Let me tell you why I like John Kasich and why he is my kind of leader—because he understands that affirming Christian/democratic values is about proactive positive endurance and NOT about glitzy miracle cures (--democracy’s never-ending background noise of Political Potty). How is John to succeed in running for national office when other candidates tickle our ears with escapist fantasies in full back-slapping, glad-handing mode. (If John were a clinical researcher, he would be cautiously positive about the direction of cancer research without assuring us that by hiring him overnight all cancers on earth would morph into the very epitome of unexcelled benign cellular health.)
We must humbly submit to the fact that democracy is a wonderful recipe for the joyful and gracious (and often forgiving) journey on the bumpy road to human improvement, but likewise it is colored by the somber recognition that the ultimate solution to some national and human ills may require many years of hard-fought gains in multifarious fields not even currently known. (For example, electronic computers have made the writing of this very blog possible—yet a device inconceivable to me when a high school student.) “Let freedom ring” is the very air that creativity requires but is fully exploitable only by discipline and hard work. And since in societal learning and improvement the sidekick to Success is its bosom-buddy Failure, we must discern to what extent the sacrificial individual or societal units are to pay with pain or to be relieved with practical gratitude.
So then, I would ask my Christian friends to remember that Jesus himself said that only the Heavenly Father—our loving Senior Creative Partner--knows when the fullness of time will occur. Let us rejoice that He has given each of us a unique role to play in the struggle to reaching the Promise Land.
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