article entitled Quiz: If America Had Six Parties, Which Would You Belong To?, but reading it immediately brought to mind my 2016 blog post. The basic concept of that 2021 article was the same as the basic concept in my Blog post almost exactly five years earlier. However, the methodology used to produce the subject matter for the article [which was a six-party framework] via a survey was much less compressive than the methodology I had outlined in 2016 for two reasons: 1) the questions they asked were worded too succinctly; and 2) the answer choices forced you to extremes. Had their process been more like the one I described in my Blog post, the result would have been a significantly larger number of “parties,” although the term “parties” would not be an accurate description for what would essentially be “large clusters of people who are very like-minded but not ‘dyed in the wool’ party loyalists.” Although I think I’ve presented here a sufficient gist of the New York Times article for purposes of the remainder of this post, you can access the article directly at this link and decide that for yourself:  NYT — 6 Parties Concept.

I formed my USAparadigm.com web site and began posting to this Blog in the Summer of 2016. I felt at that time [as I do now] that a major paradigm shift in our political and governmental system was underway [see note below about the term paradigm and why I use it it often.] However, I’ve since learned two things that were new and surprising to me: 1) that paradigm shifts of this magnitude can take much longer than I envisioned at that time to unfold as the Current Paradigm is displaced by a New Paradigm that “takes over” because it has become more effective [and therefore more widely accepted] than its predecessor; 2) the road from Current Paradigm to New Paradigm can be very treacherous because major influential players in the Current Paradigm have the power to make it so. “Miss Stella,” my high school English teacher who challenged her graduating seniors to learn at least one new thing every day for the rest of their lives, would be proud of me now. Not only have I tried to meet her challenge all these years, but these two new things I’ve learned may be the most significant of all if my writings ultimately have even the slightest effect on bringing this paradigm shift to fruition in its best form.

For a year or so beginning in mid 2016, I published weekly posts to this Blog — and frankly, I was amazed at the number of people who read them — many times the number of people I know personally. After that, until I published what I felt was an “emergency” three-part series of posts in October 2020 entitled A Choice Between Two Futures, I published very few posts. However, the current situation after only eight months since January 20th and the direction in which we’re headed at an alarming pace have prompted me to begin regular posts again — probably not weekly as I did in 2016-2018, but on a more ad hoc frequency depending on what is happening week to week and month to month. If you are among those who’ve read my posts to this Blog in the past, thank you for doing so. If not, I appreciate your reading this one. In any event, I hope you will take what I write in upcoming posts into consideration as you form your opinions on matters affecting our country’s future.

…

Thanks for reading this post, and if you regularly follow my Blog, for that, too. Please consider sharing this or other posts with your friends, colleagues and associates.

Note. I have written extensively on the concept of paradigm shifts, so elaborating here would be redundant for regular readers of my posts. If you are a new reader and that term and why I use it is something you’d like to delve into a little deeper, I’d suggest visiting the A Major Paradigm Shift Underway page at my web site, which begins by defining “paradigm” [according to dictionaries] as “the way things work — the pattern, the model, the system, the set of rules, the modus operandi.” If after reading that page you want to delve deeper, then click the Search box and type in the word paradigm. That will bring up several Blog posts, the titles of some of which might look interesting to you.

…

---

In my last post, Transitioning To The One Thing That Matters Most Now, I said I believe the future of America CAN be driven by the Church (which unfortunately is nowhere near the number of people who say they “attend church,”) but the one thing that matters most now is whether or not the Church will provide that impetus. I closed it by saying I would begin explaining in my next post why I think the jury is still out on the question of whether or not the Church WILL provide the impetus needed to bring us to our senses. This is that post.

Every time a witness is about to testify in a court of law, he/she is “sworn in” with an oath something like “Do you affirm that all the testimony you are about to give in the case now before the court will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; this you do affirm under the pains and penalties of perjury?” [Unfortunately, our society has replaced “so help you God?” with the part after the semicolon.] I’m writing this post to speak directly to pastors of local Christian churches and “megachurches,” Christian TV/radio evangelists, and writers of books intended for Christian readers by stating up front that they should all take a similar oath before speaking or writing to their intended audiences: “I affirm before God that what I say to you in this [sermon / article / book / broadcast] will be the Word, the whole Word, and nothing but the Word, so help me God.”

