The Broken System

Written By: Kirk Peterson

The Broken System

With the political season breaking into full swing I have been speaking to many of my friends and colleague's about the election.  I was amazed and a little bit discouraged by what I found.  Almost everyone I spoke to, in one way or another, had deeply cynical views on the whole political process.  Their views were that all our politicians are corrupt, having sold out long before they came into power in office, and feel that their vote doesn't matter in a system that is broken.  Can you blame them?

The state of our current system dictates that a candidate has to have a significant amount of money to even have a chance to win.  So the argument that someone would have to shake a few hands and make some promises to even get a chance to be elected does hold some weight.  You do here some success stories like Marco Rubio, where our political officers come from humble beginnings and make a difference in the varied political landscape.  However, if the system is broken, does the problem lie in the design or in something else?

Our founding fathers built the best foundation and government the world has ever seen.  The 3 branches of government all have checks and balances for each other and ultimately are all held accountable by the people.  I have always been an optimist, but my faith has shown me that since the fall of man, within the heart of man is sin.  It is no more evident than in my kids, though they are so precious and innocent, they still have selfishness, jealously and greed in their heart.  23For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. -Romans 3:23-24 NLT.  Maybe the current state of our system has more to do with the hearts of our leaders then the system itself.  So the question becomes, what can we do to fix it?

Hope of Our Land

I have begun to see the spirit of compromise start to make it's return to Washington and I pray that congress can start to work together again.  Romney himself said it best in the first presidential debate that they need not compromise their principles but need to find common ground to work together.  As long as congress takes that to heart and goes to work on the daunting challenges facing our land, then there is hope.

 14Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.- 2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT.  Our country was built on putting God first.  Take a look at our founding doctrines here:

Declaration of Independence
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html

Constitution
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html

Many in the evangelical community feel that we have been so blessed as a nation because we put God first.  We have strayed so very far from those days and our values have slowly eroded away to dangerous levels.  The sirens should be going off shouting warning, warning at how far we have fallen.  Dangerous, for the bible says that the ruler of this world is Satan.  However, God's truth tells us of His plan to bring everything under the authority of Jesus Christ before He triumphs over Satan and lastly death itself.

I think many of us, whether Christan in faith or not, could agree that the values of America have fallen and are in major need for an overhaul. 

The path before U.S.

Our country was founded and built on freedom and is the very heart of our land. The spirit of compromise is finding its way back to Washington and I see hope. One path laid before us leads to uniting the states and pulling us out of the darkness we find ourselves in, and one path does not.  In just under 30 days America will elect our next president.  No matter who is elected, I pray that our leaders in congress can take their new found acceptance for compromise to heart and break the deadlock that has plagued our political system for the past few years.  If they do that, then maybe, just maybe we can win back some of those people I talked to about our broken system and get them to believe in America again.  Hmmm, believe in America, hey that would make a great slogan for candidate for president wouldn't it?