Wall Street and big business vs. Congress

Complicated problems can have simple solutions; yet it is Wall Street interests, major companies, special interests, and the opposing and/or complying federal government forces that have greatly complicated matters and created enormous financial burdens for most Americans.

America’s personal and financial bondage has five main causes: the rejection of God, the bloated federal government’s overreach in all areas of our life, Wall Street’s financial innovations, big business greed and the global warming agenda.

Greedy and shrewd people like complexity whether it is in tax laws or financial vehicles because they can manipulate them to their own financial advantages and gain while many others pay the cost. Wall Street is the best example of this practice.

Wall Street financial innovations are so complex that only a few understand them, and they are the ones who profit while a majority of Americans pay the price.

“A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.” — Teddy Roosevelt

The Federal Reserve, banks and Wall Street firms

The beginning of the subprime mortgage disaster was the Federal Reserve’s aggressive printing of money to stimulate an economy reeling from the 9-11 terror events, followed by Wall Street’s insatiable appetite for home mortgages that they packaged and sold — complemented by the greed of many mortgage bankers and banks.

The printing and lending of vast sums of money led to Americans paying more for their homes and thus higher mortgage payments. Americans’ mortgages increased from $6.8 trillion in 2001 to $11 trillion in 2007.

Investor hunger encouraged lenders to issue $2.4 trillion of subprime mortgages from 2001 to 2006. The increased credit allowed more Americans to buy houses and helped push up home prices 59 percent from 2000 to 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors.

At this point, Americans have lost $4 trillion in home equity, which some expect could reach has high as $6 trillion, while the public is still stuck with payments on the mortgages. It is estimated that 13 million homes in the United States are worth less than the mortgages placed on them.

The Federal Reserve and Wall Street-led subprime fiasco is expected to cost the American taxpayers $1 trillion to bailout banks, mortgage companies and Wall Street firms.

“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.” — James Garfield

“He who controls the money supply of a nation controls the nation.” — James Garfield

Federal government size

According to the Cato Institute, 80 percent of the federal government’s activities should be at the state level.

“Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.” — John Adams

“That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.” — Abraham Lincoln

“There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power.” — William Harrison

“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.” — Gerald Ford

“Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.” — Ronald Reagan

“Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.” — Ronald Reagan

Federal government deficit

President Bush’s 2009 federal fiscal budget is $3.1 trillion — 50 percent higher than when he took office in 2001.

On Monday, July 28, the White House reported a projection for a $482 billion deficit for the budget year ending in September 2009, which would be the highest, recorded. The Bush Administration defends that by saying the federal deficit is only 3.5 percent of the $14 trillion U.S. economy.

The federal debt has moved from $5.7 trillion in 2001 to $9.539 trillion on July 30, 2008.

“There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no independence quite so important, as living within your means.” — Calvin Coolidge

“Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.” — Herbert Hoover

Nine-million-word U.S. Tax Code

Accountants and attorneys wrote the excessive 9-million-word tax code for their advantage, not that of the American public. It takes Americans an average of 28 hours per household and over $250 billion to file their tax returns.

Moreover, Congress frequently creates tax benefits that help certain industries but it always end up coming out of the American people’s pockets in higher costs of goods, more regulations, higher deficits and taxes creating bigger problems than benefits for the country.

“Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.” — Calvin Coolidge

Congress

Americans are frustrated because they can’t penetrate the two-party grips on the political power that is costing them financially, complicating their lives, and causing despair.

Congress has a long history of passing bad legislation then trying to correct it with additional legislation, and most times making the situation even worse.

“There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S.” — James Polk

“We live in a stage of politics, where legislators seem to regard the passage of laws as much more important than the results of their enforcement.” — William Taft

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” — John Quincy Adams

Nation is on the wrong track

Only 17 percent of Americans believe the country is on the right track.

According to the June 9-12 Gallup Poll, 30 percent of Americans approve of the job George W. Bush is doing as president. That figure is two percentage points better than his personal low rating of 28 percent, which he has received four times in the past two months.

The all-time low approval rating for any president in Gallup annals is 22 percent for Harry Truman in 1952.

