Reality Check 101

Tomorrow American citizens of voting age will be given another chance to determine the future of our nation.  The results will be of historic magnitude; not because of a half-black president or a female vice president, but because of the massive changes sure to develop afterward.  Either voters of the United States will have established the most liberal government in their nation’s history or they will have given conservatism another chance to returnWashingtonto its most honorable roots.

Plato warned that in a democracy those who are experts at nothing more than winning elections would come to dominate the system.  In defense of monarchy, Thomas Hobbes wrote that democracy would breed politicians inclined to preserve their power before all else.  To that end, they would rest their futures on divisive appeals to citizens’ self-interests rather than leading the nation for the common good.

Such negative outcomes do not have to be tolerated.  As Pascal once noted, “The world is ruled by force, not by opinion; but opinion uses force.”  As at no other time in history or in any other country of the world, Americans have the force of opinion on election day.  The important questions are:  “Will they exercise their individual power?” and “What values will they ask their government to have for the sake of the Union?”

There is rarely a consistent voter turnout from one election to another.  It usually takes a threat to a particular group’s interests to ramp up the vote.  Increasingly, Americans are exercising their powers in fulfillment of Hobbes’ prediction – succumbing to elaborate but vain promises or divisive appeals to their self-centered interests.  The only antidote is citizens who vote selflessly.

It is not too late to do right things.  Right things do not include staying home on election day.  Doing so is not only irresponsible but also insulting to every American who has shed blood to preserve this nation.  The insult should require no explanation.  Preserving and enjoying freedom involves self-disciplined responsibility.  Merely leaching the benefits without participating is irresponsible.  Representative government is, after all, never any better than those it serves.

Another right thing is refusing to sell one’s vote to the highest bidder.  As hard as it is to accept, free people who work and live within a free market system will sometimes endure economic hardship and at other times enjoy economic prosperity.  No human being has the ability, no matter what their power position, to make it otherwise.

Money is not only fleeting but also notoriously corrupting and readily abused.  There is no better example than the toxic waste from the present financial crisis.  It does not matter which candidate touts what plan, money controlled by government or quazi-governmental agencies is a powerful weapon against the people.  For these reasons alone, no basis exists for using the economy to determine one’s vote, especially for Christians whose Bible prohibits trusting in money.

Being taken in by campaign promises is no better.  There is an old saying that vows made in storms are quickly forgotten in the calms.  Politicians validate that truism continuously.

So what is left?  Values.  A wise person commits their vote to candidates loyal to values that count for the long haul – enduring morality common to social decency and servant-leadership that loves justice, righteousness and security.  God honors such leadership.  Wise citizens selflessly anchor their choices in that which is not self-gratifying, not fluid, not corrupting and not based on shifting promises couched in glittering verbiage.

In politics, the tongue is worthless.  The record, what a person has stood for by their actions before the campaign, is the only true measure of leadership.