My friend Walt White is running for reelection next week for the City Council in Fayetteville.
I’ve been in church with him for the last 21 years (almost 22). He shares my value system—treasures the sanctity of life and resists government’s intrusion into our personal lives.
He carries his Bible to church, and he writes notes in its margins. I like that. His challenger may be a very nice person as well; I don’t know his challenger, but I do know Walt White. He operates his whole life on principle—been that way for the whole time I have known him. I just like that in a man, whether he’s running for office or not.
I find it amusing when politicians talk about how smart the American people are. Is that really what we all believe…that all of our elected officials got there because of a very bright electorate? I’m gonna crawl out onto a limb here and suggest that many people step into the polling booth and vote for people they don’t even know—never even heard of them. They vote the same way they took a multiple choice test back in elementary school; they just guess and hope they get it right.
Many people vote for a person because they like that candidate’s name. I’ve always liked Lynn Westmoreland, and he’s made us very proud in the United States House of Representatives. If you’ll check his voting record, you’ll see that he casts his votes based upon principle—the same set of principles on which he ran for office. However, I’ve mentioned to Lynn in the past that he surely picks up some votes each election because he has such a fitting name for public office—Westmoreland. What a prestigious-sounding name!
People love a rags-to-riches story. It pumps us all up to think that someone can be elected to high public office who was formerly just a commoner. I remember very clearly the 1976 presidential campaign when Jimmy Carter from Plains, Georgia was interviewed during the primaries. He was sitting in his home in south Georgia with his bare feet propped up while he was being interviewed. That just screamed out, “Hey folks…vote for me…I’m just like y’all.” I really liked him, and I didn’t like his opponent very much back then. I identified with Jimmy Carter, and I would have voted for him, but it just so happened that he shared almost none of my core values. So, I voted for his opponent who shared at least some of my values. That was a tough election year for me.
You know, that’s funny. Sometimes the less likable candidate is really the candidate that reflects your interests better than the others. I hate it when that happens. I mean…shouldn’t we vote for who we like rather than who we need? NO! Stand up for your principles.
I’m sorry…but when I see multitudes of people voting for a candidate they like and overlook the fact that he stands diametrically opposed to their own set of values, I have trouble believing that the electorate is too smart to fool. It appears to me that the candidates who make that statement are engaging in wishful thinking: they’re hoping that a compliment like that regarding our intelligence will be enough to convince us that a vote for them is a “smart” vote.
Come to think of it, I’ve voted for a number of people in the past…at all levels of government—didn’t really like them—wouldn’t want to be their neighbor—wouldn’t buy a used car from them.
But…I voted for them over their contender because, as best I could tell, they represented my value system better than their opponent did.
The older I get, the more I realize what I’ve heard all of my life: “All politics are local.”
In just a few months we may find ourselves with a radically overhauled health care system. How is it that nearly 20% of those who voted last November supported the candidates who wanted to socialize our health care system, but now they oppose the plan…according to a number of independent polls. If they weren’t for socialized health care, why didn’t they vote that way last November? Does that sound like a smart electorate to you?
Look…I’m a preacher. I care about being able to live in a nation where I have the freedom to preach my Bible-based convictions to others without fear of being harassed. You don’t get any more local than that. I’m getting a little bit concerned that our society is picking up momentum in the wrong direction. When can I expect that some of what I preach from behind my pulpit may begin to violate the new expansion of federal law passed this past Wednesday? Attached to the $680 billion defense appropriations bill was an amendment that expanded federal hate-crime legislation so as to include sexual orientation.
I’m pretty certain that the day is not far away when I will not be able to preach a message from Romans 1:18-32 or Leviticus 18 or Leviticus 20 without jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of our church. Hey…that’s pretty local, wouldn’t you say!?
So, if the American people are so smart, why do we keep electing candidates with core values different from our own, or worse yet, with no core values at all? That just doesn’t sound smart to me. Here’s a fact: Christian culture is under attack in America. But listen to this: if we keep voting for people we like rather than people we need, I guess we deserve to lose some of our Christian liberty. Like I said: “All politics are local.”
Pastor Wayne Turner of Fayette Bible Church in Fayetteville is also the author of Bible Track, an online daily Bible-reading schedule and commentary which may be accessed at http://www.bibletrack.org.
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