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You'll want to read this if you are a God-fearing poor or middle class person. You'll appreciate it if you are a self-made rich person. You'll like it if you are down-and-out but expect to change that, somehow, someday. You'll hate it if you do things that religious people call sinful, and have no plans on changing that. You'll like it if you do things that religious people call sinful, but are trying to improve. You'll hate it if you don't believe in God. If you do believe in God, then you might find it interesting.

I believe that there are many Americans out there that are still undecided, or feeling apathetic about this upcoming Presidential election. I have watched the debates, I have read the emails circulating the internet... and I can't sit still any longer. I HAVE to add my two-cents or my conscience will not let me rest.

With the premise that we are all children of God, we have to consider the greatness that lies within each of us. We were all created to succeed, to grow to our fullest potential, to enjoy the bounteous blessings He has in store for us. We have within us seeds of excellence!!

What does this have to do with the election? Well, I remember being in a political science class my senior year of high school. We were studying a method of government that was based on the premise that everyone would be well cared for. Everyone would have all they needed, because the government would see to it.

I came home confused because it seemed that it sure sounded like the right plan. But I knew my father disagreed with the philosophy, and I couldn't figure out why. I was embarrassed to bring it up, but I finally mustered the courage to ask him about it. "Dad, what's so wrong with it? Don't we as Christians want to make sure everyone has what they need?"

His reply was profound. He said, in essence, "Leslie, it all goes back to how God deals with us." With that, he had my attention. He continued, "God sent us to earth to live and grow and learn. He wants us to reach our highest potential. Many choices we make lead us to bondage of one form or another. For example, if a young woman chooses to be sexually active before she is married, then when she becomes pregnant, her 100 choices was just reduced to a small handful of choices. She must decide if she will have the baby or not, if she will keep the baby or not, if she will quit school or not. No longer is her future wide open. Her errant choice reduced her own freedom. Or maybe it is a sexually transmitted disease that evaporates her wide variety of choices. On the other hand, as we make wise choices, such as getting a good education, we are laying the foundation to be able to make hundreds of choices in the future. So many more doors open to us when we have made good life decisions. The better the choices we make, the greater our freedom." I continued to listen. "Now, do you think He wants us all to do what is right?"

"Of course,"

"Does He make sure that we do?"

"Not really, He's kind of left us on our own to make mistakes and stuff."

"And when we make mistakes does He protect us from feeling the pain that comes from making mistakes?"

"No, He doesn't."

"So, He sent us all down to earth, knowing full well that we would make mistakes and knowing full well that we would suffer for those mistakes."

"Yeah, I guess so... seems kind of harsh."

"What happens to a child that grows up with a parent that doesn't let him get hurt, or bails him out every time he goofs up?"

"It ruins the kid. He grows up thinking that life owes him something. His pain is always someone else's fault."

"Honey, that is why we always look for leaders that understand that principle. Give us a leader that will protect our freedom... to succeed, and even to fail. Give us a leader that is more concerned about what God thinks than what a deteriorating society thinks. Let the deteriorating souls vote for a President that promises to protect them from the consequences of their own unlawful choices, but as for me, I want a President that hopes I succeed, but will not try to save me from myself. I have lessons to learn, too. I want to become all I can be, and that requires that I learn from my mistakes."

As I thought about what my dad said, it raised more questions in my mind. As I got older, and married, and struggled through school and struggled to raise little kids, I often reflected on his words. For example, I tried as best as I knew how to live the way I thought God wanted me to live. But what did it get me? We were living in poverty, and the stresses that go with financial lack sent me into anger and depression. I lost confidence in the notion that the righteous will prosper. I felt pain. And I remembered my Dad's words and wondered what I must be doing wrong to be living so miserably. Our multiple attempts to rise out of the wretchedness were of no lasting effect. But I believed him, anyway, and continued to vote for political leaders that represented philosophies consistent with my beliefs. I believed we could make it on our own. I believed that we would somehow find our own solution to the problems with Social Security, and medical insurance coverage. We weren't succeeding, but I clung to the principle. I voted for what was good for us, like eating our vegetables when we'd rather be eating dessert.

