The Downfall of Dr. Oz

As a Pennsylvania resident, I had planned on voting for Dr. Mehmet Oz for the Senate. But, these latest revelations, that Dr. Oz mocked his opponent Democrat John Fetterman’s stroke, change everything. I don’t know if this campaign is revealing his true persona, but what he’s become is very ugly indeed. As we see here, even longtime friends, such as the rabbi, are severing their ties to him. Dr. Oz, once the amiable celebrated Turkish-American heart surgeon dispensing medical advice, has now transformed into a monster.

As a conservative Reformed believer, I agree with Dr. Oz on 90% of his positions, yet it’s obvious now he is not a Christian. His campaign is showing very little charity or decency. I won’t be voting for Fetterman either. It’s a shame we don’t have more quality candidates. Modern politics has become a zero-sum game of brutal attrition. They even glibly justify their lack of moral behavior by saying “it’s just politics”. I won’t vote for anyone who jokes about someone nearly dying from a stroke.

My Grammy had a massive stroke and she lived 3 more years before a second stroke killed her at age 95. So this issue is very personal and painful for me. Strokes are no laughing matter. It’s the slash and burns “win at all costs” mentality, that now dominates both parties, which so many of us are now sickened by. We as the electorate are ultimately to blame as we haven’t held politicians to Biblical standards of morality and ethics.

What is also so especially egregious is the fact that Dr. Oz, a medical doctor, is mocking the medical condition of his opponent. Didn’t he take a Hippocratic oath to do no harm?

As Reformed believers, it is our duty to vote for the candidate who will best, even if imperfectly, glorify God and who stands for biblical morality. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type political figures, who espouse biblical ethics, yet come election time sling mud and engage in unbiblical and unedifying behavior, which are not biblical and are completely unacceptable.

We must demand better from our politicians. If a candidate is this toxic and unbiblical before they’ve even acquired power, it’s frightening to imagine how bad they’ll be in office. To tolerate a wicked moral calculus in order to win (where the end justifies the means) is something that we as Christian voters must no longer allow. We have the power to effect change. The largest Christian voting block in America is evangelicals. So I’m calling out fellow evangelicals in this post. I can handle the heat, but we should all get engaged and encourage our family, friends, classmates, and coworkers to no longer tolerate toxicity in candidates.

By the way, it appears that perhaps Dr. Oz is emulating fellow Turk Erdoğan who is notable for being the undemocratic strongman of Turkey. Erdoğan hopes for a revived Ottoman Empire.

This video is partisan, but it gives a good bit of context to the incident.