October 1, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - In an interview with the licentious Playboy magazine, the governor of Minnesota implied that Christians are weak-minded people. Excerpts from the interview were published by the Associated Press. Governor Jesse Ventura said, "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers." He complained that organized religion "tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people’s business."

In an ineffective attempt to explain this inane and slanderous statement, Ventura’s spokesman John Wodele claimed that the governor was talking about "extremists of the religious right." Wodele claimed that the religious right is intolerant and "the governor cannot stand intolerance." This is fascinating. It is fine for Jesse Ventura to be intolerant of those who have strong religious convictions, but the latter are forbidden to be intolerant of anything. This reminds me of the ecumenical crowd who complain that fundamentalists should not judge others, but the ecumenical crowd does not hesitate to judge fundamentalists, calling them mean-spirited Pharisees, among other things.

Ventura was elected in 1998 and was the first Reformed Party candidate to win a seat as governor. This is the party that was founded by billionaire Ross Perot. It is also the party that Republican presidential contender Pat Buchanan is considering joining. The Reformed Party focuses on conservative economic issues and largely avoids social concerns such as abortion, homosexuality, and drugs. (Jesse Ventura also stated in the aformentioned Playboy interview that America should consider the legalization of prostitution and the loosening of laws against some types of illegal drugs, such as marijuana.)

It makes no sense to me for Bible-believing Christians in America to abandon the Republican Party today. I don’t say this because I believe the Republican Party is ideal. It is extremely weak and imperfect, as a matter of fact; but I continue to support it for two reasons:

ONE, I DO NOT WANT TO ABANDON IT BECAUSE IT REPRESENTS THE ISSUES I HOLD DEAR MORE CLEARLY THAN ANY OTHER PARTY THAT HAS A CHANCE OF WINNING ELECTIONS. Politics in this present fallen world can never be more than an imperfect thing for a Bible-believing Christian. At its very best, politics in a democratic republic is the art of compromise. You can’t get what you really want; you can only get an imperfect representation thereof.

I don’t believe the Republican Party is the great problem in America. I believe the problem is the people themselves. There is no "moral majority" in America. That has been demonstrated time and again. It is true that the Republicans have failed to achieve great change in government over the past few years, but I don’t see that so much as a failure of the Republican Party. I see that as a failure created by the American people. The American people put huge obstacles in the way of the Republicans achieving significant change. It is the American people who gave the Republicans only a slim majority in Congress, a majority large enough to accomplish only tiny, incremental changes. It is the American people who at the same time put a liberal Democrat into the White House to hinder the Republicans on every hand, and then who re-elected him even after he had plainly demonstrated his socialistic politics and his deceitful character. Some say there is no significant difference between the Republicans and the Democrats today, but I disagree with that. The difference was evident during the impeachment of the president. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives boldly voted articles of impeachment against the president in the face of merciless slander by the Democrats and the mainstream press and even in the face of what appeared to be lack of support for impeachment by the majority of the American people. The impeachment process faltered when it reached the Senate, but that is because the Republicans hold a slimmer majority there and tend to be weaker than their compatriots in the House. Again, this was a problem with the American people, not with the Republicans. If the majority of American people would have expressed outrage against the wickedness of President Clinton and would have demanded that Congress take severe action against him, you can be sure that it would have happened. The Democrats and the weaker Republicans were emboldened by the lack of concern by the American people; yea, by their apparent support for the president regardless of his immorality and deception.

SECOND, I REFUSE TO ABANDON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BECAUSE TO DO SO DIVIDES THE CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL VOTE AND HELPS ELECT PEOPLE LIKE BILL CLINTON AND AL GORE. I believe this is precisely why Clinton was elected in 1992 and 1996. He did not win even a majority of the overall votes, but the conservatives were divided enough and the opposing Republican candidates were weak enough for him to slip into office. The damage he has done to our country is inestimable. Those who switched parties in order to "send the Republicans a message" or to "vote their conscience" are partly to blame, I believe.

I don’t usually deal with politics in these articles and I am not interested in debating this issue, but I wanted to say this much for the sake of my country.