Recently Dr. Dobson, the former Focus on the Family leader, said Christian’s were losing the culture war. He’s absolutely right, and the reasons are pretty clear. You see, when people look to the government to promote their beliefs, the government may fail them. Look at healthcare for example. Canadians and many Europeans looked to the government not just for socialized healthcare, but medical care as well (which is a part of healthcare, not healthcare itself). The United States has the best medical care in the world, as we have the best doctors and the most advanced technology. America only partially looks to the government for help and control in the realm on healthcare, which makes some kind of hybrid-beast-nightmare system that contradicts itself in so many ways, but that partial help can lead to our decline in the quality of medical care. The nations that have good healthcare don’t necessarily have good medical care, as the waiting lists for surgeries in Canada and the United Kingdom prove by themselves.

                 People with Judeo-Christian values looked to the government for help in promoting their values as well. Take the FCC for example. Many conservatives look to the FCC for help in regulating media content. However, the FCC has failed us miserably. It’s merely another failed government bureaucracy like the EPA or DHS (both of which are failing us a lot more now that the left owns them – let that be a warning to all future conservative presidents. What you make the statists may own in the future). More kids than ever watch R rated movies, more teenagers see porn, more Americans under 18 watch violence, and on top of it all, programming is become less and less family friendly.

                The FCC also takes freedom away from certain stations. If you own a media outlet, you should be able to showcase whatever you want. Restrict freedom for some people, and then when they get in power they may restrict you. If we can regulate language at 7 PM in the evening, then someday we may be able to regulate religious broadcasting or religious expression in the media. The slopes we stand on are often very slippery; we all know this regardless of our ideology.

                Who then, should regulate media content? YOU. If people didn’t watch porn, it would go away. If people didn’t go see certain movies like Saw or Hostel, they would go away. If people didn’t watch shows with a lot of cussing in them, they would go away. People would not watch Hostel in the 1930’s if it were made, and would be outraged if it was, so movies like it never existed, even in countries with less media restriction. I personally despise pornography and some movies, like the aforementioned Hostel. So, I don’t go watching porn and Hostel. If you don’t want your kid to see it, educate them. Also, lets realize certain cartoons aren’t for kids. Just because a show is animated, like Family Guy, doesn’t mean it’s for kids. There are animated shows meant for adults just as there are live shows for children. If you don’t want Hot Topic to sell youth sized shirts depicting R rated films, don’t let your kid watch the R rated film.

                When you see something on a channel that you do not like, don’t watch the show, or if you really want to send a message, don’t watch the channel, or its affiliates. I used to be all for the FCC, I used to think it should regulate the hell out of the media and the Internet even, but I know that people may use that regulation to regulate other messages. I do think certain forms of pornography and such should be outlawed though, such as child porn, because not only is it just about one of the worst things on earth for people to like, but it hurts the children whom we’re supposed to protect, and violates tons of other righteously made laws. I also think Nip/Tuck is a sick show. I simply don’t watch Nip/Tuck.

                Conservatives like Dobson and Brent Bozell look to the government to help them. They look for government funding, remember George W.’s failed “faith-based and community initiatives” message back in the 2000 election? People like Dr. Dobson supported Bush because he promised them funding, although Bush hardly got them any once he became president. This is another form of wealth redistribution like any other, anyway. The government shouldn’t have the money to give to charities or churches, just as it shouldn’t be funding sick “art” shows on state campuses, or public schools for that matter which is definitely a topic for another time.

                The people, the Christians, Jews, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others who believe in God (although I personally believe Biblical Christianity, which asserts salvation is through Christ alone, is the only path to salvation) need to donate to charities, volunteer, and work hard for their community. Liberals often volunteer to do things like help the poor, why do you think they resonate among the poor so much? It’s not just the welfare system they support which keeps them down. Christians and those of other religions do not do the job. We don’t do enough to take care of the poor. Lower taxes would help since we’d have more money to reinvest in our communities without paying a for-profit government bureaucracy. However, giving us the money doesn’t mean we’ll reinvest it, just look at what Reaganomics did. The very well off often saved their money instead of creating jobs, thus weakening the trickle down effect, which is still better than Obama’s trickle up poverty plan. I should mention that government regulation was the reason Reaganomics didn't produce the effect of free markets we saw in the "roaring 20's." Taxes were indeed lower but there was still the business-strangling tax code.

                Anyway, we’re losing the culture war because we looked to the government for help and enforcement and reform, when the only people who can truly reform society are the people who can change the hearts of the people. More laws against promiscuity won’t break down the chains of promiscuity which shackle our nation. Our God is the One who can break those chains; His message is what must break the chains. God is the author or Judeo-Christian morality, not the government, and we must look to God and the message of Christ to redeem the hearts of men and women.

                Many Christian’s ask, “How are we to run the government according to our beliefs?” The answers the Bible give may surprise you. Jesus, as my pastor once pointed out, was surprisingly apolitical. This leads me to believe not that we should ignore politics as religious people, but that we should encourage less government so that we have the freedom to spread the message of salvation to mankind. We need to fight for LIBERTY and then use our liberty to change people’s hearts. Not all will heed our call, but many will if we stopped focusing on things like making the FCC enforce a degree of morality in our media and focused on spreading the Gospel. When directors and producers and actors and actresses refuse to inject nudity, sex, and “torture porn” into their movies and television shows because they are moral individuals due to their Judeo-Christian beliefs, then we made true progress which will glorify God much better than any government-enforced morality. Just as government-paid “volunteerism” isn’t volunteerism (which the government obviously does not understand); government-forced Christian ideals do not make a nation more Christian. It only leads to the corruption of liberty and the persecution of Christians and their values.