Next Week's Election and 'The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium'

Ben Zeisloft, reporting for The Daily Wire, starts off his October 24th article: “The United States has less than one month’s supply of diesel fuel, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.” This is the lowest level since 2008 even as, by one metric, the four-week average of distillates supplied, demand is the highest it’s been since 2007 Is it just me, or does Joe Biden seem to have only a few predictable responses? Tell gas stations to artificially lower their prices, and criticize oil companies for making money right now. Ask foreign countries like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to produce more to bring down prices, thereby proving that he understands the way supply and demand work in relation to costs. Release barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Push electric vehicles and renewable energy. If EV’s and renewable are so cost-effective, then why do they need so much promotion? And why aren't we producing more of our own oil and gas here in the U.S. when we easily could be? Another thing that stood out to me about the California gubernatorial debate Lauren and I watched on Epoch TV Sunday night: Brian Dahle, the Republican candidate, is proposing lower gas taxes in California to bring down the cost of fuel at the pump. Gavin Newsom, and the moderators of that debate, challenged Dahle on how he could guarantee lowering taxes wouldn’t just result in gas stations raising their prices by that much. And this is a rather rich question in light of EV tax credits leading to EV manufacturers raising their prices in 2023 by roughly the amount of the Biden administration’s federal tax credits. But Dahle pointed out that neighboring states have much lower average fuel prices compared with California. And it’s worth noting a report by CBS 8 San Diego on October 7, which indicates that taxes and fees in California account for $2.50 more per gallon in the Golden State. California’s average is $6.39 compared with the national average of $3.89.  By way of reminder, the 2020 Election was a supposed landslide for Joseph R. Biden who is said to have won 306 electoral votes to Donald J. Trump’s 232. But if that's true, why does the Arizona Attorney General and Democrat candidate for governor, Katie Hobbs, threaten legal action to prevent a hand-count audit of ballots in Cochise County? To be clear, the votes would still be counted first by machine; all Cochise County Supervisors are considering is an audit of the machine count. But it's an odd look for the Democrat candidate. Speaking of, a debate moderator recently asked the Democrat governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, point-blank: “Are there any restrictions around abortions you would approve of?” And she essentially says 'No,' but in far more words, by dodging the question. Yet what's this about her daughter and granddaughter not having access to abortion? They wouldn't be here if Hochul had aborted her daughter. Isn't that something to ponder? Then there's John Fetterman, Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate, who is apparently Schrodinger’s cat on the question of fracking. He said in 2018 that he absolutely does not support fracking. Then last night he said he's always supported, and he does support it, and he will stand and support it. But can he account for why he changed his mind, or the disparity between his comments four years ago and his comments now? No, he cannot. All of this brings us back again to Evangelicals & Catholics Together, and their initial statement in 1994. 'The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium' says "legitimate diversity... should not be confused with existing divisions between Christians that obscure Christ and hinder the one mission." Yet neither is Rome ready to retract, so far as I know, it's anathematizing of Protestants from five centuries ago.  The trouble with all the above is that truth and goodness are seen as downstream unity. But they're not.