Up in the morning...

And by morning I mean the middle of the night!
Okay, so it's not the middle of the night, but it is well before the sun comes up!

This day gets started earlier than most as I was up with Chris so that I could catch a ride into Springfield as she goes to work. I'll have my morning coffee and internet time at Starbucks and then I'll get my morning walk going to Hannah and Daniel's to pick up my car that they borrowed for the weekend.

The sky was clear this morning and it is a little sad to see all of the winter constellations in the early morning sky. I love the starry winter sky, but I am no fan of winter! Ugh!
Not being a fan of the winter season, I also face fall with the dread of the coming cold.
I do realize that the Southwest Missouri winters are usually pretty mild in comparison to other places in the US. Still not a fan.

In other news --
Three weeks from today is election day in the US. It will be interesting to see how little life changes for most of us when all is said and done. Although day to day life will seem to go on without much difference, I think that I have made some significant changes of attitudes towards some individuals and some towards larger general groups of communities in the US.

I have really become disgusted with a large part of the evangelical movement that continues to excuse the behavior of Donald Trump and supports him as president. It isn't that they have a different opinion of him that bothers me. It is that they have used their conservative religious beliefs to defend their political choices in the past and have become so blinded by the party ties that religion and politics have become their idol and they have cast the rest of us in a very poor light.
I am grateful that there are a number of high profile evangelical leaders that have taken a moral stand against Trump. However, I think it is unfortunate that they have had to.

Certainly, I believe that personal morality guides my political decisions. I expect that it does for others, too. I do not believe that it is the place of religious leaders to guide the political decisions of those that seek their religious guidance. Using religious standing or position to push political ideas and agendas on their following is wrong and an abuse of influence.

I put political advice from James Dobson or Jerry Falwell, Jr. on the same level as political advice from Alec Baldwin or Scott Baio. (I suppose it would be fair to say that I can also say that I put getting religious advice from Dobson or Falwell on the same level as getting religious advice from Baldwin or Baio!)

At the end of this election season, I think it will be fair to say that the political influence of the Religious Right will be severely damaged and many that once followed blindly, will no longer do so. I'm going to say that's a good thing.

I'm hopeful that attitudes towards other groups will change, as well.
I'm hopeful that we can see that the United States isn't a nation that is defined by the labels that we use.
The United States is more than a union of 50 individual states.
It is a united nation of people from many national origins, cultural backgrounds, religious beliefs, etc.
We are health nuts and couch potatoes, like heavy metal and country music, watch baseball and go to the theater.
We live in rural areas and metropolitan high rises.
Some hunt and fish, and some are vegan.
We are laborers, executives and entrepreneurs.
I get to decide how I live within society's laws and need to allow others that same freedom.

I am hopeful that we will carry on in the way that we have for more than 200 years; that the peaceful and orderly transfer of power in our legislative and executive branches of government will carry the day and life in the US will continue to provide its citizens with the freedoms that we enjoy and the responsibilities that we bear.

Until then...
Ugh! Three more weeks of political commercials and shameful news stories!

John <><