Congress’ 19 percent approval rating is one point better than last month’s 18 percent, which matched the August 2007 and March 1992 readings as the worst Gallup has measured since it began tracking Congressional job approval in 1974.

“Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.” — Andrew Jackson

Costly realities: the American people pick up the tab

Wall Street vs. Congress, and the American people pick up the tab.

Some 17,000 lobbyists influence Congress to pass certain legislation, and the American people pick up the tab.

A $3.1 trillion-a-year federal government, and the American people pick up the tab.

A 9-million-word U.S. tax code, and the American people pick up the tab.

Global warming and the environmental agenda have left the country extremely vulnerable to foreign sources of oil, helped facilitate the largest transfer of wealth from one region (the US) to another (the Middle East) in the history of the world, stopped refinery construction and onshore and offshore drilling, led to higher foods costs, and costly regulation and compliance … and the American people pick up the tab.

U.S. nation-building continues in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the American people pick up the tab.

Secular humanism vs. the Bible

Secular humanism’s hold on the U.S. media, many U.S. college and university professors, the ACLU, liberals and many Democrats has come at an enormous cost to America.

The homosexual agenda is moving into the public schools, public corporations through the payment of same-sex benefits, and homosexual activists have plans for the U.S. military and hate-crime legislation.

With the help of the U.S. media, they have moved the debate away from morality to civil rights. There are not enough votes in Congress to approve a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman. Two states — California and Massachusetts — perform same-sex marriages.

“Hold fast to the Bible. To the influence of this Book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization, and to this we must look as our guide in the future.” — Ulysses S. Grant

“A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.” — Teddy Roosevelt

We do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.” — Calvin Coolidge

“An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.” — Dwight Eisenhower

“Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.” — Ronald Reagan

Sin: The root cause of every major problem facing America is our sin.

America’s solutions: The solution to every major problem facing America is in the Bible.

Constitutional republic: The United States is a constitutional republic, not a democracy. Democracies are based on man’s will —specifically, the will of the majority (completely aside from moral considerations).

By contrast, our constitutional republic is based on Judeo-Christian principles and constitutional checks and balances between the three branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial).

America’s enemy: Radical Islam cannot be defeated, but it can be managed and contained. U.S. troops should not be in the middle of ancient sectarian conflicts between Shiites and Sunnis. The U.S. should stop nation building.

Iran: Prepare to stop Iran’s nuclear weapon development, because they will negotiate until their program is completed. A nuclear-armed Iran is a threat to the world.

Israel: Don’t force Israel into indefensible borders. The Quartet Road Map would place Iranian-funded Hamas, which controls the Palestinians’ government, in East Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria (The West Bank).

Russia wants Israel to give the Golan Heights to Iran proxy Syria. Iran-funded Hezbollah, which is on Israel’s northern border, would be closer to Israel.

The American people are paying greatly for Congress’ actions.

Charlie Reese, a former columnist of The Orlando Sentinel wrote:

“One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices — 545 human beings out of the 300 million — are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

“It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.”

For examples, look at our U.S. Middle East policy, the lack of a national energy policy, ethanol mandates, the immigration issue, the bloated federal government, excess regulation on business, excess environmental regulations, national security overlaps, the 9,000,000-word U.S. tax code, run away Wall Street futures trading, sub-prime mortgage fiasco, no interest rate limits to what lenders can charge, the funding concerns for Social Security and Medicare, destructive and costly partisanship, and earmarks … to name just a few. Corrections or adjustments to their previous legislation almost always lead to even worse situation for the American people. It is time for major change.

Federal government size: Eighty percent of what is currently handled at the federal level should, constitutionally, be at the state level, and the federal government should begin the transfer immediately. Downsize the federal government by 10 percent a year. Balance the budget as soon as possible.

Federal Tax Code: Eliminate most of the 9-million-word tax code. Reduce the federal tax rates for individuals to a single tax rate in the 16 to 18 percent range. No taxes for those making $30,000 a year or less. No estate taxes. This plan is possible with a smaller federal government.

The Government Accountability Office said 72 percent of all foreign corporations and about 57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.  Simplifying the US tax code could eliminate this and help small and medium size companies better compete. Stop industry-specific tax deductions that further complicates the US tax code, which would also lessen Washington lobbyist’s influence over the US tax code.

