Jehova, Swing Voter
For the past year or so, political analysts have been noting a trend among evangelicals and fundamentalists, especially young ones, of deciding that maybe God doesn’t want them voting Republican after all. I’m glad to learn that the neocons’ stranglehold on badge-wearing Christians’ votes, but I have to ask: what took them so long to realize it? If God wants people to vote for leaders who will help the needy and nurture the environment, what caused Him to change his mind in the last four years?
I mean, there’s nothing in the neocon platform—or, since they have controlled the Republican party for decades, the Republican platform—that comes across as Christian. Cut social programs aiding the needy? Check. Launch wars of conquest against small nations? Check. Lie to start same? Check. Torture innocents? Check. Place human interest before national glory? Check. Spend frugally, speak humbly, nurture the beauty of creation, turn the other cheek? Were Jesus alive today, he’d be several steps to the left of Democrats, who are dealing with their own internal sabotage to populist ideals in the form of the DLC. He wouldn’t even be visible to the Republicans from where they stand, gone and thrice-damned as anti-Christian in every sense but a hypocritical label, wrapping evil deeds in a mantle of religion.
The ruling right-wingers have finally produced a leader so rock-bottom dreadful that even the faithful are having second thoughts, and patting themselves on the back for their sudden epiphany and revival of Christian principles. I can’t help but notice, however, that the sudden reappraisal of the religious impulse in politics comes after Bush’s spectacular, multi-dimensional failure. Astounding how the faithful always seem to discover that God wants us to do exactly what the faithful themselves want to do, at that particular time. Right now, it seems God wants the faithful to distance themselves emotionally from the disaster they helped create, to forget their part in the evil committed with their approval. Four years ago, and earlier, it seems he wanted them to create a disaster.
And that’s the problem I have with voting one’s religious beliefs. Voting on religious faith (or any other kind of faith, for that matter) grants self-interest a false authority placing it beyond rational examination, beyond question, beyond criticism, beyond demonstrable facts. If your fellow citizen says he would like to see stronger workplace safety regulation because he values workers’ health and lives, or because he would benefit from such a law, or because he believes the economic benefits outweigh the costs, and you disagree, the matter is open to discussion, hopefully leading to deeper understanding, and possibly even conversion (one way or the other) on the strength of argument. If your fellow citizen says he would like to see stronger workplace safety regulation because the voice in his heart (or the voices in his head) tell him so, it’s awfully hard to challenge his position, which will bear an uncanny resemblance to what will profit him most. Even if things go horribly, horribly wrong, the true believer refuses to treat failure as evidence that the voices are unreliable; instead, he chalks mistakes up to some mysterious Higher Plan that mere mortals can’t comprehend. Too bad everyone has to suffer for the mistake in the meantime. Religion becomes a way to deny responsibility.
Responsibility is at the heart of a healthy democracy. Government is responsible to the people; people are responsible for understanding the issues as best they can, which includes exposing their understanding to criticism and revision. In the voting booth, acting on faith is un-American, betraying the founding fathers’ hopes that our nation be governed by reason.