On voting for the lesser of evils...

Matt

I was the last caller to your show last night (or today 1/30/08). I had my radio off and couldn't hear so I don't know when I was cut off (or even if I hung up on you or vice versa -- either way, it's okay with me)

The point I wanted to make is this and I would like for you to discuss this on your show if possible:

It seems to me that all Americans (not just Christians) have an attitude of "settling" -- settling for the lesser of two evils, not voting for someone who represents our dearly held views because we are afraid of "wasting" our vote because the media has determined that certain candidates are "unelectable". I have a big problem with that because as Americans, we should never "settle". As Christians, we should certainly never "settle" or "compromise" or choose "the lesser of two evils"

God has created this country for a reason. He is a very purposeful God. What is the purpose of this country? and have we outlived our purpose? Is there anything we can do as a nation for the cause of Christ? I haven't googled for facts, but I wonder how much of foreign mission work is paid for by U.S. churches and denominations. What happens if we are unable to give that money or send those people because our country has been destroyed from within and our economy is on the ropes? What happens to the cause of Christ if we take all that God has given us (economic blessings and religious liberty and personal liberty) and let it go to waste because we are afraid of "wasting" our vote on a Godly but "unelectable" man.

Will we ever have to stand before God and give account of our vote like we expect to give account of our money and our time? It is a gift of God -- in the thousands of years of recorded history, very few people percentage wise have had the opportunity to control their government like we can -- and like any gift from God, He expects us to use it well. How well are we Christians using our vote? How well are our leaders using their influence? Are we passing up Godly principled men for "electable" men? What God do we serve? It only takes one man (or woman) to change a nation....Esther, Joseph, Moses. How much of a chance would CNN have given Moses? Is CNN the voice of God? Is MSNBC the voice of God? Is Fox News the voice of God? If not, why do we listen to them over our conscience and our heart and the Holy Spirit? Whose voice are we following? How are we exercising the "stewardship of our vote"

For such a time as this...God has placed SOMEONE on this earth. Let's ask Him who that someone is...let's not take the lesser of two evils. God isn't bound by poll results or even by Super Duper Tuesday results. God will raise up a leader for us if we ask Him to. It's not too late.

Thanks for "listening".
Laura

This is what Eric Clarke says...and what I say - concerning voting

Secretary of State Eric Clarke:

"It is my opinion — probably an old fashioned one — if you’re too lazy to go vote on Election Day, you don’t deserve to live in a free country. If you don’t care to go vote (today), you have absolutely no right to complain about anything your government does, state and county, over the next four years."

This is what Friedeman says (an old column): Reasons you shouldn’t vote (and perhaps a couple reasons you should)

There are some really good reasons not to vote this year.

First, if you don’t know what is at stake, the issues, the candidates, the framework of the local, state and national debate and…don’t want to know—please, don’t vote.

Second, if you don’t care and don’t think it matters if you do care. The world will go where it deterministically will go, and as far as you can tell your involvement matters not one whit. Don’t vote.

Third, if you are so partisan that you can’t envision voting anything besides Republican, or Democrat, or Libertarian, or Green…you are a team player and you are willing to ride your team to the depths of hell no matter what positions the member candidates take. Do us a favor…don’t you vote, either.

But.

If you understand the enormous blessing that God has given us, living in a nation that allows “We the people…” to set the direction, then show your appreciation to the Almighty and exercise the most fundamental privilege of our Republic. Vote.

If you recognize that to not vote is to, for instance, give the pro-abortion, hyper-feminist, change-the-traditional-definition-of-family, government-is-the-answer, blame-America-first crowd undiminished and unchallenged sway, please vote.

If you recognize that you have a discerning mind that keeps track of basic legislative concerns, can take a fair view of the issues and persons involved, and have a clue about seeking the mind of God before entering the voting booth, by all means, vote.

Writing in U.S. News & World Report a couple years ago, John Leo defended voting based on religious values. He admitted befuddlement from the “don’t impose your values on me” crowd and quoted UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh: “That’s what most lawmaking is — trying to turn one’s opinions on moral or pragmatic subjects into law.”

Indeed.

But Leo continued.

Those who think Christians should keep their moral views to themselves, it seems to me, are logically bound to deplore many praiseworthy causes, including the abolition movement, which was mostly the work of the evangelical churches courageously applying Christian ideas of equality to the entrenched institution of slavery. The slave owners, by the way, frequently used "don't impose your values" arguments, contending that whether they owned blacks or not was a personal and private decision and therefore nobody else's business. U.S. News & World Report (11-29-04)

The same kind of arguments are made today by those who want the Religious Right to take a long hike off a short political pier — keep your “God” values to yourself. Separation of church and state and all that stuff. Let us have it our way.

Which brings us to a last good reason to vote your evangelical convictions based on Scripture: to rebuff those who are trying to intimidate, embarrass, and dismiss the voting population that still believes ardently in God, Bible, noble American values, and a future that doesn’t belong to the shrill, the ethics of Hollywood, and the unrighteous indignation of the cultural elite.

Voting — it is one of the things you can do while blessing and annoying at the same time. Election day is just around the corner. Let’s get ready to roll.