Greed: Insurance companies, energy companies, health care companies, pharmaceutical companies, hedge funds, banks and Wall Street firms have extracted $3.5 to $4 trillion from Americans due to their use of Washington’s highest price lobbyists to influence Congressional legislation. This must be stopped.

Wall Street futures traders: Traders/speculators have cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars more for their oil and food due to their control and manipulation over futures trading — while putting that money in their pockets. One of the solutions would be to raise substantially the amount of margin money required for futures speculators and limit the amount of contracts they can purchase.

National energy: Drill onshore and offshore, build new refineries, and fully develop the massive oil, natural gas, and coal resources the United States has been blessed with while being environmentally reasonable and responsible.

Global warming: Sponsor a national debate to finally disprove the global warming myth that is endangering America and costing American people a tremendous amount of amount of money in food, fuel and regulatory costs. A major cooling cycle is about to begin.

Health care: Fix costs for medical procedures and tests with regional cost-of-living factors considered, cap rewards for malpractice lawsuits, promote and reward healthy patients, and encourage insurees to stop the overuse of health care benefits for an already overtaxed health care system.

Immigration. Businesses, banks and many cities around the country opened their doors to illegal immigrants, so they came to the United States. Congress passed an immigration bill in 1988, but never enforced it. At that time, there were 3.5 million illegal immigrants in America. Today, that number is much higher.

America is technically short of workers, and 5 percent unemployment is considered full employment. Sadly, many white and black American young adults can’t pass the drug tests the insurers require of the businesses they insure. Consequently, there aren’t enough qualified workers to fill vacant jobs and many Americans don’t want the jobs the immigrants fill, so to keep from a major disruption of the U.S. economy it is a good idea to preserve the non-American workers we have — and if they have a good work record, move them towards citizenship.

There will never be a win-win immigration solution due to years of non-compliance and lack of enforcement; both sides will have to give while being compassionate and humane in solving this very divisive issue facing America.

Life: Life begins at conception and must be protected.

Marriage: Marriage is between one man and one woman.

Social Security: The federal government needs to stop taking $200 billion a year from Social Security income to pay down the federal deficit.

Medicare: Insure that Medicare is continuing to make the necessary changes to become more efficient, help small doctor’s offices become better managed businesses, and standardize procedure costs to keep costs down and doctors honest.

It will be possible to write my name on the ballot in most of the states. We will have more details on this shortly.

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. - 2 Chronicles 7:14

America’s only hope is in the Lord.

We would deeply appreciate your prayers!

Charlie Reese, a former columnist of The Orlando Sentinel wrote:

“One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices — 545 human beings out of the 300 million — are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

“It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.”

Bush, Congress, Supreme Court near historical low approval

Thirty percent approve of job Bush is doing as president (Gallup Poll — June 16, 2008)

According to the June 9-12 Gallup Poll, 30 percent of Americans approve of the job George W. Bush is doing as president. That figure is two percentage points better than his personal low rating of 28 percent, which he has received four times in the past two months. The all-time low approval rating for any president in Gallup annals is 22 percent for Harry Truman in 1952.

Congress’ 19 percent approval rating is one point better than last month’s 18 percent, which matched the August 2007 and March 1992 readings as the worst Gallup has measured since it began tracking Congressional job approval in 1974.

Congress typically receives the lowest approval ratings of the three branches. Since the beginning of Bush’s presidency, Congress has averaged 39 percent approval, compared with 51 percent for Bush and 55 percent for the Supreme Court. The general pattern has held prior to Bush’s presidency as well.

Currently, 48 percent of Americans approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing. Gallup does not have the same long track record of measuring approval of the Supreme Court (first done in 2000) that it does for the president and Congress.

Congressional makeup

The U.S. Congress is made up of a few conscientious legislators who wants the very most for their districts while not jeopardizing what is best for the United States; and who are wise and make decisions based on sound principles; but there are many who lack discernment and common sense and are not prepared to handle the enormous responsibilities of the position.

There are those in Congress who are easily influenced by the big money lobbyists and special interest groups that have helped get them elected and stay in office; there are those who get things for their district by cutting deals with other people needing favors for their districts; and there are many who are so committed to their political party’s positions on issues that they vote the party line regardless of the legislation and the cost to America.

