[Editor’s Note: This was originally posted before the 2012 election. however, the points remain relevant to the upcoming election this year.]
Patriot Academy Alumnus Joshua-Caleb Barton
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist, or a whiz in political science to figure out that the upcoming election is an important one. The debt crisis, out of control spending, weakening economy, and joblessness, (just to name a few of the publicly known issues!) all loom over our nation like a dark cloud, threatening to overtake it. Whoever gets into the White House will have a real mess on their hands, and what they do with it will very well determine whether America will gain any traction in its run for survival, or if it falls, losing the race altogether.
Here in America, the officials determine the government, our votes determine the officials, and our beliefs largely determine our votes. Therefore, with the majority of Americans voting based upon the belief that situations such as the debt crisis, unemployment, and economic collapse are threats to our nation’s survival, how then do the problems still remain, vote after vote after vote?
If we all have the same simple beliefs, that there are problems in our country that need to be fixed, and our votes as a whole are not electing officials that are correcting the problem, then one can conclude that something in the process between the belief and the election has been throwing off the effectiveness of our vote in electing officials that can correct the issues that we believe need to be corrected.
If you really think about it, there are only two types of voters; people who vote based on what they believe, and people who don’t. The two major reasons for our voting as a nation not effectively correcting the problems we believe need correcting is that one; we all believe the same things need correcting but have different ideas as to how to correct them. Or two; there are those of us who have our beliefs, but are not voting in a way that would reflect the beliefs that we claim to have.
Last week I was speaking with a friend of mine through Facebook, and we began talking about the upcoming presidential elections. And when she told me which candidate she planned on voting for, it totally surprised me. Not because of any beliefs I had concerning the candidate, or who I would vote for, but rather because I knew what her views were, and where she stood. She could go on in length and detail about different things this candidate had done that would make anyone who believed it never want him even involved in politics again!…and yet, here she was so very firmly stating that she would be voting for him in the upcoming elections.
When I asked her what caused her to make such a decision concerning her vote, I received an answer that gave me an even greater surprise than the initial; she simply said that she was making the vote not for him, but simply because of his wife!
Apparently, my friend’s great dislike for the candidate’s actions was countered only by her greater like for those of his wife, mostly concerning charitable and community work. As I read through all of her reasons for liking the candidate’s wife, my memory replayed everything she had believed, and still did, concerning the candidate himself, and why she believed that he should never have been in office to begin with. Her feelings had overshadowed her beliefs!
This is when I realized that even more dangerous than believing wrong is believing what is right and choosing to disregard it.
If you know abortion is wrong, do not vote for a candidate who believes it is right. If you want to see our economy restored, vote for the candidate with the best record of doing so. Let the foundation of your beliefs outweigh the swaying of your feelings, vote accordingly, and you will begin to see the foundation of your beliefs make an impact in the society around you.
