PERESTROIKA

From My Perspective - - -

There area many suggestions regarding “Change” – what it really means and what can be accomplished as this “Change” is implemented. One area for special guardedness is the presence of the “herd instinct” – a mentality that will go along with almost anything just because it represents “Change”! It is interesting that an aging Cold War participant - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev – offers his concept of “Change”, along with “Why” he thinks it is necessary. It should be remembered that Perestroika, meaning restructuring, was used by Gorbachev in the late 1980s to describe a series of reforms that ultimately led to the demise of the Soviet Union.

With that in mind, Gorbachev offers his ideas to the United States as a “Change” Mandate: “President-elect Barack Obama needs to fundamentally change the misguided course followed by President George W. Bush over the past eight years… the world is waiting for Obama to act, and the White House needs to restore trust in cooperation with the United States among the Russians…This is a man of our times, he is capable of restarting dialogue, all the more since the circumstances will allow him to get out of a dead-end situation…” He went on to say, “… that after transforming his country in the late 1980s, he had told the Americans that it was their turn to act, but that Washington, celebrating its Cold War victory, was not interested in a new model of a society, where politics, economics and morals went hand in hand." A fellow Russian compatriot, Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, founder of now defunct Yukos oil giant, who is in prison on fraud and tax evasion charges, also used the word "Perestroika" in discussing the future course of the Obama administration...He said that, "being a liberal himself, he thinks that the world will take a left turn, and that a global Perestroika would be a logical response to the global crisis. The paradigm of global development is about to change. The era inaugurated by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher 30 years ago is over."

What does all of this mean on the world’s stage? What does this mean for the United States during and after the transition of power? The morning news suggests the transitional plans as President-elect Obama assumes the responsibilities of office, and among the first acts/actions he is planning to take. “President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas…Obama is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule.” John Podesta, Obama's transition chief said, “…the President can use such orders to move quickly on his own…There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we'll see the president do that…I think that he feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set..."

Consider these things with me - - - with 97 percent of the precincts reporting, the American people have spoken — 63,878,236 voted for President-elect Obama and 56,394,736 voted for Senator McCain…the exit polls showed that voters who either attend church once a week or who attend church more than once a week voted for McCain 55 percent to 43 percent. As we heed the instruction of I Timothy 2 to pray for all in authority, there may be 55% praying one way and 43% praying another. One thing certain for this hour of “Change” in our nation is the inherent meaning – and the implementation of - II Samuel 23:3-4 (NLT), “The person who rules righteously, who rules in the fear of God, is like the light of the morning, like the sunrise bursting forth in a cloudless sky, like the refreshing rains that bring tender grass from the earth.” The Message paraphrases it: “Whoever governs fairly and well, who rules in the Fear-of-God, is like first light at daybreak without a cloud in the sky, Like green grass carpeting earth, glistening under fresh rain." Can all professing Christians pray in this manner and to this end? May God grant it so that this nation will once again be the beacon of Hope and Light in the midst of a Despairing and Dark World. So be it!