---

The Transition — What It Is and Why I’m Making It

This is my first post to this Blog since the one entitled Time To Wake Up, Church! on 10/26/20, but with this post I’m beginning to get back into regular posts. They won’t be weekly as they were mid 2016 to late 2017; I’ll be going to an ad hoc frequency based on what’s going on week to week and month to month. If you are not a Christian, but have read my posts and/or the Home Page of this web site in the past, you should click the link and read that post because it will explain why in that post, the 3-part series of posts that preceded it, this post and most future posts until at least November 2022 and perhaps until November 2024, I am departing from my original writing philosophy when I first published the site in the Summer of 2016. That philosophy was to try to appeal to both Christians and non-Christians by intentionally avoiding words and phrases that would cause a non-Christian reader to label the site as a Christian site, thereby causing many people to miss what I felt was content that should be understood by all Americans. However, as you will see clearly on the Home Page, and in more depth through links there, I intentionally have never “hidden” the fact that I am a Christian. I have made it clear from the beginning that I am a Christian, and that my faith underlies my Worldview and the perspective from which I write. It is my sincere hope that this change in my writing philosophy will not keep you from reading my posts. Who knows? Maybe something in my recent past and future posts will cause you to rethink your own Worldview.

However, if you are a true, born again, Bible believing Christian, I think you could relate more closely to what I will say in this post by reading — or re-reading — that relatively brief 10/26/20 post. And, if you do that and want to “get a little deeper into my head” as I wrote both that post and this one, you can do so by reading at least Part 1 of the three-part series of posts that preceded it [there’s a link to Part 1 of the series in the above-mentioned post, and links in it and Part 2 to the next post in the series.]

The One Thing That Matters Most Now

Frankly, it took me several months to absorb the magnitude of the directional shift my country took the week after my 10/26/20 post. But rather than continuing then in the vein of my pre-election posts, I decided to sit back and just observe the transition to the new Administration in its “first 100 days.” After that, more or less in a state of shock over how rapidly the radical changes being made under extreme pressure from the far-left radical wing of the majority party were being made, I decided to continue in observation mode. Now, here we sit at the nine month mark and the pace is not only continuing but accelerating.

In my next post, I will outline why I believe the future of America can be driven by the Church (which unfortunately is nowhere near the number of people who say they “attend church,”) but the one thing that matters most now is whether or not the Church will provide that impetus. I am not trying to suggest that we need to become a theocracy, which was never the intention of our Founding Fathers — only that we desperately need to change our direction toward understanding and retaining closer adherence to the founding principles in our Declaration Of Independence and our Constitution [and, I would add, what many of our Founding Fathers said — in some cases, warning us what might happen — in the Federalist Papers.]

---

At the beginning of Part 1 of my three-part series of posts last week entitled A Choice Between Two Futures, I explained for the benefit of all my readers, regardless of their religious beliefs, my rationale for addressing that series and other posts I am publishing in the two weeks prior to the upcoming election specifically to any Christians who follow this Blog — even more specifically, to Christians who are eligible to vote but have not yet done so. If you haven’t read that series, please consider doing so — it explains why I am so passionate about communicating those thoughts and those I’m expressing here to any Christians who will read my posts [you can access Part 1 by clicking here:] Part 1.

In this post, I am recommending that every Christian reading it watch every second of the one hour and six minutes of the video to which I’ll include the YouTube link within a few sentences below as I close this brief introduction to it.

The video is the 10/25/20 sermon called Election Day Sermon by Gary Hamrick, Pastor of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. I had never heard of him until I watched this sermon after receiving the link in an email from two of my dearest friends in Christ. His introduction of the topic [first 12 minutes or so] is extremely important for all people of faith because it sets the context for the sermon, but it’s particularly important for Christians. Expanding the “math” of the “one picture is worth a thousand words” adage to a video [which shows 30 frames (pictures) per second,] the remainder of this post is the equivalent of 118,000 words! I’ll simply give you the link because nothing I could write here — even in 118,000 words — could express my thoughts as succinctly and accurately as this pastor did in this sermon. This pastor is preaching what every pastor in America should be preaching at this critical crossroads in our nation’s history. Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/EpehM9M5_xE.

…

---

[This is Part 2 of 3 — Click here to read Part 1: Part 1]

As I explained in Part 1, this series of posts is specifically addressed to Christians who follow this Blog — even more specifically, to Christians who are eligible to vote but have not yet done so.

