This is NOT a post advocating voting or not voting - but something to stretch, challenge, add to your thoughts in this very important election seasons. I recently read a good article that challenged me as I was contemplating not voting this year (read it here). I still don't know where I'll land - I hate choosing between the lesser of two evils, I hate that I took the Christian/Conservative vote for Bush in past elections and I know that neither political party represents me.
But I have come to the conclusion that the best vote for me and my faith is Jesus. To be who he called me to be, live the way he lived and love the world around me. So I am taking a similar stance that my wife and I have taken with Christmas. For Christians the Holiday season is as messed up as our political system - so we have separated our faith from it. We celebrate Christmas as an American holiday, we give gifts, have a tree and spoil our kids. We love the holiday season. But to celebrate Jesus' birth we do something totally different and want to make sure the distinction is clear for us and our kids. We and our extended family give stockings to a foster home, the grandkids put on the manager story and we celebrate what His birth means in our lives separate from the Holidays.
So this election seasons I'll probably vote, take part in the democratic system - but know that my Christian voice is best heard through my life - not my vote.
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8 comments:
Aw, thanks for sending me into the 1000s...LOL I would just like to thank the Academy...and say that it's taken me 4 long years to get where I am today and I couldn't do it without all my 5 readers and a persistant friend named Kevin. Thanks Kev! ;o) LOL
I agree totally. I think as a Christian it *is* important to vote and be a part of the system but that I need to *be* a Christian everyday and in every way available...
Things will get worse with McCain.
Things will get much worse with Obama. And that is why I am voting for Obama. For things will only get worse with McCain but they need to get much worse for us to survive as a nation.
Of course a statement like that needs an explanation. And I will do so in the form of an analogy. Do you know how to cook a frog? Well, if you put it in a pot of boiling water the frog will quickly jump out. But if you put a frog in a pot of water that is warm and turn up the heat gradually up to boiling the frog will just sit there not even realizing it is being boiled alive.
Obama is the one who puts the frog into the hot water and McCain is the one who turns up the heat gradually. With Obama his extremism will cause a backlash so great that America will start electing good leaders to oppose him. It happened in 1980 and it happened in 1994. And it will happen again.
But McCain he will really be the death of the Republican Party. As I said above things will get worse with McCain and therefore he and his party will get the blame. And then America will elect a Democrat in 2012. And if history has shown us anything it has shown that the Democratic Candidate has been getting increasingly extreme. So I can’t tell you who the Democrats will put up that year but I can tell you that person will be as extreme if not more extreme than Obama. So, how long are we putting off having an Obama-like candidate? Four Years?
And meanwhile McCain has shown that he wants to drive conservatives and conservatism away from the Republican Party. For those of us who believes that conservatism is the only solution to our country’s problems, it is unacceptable that neither of the two major parties represents conservative values.
So, I am left with the ultimate act of “tough love”. Not to say there aren’t hard times ahead for there is but that is true with McCain as well. But at least with Obama there is hope that things will get better after him. With McCain all hope is lost.
AAAaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
I actually kind of like Anonymous' strategy - if only it would work. I've thought about the frog and pot analogy a lot. Although, we're still reeling from Jimmy Carter's mess and that was how many years ago?
Thanks for your post, Kevin. We are in this world, but not of it. I believe Jesus would take every responsibility seriously were he living among us again.
But again, rachel if McCain wins that only means that someone as liberal as Obama will win in 2012. So, we are putting off the inevitable for four years.
During that four years though McCain will be quite effective driving out conservatives and conservatism from the Republican party.
McCain will mess up this country with his socialist policies. Sure perhaps not as socialist as Obama's policies but socialist nonetheless.
And when his socialist policies fail, who would be blamed - well conservatives and conservatism. You see the public isn't really that bright and the press is good at spin. Since he is a Republican then he must be a conservative and since his policies are failing it must mean conservatism doesn't work while of course it will be the opposite. McCain's policies will be failing because they are socialist. But the truth doesn't matter much. It's all the impression that can be fabricated isn't it.
Why is anonymous staying anonymous?
Thanks for the input from everyone - I had a good conversation the other night about politics that turned to debate at moments and heated at others. But there are times when opinions, convictions and faith seem to complex, with regard to politics, that it seems easier to to give up and just love God and love people. And yet that answer doesn't seem to suffice either.
It is no easy task for any American, but as a Christian I feel quite jaded in the current political environment. I only ask that we Christians don't pretend like it is clear cut or easy. The answers won't be easy, they won't be Republican or Democrat and they won't be known in November.
Kevin,
Hey! This is kimana83, from SCL, whose LiveJournal you left a comment on. I replied to your comment there, and here I am letting you know my thoughts on your post, since you asked. =o)
I think it's sad how many people are disillusioned with voting and our government. I know it's nothing new - people have been disillusioned with the gov't for centuries, whether it be that they were British loyalists, against the abolition of slavery, pacifists and isolationists wishing we'd stayed out of every war we've been in, etc. - but since I'm only 25, this is the first I've really paid attention to it.
That said, I think the article you linked to said it better than anything I could say. That guy has it right. You (non-specific you) may not like either candidate, but IMO you should still vote for, as he said, "the better of two less-than-perfects." Vote for the person that you agree with on the issue(s) most important to you. Be sure to take into account whether or not the president can actually change something. (I.e., I am pro-life, but overturning Roe v. Wade would not be up to the president, it would be up to the Supreme Court. So, I will vote for someone who will nominate judges I think care about the sanctity of life. I also focus on other issues, such as keeping taxes low to revive the economy [which any Economics class would tell you to do], and especially not making the government any bigger than it already is.)
Also, I think the way you and your family do Christmas is excellent! I love that you don't take Christmas away from your kids because it's commercialized, but rather that you celebrate it AND Jesus's birthday. When I have kids, I may ask you more about that, because it is something I'd like to do for my own kids. =o)
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