In November of this year, we will be voting in
another presidential election. The Republican convention has been held
and enjoyed great success although the Republican nominee had already
been selected months ago through the process of logical and financial
selection. The Democratic convention is being prepared with great
consideration given to riot protection and fund raising. The Democrats
already know who their nominee will be as well. Both running mates have
been chosen and announced. The American voters, who have already made
their choices, are standing by to watch the great expenditure of money
and effort to be spent on convincing the convinced, recruiting the
unconvinced, enlightening the ignorant and energizing the apathetic.
As I sat watching the news concerning the election events this
morning, I thought back to the election several years ago when I
decided
to define just what my political philosophy was. I won’t go to the
trouble of remembering the year, but the election must have been about
20 or so years ago, when Gerald Ford was running for his first
presidential election, having been appointed to the office of President
by the resignation of Nixon. At that time, I was a democrat because
that
is what my father had been and what our family had always been and I
never had given the matter much thought. I knew very little about
politics and wasn’t interested, but for some reason, I finally decided
to find out just what the difference was between Democrats and
Republicans and just what side I wanted to line up on for that
election.
Here is a simplified version of my political philosophy ranging from
one form of undesirable government to another form of undesirable
government.
-
Sovereignty – One ruler, many slaves. No equality.
-
Dictatorship – See Sovereignty.
-
Communism – My daughter asked me once what Communism actually was
and I told her it’s a great form of government – for cows. People are
herded together into a slave force and all they have and all they are
belong to those with the strongest will. A government based on false
equality. Communist leaders believe all people are equally stupid and
lower class.
-
Socialism – Much like Communism except the people have a form of
election to appoint the leaders with the strongest will. Again, most
of what they have and most of what they are belongs to the
government.
A government based on pseudo equality. Socialist leaders believe most
people are pretty stupid but more middle classed. The people are
given
mocking respect.
-
Democracy – People elect their leaders. The Democrats of the
United States maintain that if we give a great deal of our money for
taxes, the government knows best how to use that money. A government
based on equality. You get to choose what class you’re in. Largely
based on Liberalism.
-
Republic – Much like a Democracy. A government of elected leaders.
The Republicans of the United Stated maintain that the individual
person is the better judge of what should be done with his money,
including how much he will allow to be taxed. Equality is based on
individual responsibility, innovation, determination and
self-control.
Largely based on conservatism.
-
Capitalism – You make your own government depending on how much
money you have or can make. No thought of equality.
-
Anarchy – Nongovernment. Chaos.
As I warned you, this is
all simplified and there is a great deal of overlapping between the
forms of government. I take this opportunity to bring in other forms of
government of which I am becoming more aware:
-
Media-ism – People are led by whatever they are willing to believe
on TV and in the various written mediums. This is the government by
which much of the voting public is willing to be led. With little
time
or inclination to search out the facts, or think logically, many
people trust in the bias of their national television broadcaster. We
can logically deduce that many people could be classified, not as
Republican or Democrat, but as an NBC-an or an ABC-an. We could have
smaller parties of CNN-ans or PBS-ans. This form of government is
much
like anarchy. Many people equally misled.
-
Liberalism – See Media-ism.
-
Apathyism - People don’t want to be bothered with it and don’t
want to think about it. They don’t plan to vote so why should they
listen or care. This is the ancient party of those who eventually
found themselves herded like cows into a sovereign state and from
there, into communism.
No doubt, there are other governmental systems,
which will come to light at time goes by, but this is my perception
based on my 30 years of voting. I tend to think about this more in
election years than at other times because I am aware that we are
capable of voting ourselves into oblivion – or not voting ourselves
into
oblivion, whichever the case may be. For instance, the year I voted for
the elder George Bush, I was fully aware that the voting public could
choose to go with someone more dynamic and energetic and vital looking,
as if they were voting for their favorite rock star. And that’s just
what they did. And that’s just what they got.
We’re told in the Bible to beware of false prophets. Jesus told us
that thistles cannot produce figs. He told us we would know “them” –
meaning the false prophets - by their fruits (Matthew 7:16). Since the
Word of God was not written during a time of elected governments, I
choose to use this allegory to refer to those who are running for
election, whether these people be a possible future president or our
local sheriff. We’re also told in this same chapter, Matthew 7, that
“broad is the way that leads to destruction”. By that, we can deduce
that there are many possibilities for wrong choices and only one
possibility for a right choice. We have one vote and many opportunities
for error. We can vote for any candidate of any party or simply write
in
the name of our favorite choice for president, such as “Wile E.
Coyote”.
We can decide, with education and thought, to remain a member of
whichever party we are in and we can vote for that party’s candidate.
We
can decide, with education and thought, to become a voting member of a
different party and vote for that party’s candidate. We can remain in
one party and vote for the man who best defines our values and
philosophies. We can vote for the man who looks like he’ll make us
wealthy – or wealthier. We can get fed up with it all and join the
Apathetic Party and just not vote. We have many choices.
Or we
can pray for wisdom as we’re told in God’s Word (James 1:5).
We can praise God for the blessing of this country and our freedom to
vote. We can be thankful for those men who fought and died for our
right
to vote. We can choose to educate ourselves about our government and to
become a part of our government’s ongoing history. We can ask God for
courage and enlightenment and forethought and let Him guide us in our
party affiliation and in our voting choice, knowing that with Faith in
Him, we can trust God to help us choose that man who is His Choice.
Just
as our lives are planned and ordered and led by God for our blessings
to
be made manifest, so are our country’s.
But God will not choose for us. We can elect whomever we choose. We
can choose someone who is easily swayed, according to the current
public
opinion. We can choose someone who will go out of his way to look good
to everyone, perhaps changing his attire to appeal to the “working
class”. Or someone who is easy to approach so anyone has a chance to
speak to him and get him to go along with their policies, especially if
they have a lot of money to invest in his interest. We can vote for the
class favorite or the friendliest or the funniest or the most
politically correct.
Or we can vote for someone who has the courage of his convictions. We
can vote for someone who upholds the law of trial by jury, possibly
giving up his chance to be president, than to disrespect the judgement
of that jury. We can vote for someone who believes in the right of life
for a tiny unborn baby. We can vote for someone who respects women
enough to remain married and faithful to one woman. We can vote for
someone who would change his lifestyle to please his wife because he
respects her and all women. We can vote for someone who respects and
openly declares love for his father even when that father is unjustly
accused. We can vote for someone who believes in God enough to actually
say the name of Jesus Christ in the course of a critical debate. We can
vote for someone who has encouraged and supported prison Bible Study
and
Worship. We can vote for someone who trusts in the intelligence and
wisdom of his fellow citizens enough to lower their taxes.
For those of you who do not belong to the Apathetic Party, I
encourage you to consider Jesus’ Words, “Ye shall know them by their
fruits.” Consider the “fruits” of those who believe in killing tiny
babies to lay at the altar of political correctness. Consider the
“fruits” of those who choose to continue taxing citizens until those
citizens have no choice but to rely on the government for their
substance in their old age – because that government does not trust the
average citizen to know what to do with his or her money. Consider the
“fruits” of those who would align themselves with an adulterer for
“appearances” sake or for the chance to be the next president. Consider
the “fruits” of those who appease the unrighteous.
I encourage you to vote this November. Perhaps you’ll choose to
rethink your political affiliation and register with that party which
better conveys your values as a Christian. I hope so and I hope you’ll
join me as we pray together to God for wisdom for ourselves, our fellow
citizens and our candidate. God bless us all this coming election day.
