Maybe I'm wrong. I freely admit it is a distinct possibility. But something very interesting has been occurring recently and I'd like to draw attention to it. Why? Honestly, not because I want to engage in some sort of unproductive "told you so" dance. There's no value in that because no one outside of my own household would even care if I was right or not. No, I want to bring it up because I think it speaks to a reality about voting, democracy, and the supreme importance of the rights of conscience in America.
With just weeks left before the 2016 presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, I wrote these words on the editorial page of the Indianapolis Star:
In other words, just as I hear people chirping at me, "not voting for Trump is voting for Hillary," the Bernie Sanders faithful are enduring cries that, "not voting for Hillary is voting for Trump." To any thinking person, these tedious phrases defeat one another. If I don't vote for Trump (I won't), then I vote for Hillary. But if I don't vote for Hillary (I won't), then I vote for Trump. So, by not voting for either, I've voted for both. Genius.
Let's make this a lot simpler: if you vote for Trump, you are responsible for Trump should he win the presidency. If you vote for Hillary, you are responsible for Hillary should she win the presidency. If you deny your vote to either because they are charlatans, con artists, and walking banes of American exceptionalism, you are not responsible for either.
As a man with conservative politics but one who wishes to wear only the label of Christ follower…I am looking to honor God with my vote. Obviously, voting for a woman who sees child slaughter as healthcare doesn't do that. But for me, neither does voting for a man who brags about his adultery, expands strip clubs, and proclaims he doesn't need to ask God for forgiveness. Oh sure, he promises that if he's elected, "Christianity will have power" again. Satan promised Jesus the same thing.
The power of Christianity is defined by Christ's triumph over the grave, and that message doesn't need Donald Trump in the Oval Office to endure or prosper. Some believers will vote for Trump; others will vote for Hillary. That's their right and I'm not interested in denying it to them.
But don't tell me that by not choosing the "lesser of two evils" I am abandoning my country. By refusing to choose anything I view as "evil," I am honoring God. I'll stick with that plan and trust Him to handle the consequences.
The feedback was as angry and indignant as you can imagine. Though I extended the benefit of the doubt to those believers who were voting for Trump, I was not - except in a few rare instances - afforded the same courtesy. I was told it was very black and white: a Christian has to vote for the Republican because if you don't, you aren't doing everything you can to stop the evil Democrats from gaining power.
Here we are seven years later and something extraordinary has happened in MAGA world. Here's one of its leading online voices to explain:
Am I wrong in seeing here that according to one of MAGA-world's leading apostles, it is utterly reasonable and appropriate for a person to withhold their vote for a Republican that doesn't meet their personal criteria for office? Is it just me, or is the gist of this post that a person's vote is sacred, that it belongs to them, and they should exercise it in accordance with their own conscience?
For what it's worth, I think it is entirely reasonable for a person to conclude that a candidate's unwillingness to stop political persecutions and prosecutions, or their refusal to expel swindlers like Adam Schiff disqualifies them from receiving that person's vote. No candidate is entitled to your vote - they have to earn it by meeting the standards you set for them. But doesn't that also apply to those whose consciences prevent them from supporting a Trump movement that looks like this:
Call me crazy, but I'd say it was this ridiculously tribalistic mentality that you must vote for your "team" no matter how bad a slate of candidates they nominate, that got us into this cultural quagmire in the first place. Personally, I'm not trusting it to get us out.