The United States is experiencing the consequences of years of bad federal legislation

The American people are personally experiencing the consequences of years of bad Congressional leadership and legislation, which for the most part was approved by the White House or, in a few cases, Congress overruled the President’s veto.

As history has shown us, many times bad legislation is followed by even worse legislation, and that cycle continues while seldom getting corrected or reversed, allowing the problems to grow in magnitude and complexity. Furthermore, the damage is due to so many special interests and political agendas attempt to protecting their interests and turf that the situation is many times all but impossible to reverse — and consequently gets worse.

As former President Ronald Reagan said, “Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.”

With most of America’s major national problems, you can all but guarantee that the root of that problem began with Congressional legislation and/or White House approval.

Look at our U.S. Middle East policy, the national energy policy, the immigration issue, the bloated federal government, excess government regulation, national security overlaps, the 9,000,000-word U.S. tax code, health insurance costs, the funding concerns for Social Security and Medicare, and earmarks … to name just a few.

Other examples include the usurping of states’ constitutional responsibilities by the federal government; the $3 trillion federal budget, the federal debt explosion from $5.7 trillion on 2001 to $9.35 trillion today, the subprime fiasco, and the diversion of money from Social Security payments to pay down portions of the annual federal deficit while dumping enormous debt responsibilities on future generations.

The U.S. Middle East policy has cost Americans over $1 trillion, empowered terrorist organizations while our safety and security in America is at risk, and has skyrocketed the price of oil while making us much more reliant on dangerous regimes.

One of the White House and Congress’ grand solutions to higher oil prices was corn-based ethanol, which has led to costlier fuel and much costlier food, not to forget the other issues and complications associated with it.

We had immigration legislation approved in 1988, when there were 3.5 million people in the U.S. illegally, but it was never implemented. Today, illegal immigrants number in the 12 million to 20 million range.

Congress failed to regulate futures trading, which has led to a huge price jump in fuel and food — benefiting the people who don’t produce the commodity and never take actual possession.

The price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit speculation in energy futures markets, four energy analysts told Congress on Monday, June 23, according to The Associated Press.

Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said that the price of oil would quickly drop closer to its marginal cost of around $65 to $75 a barrel, about half the current $135.

Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co., Edward Krapels of Energy Security Analysis, and Roger Diwan of PFC Energy Consultants agreed with Masters’ assessment at a hearing on proposed legislation to limit speculation in futures markets.

Krapels said that it wouldn’t even take 30 days to drive prices lower, as fund managers quickly liquidated their positions in futures markets.

“Record oil prices are inflated by speculation and not justified by market fundamentals,” according to Gheit. “Based on supply and demand fundamentals, crude-oil prices should not be above $60 per barrel.”

Congress has greatly mismanaged its moral and fiduciary responsibilities

Congress has greatly mismanaged its moral and fiduciary responsibilities. If a person were to extrapolate the enormous after-effect cost of bad legislation in energy, housing, immigration, federal debt, Middle East policy, federal tax legislation, education, the size of the federal government, and obligations pushed on to future generations, it would be mind-boggling.

This is not to forget the U.S. Supreme Court decisions on prayer in school, abortion, sodomy, the posting of the Ten Commandments and other moral issues.

Americans have been greatly harmed by the leaders in Washington

Congressional and White House decisions repeatedly create hardship for the American people, affect their quality of life, impact their families, and rob them of their hard-earned income — thus destroying their hope, dividing families, turning ethnic groups against each other, and leaving massive debt and other problems to future generations.

Today only 17 percent of Americans believe the country is on the right track.

The influence of special interests

Today, there are 17,000 high-priced Washington, D.C., lobbyists who exert more influence in Washington than the American voters.

The biggest spenders among Washington lobbyists are the companies from the banking industry, health care, insurance, pharmaceuticals, Wall Street, energy, and national defense — including 37 of the 50 most profitable companies in America.

