A year ago I told my friends at work I thought Barack Obama would be the next president and they all thought I was crazy. Remember Hillary was the inevitable candidate and Rudy Giuliani was the favorite among GOP circles. That was back when John McCain was polling at 10% nationally among Republicans. I watched an Obama campaign speech and remember how he was so inspiring and was such a charismatic speaker. Well I watched tonight's speech and he hasn't lost his ability to inspire. Now, as most of you know, I don't agree with him much in terms of policy, but I must admit I wish I did. I love the idea of an African American president simply because it shows how far we have come in this country. It gives me chills to see him speaking as a presidential nominee just 45 years removed from Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech.

Although I disagree with his political prescriptions, I would be proud to have Barack Obama as my President. I just don't believe in calling people ridiculous names and assigning evil motives to all politicians who disagree with me. One year ago in September, I saw Bill Clinton leaving our hotel in Chicago while I was preparing to run the Chicago Half Marathon. I remember waving at him and thinking how cool it would be to tell my daughter that she once was just a few feet from President Clinton. In the end as different as our philosophies are, we are all still Americans and most importantly humans, created and loved by God our Creator. I sometimes get the feeling that many Democrats literally believe that George Bush is evil and wants to eat your children. The campaign ad from John McCain today which congratulated Obama on the nomination, is the tone I wish could be used more often in our political discourse. Oh well, I'm back to watching re-runs of the speech with tears in my eyes.

OK so I'm going to start breaking the rules here. Something has been on my mind since I started this whole facebook and blogging thing a week ago, which was probably why it took me so long to start doing it in the first place. One of the first questions asked on facebook.com is your political views. I actually wrestled with what to write there for about 10 minutes. I had (in no particular order) Republican, Libertarian leaning Republican, Conservative, Classic Liberal - deleted and re-written several times before just settling on Libertarian. Now understand that I am a lifelong Republican, but not in the way most people think of Republicans. I am definitely not a lock-step stereotypical right wing evangelical who tries to paint all Democrats as the anti-christ. I hesitated writing anything because I knew somebody would start reading about Libertarian philosophy on Wikipedia and I worried they would attribute all of these views to me out of context. I find that I am sometimes too hesitant to let people know what I really think because it seems so easy to misconstrue the true meaning of words on a computer screen. It is all too tempting to paint political viewpoints with broad stereotypes and I don't like making enemies.My sister knows better than anyone how I do not like to get into arguments. Much like my buddy Adam, I am a "lover not a fighter" when it comes to these political discussions.

People who know me know I am politically conservative. I would say over half of my close friends are politically liberal (that's what happens when you're a musician) and I have really enjoyed the dialogue about politics with my friends lately. Over the past year or so through trying to better understand my friends' views, I have spent a lot of time reading blogs and books about all things "emergent" and liberal. From Anne Lamott to Donald Miller to Rob Bell to Dan Kimball, I have been truly challenged and fascinated by their perspectives. I was surprised at how much I agree with many of the themes of these authors, but dismayed because there seems to be a misconception that these ideas are incongruent with having a politically conservative viewpoint. There seems to be an underlying current of disdain for conservatives and much of it is probably deserved. My liberal friends are, quite admirably, concerned with equality, helping the "least of these" and "social justice." I think at the most basic level as Christians we are all called to be personally liberal in this sense. These ideals are undeniable in Scripture. Unfortunately, the devil is in the details.

The problem becomes when we are told at the point of a gun that government should mandate social justice by ever increasing taxation, government regulation and government spending. See I believe God gives us free will to make these choices willingly. It is not the government's job to force these ideals on the citizen. There is no other choice in a free society but to allow the freedom to make these "liberal" choices with our time, money and talents. I have definitely been guilty of falling short of God's will in this manner, and I continually strive to be more focused on His goals for my resources than my own selfish plans. However, to mandate my obedience to God's plan by government fiat defeats the purpose of willing personal sacrifice.

So why did I settle on Libertarian in my facebook profile? Despite the labels that get thrown around about libertarian philosophy as being selfish and greedy, at the heart of the philosophy is the principle of liberty -- liberty to make good or bad choices with our time, money and talents. It mirrors the free will I believe God gives each of us to choose to follow Him. I guess I'm pretty fed up with both parties right now. Neither conservative “hot button” issues nor liberal causes excite me at this point as they are both used to manipulate the masses, and often to take away freedom and liberty. I don't believe government is necessarily the answer to what ails the world in general or America in particular. I think God calls us to be in community with believers and focused on bringing the broken and hurting and fallen people into relationship with Him. It is within this bond of community that I believe powerful work will be done to change the world. And that is neither liberal nor conservative.