 |
Vote Your Conscience |  |
Well, tomorrow is primary day, and after much consideration, I believe that fact merits a posting for today. If I wait until tomorrow, I'll have waited too long! I think the best way to approach this post is to start by quoting one of our Founding Fathers:
Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may treasure the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost. (John Adams)
This is the sort of politics I can appreciate! This is not a vote based on polls or trying to guess who can win. This is honestly analyzing the candidate or the bills (I would suggest Scripture as the litmus test) and then voting accordingly, regardless of the consequences.
If I could encourage my readers to do one thing, it would be to vote according to conscience.
This morning I received an email from an aquaintance concerning a race in our district. It is a three-way race, and two of the three are neck and neck in the polls. One of the frontrunners is the most liberal. The letter explained that the other two were both conservative, but one was much more likely to win than the other, and since it was a close race, we all need to get together and vote for the "guy who can win." The thing is, the letter didn't tell me why the "guy who can win" is the right candidate. In fact, it mentioned that the candidate lagging behind in the polls was a true conservative who the writer "greatly respected," but there was concern he couldn't get the votes.
This is voting motivated by strategy rather than virtue, and I consider it to be utter foolishness in the long run. I heard such statements over and over during the California gubernatorial recall election. Everywhere I went, I heard folks saying things like, "Well, Schwarzenegger isn't really very conservative, and Tom McClintock is, but we all know Schwarzenegger will win, so we're going to vote for him." I didn't know a single person who voted for Schwarzenegger because they actually thought he was the best candidate! I always wonder if McClintock could have won if everyone who thought he was the best had voted out of conviction!
But we will never know. We will never know what a country governed by conviction looks like until we elect our representatives from conviction. We are so afraid to lose that we forget "our guy" never really ends up in office anyhow. I mean, I don't think I can rightly call Schwarzenegger a "victory" when he and I don't share the same values. The guy that I would call "our guy" will never win because no one thinks he has the chance. That is, unless we ignore the incessant polling data and vote with integrity.
I think it's time to stop playing games. And we might lose a few rounds getting the kinks worked out. But really, I always thought the Christian life was quite distinct from the Republican life. While Republicans may be seeking to win, Christians have the responsibility to transcend all the games and do the right thing every time, regardless of the consequences.
Comments:
Yes, I know that today was primary day. I just couldn't get the thing to publish yesterday. But I think the thoughts are still valid. After all, there is always next time!
06/06/06 @ 23:19
06/07/06 @ 19:58
06/07/06 @ 22:57
06/13/06 @ 06:48 Comments are closed for this post.