Highlighting areas of concern

Middle East policy

• There are major national security overlaps.
• According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Bush’s Iraq and Afghanistan wars have cost $787 billion through fiscal 2008.
• Sixty years of ill-advised U.S. Middle East policy have left the region in total chaos, Israel in greater danger, and a cost to American taxpayers of $1 trillion and climbing.

Oil, gas and food

• The U.S. has spent $1 trillion-plus in the Middle East while sitting on potentially the largest oil reserves in the world.
• Oil and natural gas development has been repeatedly stopped by the Democratic Party.
• New refinery construction has been repeatedly stopped by the Democratic Party.
• The ethanol boondoggle has raised the cost of food and fuel while leading to many other associated problems.
• There has been major commodity price manipulation by futures traders who now make up 70 percent of the futures trades.
• Due to pressure from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for yield and cost reasons, 73 percent of seed in the U.S. is genetically modified. This is believed to be a main reason the bee population has dropped in half — and bees pollinate one-third of U.S. crops.

Federal Government

• The federal debt has gone from $5.7 trillion in 2001 to $9.372 trillion as of June 27, 2008.
• The federal government’s budget was $3 trillion in fiscal year 2008 — the highest in history. The federal government has become over 50 percent larger during George W. Bush’s seven and half years — even with a Republican majority in the Senate and the House in his first six years in office.
• According to the Cato Institute, 80 percent of federal government work should be at the state level according to the U.S. Constitution.
• It will take Americans 113 days of work in 2008 to pay federal, state and local taxes.
• The federal tax code does not benefit small- and medium-sized companies.
• The 9,000,000-word U.S. tax code written by accountants and lawyers costs Americans $250 billion a year and 25 hours of time to file their tax returns (per household).
• Congress will take approximately $200 billion in 2008 from Social Security revenue to go toward federal debt expense.
• Immigration legislation was passed in 1988 when there were 3.5 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Today that total is estimated in the 12 million to 20 million range.
• We have a record low dollar, record high oil, record high gold, record federal deficit and record high foreign trade deficit — plus the largest wealth transfer from one region to another in world history due to oil prices.

Feeding frenzy on Americans’ finances

• There has been a major feeding frenzy on Americans’ finances by major banks, credit card issuers, mortgage lenders, health care providers, insurance companies, Wall Street Investment banks, hedge funds, futures traders, and oil companies.
• A massive wealth transfer has occurred from a majority of Americans to a small select group of people and companies.
• There is no federal interest rate limits (usury) on what banks can charge their customers.
• U.S. banks have made hundreds of billions of dollars in high-interest credit cards, late fees, over-the-limit fees and banking fees.
• Health insurance costs and deductibles have continued to increase while Americans are receiving less health coverage for their money.
• Health care expenditures costs now are $2.2 trillion a year or $7,000 per year for every man, woman and child in the U.S.
• The Federal Reserve’s record low discount rate helped lead to 2 million homes at risk of foreclosure due to the subprime fiasco — and helped lead the world into a major economic expansion and the increase in worldwide oil demand.

We are finalizing some important platform content and hope to have that posted shortly.

We appreciate your prayers.

William Koenig

In a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 46% plurality calls for “major reforms and a brand new and different approach” in government. “The mood is for more than small incremental changes,” says Democrat Perter Hart, who conducts WSJ/NBC surveys with Republican counterpart Bill Mc Inturff.

Three in 10 respondents say the two-party system is “seriously broken and the country needs a third party.”

I am continuing to evaluate an independent candidacy for the 2008 US election.

I plan to go into much more detail after the Republicans and Democrats select their presidential nominee.

We appreciate your prayers!

William Koenig

Bloomberg - Nov. 19

Shareholders in the securities industry are having their worst year since 2002, losing $74 billion of their equity. That won’t prevent Wall Street from paying record bonuses, totaling almost $38 billion.

That money, split among about 186,000 workers at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch & Co., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos., equates to an average of $201,500 per person, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The five biggest U.S. securities firms paid $36 billion to employees last year.

The bigger bonus pool derives from a record $9 billion of fees for arranging acquisitions and $5 billion for underwriting initial public offerings and sales of junk bonds, the most lucrative securities, Bloomberg data show. Bankers’ record fees help explain why 2007 will prove to be the industry’s second- most profitable after the subprime mortgage market collapse led to losses at Merrill and Bear Stearns.

