Excelections from Federalist Patriot Brief No. 04-34

The Federalist:

"As we enter this election season, the struggle for our culture's soul has simultaneously produced passivity and defeatism in some evangelical quarters and a shrill triumphalism in others. Neither response...is the proper Christian response. We can never retreat into our sanctuaries and neglect our civic responsibility to help set the moral tone of our culture. Leaving your neighbor in ignorance of his folly is inconsistent with the command to love him, and so political and cultural engagement are required for faithful believers. We are, I like to put it, to bring the influence of the City of God into the City of Man, working for justice and righteousness. ... The best citizens of the City of Man are those who remember that their true citizenship is in the City of God."
--Charles Colson

"Kerry gave a big speech last week about how his faith is so 'important' to him. He announced that his favorite Bible verse is John 16:3. Of course, the speech writer meant John 3:16, but nobody in the Kerry camp was familiar enough with Scripture to catch the error. Fittingly, John 16:3 says, "And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me." The Lord works in mysterious ways!"
--Unknown, Albuquerque, New Mexico

"So, let me ask you a few questions: Are you an independent? Do you reject 'partisan labels'? Do you like to weigh each candidate on the merits rather than simply vote the party line? Do you wait until the last weeks of the presidential election before you make up your mind on whom to vote for, so you can study the issues as much as possible? Do you watch the presidential debates and feel disappointed that you didn't get enough 'substance' on 'the issues'? Well, bully for you. You might deserve a lollypop, but you don't deserve to run the country. Unfortunately, you (and people like you) do. ... But as a matter of gross generalization, no segment of voters is less deserving of the high esteem they get from the media and politicians than independents, centrists, moderates, swing voters, undecideds, and others we generally call middle-of-the-roaders. ... If you wait until the last minute to figure out whom to vote for; if you can't tell the differences between the parties and their candidates (and you're not politically exotic -- i.e., an anarchist or a libertarian); if you think voting is like a Chinese menu where you can pick a little from here and a little from there; then the odds are you don't know very much about the political system. You may be a brilliant neurosurgeon, but I know interns who are sharper than you about politics."
--Jonah Goldberg