...good old John McCain (emphasis on old).
...Barack Obama (emphasis on Barack Obama).
...Jesus (sorry Shane, but no).
...Ross Perot (ok, best possible option yet!)
Personally, and give me a big fat slap across the proverbial wrist, via your comments, if you wish, but I didn't vote for president.
That's right: VOTE NO ON PRESIDENT!
Why did I throw my vote away? Why didn't I do my civic duty to vote for whom I felt would best run our country, or at least for the party that I felt would best represent our country?
First, I don't believe I threw my vote away. Really, I think that no matter what a politician says he/she is going to do, not much will actually change, thus, I could have voted for the moon and we would still all be living in a democratic nation, sipping lattes, and gasping at the collapse of the world as we know it.
Second, I think that neither (not either) major candidate is best for our country, thus why I didn't vote (and I didn't do any research on the minor parties, so I didn't feel equipped to make an educated vote for one of the others...though I did consider the Green party ;) ). I truly believe that neither candidate has it right--but if I may pose a question: does any candidate ever have it right? and what exactly is "it"? What consititutes a "good" candidate? I can tell you this much: we will never have a consensus on this, meaning somebody always goes home to cry in their beer.
I am really just ready for this nonsense to be over with and for our country's government to leave the break-room and head back to actual issues: Uganda, poverty, balancing budgets, securing justice, freedom, etc.
2 comments:
aaron, good word.
my thoughts of the same tenor:
yes, the presidency is important. but as a follower of Christ (and this is what I think Claiborne and Green are getting at), the government of the nation in which I reside has no bearing on my chief responsibility: to love people, and in so doing, love God. whether i'm in China, Jerusalem, or Alaska, it does not change my overwhelming duty to God and man.
In a democratic republic, soon to be socialist state (just kidding), my vote is the movement of one ant in a large colony. but my love (to the widow, the unemployed, the taxed, the rich, the immigrant, the pastor, the teacher) is PARAMOUNT. Let me focus on that. Something that will make an eternal difference and a substantial temporal one.
In such a dividing election as this, what will be will be. Either candidate will do things well and do things poorly. Let us be around in the aftermath to love others and point others towards legitimate hope (of abundant life now and eternal life with a loving Being, later - through a transforming relationship with the unique God-man, Christ), regardless of the state of our government.
I feel the same way about the propositions. Yes I voted to protect the definition of traditional marriage and, yes I voted to require pregnant minors to inform a guardian before aborting their fetus, and yes, I voted against releasing thousands of felons, but my work is not done. My duty, my honor, is now to show kindness and acceptance to my homosexual acquaintances, to console the girls who are scared to tell their parents they had sex, and to enter into prisons and share a message of freedom with the incarcerated. Let my love be visible, tangible and non-condemning.
Our LOVE has SWAY in the world, my brothers. More than our vote. Give Caesar your vote, give God your love.
i voted for barack obama. and i'd vote for him a million times more. yeah, he'll make some mistakes, but of course he will. jesus isn't interested in being president, so i'm positive whichever person we choose will be imperfect. but i see a lot of possibilities for socialism in our nation, which when held in semantical binary opposition to capitalism, elevates the collective need above the power of capital. i think that a leftist ideology is inherent in the ideology of any radical christian leader which has made your or my heart flutter. because the 21st definition of left includes that which wars against the status quo, or to phrase it biblically... is that which doesn't conform to the patterns of the world. the things i like about barack obama have little to do with my christianity, and a lot to do with my passion for humanity. i think that his mistakes are the results of youth, hypocrisy, and too much passion. which i feel are the mistakes of someone i can relate to. i also feel that if mccain wins, of course our country will be fine. either candidate won't destroy our nation. that doesn't matter. but barack obama's position on darfur is beautiful, and strong. his positions on international relations are beautiful. his eloquence and his blackness really mean absolutely nothing to me, it is his pathos that move me. and i think that as christ says, give to ceaser that which is ceasers. it is fine to have an opinion in the fray of americana. while it will always pale in comparison to the kingdom of God, it is the stage in which that kingdom is crafted. so someone that will make a copious amount of errors, but will put an emphasis on activism, compassion-based nationalism, and education is someone that i deeply and spiritually feel will make that stage one in which i feel excited. and while if mccain wins, my calling is no less severe, and my bondage to christ is no less real, and God's will is no less in charge: i see choice as an exercise in the confusing ether of free will. and wheter or not that ideology turns out to be correct, the belief in free will has led to beauty. which is good. i don't have a very strong christian track record. i have a felony conviction, a broken relationship with my family, and a palpable seperation from the church of my youth due to a mixture of my false worship: to my sexual urges, my pride, and my selfishness. and my damaged reputation is therefore a good reminder of my shortcomings and my need to be humble. but this election, like my faith, allows my broken and selfish and messed up voice to be heard, however softly, and for that... i am excited about the outcome. and while i know i could be disappointed with the election. it is so exciting to know that christ is the antithesis of disappointment.
i respect anyone who doesn't vote based on rational thought, but i also want to fight with passion for my decision to vote. it is NOT because i have forgotten Christ's perfection. but because i believe it DOES matter.
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