Just to be clear, that's not bad grammar you're seeing in the
title. I'm not asking permission. I'm honestly considering whether or not I am
capable of making such a post.
The answer is, probably not, but here we are on the eve of
yet another GOP debate, and I am disturbed about some things.
Look, I've been registered as a Republican for... well...
forever. If anyone wanted to scrutinize my voting record, they would find that
I've mostly voted for Republicans, although there have been a few notable
exceptions. In 2012 I threw my vote to
Ron Paul. He didn't really count as a
Republican, right? Whew. Now that that's out in the open I can
probably move on with this post, since there is no one left reading it.
This time around, I have watched most of the debates for
both sides. I think it's best to make
educated decisions. Speaking honestly, I
feel as if there is no excellent candidate in this race. This is baffling to me with such a large
field, but I guess it happens.
The thing that is bothering me most is the "vote your
conscience" mentality that is always pervasive in evangelical
circles. I don't have any issues with
the concept, itself. Of course we should
vote for people whom we believe will uphold the kinds of ethics and values that
are most important to us. That just
makes sense. But the candidates that
seem to have acquired the most support based on morality are frequently and
publicly arguing about which one will use the most force, which one will
protect us best by killing others, which one will suppress and discriminate in such
a way that we (Americans, I guess) will have more of what we want, regardless
of who it hurts. I'm not following...
And then you have a guy like Bernie Sanders. This is not an endorsement. This is so far from an endorsement it's
ridiculous. But I like Bernie in the,
"this guy is cute like my grandpa was," sort of way. And when questioned about faith recently, his
response was this:
“I believe that, as a
human being, the pain that one person feels, if we have children who are hungry
in America, if we have elderly people who can’t afford their prescription drugs,
you know what, that impacts you, that impacts me... and I worry very much about
a society where some people spiritually say, it doesn’t matter to me, I got it,
I don’t care about other people. So my spirituality is that we are all in this
together and that when children go hungry, when veterans sleep out on the
street, it impacts me. That’s my very strong spiritual feeling.”
Look, from what I can deduce (and somebody please correct me
if I'm wrong), Bernie Sanders does not profess to be a Christian. He is Jewish and essentially a non-practicing
Jew, at that. And yet look at these
words! Do they not scream, "Care for the least of these!" Because that's what I'm hearing.
Again. This is not a
Sanders endorsement, but it is an
inquiry. Why aren't any of the
Republican candidates saying this?
Couldn't one of them decide to run on a ticket that promises
compassion? I have to think this would
be enticing to those of us still leaning slightly to the right who might like
to "vote our conscience" and who currently hear our conscience coming
out of Bernie Sanders' mouth!
Well... maybe that's as deep as I want to get tonight. At least here. At least now. Who wants to watch the debate
with me via FB comments in half an hour?
L.
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