The campaign season has seemed long already even though there is still a month to go before the November 6th election. The TV ads for the North Dakota senate race have saturated the airways in the Red River Valley for a long time now. The political pundits have been chattering for months about the presidential race. Lawn signs are popping up all over. Many of us are eager to have the election over and are weary of the negative ads especially. For a moment let us step back from the heat of the current races and consider the foundations for making a choice in any election.
As Christian people we are obligated to take part in the electoral process for the sake of our neighbors. In Romans 12:7 St. Paul writes “Pay all of them their due, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.” He is writing about “the governing authorities” (12:1). Surely, in a democracy, the government is due the informed vote of the Christian citizen. It is the duty of all citizens to become well informed about the candidates and issues, to think and pray about how to vote, and then to cast that vote. Because of elections the American government is “of the people, by the people, and for the people” as President Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address. Minnesota has a right to be proud of the high percentage of citizens who vote in each election. Every year this state comes out near the top. Let us hope it is so again in 2012.
And yet it is easy to become cynical about the electoral process. Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura in an interview with CNN’s Pierce Morgan in September said that the American electoral system is based on bribery. He went on to say that he meant that the politicians promise that the voters will have more money in their pockets if they vote a certain way. As usual, Jesse was overstating the case in a flamboyant way when he said “that’s bribery” but also, as usual, there is a kernel of truth in there. If voters are thinking only of their own pocketbooks they are susceptible to electoral bribery. But if they are concerned about the welfare of their neighbors, of future generations, and of the whole country, then the process of voting becomes something far more noble and honorable.
Martin Luther based his ethical teachings on the question “does it help my neighbor?” This is clear in the Small Catechism where the word “neighbor” occurs over and over in the explanations of the Ten Commandments. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God and “to love your neighbor as yourself.” Even in the process of voting, whether it is for candidates or on issues before the electorate, the Christian will ask “does this reflect love for my neighbor?” not “what’s in it for me?”
Back in January 1961 President John F. Kennedy used this memorable line in his Inaugural Address: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” For a whole generation of Americans that line rang out as the true measure of good citizenship. A corollary when entering the voting booth would be, “ask not what my vote will do for me but what my vote will do for my country.”
What has been good for the country over the last 236 years has been the expansion of the rights of the people. Back in 1776 only white men who owned real estate were allowed to vote. The franchise was gradually expanded to non-property holders, to racial minorities, to women, and (in my youth) to those between the ages of 18 and 21. Freedom from slavery was the great cause of the 1860s, and freedom from racial discrimination was the great cause of the 1960s. As has often been noted, when our current president was born in 1961 there were 26 states that would have forbid his parents to marry because one was white and the other black. Young people today can hardly imagine such a restriction, but it once was common, although not in Minnesota and not in Hawaii where he was born.
In the American system voters cast a secret ballot for whomever or whatever they wish. Every voter is expected to make up his or her mind for himself or herself. Reasonable people can, and often do, arrive at different conclusions. People of faith will find themselves on the opposite side of various issues from time to time as they try to sort out what is good for the neighbor, what is best for the country and thus what is the best way to vote. In the heat of any campaign it is good to remember that in four years we will do it all over again. People do change their minds over time about both issues and candidates, but every vote should be the voter’s best judgment on that day.
So listen, watch, ponder, and pray in October and then cast your vote in November.
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