This Election is not Reality TV.

photo by Gage Skidmore / flickr

This crazy, crazy election time reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon I saw some years ago. A young father, kneeling on the muddy shoulder of a busy highway, is attempting to repair a flat tire in a driving rainstorm. From inside the car, his two children, noses against the glass, stare at him in disbelief. "Don't you understand? " he yells. "This is life,  this is what is happening. We can't switch to another channel."

And so tonight we have the second debate. This is not entertainment. This is not reality TV. This is not a soap opera. Tonight we deal with life. Real life. Folk all over the country and I guess the world will be watching and listening.

The number of Republican leaders that have said they cannot support Donald Trump as President have grown daily to a large and significant number. Sadly--most of these leaders have waited until this sex scandal to join the bandwagon. Where were they when Trump proclaimed that Mexicans were rapists and murders? Maybe some good ones he said. Maybe. Since the beginning of his crusade he has said often that Obama's birth was suspect. Nobody knows, he kept saying even when the birth certificate was public record. This was racism with its sleeves rolled up. Where were all these irate Republican leaders when he sneered at crippled journalists, attacked anyone who got in his way. He has made Muslim citizens scared in a country where everyone is to be safe. He has beaten the terrorist drum when most of our murderous attacks had little or nothing to do with terrorism. He has lied continually about just about every issue and there was enormous silence from the Republican leaders. The list of his prejudices and hurtful, lying comments have done irreparable damage. Little Hispanic children and their parents are terrified. He proclaims that when he is in charge that we will take the oil. Take the oil--this serious proclamation has slipped through the cracks of a multitude of false statements. This alone is madness at best.

Republican leaders and others are now saying: "We won't vote for Trump--and we can't vote for Hillary." How irresponsible can you get. A vote for neither is a vote for Trump. Hillary Clinton has her own problems. Some of her own mistakes have been foolish and very irresponsible. But we have had hearings after hearings on just about everything dealing with Clinton. Yet--no charges have been brought. We have talked endlessly about emails and yet there is no record that she has betrayed secrets or done anything to hurt this country. Fox news has been on a smear campaign for her since Obama's second term started. If you throw enough mud--it will stick. And people have bought into sorry lying business.

We have to elect a President. We have to elect someone who knows the world and its problems. Folks, this is life--real life. We cannot change the channel.

Over hundred prominent Evangelical leaders have petitioned Donald Trump to drop out of this race. We have heard over and over that Evangelicals support Donald Trump. This petition by responsible Christian leaders helps set the record straight. The petition is called: "A Declaration of American Evangelicals Concerning Donald Trump." Read their concerns for yourself. Read the names of all those that have signed so far.

Maybe we should have had others to run as President. Well--this is what we have. It is a time of reckoning. You might disagree with these words and this is your right. But someone, somewhere must speak for this whole country and have a vision for the common good of all. That is all I can say. And this is my great hope for us all.

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovetteblogspot.com