Food pantries struggling with shortages

Associated Press - Nov. 19

Operators of free food banks say they are seeing more working people needing assistance. The increased demand is outstripping supplies and forcing many pantries and food banks to cut portions.

Demand is being driven up by rising costs of food, housing, utilities, health care and gasoline, while food manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers are finding they have less surplus food to donate and government help has decreased, according to Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks.

“I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I can’t believe how much worse it gets month after month,” she said.

“We have food banks in virtually every city in the country, and what we are hearing is that they are all facing severe shortages with demand so high,” Ross Fraser, a spokesman for America’s Second Harvest — The Nation’s Food Bank Network, the nation’s largest hunger relief group, said Friday. “One of our food banks in Florida said demand is up 35 percent over this time last year.”

By Stephanie Simon and Mark Z. Barabak
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

November 15, 2007

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. — A fundamental shift is transforming the religious right, long a force in presidential politics, as aging evangelical leaders split on the 2008 race and a new generation of pastors turns away from politics altogether.

The result, in the short term, could be a boost for the centrist candidacy of former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose messy personal life and support for gay rights and legal abortion have not produced the unified opposition from Christian conservatives that many anticipated.

Over the longer term, the distancing of religious leaders from politics could prove even more consequential, denying the GOP one of the essential building blocks it has used to capture the White House in five of the last seven presidential races.

The shift is evident in this Rocky Mountain community at the heart of the evangelical movement.

“As far as me standing in the pulpit holding a voter guide, that’s not going to happen,” said the Rev. Brady Boyd, 40, who leads a congregation of 10,000 at New Life Church. He will use his position to teach the Bible to believers. “I won’t use it to influence their vote,” he said.

That suits many in his congregation just fine. “If he starts talking politics, that makes me very uneasy,” said Wolfgang Griesinger, 56, a political independent.

“It’s not his place to tell us who to vote for,” said Marsha Thorson, 54, a Republican who is leaning toward Giuliani.

Black churches have a long tradition of political activism, mostly on the Democratic side. White evangelical churches did not assert themselves politically until Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign, when first the Moral Majority and later the Christian Coalition began organizing on behalf of Republicans.

The term “evangelical” refers to Christians who claim a personal relationship with Christ and consider the Bible the word of God, to be faithfully obeyed. They are a huge group — about one in four voters — and far from monolithic; their ranks include Pentecostals, charismatics, Southern Baptists and many others. Some worship to rock music, others to hymns; some speak in tongues. Some believe God preordained those headed to heaven; others hold that anyone can achieve salvation by accepting Jesus Christ as their savior. Former Presidents Carter and Clinton are evangelicals, as is President Bush.

Despite that diversity, evangelicals have become a reliable — and increasingly crucial — Republican voting bloc. Many were drawn to Bush in 2000 because of his conservative stance on social issues and his story of turning to Christ to overcome a drinking problem. He won the support of more than eight in 10 Christian conservatives in 2000 and nearly nine of 10 in 2004, according to Los Angeles Times exit polls.

But in the three years since, many Christian conservatives have expressed a growing unease about the entanglement of politics and pulpit. Among young evangelical adults, nearly half say involvement in politics is problematic, according to a new book, “unChristian,” from the evangelical research firm the Barna Group.

Some of that disillusionment comes from disappointment with Bush’s policies, including the war in Iraq. But there’s also shame at the often-bombastic, sharply partisan rhetoric of the traditional standard-bearers for conservative Christian values, including televangelist Pat Robertson, 77; the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who died this spring at age 73; and radio host James C. Dobson, 71.

One-third of evangelicals under 30 told Barna that they were embarrassed to call themselves believers.

“They’re tired of the hard-edged politics that the Christian right has practiced in the last couple of generations,” said John C. Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. “They see all this division, all this anger, without a lot to show for it.”

Mega-church pastors have capitalized on that frustration by offering a different brand of Christianity. With sunny, affirming services, they cast a broad welcome net — and fill arena-size sanctuaries each Sunday.

They may promote a cause, such as AIDS relief in Africa. But endorse a candidate? Push a partisan agenda? That could empty half their pews. Few up-and-coming pastors want to risk such a backlash.

