Voting is powerful. Never before in the history of the world has the common man had so much control over his own destiny. Like all power, the power to vote can be squandered or abused, even destroyed.
The point of democracy – even representative democracy – is pluralism. Not everyone shares your values. Those who don’t should have no right to trod on you. And you have no right to trod on them.
For anyone with an active and meaningful faith, religion is at root of your values. It doesn’t even matter what you believe. Whether you have faith in enlightenment, a specifically characterized deity, a pantheon, or even certain social and family values (such as in Confucianism), your values are informed by your faith.
A person who says one thing and does another is considered a hypocrite. This is why we say, “Practice what you preach.”
If you vote contrary to your faith, you are quite clearly NOT practicing what you preach. You are ignoring the very things you claim to believe, the very things you claim are deepest and most important to you.
I’ve known folks who say, “Well, I disagree with X morally, but politically I have to vote for it because…” Usually this is provided in the case of abortion, but there are other examples. This is tragic. This is a direct admission by a citizen that s/he is deliberately choosing to vote immorally.
…and we blame the politicians for corrupting politics.
In truth, politicians deserve some of the blame, but not all. We’ve had presidents who clearly pandered to the religious majority, and won. One president who claimed to be a Christian man cheated on his wife to receive sexual favors from office interns. Yes, I mean you, President Bill Clinton. One president who claimed to be a Christian man lied to his constituency and created a North American Union. Yes, I mean you, President George W. Bush. Neither party has a monopoly on manipulating the vote through religious means.
These men do not practice what they preach.
If you don’t take your faith with you to the voting booth, it can’t be very important to you. Either that, or you have more faith in the politicians you elect than you do in the ethics of your own beliefs. Either way, actions speak louder than words.
Voting contrary to your beliefs is saying one thing and doing another. It’s hypocritical. And there is no faith on the planet that honors hypocrisy as morally acceptable.
If your vote requires you to reject morality, what does that say about the person you’re electing? What does that say about the agenda you’re advancing?
What does it say about you that you don’t care?
