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The privilege of picking a president
By John W. Kennedy | February 6, 2008
Super Tuesday has passed, with voters in two dozen states (including Missouri where I live) having the opportunity to have a say in the presidential nomination process.
Of course by early February only two or three viable candidates are left for each of the major parties, compared to the seven or eight the Democrats and Republicans had competing only a month earlier.
Still, there are stark differences between the parties and sometimes within the parties on issues such as abortion, health care, the economy, homosexual rights, Iraq, immigration and the environment.
I can understand the skepticism of Americans, including some in my own family, who eschew voting because of the condition of politics. When elected officials who call themselves Christians are caught in bribery scandals or immoral sexual behavior it does have a tendency to leave the populace jaded.
But we as Americans have a great privilege, indeed a responsibility, in selecting who represents us in government. While there are no Scripture verses commanding us to become involved in the primary process, Romans 13:1 does tell us, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.” For all the grousing Americans do about the lengthy electoral process, we should be grateful we don’t live under a totalitarian regime where the rights of Christians are negligible.
I realize that government is never going to be the solution for humanity. But I don’t understand Christians who are afraid of voting their convictions. This year marked the first time I ever gave money to a presidential candidate or put up a yard sign. While some of my friends also resonated with the message this candidate delivered, they were afraid of showing public backing in case their neighbors disagreed. Or they wanted to withhold support until the candidate really “proved” to be a frontrunner. They also wondered if this office-seeker could win in the general election, implying that voting in the primary would be “wasted.” They voted for someone whose values didn’t line up with theirs because that contender supposedly stands a better chance in November. What kind of convictions are those? A chief reason our country has drifted so far from the Bible is that Christians aren’t willing to take a stand for their beliefs.
Some high-profile Christians jumped on a candidate’s bandwagon late last year because he “obviously” was the only Republican who could win the general election. The twice-divorced abortion-rights advocate dropped out of the race after spending $60 million to garner just one delegate.
Alas, my candidate didn’t win my state on Super Tuesday, but this competitor racked up wins elsewhere.
I must confess in these presidential years I miss my days as a newspaper reporter in Iowa. Even though the town had only 10,000 residents, I still heard George H.W. Bush give a speech at the junior high school, interviewed Dick Gephardt in the basement of a bar and grill, saw Pat Robertson rally the faithful in the town gazebo and witnessed Mike Dukakis try his hand at making pizza in the local Greek restaurant.
We live in a great country!
Topics: Politics |
February 7th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
good article. i still do not want to vote though. i just dont understand why i should ever believe anything any politician ever says. everybody loved george bush and voted for him, and now everybody hates him. what’s the point? they are all just trying to say the right things now to get people to vote for them. who knows what they will be like after they are elected?
February 8th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I don’t hate george bush, I think part of the problem is the general public has very unrealistic expectations of what our politicians can do, we have to do for ourselves and family and not wait on the government to fix our “problems”; other than a military, juditial, and highway system I can’t think of anything else I would want our government to handle for me.
The best man or women for the office of president would never run and put his family through that horrible life. We need to get out and vote; at least try to make a difference even if it is for second best. I guess I got off the subject a little, the article got me thinking about this very difficult and important choice we have.