“There’s nothing in it for them,” said Timothy Morgan, deputy managing editor of the evangelical monthly Christianity Today. “It just gets people stirred up.”

Florida pastor Troy Gramling, 40, recently preached a series he called “My Naked Pastor,” which involved airing his every thought to webcams that followed him around the clock. Make that almost every thought: Gramling said he would never announce to his congregation of 14,000 how he planned to vote.

“That would be putting pressure on them to agree with me, and I don’t feel I have a right to do that,” Gramling said. “God doesn’t call me and tell me who’s his favorite.”

Mega-church pastors often argue that Christians don’t need big names to tell them whom to vote for; they need solid biblical teaching, which they can use to screen each candidate for proper values. But that leaves it up to the voters to determine which values should be the litmus test.

In previous years, the test was obvious: A godly leader must oppose abortion and gay rights and possess a strong Christian faith. This year, the evangelical establishment has sent voters a strong signal that they can feel free to branch away from that trinity.

Robertson, for instance, overlooked Giuliani’s three marriages, his brief cohabitation with a gay couple, and his support for abortion rights to endorse him as the best candidate to fight terrorism.

Fundamentalist Bob Jones III, 68, made it clear that he believed that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Mormon, follows a false religion. Yet Jones, chancellor of the university that bears his name, backed Romney on the grounds that he could win the White House.

Dobson has declined to endorse anyone — despite repeated pleas from supporters of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist preacher who holds textbook religious right positions on social issues. Instead, Dobson has hinted that he may support a third-party candidate.

The disarray on the Christian right — coupled with the striking silence of mega-church pastors — means that Republicans can’t count on the mass voter turnout drives that helped so much in years past.

“The days when Ralph Reed [and his Christian Coalition] could mobilize tens of thousands of followers are gone,” said Rich Galen, an advisor to GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee. “In terms of suddenly turning on a spigot of funds and volunteers and direct mail, that just doesn’t happen anymore.”

Marvin Olasky, editor in chief of the Christian newsmagazine World, offers this perspective: “Anyone who talks about delivering the evangelical vote might as well apply for a job as a herder of cats.”

The upheaval has also left an opening for Democrats, who are aggressively wooing evangelical voters by framing issues such as global warming, healthcare reform and the war in Iraq as moral priorities. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, the party’s two presidential front-runners, discuss their faith openly and often, a notable contrast with past Democratic hopefuls.

The Democrats don’t expect to swing the entire bloc of conservative religious voters their way next November. “But it’s going to be such a close election that even 2 percentage points would make a huge difference,” said D. Michael Lindsay, author of a new book on evangelical influence, “Faith in the Halls of Power.”

Here at New Life Church, the congregation includes Democrats as well as independents and Republicans, and Boyd says he figures they all come to hear his take on the Gospel, not the latest Gallup poll.

“I don’t think that as believers, as Christians, we should back away from the political scene. . . . But there’s a correction happening now in the local church,” he said.

New Life’s founder, Ted Haggard, never hesitated to remind his congregation of his close ties to the Bush administration. Haggard resigned last year after encounters with a male prostitute, but the church’s reputation as a political force remains; Boyd said he had been courted by several elected officials since arriving in Colorado Springs.

He meets with the politicians — but only to see if he can offer them spiritual guidance.

“I’m a pastor,” he said. “That’s what I’m called to do.”

Call us the Unhappy States of America.

One year before Election Day 2008, most Americans are dismayed by the country’s direction, pessimistic about the Iraq war and anxious about the economy. Two of three disapprove of the job President Bush is doing. Nearly a year after Democrats took control of Congress, three of four Americans say it isn’t achieving much, either.

In all, 72% of those surveyed in a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Oct. 12-14 say they are dissatisfied with how things are going in the USA while just 26% are satisfied. Not since April have even one-third of Americans been happy with the country’s course, the longest national funk in 15 years.

“Don’t get me wrong, America’s a great country,” says Lori Jones, 46, a medical assistant in Phoenix. But she worries about her family’s finances and prospects for the next generation. “I think we’ve somehow lost our way.”

Link to full article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-10-31-mood-cover_N.htm