You know, it isn't very common that people naturally do what's good for them, when something more enticing is available. It's much easier to get someone to eat a cupcake than a head of broccoli. Just as it is enticing when one Presidential candidate promises that all our needs will be met. That makes sense, doesn't it? Who in my situation wouldn't want that? I suffered the pains of poverty, the frustrations of not having insurance, and the agony of unemployment. I endured the depression, the suicidal thoughts. Seven years of financial bondage and the stresses that accompany it. On a couple of occasions we reluctantly accepted a handout. But deep inside I was screaming, because of what my father had taught me. I felt that somehow I was giving up a piece of my soul, selling it away.

(I recognize that there are people that truly are in need of welfare. These are the people it is meant for. I am happy that my tax dollars are going to help the genuinely needy citizens. But I knew I was not one of them. There are too many people out there that give up searching for ways to be self-sufficient because either they haven't needed to, or they don't know that they have seeds of greatness and their own hidden genius. I cannot blame them for giving up the effort.)

So even though we were destitute, I continued to vote for leaders that were more committed to the strength of the American military causes than the ones that wanted me well fed. Give me a leader that will protect me from terrorists so that I can be free to search for the answers on how to provide for myself. Free my mind from the worry of bullies so that I can spend my concentrated effort on how to untap the hidden talents within my own God-given potential.

Don't protect me from the natural consequences of my actions. Don't promise to keep me healthy. Don't promise to rescue me from everything I struggle with. Of course, I want all of these things. But I don't want them from the government. Let me find the power within myself to solve my problems. Let me feel the pain so that I might discover the remedy. Let me discover what I can improve about myself so that I can enjoy the rewards of living in harmony with God's natural laws. Let me discover them, and choose with my own free agency to live them or not. Let me struggle so that I might grow. Let me fall so that I will learn. Let me be.

So what is the government for, anyway? It is to do what I cannot do. My own personal realm of influence cannot tear down the oppressive evil of tyrants. I cannot stop the dictators of the earth from violating the rights of my brothers and sisters across the globe. But I can vote for a man that is committed to doing that, perhaps a man that has proven it can be done. I will vote for the man that understands his role. It is not his role to meet all of our needs.

For example, it isn't his job to make sure we have one. It isn't up to him to pass initiatives that make me feel better about my errant choices. His role is to throw down the murderous, evil influences that threaten our ability to reach our own greatest potential. It is his job to provide us with as much freedom as possible. One thing I know for sure is that the more government does to take care of its people, the higher the taxes. And the higher the taxes, the less freedom we enjoy. If our free agency is the one thing in which God will not interfere, then I deduce He would prefer leaders that do all they can to preserve that free agency.

Both candidates do have to tax us to some extent. Pay attention to their philosophy, though. Are they taxing us to spread the wealth more evenly, thus discouraging the ambitious; or are they taxing us primarily to provide for those who --truly- cannot help themselves, and for a strong military force that provides the protection we cannot provide as individuals? If we must be in bondage to taxes at all, let it be to purchase our liberty. I personally have no problem spending money on a war against terrorism.

Here's another issue to consider: Life itself is the greatest gift we have. I am sorely disappointed in any political leader that feels it is the government's business to prevent people from tampering with the way in which human beings EXIT life, but shies away from any moral stance on the subject of how a human being ENTERS life. Society seems to be unanimously in opposition of murder, for example, but dares not take a stand on the conditions surrounding the creation of life. Since when did that become an issue of religion, rather than the basics of healthy society?

My own realm of influence can discover, even create, solutions to my own problems. My health, my income, my family. Let a president protect my liberty, and I'll rely on God to show me how to meet the rest of my needs.

After all, it is In God We Trust.

Granted, it's easier to turn to the government for solutions to our personal problems. Therein lies the Cupcake. But the real answers, the lasting, substantial, life changing answers come from our Creator. Vote for Broccoli, and then get to work searching for the answers to the dilemmas in your own life. Let's learn to provide for ourselves, and be self-sufficient. Financially, emotionally, spiritually.

A Presidential candidate that is passionately committed to pulling down the powers that threaten our liberty -- that's Broccoli. We'll find our own solutions to our own immediate problems as we seek them. "Seek and ye shall find." It's a promise. But relying on government to solve our problems will hamper our quest for reaching our own greatest potential. Let us be free to succeed, or to fail.

That's just what God does: He helps us succeed, or He allows us to fail. And if it is a system good enough for Him, who are we to think there's a smarter system than that?

To see for yourself what each candidate has said about different issues, and how they have voted in the past, presented by a non-partisan organization, click here.

To learn how my husband and I discovered our own power to break out of financial bondage, visit http://www.ThoughtsAlive.com.