Quick Recap Of Part 1

To summarize key points from Part 1 [detailed statistics were presented there:]

• The upcoming election is NOT about choosing between two PEOPLE. It’s about choosing between two diametrically opposite IDEOLOGIES.
• Christians CAN actually dictate the outcome of this election — easily if only 15% of them who didn’t vote in 2016 vote this year, and by a landslide if all who didn’t vote in 2016 vote this year [backed up in Part 1 with facts and statistics that show why I believe very strongly that they SHOULD.
• Polls and media coverage now are almost identical to what they were at this point in 2016 — Biden [Clinton in 2016] is “in the lead,” a shoo-in, no possible path to 270 for Trump, it’ll be a landslide for Biden [Clinton in 2016.]

Election Math In The Current Paradigm

Quick Refresher About “Paradigm”

Perhaps the most dominant underlying theme in all of my posts to this blog — and of the host website I created as the platform for it — is that there is a major paradigm shift underway in this country [“paradigm” being “a philosophical or theoretical framework within which theories, laws, and generalizations are formulated” according to Merriam-Webster — i.e., “the way things work.”] Although the shift is occurring less rapidly than I thought it was in 2016, it is very real, and its pace is accelerating rapidly now. In a paradigm shift [a phrase coined by Joel Arthur Barker in his 1992 book Future Edge,] the Current Paradigm is rapidly deteriorating to a point at which problems are not being solved and new things aren’t gaining enough support to get done [even when there is voiced bipartisan support for them.] As soon as that begins [at least a decade ago in terms of how our Government operates,] a New Paradigm begins to form, and it becomes more and more effective until its effectiveness is better than that of the Current Paradigm, at which point the Current Paradigm’s demise is clear and the New Paradigm becomes the Current Paradigm. This concept is explained more fully at A Major Paradigm Shift Underway [written in 2016, but the principle is still the same.]

Current-Paradigm Election Math

Many people — including many Christians — have allowed their voting decisions to be driven either by their personal desire to make an ideological statement about a particular issue or their personal like or dislike of one of the two candidates. In principle, this sounds at least OK, maybe even good. For example, several million votes for the Green Party candidate would show that there are a lot of people who want our country to do a better job in controlling Climate Change. Or, voting for Candidate A because the voter dislikes Candidate B’s persona gives the voter the personal satisfaction of not having voted for a person he/she dislikes personally.

Obviously, a person in the latter category is explicitly voting in support of the platform of Candidate A’s party even if he/she identifies more closely with the platform of Party B — the apparent rationale being that his/her dislike of Candidate B is stronger than his/her identification with either of the two major-party platforms. 

Unfortunately, in our Current Paradigm, when a person uses his/her vote to “make a statement” rather than to consciously and deliberately support one of the two major-party platforms [i.e., votes for a minor-party candidate, writes in somebody else, or doesn’t vote at all,] he/she is actually unwittingly voting in support of either the Democrat platform or the Republican platform. Even more unfortunately, he/she won’t know which platform he/she supported until the election is over and the results are analyzed. This is true because these votes always reduce one of the two major-party candidate’s chances of winning and increase the other’s.

This chart depicts what I’ve said here graphically: Decision Logic 2020. For anybody who’s interested in more quantitative evidence, see Decision Logic 2020 — The Math or just take my word for the following statements that are confirmed by that graphic:

• After the results of the election are tabulated and certified, one of the following environments will prevail for at least two of the next four years, possibly all four of them [regardless of how many “making a statement” votes are cast:] 1) Trump is president and the legislative branch remains as is, b) Trump is president and one or both legislative branch majorities change, c) Biden is president and the legislative branch remains as is, or d) Biden is president and one or both legislative branch majorities change.
• In any of these environments, the PLATFORM of the president’s party will guide this country’s policies for at least the next four years.
• Which of the two major-party candidates was harmed by the sum of all the “making a statement” votes described above will be evident.

Coming In Part 3

In Part 3, I’ll point out what I believe are the contrasts between the two platforms that are the most critical from a Christian perspective, and why this election is a time for Christians to rise up and “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all entrusted to the saints” [Jude 3 NKJV/NIV — “the saints” are us]. I’ll close that post with an earnest plea for all Christians to pray diligently about this decision and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in making it.

