In an earlier post called "Kanye and criticism", I discussed the need to listen and received as much information as possible before making judgments about issues or people. This leads me to a discussion of politics in general. I believe that to live in the USA is an amazing priveledge and I believe that democracy is probbaly the best form of government among all the world political systems, that said, I find myself being fairly skeptical and cynical when it comes to politics.
Is it possible to really make an informed judgment about a certain issue or a certain person without really having the chance to dialogue with them directly about why they voted a certain way on a certain issue, or made a certain statement? Living in a sound byte world means that we need to take great care in coming to conclusion about people and their views, since everything we hear has been edited through various filters before it reaches our ears. That said, I do believe that we can align ourselves with certain people whose beliefs are consistent with Biblical values, for example I would as a rule never vote for a candidate that is pro-abortion. But on issues that are a bit more grey when is comes to what the Bible teaches, (health care, the environment, etc) I think it is very dangerous to assume that we know why a certain candidate believes what he does without having a chance to dialogue with that person or those directly in their sphere of influence. This leads me to my problem: Who gets a chance to sit down and talk with a candidate, or at least have a brief discussion with them? I think this leads me to be thankful, yet apathetic towards our political system. Or maybe I just need to work harder at making contact.
Simply put we don't have all the information about why a certain political candidate votes or speaks in the way that they do. To have our political beliefs about a candidate shaped by an organization (republicans, or democrats) that inherently seeks to discredit the other, in my opinion is not a great way to come to conclusions about candidates or issues. For example, if I sit around and watch Fox News, or CNN exclusively then I am probably going to have my views swayed in a biased way. It would be naive to think otherwise. All this to say, we need real relationships with real people (as opposed to caricatures) to make wise and sound judgments.
The danger lies in believing all the political hype that we constantly ingest. When I get a letter from a certain "Christian" republican organization that clearly does not adequately represent what the other party holds to, I get very jaded and numb to it all. I usually just laugh it off. Both sides just label and characterize the other side. Hype and fear equals dollars which allows the organizations to exist and gives people something to belong to.
The other day I got a piece of mail from a republican organization basically saying that Hillary Clinton is the Anti-Christ. Now I do believe that Hillary holds to some views that are very anti-Bible and I would probably never vote for her, but I got the sense that the intent of the mailing was to scare me into supporting the republican party and to work me into a nice frenzy in order to get my vote. This obviously happens by democrats as well.
When I was much younger I used to think that the republican party was basically a Christian organization. Through discussions with Christians who actually work in this party I have come to know that this is surely not the case. Do a majority of my values concerning, abortion, marriage and family, and other social issues predominately lie with the republicans? Most likely, but to hold to a sweeping assumption that the party on the whole is somehow "Christian" would be horribly incorrect.
Where can real truth be found in politics? I'm not sure there is a great answer here. This probably is just the down side as I see it, to the greatest political system in the world. I would love to hear your thoughts about my evolving thinking on these issues.
3 comments:
Zachary, unfortunately I share your sentiment. While I would like to believe that I could sit down with Senator Grassley for fifteen minutes to discuss (pick an issue) but I'm afraid that I wouldn't get anything more or less substantive than what W spoke of the other night. And Senator Grassley is one of the good guys! We as a nation are in the habit of either speaking in generalities or picking out some minutiae and beating that to death based on statistics that can be manipulated. However, Yakoff Smirnof was right, this is a great country -- if I don't like something at least I have the power to say so and make my opinion heard (by the 2 or 3 people who will listen, and that includes T, Lauren and Brennan).
What up, gentlemen. I took my vitamin Z for the day! Thanks for pointing me to this blog. Mr. Else (not sure which one) - hello!
What you're saying, Z, is all true - I agree. But...if you take what you're saying too far, then you're left with one sorry choice - non-participation and uninvolvement in the process of representative government that we've been blessed with. And of all people, as followers of Christ who are blessed to live under America's political system, we must not choose that path.
Heard a very compelling story on Family Life Today a few months ago. An older guy who grew up in Poland, I think, was recounting an experience in his small rural church during the late 1930s. The church had a set of train tracks that went through the back of its property. On several occasions he remembered, as a little boy, hearing train-fulls of people go past the church during Sunday morning worship. He knew there were people in the trains because he, and the other congregants could hear them screaming for help. So as not to be interrupted by the noise and inconvenience, the boy remembers the people in his church shutting the shutters and turning up the organ. Little did he know at the time that these people in these trains were Jews headed to Nazi death camps. And the whole time, "the people of God" and the "followers of Christ" in that small rural church, were content to let the most horrific injustice of the 20th Century take place. Obviously now, he looks back, appalled at the reality of what non-participation and uninvolvement cost in that situation.
The people in those churches probably had good excuses at the time. Just like the good excuses we Christians have for non-participation and uninvolvement today. But those are not viable options, nor do they honor God.
Christians in this nation who stand idly by allow millions of babies to be aborted every year. We allow the most basic human institution - marriage, which is at least 6000 years old - to be re-defined by liberal activist judges. And when given the opportunity to fight and defeat evil - in the form of radical Muslim terrorism - we get wobbley-kneed.
These issues and a dozen other very critical issues are nothing less than Ephesians 6 being played out before our eyes. These are tangible representations of a spiritual battle that we as believers had better not run from, but toward! And the way we run toward the battle, is by taking what you're saying as a given, yes - but then despite that given, getting our hands dirty in the process of an imperfect and flawed representative political system.
As it stands right now, not a lot gets done via third-party or independent party politics - that's just the reality of it (a reality I think is slowly changing, by the way - thankfully). So we've gotta work within that reality - that means voting for a Democrat or a Republican in most cases. I have an strong opinion about which one of those parties' values lines up closest (not perfectly, of course) with my values and with Scripture's absolutes. I can either vote with those folks, as I generally do, unless I'm aware of a huge character flaw in one of their candidates (or a huge character asset in a candidate from the other party). Or I can remain uninvolved - turn the organ up and shut the blinds while the death train passes by. The choice is obvious.
By the way, if any of you wants to sit down with me and pick my brain, I'll be glad to do it! I'll also accept your contributions to my campaign for the Iowa House of Representatives! :)
Oh, and to wrap this all up in one concise statement, let me just say this: Bush was the right choice in 2004, no question about it. He's gonna go down in history like Abraham Lincoln has. (Did you know that Americans hated Lincoln's guts in the middle of the Civil War? Now, 140 years later, he's the best President we've ever had. If Jesus doesn't come back first, they'll say the same thing about GW)
I gotta say - I'm with Reisetter on this one, Z!!
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