29 seconds. That's about all we could take of He Who Shall Not Be Named's acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination. Desiring to be informed, I did read the text of the address. It was something. To me, the King of Ludicrous Line Mountain was the candidate's brazen claim, "I alone can fix it."

There are two major conventions going on presently: the Republican National Convention in Cleveland and Comic-Con International in San Diego. Since the former is not exactly inspiring hope concerning the Quest for the White House, perhaps we can find the leadership our country needs in the latter. That's right: this looks like a job for superheroes. So let's dig into the lineups of DC and Marvel Comics and find ourselves an appealing Presidential ticket in each. For the purposes of our thought exercise, we're assuming that everyone is at least 35. 

There was this guy in my college "Jesus and the Gospels" class who always seemed a bit too pleased with himself (no, not me, though that was likely true too). In our online discussion board he could be counted on to say something contrarian and try to have these "drop the mic" moments. One time he questioned Jesus' command to love our enemies. He thought it was hypocritical to talk about loving enemies. If you truly loved them, he argued, then you wouldn't call them "enemies."

The bookends to this week are the Declaration of Independence and the Parable of the Good Samaritan. On Monday we celebrated a document that announces, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." On Sunday many churches will hear the gospel text Luke 10:25-37 in which Jesus declares all to be a neighbor deserving of love and mercy.  What has happened in between those two days this week has spit in the faces of both ideas.