Update: More Thoughts On Election Day
1. I have always enjoyed watching the returns on election night. And when I say “always” I mean since I was a kid, when we had an election in 4th grade and I voted for Reagan. My parents inexplicably voted for Carter that year.
2. Politics and governance are matters of social justice.
3. Can someone tell me again why I am not supposed to like Sarah Palin? Cause I do.
4. I would listen to liberal politicians more if they if wanted to lower my taxes instead of raising them.
5. I would listen to liberal pundits more if they would not be so predictable in calling every conservative politician they disagree with, “dumb.”
6. There is a lot of talk about how Christians (nearly always conservative) mix up their faith and their political convictions and the problem this presents. I’m not buying it. I have never met these people. I have met people whose faith informs how they vote and think.
7. Jonathan Edwards would be in the bulls-eye of those who criticize the mixing of faith and politics.
8. It is not necessarily a sign of faithlessness or lack of eternal perspective to be disappointed if the election does not go the way you would like. It could be the absence of faith that causes this disappointment but it could also be the presence of care for others and the pursuit of justice.
9. I think many young Christians will not identify themselves as conservative simply because they do not want to relinquish the social cache of being independently minded. In a world tyrannized by “cool,” being a conservative can make you an intellectual leper.
10. I know the last thing I am supposed to say is something about how in the whole scheme of things this does not matter. But I don’t agree. Jobs and healthcare and taxes and abortion and marriage and laws do matter while people still live here. The “this world is not my home” argument is true but it is also true that you should care about those who still and will live here. Elections affect people and we are supposed to care about people. And yes, Jesus reigns still.
Echoes and Stars 
RE #6:I grew up in baptist churches in the South, and there was almost always voter registration in the church lobby, republican party events publicized, and a sermon about how abortion was the most important issue and how we needed to vote straight ticket republican to save babies.Irony of ironies, there have been a few studies lately showing that the expansion of welfare decreases abortion rates, and that has been manifest in less abortions the more democratic control (of the presidency and congress.) I think that young Christians don't identify with conservative politics because they don't identify with conservative values. Most of them would relinquish wages for a job they felt helped people. In turn, they are also willing to pay higher taxes. They don't care if celibate gays have civil unions. They see the need for real and lasting change in government, and they vote for people who seem least entrenched in the mess we're in.
@Kristen,As a young conservative myself I disagree.I would gladly relinquish wages for a job that would help people, but that would be a personal choice not mandated by the government. I would also gladly KEEP my tax money in order to use it where I thought I could best help people.If that study is indeed true that abortion rates are lower with more welfare then there is far much more wrong with welfare than I thought. It is a crutch and a money waster helping people who do not want to get ahead and ignoring those who can't catch a break. It's disgusting that we have life-time welfarers. I would rather see a system that helped the dad or mom who lost their job and can't find another one and at the end of their rope got some welfare for 3 months until the job came in than the mom or dad who is never looking for a job, lives in subsidized housing, and chooses to buy cigarettes and beer with the little cash they do have since their food is covered by food stamps.There are things I wish some conservatives would hush up about in order to address other issues, for instance the lottery and gay marrage. But as a whole the liberals stand for every thing that disgusts me about our country and hold none of the values that I have.
Life-time welfare is more or less over and has been for a long time (since President CLINTON signed PRWORA) except in the case of severe disability. Do you know many people who live in poverty? Who were raised in poverty? It's a really complex issue. Now that the economy has shifted towards service rather than manufacturing, etc. many poor people can't find a job better than fast food or a big box store. 40 hours a week at minimum wage is not enough to live on, to raise children on. Many many people who get abortions are MARRIED and working with other living children. They want the child they are expecting, but feel they can't afford another mouth to feed. That's a tragedy.Yes, it's tragic we have children raised in America with so little love and care that they feel they have to have babies as teenagers so someone will care about them. And then they perpetuate that cycle. But truly, those stories aren't the whole story, or even most of it.