…

---

[This is Part 3 of 3 — Click here to read Parts 1 and 2: Part 1 Part 2]

As I explained in Part 1, this series of posts is specifically addressed to Christians who follow this Blog — even more specifically, to Christians who are eligible to vote but have not yet done so.

In this Part 3, I’ll point out what I believe are the contrasts between the two platforms that are the most critical from a Christian perspective, and why this election is a time for Christians to rise up and “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all entrusted to the saints” [Jude 3 NKJV/NIV — “the saints” are us]. In wrapping up this series, I’ll include at the end of this post some thoughts I am asking all Christians to seriously consider and pray about.

Two Diametrically Opposite Ideologies

I hope by now I have clearly shown that the upcoming election is NOT about choosing between two PEOPLE. It’s about choosing between two diametrically opposite IDEOLOGIES. That should be evident to anybody who will simply look at the stark contrast between the Democrat and Republican platforms. Anybody, particularly any Christian, who thinks this contrast doesn’t matter needs to 1) read both party platform documents in detail [here are links to each: Republican Democrat,] 2) IGNORE all ads from both parties and “news” shows with panels of experts and latest polls, and 3) look at montages of video clips showing what each party’s members say in response to questions about issues that are [or should be] of particular interest to Christians. Here are some of the areas in which contrasts are the clearest:

• Sanctity of Human Life
• LGBT Issues [e.g., Redefining Marriage, Religious Liberty Concerns, Transgender Bathrooms in Schools, and the International Abortion and LGBT Agenda]
• Conscience Rights in Healthcare
• God in Government
• The Supreme Court
• Education
• Sex Education
• Social Experiments in the Military
• Terrorism

As I began listing the differences I was finding as I read both platform documents in detail [Democrat 92 pages, Republican 67 pages,] I began to realize that my list was looking remarkably similar to a tabular comparison produced by Family Research Council I had seen earlier this year. Although the wording in that tabulation would be viewed as “slanted” to the Right by some readers of this Blog, it nonetheless depicts the contrast accurately because many of the entries are direct quotes from the platform documents. So I’ll simply provide a link to the FRC document instead of creating a similar document myself. Please view the tabular comparison at this link: FRC Party Platform Comparisons. Another excellent resource is Election 2020: Two Visions For America, published by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association. On pages 19-22, this guide has a tabular comparison similar to the FRC document, adding some additional issues: Federal Judges, Economic Empowerment And Poverty, National Defense, and Israel And Jerusalem. Please view this document at this link: BGEA Party Platform Comparisons.

Keep in mind that millions of voters in this country [enough to swing an election one way or the other] are what one popular radio talk show host calls “low information voters,” an alarming number of whom can’t answer simple questions like “Who is our Vice President?,” “What are the three branches of our government?,”  or “How many Supreme Court Justices are there?” That, coupled with the fact that upwards of 90% of traditional “news” media is controlled by six corporations whose leadership is liberally biased [see this post of mine from 2017: Fake News Or Just Meaningless News?] and almost 20% of adult Americans get most of their “news” not through these sources but through Social Media [see Social Media Influence,] means Christians have far less influence than they could. So what could change that?

Circles Of Influence

A well-documented phenomenon for many years is that if any of us picks any person at random, we are connected to that person in some way through only nine steps through his/her and our mutual connections with other people. In recent years, the consensus among those who ponder such matters is that social media has reduced the number of steps to less than six. The validity of this concept is very succinctly described in this video [less than 3 minutes:] Six Degrees Of Separation. This Degrees Of Separation concept can by extension be viewed as Circles Of Influence — i.e., the number of people one person can influence simply by expressing his/her opinion to his/her close contacts. This is actually the “engine” driving protests and demonstrations — and unfortunately, the devolvement of them into rioting and looting — we see in the media every day. If all born again Christians would pray fervently and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit regarding the upcoming election — and if so led as they do so, include dialog on this within their Circles Of Influence — that same “engine” could literally drive the election’s outcome.

