With the Presidential election fast approaching, I thought I would put down my thoughts about why I won’t be voting. Simply put, my vote does not mean as much as MTV tries to make it out to mean, and I don’t feel that I should have to choose between the lesser of two evils. My friend Regan has hashed much of this out in a post on his blog, but I feel the need to speak on it as well. First, read the following essay from Christianity Today, which expresses the same sorts of things I am thinking, only more eloquently. It is a little long for a blog, but worth the read.
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Salt-and-Pepper Politics:
Choosing between candidates whose consciences are too clean
By Andy Crouch
October 2004, Vol. 48, No. 10, Page 108
Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today.
Some things were meant to be together. At least, that's what I learned somewhere along the way about table manners. Even if you just want the salt, etiquette requires that you ask for the salt and pepper. In the words of Miss Manners, "they get lonely if separated."
Ancient Israelites, as far as I know, didn't even have a word for pepper, but they did have the twin words mishpat and tsedaqah, which most English Bibles translate as justice and righteousness. "Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness" (Ps. 72:1)—justice and righteousness go together just like king and royal son. Prophets and psalmists thought in twos: throne and kingdom, establishing and upholding, justice and righteousness. Mishpat and tsedaqah. Just as salt and pepper belong together on a well-set table, justice and righteousness belong together in a nation. Mishpat and tsedaqah show up together more than 30 times in the Hebrew Bible, nearly always in a political context. Because justice and righteousness are the foundation of God's throne (Ps. 89:14), they are also the "measuring line" and the "plumb line" (Isa. 28:17) of earthly thrones.
Which brings us to Democrats and Republicans, and to why I will be voting this November with, well, fear and trembling.
Justice, in biblical terms, is more than equal treatment under the law—it involves putting power at the service of the powerless and wealth at the service of the poor. My friends who care about justice argue that Democrats have spent 50 years advocating for the vulnerable: the poor, the sick, the youngest, the oldest. And though the party of the powerless also has a curiously strong appeal among the elites of Hollywood and Manhattan, on the whole my friends are probably right.
Righteousness, meanwhile, is more than honesty and fair dealings—it requires the alignment of our lives with God's original good intentions for creation. Like justice, righteousness in a nation especially benefits the poor and powerless, who cannot insulate themselves from the effects of sin. My friends who care about righteousness argue that Republicans have held the line against values that come straight from the maw (or the mall) of individualistic consumerism, where pleasure and preference reign. And while the party of moral character raises lots of money from people whose only interest is making the world safe for consumerism, I can't argue with these friends either.
To make matters worse, each presidential candidate has blind spots even in his area of putative strength. John Kerry declines to see that abortion is not a matter of private morality but of public justice for utterly vulnerable human beings. (Bizarrely, he justifies his position by saying that government must keep out of people's bedrooms. Abortions do not generally happen in bedrooms.) Any public official who professes Catholic faith and is as enthusiastically pro-choice as Kerry does not have, in the words of the Catholic bishops, "a well-formed conscience."
Yet our President's conscience also seems too clear to be true. Asked a simple and predictable question at an April 2004 press conference—to name his greatest mistake since September 11, 2001—he couldn't answer, saying, "I don't want to sound like I've made no mistakes. I'm confident I have. I just haven't—you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one." Is it too much to ask that the most devout President in recent history have a more concrete response to a question about his own limitations?
Such is the state of our presidential politics: an evangelical President flummoxed at any suggestion of his own fallibility, and a Catholic candidate who sidesteps his church's teaching authority. And in both our political parties, concern for justice often serves as cover for self-justification; righteousness curdles all too quickly into self-righteousness.
So I've decided that my own vote will be less about endorsing a platform or person than discerning the potential for change—in biblical terms, for repentance. Is it more likely that the party of justice can repent of its indifference to righteousness, or that the party of righteousness can repent of its deafness to justice? I have to choose one, but I will pray for both. Some things aren't meant to be separated.
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Neither side has it all together, and both leave out one aspect of life that is vital—justice and righteousness (which I equate with standards of holiness). Just because Bush is against the hot button topics like gay marriage and abortion doesn’t mean he has done much or plans to do much to help out the scenario in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Kerry may care about the oppressed, but does his laisse faire attitude about conduct agree with the lifestyle that I believe God is calling His creation to live? So I choose not to vote. And until a candidate shows that he cares just as much for the oppressed and the poor as he does about making sure that our freedoms line up with God’s standards I will not cast my vote.
For all of you who say that I can’t complain or have an opinion about the state of things because I choose not to vote, I refer you to our Bill of Rights. Just as I have the right to vote (or not to vote) I have to right to think and speak (or not to speak).
Let me know what you think.
Give some qualities of candidates you would endorse.
