I'm Voting for _________!

Jess: Wes and I are not particularly politically-minded people. We know that there is an election happening, and we know who we’re going to vote for. But beyond that, we just don’t get that involved. There are some pretty good reasons for this attitude.

First of all, I get super sick of the attitudes that the candidates have toward each other. These men (and hopefully someday women) have worked in politics for a good part of their lives. They are not idiots, they are not incompetent, and they have already made an impact on the history of the US and possibly the world. In fact, even the loser in the race will have made a significant impact. Yet here we are watching them throw insults at one another, acting like little children. They lie, they cheat, and generally look stupid because of their actions toward one another. Why would I want to vote for either one of you? What are we showing the rest of the world if the only way to get to “the top” is to lower ourselves to slinging mud at others?

My next issue with the election is somewhat new: the Facebook bashing back and forth. People on both sides are saying things like “You’re an idiot if you vote for ____,” or “If you’re a ______ there’s no way that you could vote for ______.” I’ve seen fights about abortion, gay marriage, women’s rights, why Democrats suck, why Republicans suck, the poor, and so much more. No one is convincing anyone else with this discussion. Rather, they are just making me want to unfriend them and move on with my life.

What especially disturbs me is my Christian friends who are acting like this. Obviously, we have certain values that matter. I could spend an entire blog post talking about why I’m voting for the candidate I’m voting for based on my faith. And someone else could do an equally good job from the opposite standpoint. But what do we lose when we are just arguing about these men? Who is winning and losing here? Christians have a bad enough reputation in the world today—why would we want to perpetuate this with silly fights.

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the issues involved are silly. These are important, life-changing issues. Yet is Facebook—that anonymous place where people aren’t much more than a photo—the place to talk about these issues? We’ve lost sight of the fact that real people have real opinions about these things. And that just makes the candidates’ constant mudslinging all the worse. We forget that being president, that voting, that having this opportunity are all rare in the world. We forget that we are free in so many ways, and through this freedom we are not supposed to bind others, but to help them be more free, as well.  

Wes: It’s that time again! Voting season. It’s not near as exciting for me as football season, or baseball season. It’s not near as delicious for me as dove season or deer season. It’s also not near as magical for me as Christmas season.

I have to admit something to y’all: I’ve never voted before. I know that this is a big surprise, and honestly it’s not something that I’m very proud of. I’ve missed six years of voting, and one opportunity to let my voice be heard in the election of the president of our nation. My thoughts were always that it was a lot of work for a little impact, and, honestly, I couldn’t stand the way that all of these candidates were selling themselves to the masses. The political commercials on TV, the online ads and mass emails, the giant billboards and tiny-sized signs plastered all over highways, buildings, and peoples’ front yards all drove me crazy. Nothing ever seemed to speak to issues; they always seemed to either just shout the candidate’s name or tell me why the opposing candidate was the devil. I couldn’t take it, so I refused to give in to it.

Then one of my friends told me that the only way to do something about that was to change the system by voting. Otherwise I’m just complaining, and that’s annoying. I decided that he was right, so I decided this year to try to wade through all of the bull honky, find out who the actual candidates were, and make an informed vote based on issues.

Wow. That’s a lot harder than it seems.

And it doesn’t help that—as Jess points out above—our society is extremely opinionated and certain outlets such as Facebook allow anyone to say (and share) anything they want without first making sure that what they are saying is based on truth and without thinking about how their words will come across to others. The first part is just funny. Obama is a terrorist from Mars sent here to steal our children and turn them gay. Romney is really a dog-demonizing, promiscuous reincarnation of the Sheriff of Nottingham and Hitler. Really people? get your facts straight.

This second part, though, really bugs me. I think that the faceless and disassociated aspect of social media has worked to remove peoples’ filters when it comes to thinking about the impact that they have on others. Whether I am a Republican or a Democrat has no impact on my eternal salvation, so when someone’s post tells me that if I’m going to vote for a certain person, I might as well go to hell, it can be a very hurtful thing. When my intelligence is questioned based on my presidential vote, it can be a hurtful thing. I think that we forget that when we say these things, real people with real feelings and just as valid opinions will be reading them.

When you post something on Facebook or Twitter or any of these other social media outlets—especially if you claim to be a Christian and are supposed to care about these things—think about whether or not you would say this to someone’s face, and whether or not you are willing to deal with the real emotions and reactions of this. Think about who you are representing through your actions and through your words, because we’re supposed to be representing Christ.

Please?

But even after all of these posts, shared photos, bashings, ads, etc… I’m still going to vote this year. I’ve come to believe that it is extremely important to stretch our democratic muscles and to allow our voices to be heard through our votes. I would urge everyone to learn about the issues, learn about the candidates, and go vote.

That’s all for now! Thanks for reading! You stay classy, World Wide Web!

-jess and wes