In Closing …

I have appreciated the feedback I’ve gotten from this series of posts, and am grateful for the opportunity writing it afforded me to disseminate what I believe very strongly is important and crucial information at this point in our country’s history. I’ll close the series with these thoughts. …

• An earnest plea for all Christians who’ve read this series to take what I’ve written into account, pray diligently about their own voting decision, and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in making it.
• A request that all Christians seriously consider being a part of utilizing the Circles Of Influence concept I mentioned above — i.e., post your thoughts to your FaceBook page, send Tweets, etc.
• A request that all Christians who have heretofore been somewhat ambivalent about what they have viewed as “just politics” — even to the point of allowing themselves to view their voting decisions as personal decisions only and not affecting others — to begin finding ways to continuously keep themselves more aware of cultural/social [which in many ways are spiritual] developments in our country, like the “evolution” over decades that led to the current situation.

…

---

When I introduced this web site in 2016 and began publishing blog posts from it, I said that although I am a Christian and form my opinions from that value system and worldview, I wanted to avoid routine use of  phraseology that my non-Christian readers might view as “religious dogma” and use terminology that would pique the interest of any reader, Christian or not. I haven’t been publishing posts to this blog as frequently for the past couple of years, but at this point I feel that I should address this post and the others I am planning between now and November 3rd specifically to Christians — even more specifically, to Christians who are eligible to vote but have not yet done so.

In this post — Part 1 — I’ll outline the message I feel is important for any Christian reading this post to hear, and why I feel compelled to share that message.

The upcoming election is NOT about choosing between two PEOPLE. It’s about choosing between two diametrically opposite IDEOLOGIES. More on that later. For now, l’ll state up front the “bottom line” — that Christians CAN actually dictate the outcome of this election. In subsequent parts over the next couple of weeks, I’ll back up that statement — not with my opinion but with facts and statistics that show why I believe very strongly that they SHOULD.

The “Bottom Line”

Only 40% of American adults are “born again Christians” [as that classification is defined by the highly respected Barna Group.] That percentage of people of voting age is 102,080,149 people, but only 58% [59,206,486] of them actually voted in 2016. If you consider that sad fact in context with the fact that the average margin of victory in the last three second-term presidential elections was 5,398,610, it is obvious that born-again Christians can EASILY dictate the outcome of this election if 1) all of those who voted in 2016 vote this year and 2) as few as 15% of all who say they are “born again” and did not vote in 2016 vote this year [if all born again Christians vote this year, and do so after much prayer and following the  guidance of the Holy Spirit, the result would be a landslide for the winning party, and the world would see God’s will unfolding clearly and visibly.]

But what about the polls? Isn’t the election outcome already set? The short answer is “No, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over” in Yogi Berra’s words. At this point in 2016, Clinton was ahead of Trump in most major polls [RCP average: 5.6%] just as Biden is now [RCP average: 9.0%.] In “battleground” states, the margin was/is much tighter [Clinton by 5.0%, Biden by 4.5%.] Media coverage was very similar to what it is now [Clinton (now Biden) is a shoo-in, no possible path to 270 for Trump, it’ll be a landslide for Clinton (now Biden.)]

Why I’m Posting These Thoughts

God is sovereign, and “[His] thoughts are not [our] thoughts, nor are [our] ways [His] ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are [His] ways higher than [our] ways, and [His] thoughts than [our] thoughts” [Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV.] His will is something none of us can predict — or even assume based on our interpretation of His Word. So I’m not trying to say which outcome of this election would be in line with His will, because that would simply be my opinion. What I do feel strongly about is that I need to point out to anyone who will read what I write the stark contrasts between the options before us — and that it’s NOT “just politics” or “about which of two people is more likable personally;” it’s about recognizing the moral choices [as expressed in the PARTY PLATFORMS] we have before us.

So my goals in writing this series of posts are …

Coming In Subsequent Parts

In Part 2, I’ll give a quick overview of “election math” under the current paradigm in this country, and why “protest votes” [voting for minor candidates, writing in somebody else, or not voting at all] are actually unwitting votes in support of either the Democrat platform or the Republican platform — but the voter won’t know which platform he/she supported until the election is over and the results are analyzed. This is true because these votes always reduce one candidate’s chances of winning and increase the other’s. Since I wrote extensively on this topic in 2016, I’ll probably include links to some of my posts back then.

In Part 3, I’ll point out what I believe are the contrasts between the two platforms that are the most critical from a Christian perspective, and why this election is a time for Christians to rise up and “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all entrusted to the saints” [Jude 3 NKJV/NIV — “the saints” are us]. I’ll close that post with an earnest plea for all Christians to pray diligently about this decision and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in making it.

---