I ♥ Huckabees

Alright, so it's not really true that I ♥ Huckabee. In fact, I'm still more of a Ron Paul guy. However, some things have come to light about Huckabee, too late for somethings, but not for others.

I half rolled my eyes when good ol' Mike jumped on board the presidential election train. Here is a guy who is going to make his platform all about religion. He will use his "faith in Jesus" to appeal to the masses, who will mindlessly follow a man who indirectly claims to be God's wingman. For me, that's what it was with Bush. I was at the place where Bush had used enough Bible quotes and the Christian news had showed him to be a dedicated, church-going man of the Spirit, that I believed God had ordained this man to be our leader toward His will.

When I finally woke up and realized that George is just a man, and actually not a great President, who made decisions very opposed to what Jesus would show the heart of God to be, I questioned my decision. I also questioned voting for someone for those reasons. After all, doesn't every politician these days say what is necessary to get into office? Who can you trust?

The person you trust is the one who doesn't automatically appeal to the majority of his party, addresses real issues, makes sense, and has integrity. For me I felt, and feel, that Ron Paul holds those keys better than any other candidate; however, I do think I didn't get a clear view of Huckabee, from what I'm reading.

"Unquestionably there is a maturing that is going on within the evangelical movement. It doesn't mean that evangelicals are any less concerned about traditional families and the sanctity of life. It just means that they also realize that we have real responsibility in areas like disease and hunger and poverty and that these are issues that people of faith have to address."

- Mike Huckabee

Mike sounds like someone who actually looks at what's going on with Christians, and acknowledges, dare I say it, our past, as well as where we're going. Sure all candidates will claim these things, but it's far too often in a distorted view. Huckabee realizes that Christians are realizing how we have built ourselves into a corner, totally missing major Christian issues. The others aren't unimportant, but new things are also being noticed as important, and previously ignored.

"When Huckabee was governor of Arkansas, he advocated spending money on poor people - behavior which is offensive to the economically conservative wing of the Republican Party. While Huckabee is a consistent social conservative, he is suspect by the party's economic conservatives who, of course, don't support spending any money on overcoming poverty. Huckabee disagrees with them."

- Jim Wallis

Even when it comes to illegal immigrants, Huckabee wants what's best for the children... he wants to give them a chance.

"I wouldn't be standing on this stage; I might be picking lettuce; I might be a person who needed government support."

- Mike Huckabee

It's refreshing when a president acknowledges that without the help and opportunities of education, he would not be on the stand, but picking lettuce. It's almost like he's saying that a little illegal immigrant, Mexican child could contribute something great to this country, given the proper education and opportunities.

"That there's now a pitched battle for the soul of the religious right is a horrifying thought to Republican leaders long familiar with the old religious right, a hierarchical group dominated by larger-than-life figures who'd anointed themselves Jesus's political representatives. But that movement is withering at the top and in revolt at the grass-roots. … What's new is how widespread social justice issues are in the evangelical world. Leading New Testament theologian N.T. Wright, a conservative, says that the greatest moral issue today is not abortion but the economic inequality between the U.S. and Europe and the developing world."

- David Kuo, The Washington Post

I don't think Mike is done. He won't win this election, but he's pretty young. Many opportunities can come in the future for this guy. Maybe he'll win an academy award for best documentary or something. Wouldn't be the first time.

I do hope that this doesn't become the new religious right or religious left. These are good things he's thinking as far as equality of all men and addressing poverty... but saving babies is a good thing too, and we turned that into something it shouldn't be. This cannot become a religious mandate, it must become a moral way that everyone can agree on.

Government is not the place for religion, but that doesn't mean you must check faith at the door. Huckabee's direction is very hopeful. It concerns itself in finding out the wrong and doing the right thing, instead of doing the "right wing" thing. I know there is belief that our old way of left and right politics are draining into a combined central political realm. Maybe soon our two party system will be gone... but we must keep watch on ourselves, as to not corrupt this whole thing.

I am also aware that some of the progressive drive I'm speaking of is readily found in the democratic side. What I'm ultimately speaking of, is having the right and left humble themselves enough to examine what they say, what the others say, what history says, and what no one is yet saying, to derive what will truly make things better.

Huckabee is expectedly starting this.

This post is based off information from a blog at God's Politics.