Tell me why you are voting and why you have chosen a particular candidate.
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10 comments:
"I think you should vote. I think it’s a God-given responsibility we have to support our government process."
That scares the urine out of me.
I know the Bible says we are to submit to our government, but where does it say we are responsible to support our governments processes? That's a stretch.
Great article with the justice and righteousness comparison. I'm going to use that one. And nothing is too long for a blog.
1 Peter 2:13-17
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
(from New International Version)
I'm posting this Scripture, becasue I I think it is central to the discussion. I was reading this the other day, and I realized that this command, though not easier for our first-century brothers, was alot simpler than it is for us in a democracy. What it means to submit to a king is fairly clear. How you submit to elected officials is not.
Most people take this to mean obey the law, but I think that is not the full picture of submission. Think of the child who does what his parents say but only after whining and complaining. He might also do several things he knows his parents would not approve of with the excuse that his parents never said anything specifically about this. We would not consider such a child submissive, though he is technically obedient. Many Christians are this way with our gov't. They obey the laws, then they rally to kick that law-makers butt out of office. This is not submissive.
That's what makes application of this text tricky. To what and to whom does God want those in a deomcracy to submit to?
In democracy (theoretically) the power is in the hands of the people--us. I think perhaps then we should submit to our office and try to wisely use our very limited power. The key is in the phrases "silence the talk of evil men" and "live as servants of God".
What position and political actions will do the most to win the respect of the world? And what best serves God's purposes?
I don't see how being a raving lunatic closed-minded supporter of a political party does that. But I also don't see how refusing to vote accomplishes either goal very well.It comes off as lazy and impathetic to the world. And as for God's purposes, isn't the lesser of two evils (the situation you always have with men involved) better than the greater of two evils?
Whenever you get involved in the world, your hands will get dirty. But this, I believe, is our call. And therefore clean hands will not be a sign of innocence here.
I hate democracy. I wish we had a king. It would be so much simpler.
I'm not at home, so I don't have the tools handy.
I was wondering what Greek word was translated "obey" in Ephesians 6:1 and what the Greek word translated submit in 1 Peter 2:13 and Romans 13:1 was.
Are they the same? Do they have different meanings?
Because we are told to obey our parents and submit to our government.
Submit seems to imply something I don't want to do. Something that is not looked highly upon. Submission is a painful thing.
Obey doesn't carry that negative connotation.
Does that make sense?
But it doesn't matter if it is the same Greek word.
I think you have a choice one way or another. My thing would be if you don't vote, don't complain. By not voting you are forfitting your right to critique on any political issue.
Fabian - Did you not read my caviat at the end? The whole point of freedom is that you don't forfeit your rights unless you commit a crime. Since not voting is not a crime, you still have the right to speak out on things. Besides, if my vote actually counted, and was just not aimed to try and sway the electoral college, maybe I would be more likely to vote. As it is, I don't think my vote carries enough power to make it worth casting. If anyone feels I am in error in that, set me straight.
Sam,
Fabian is not saying that you have no Constitutional right to complain. You have that. What he's saying is more like this, "If you refuse to eat, you can't complain about hunger." He's not suggesting that it is illlegal to complain, just not just.
And, let's say you're off the hook for presidential elections, because of the electoral college, will you be voting on the more local issues? Just how much power do you need to feel before you will use it for good?:)
You're wrong Shannon. I was saying he forfits his rights!!:)
I'm hungry.
I think i have decided not 2 vote, but if I did it would probably 4 Kerry on the basis that he is not Bush.
Robbie
Shall you protect the lives of the innocent or the riches of the poor?!
God cries to my spirit shall my people perish for riches, or give to Caeser what is Caeser's and give to God what is God's. Decide. Do you want riches or God? And pray you have the courage to stand when all is not as it seems.
Churches in this day fear losing their tax advantages to the greedy and immoral government. Should they not first fear the Lord who has the power to both save or destroy the body and soul, as well as to provide for them financially. I tell you the truth unless they are more righteous than the pharisees they will not see the kingdom of God. I say to you give to Caeser what is Caeser's and give to God what is God's. Stand up. For the poor have a place in God's heart, but where shall we put the immoral? Look, not closely on your pocket book, but on the true issues on the land. Besides in your heart do you not see that God will provide for the poor, but will God stop man from killing man. No! not until the Son of Man intervenes to save those who are left and reveal his glory to the earth, or until every christian has stood up and put himself in the gap so God may cross on their shoulders and save this dying world.
Pray and vote my brother in Christ!
The innocent call to you! What greater issue is there than saving the innocent? Look to your child and ask Yourself this.
Praise God my brother, and may he open our hearts! May the hope of our Lord be with you all.
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