Be a Sarah Palin

In the American Civil War, the North got off with a bad start, suffering defeat after defeat, despite huge resources. These early defeats have been blamed, rightly so, on the fact that the North's brightest and best citizenry failed to sign up for military service in the early part of the war. This contrasted starkly with the Confederacy which had a culture that assumed that its best and brightest would serve.

After suffering further defeats in late 1862, leading citizens in the North came to understand that victory would only come if its brightest and best leaders would step forward for the war effort. Late 1862 and early 1863 brought into the Union army's leadership men of such worth, including, for example, Joshua Chamberlain, one of the many heroes at Gettysburg. This brought about a change in the Union's prospects for victory.

This week's election has thrust the whole of federal government into the hands of a party which could not be more wrong on nearly every issue. In some ways, Republicans must now feel like the North did in 1862, after so many serious defeats.

How then shall we now proceed? I would urge the same strategy which citizens in the North did during their dark days of the Civil War.

I urge our best and brightest Christians to consider getting involved in local politics, with an eye toward rebuilding the Republican party in district, state, and ultimately national levels. Sarah Palin has set the example and paved the way simply by starting out attending PTO meetings. We should do the same.

Not every Christian should feel called to politics. However, our churches need to encourage people to think seriously about it and to support them in their initial efforts. Pastors should preach it from the pulpit and mention it personally to people: we need faithful, competent believers dominating politics.

Who in your church will step forward for this honorable service?

Frankly, I don't have time to blog on politics. But perhaps in 1861 some Northerners took the same attitude: "I'm not going to take time off from my work at the university [or at the law firm, or at the corporation] to lead soldiers into battle; my job here is too important." But American politics is such an important cause.

As for myself, I've seen too many political losses when the stakes are so high. I don't want to lose any more battles. I might not be the brightest and best, but someone needs to help get our message out.

Join me in the political process.