It's 2010 - Election Year. Surprisingly, I haven't seen any campaign ads yet, but have no doubt that they are lurking around the next commercial break.

So will 2010 be a year for hope and change? What should we expect this fall?

Like many of you, I spent the majority of 2009 watching in shock and dismay as our new government systematically implemented one disastrous policy after another. Many of them were out of the public eye unless you happen to be personally affected by them. Such as the hundreds of thousands of dollars that were stripped from our partner church in South Africa and their AIDS work because our new President felt the need to get rid of some of Bush's faith-based initiatives. Others were more obvious, such as the race to socialize healthcare in America.

One thing I'm sure of as I struggle to remain optimistic in these troubled days. God is in control. Perhaps He's using this time to wake up a lazy American population to the fact that we are not immune to socialism. Perhaps He just got fed up and gave us the king that Americans, in our ignorance of how God has blessed us, wanted, just as he allowed the Israelites their own King Saul. Or maybe this is all part of a much bigger story that has been in the works from the foundations of the earth. I can't claim to know. But I do know that Daniel 2:21 says that "He sets up kings and deposes them." For whatever reason, we can be sure that this presidency did not take God by surprise. He hasn't been wringing his hands trying to figure out what to do next. We should probably follow that lead.

Elections bring consequences, as we've been so brutally reminded. But just as they can bring devastating consequences, the beauty of our system is that we have the opportunity to rectify some of our mistakes every two years. It is an enormous blessing that healthcare didn't fully pass before the end of the year. Now that it is an election year, everything changes. The powers that be in Washington are fully aware of that fact, which is why they were on such a rampage to shove it through before the clock ran out on 2009. There is a huge opportunity for candidates right now to run and get elected based on their promises to revoke whatever gets passed between now and then and start slashing taxes instead of raising them. They just have to be brave enough to do it.

I firmly believe that opposing Obama is no longer taboo. Millions of Americans are dismayed by the fact that they've seen all that change they were promised make their lives worse instead of better. He's losing support faster than Tiger Woods is losing sponsors.

And there's actually an interesting parallel between the two men. They both come from biracial marriages and have one immigrant parent. Both come from modest means. Both have been accused of not being black enough, whatever that means. Both have (or had) Stepford wives and the appearance of a perfect family. (Although I think the President is probably more afraid of the damage his wife could do to him if he were to ever get caught with his pants down. She's got some pretty impressive biceps.) Both have (had) the undying adoration of the media and a messianic persona, fostering a false impression that they can do no wrong. As the saying goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Tiger is learning this firsthand, and I believe President Obama is starting to sense how close he is to the edge of the cliff as well. His approval has fallen from 65% this time last year to just under 50%, while his disapproval rating has soared from around 20% to 45%. It should be quite a wake-up call.

On the other hand, we could make another intriguing comparison. The only person I see currently that is sparking enthusiasm among Republicans is Sarah Palin. If Republicans can take back Congress this fall (which shouldn't be too hard unless they manage to blow it by running on moderate platforms. The approval rating for Congress is currently 27% versus a whopping 65% disapproval) then I believe they can at least bring all these changes to a sluggish crawl.

If Sarah could convince the American public that she will not be swayed from her conservative principles, I believe she would win in a landslide. Because Sarah is a whole lot like Ronald Reagan. Both incredibly charismatic. Both despised by the media that will stop at nothing to destroy them. Despite the fact that powerful people in the party would rather see her scuttle back to Alaska, she is wildly popular with millions of Americans. When she visited my in-laws' city last month, 2000 people showed up at the Barnes and Noble to get their books signed. That is some serious energy.

President Reagan took over when the top income tax bracket was 70%. 70%! That sounds utterly unfathomable, and yet can anyone deny that the current President isn't as hot in pursuit of that as Roscoe P. Coltrane after the Duke boys? He would LOVE to see that imposed upon the "rich." That's what socialism is about. And if you doubt he is a socialist, spend 20 minutes researching things that he has said throughout the years. He will prove it to you in his own words. He's doing everything he can to impose his Marxist beliefs upon America without actually using the label. It is not hard to see.

My point with this is that, as bad as things may look right now, things have been pretty bad before. Do I think we should put our hope in Sarah Palin? Absolutely not. Simply that she is a symbol of hope that politics in America is not necessarily going to have to go the way of Europe after all.

2010 may be exactly the hope and change this country needs. But as for me, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." (Psalm 20:7)