What are we really voting for on Election Day?
It’s been over three months since I last posted, which I believe is the longest I’ve gone without writing a post since I started this site back in 2017. The time has flown by. Preparing for the birth of your first child will do that to you, I suppose.
But just before an election many view as one of the most important of their lives, I think I’d be remiss not to say something about the pressing matters that will be addressed by American voters on November 3, and what part Christians–both voters and non-voters–ought to play in addressing them.
The situation
Joe Biden is heavily favored to win the election. That might not mean much to some people, because so was Hillary Clinton back in 2016. But Biden is even more heavily favored than Clinton was. The statistical website FiveThirtyEight, for example, which was panned in 2016 for being the only major site to give Trump a nearly 30 percent chance to win, now gives Trump just a 10 percent chance.
Like in 2016, President Trump has an extremely narrow path to victory. He needs 270 of the 538 available electoral votes, and Biden is virtually guaranteed to win at least 212 of them. Trump is likely to win 125.
So as you can see, all Biden needs to do is win a couple of those big states. And he leads polling in all but four of the states not colored in on this map. Those four are Texas, Georgia, Iowa, and Ohio. Trump’s next-best chances are probably in Florida and North Carolina, which he won in 2016. Trump has no realistic path to the presidency without those six states. On top of that, he would also need to win some combination of the other seven that adds up to at least 23 (the most likely would be Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Arizona).
What that means, in short, is that if you’re watching TV on election night and see that Trump has lost any of those six must-win states, you can safely conclude that he’s lost the election. (Or if you’re looking at it from the perspective of a Biden win, you can safely conclude that Biden has won.)
The other big part of this election is Congress. Congress, which makes and passes laws, plays a huge part in determining the direction of the country as well. Right now, the two houses of Congress–the Senate and the House of Representatives–are split. Republicans control the 100-member Senate by a margin of 53-45 (there are 2 independents who tend to vote with the Democrats). Democrats control the 438-member House of Representatives 232-198. With a wide margin for error, they are virtually guaranteed to retain control.
Democrats are also likely to make gains in the Senate. RealClearPolitics lists nine Senate races as “toss-ups,” so the path the Senate will take is far from certain, but most polls seem to indicate that Democrats are likely to seize control there by a thin margin as well (something like 51-49).
Our flawed options
I’m not going to talk in this article about who to vote for. For one thing, it’s likely that not everyone who reads this article intends to vote or is even able to vote. But it’s also just not an easy or enjoyable choice. When I look at the 2020 political landscape, I see two dominant parties that make it very hard for a Christian to enthusiastically choose either one of them. Whether it’s those too poor to afford health insurance, refugees, or the unborn, both parties support policies that knowingly and intentionally consign hundreds of thousands of human beings to be left uncared for and unprotected.
Maybe not everyone sees things this pessimistically, but I do think this reality should give any Christian pause to recognize that each candidate’s party disregards certain demographics as unimportant. We need to keep that in mind when voting or expressing support for a candidate. We have neighbors who will be harmed by a policy your preferred party supports, or they may have a loved one who will be. So we need to be consciously reserved, I think, in our support, as we recognize that reality.
Still, I think it’s good for Christians to vote. When Christians let their voice be heard on important matters that face our land, it enhances our opportunity to influence law and policy for the better. Whether you vote for one candidate as a flawed but better choice than the other, or whether you vote for a third party, if we truly care about the state of the world, we should take the opportunity we have to exercise our voice.
Seven issues where our votes and actions speak
So rather than explain why one candidate is better than the other, I want to share briefly what I think are the seven most important issues at play in this election, and one major question that 1) every Christian voter should ask as we vote for a candidate/party on all seven of them; and 2) every Christian voter and non-voter should ask of ourselves as we seek—as we should—to make our country better.
COVID-19: Will we love our neighbor in the midst of a pandemic?
Very few governments worldwide have been successful at curbing the COVID-19 pandemic, and the US’s response has been very poor, to say the least. With nearly a quarter of a million deaths from the virus, it’s turning out to be far worse than most thought.
We have two candidates who take very different approaches to the pandemic and paint one another’s solutions as destructive and immoral. Because of that, in a time when our compassion and love for one another should shine through, the exact opposite is happening.
I see Christians with so little love for their neighbors that they can’t be bothered to wear a mask to help protect those who are most vulnerable. I have also seen Christians rail against Trump supporters and call them hateful people, and then openly gloat when Trump was diagnosed with the virus. I see pro-lockdown Christians show zero compassion to their neighbor who loses his business and life’s work, and anti-lockdown Christians show, by opposition to basic safety measures, zero compassion to the person who loses a relative or friend to COVID-19.
Though our politicians are setting forth a simplistically binary approach to the virus, we should not be naive enough to buy into the idea that Biden will save us all or that 200,000-plus deaths are all Trump’s fault. Will the outcome of the election change things all that much? Maybe, but I have my doubts. Regardless, though, we desperately need to restore our humanity and compassion for one another. This pandemic is not only a threat to public health, but it is a spiritual threat as well. We cannot let this pandemic kill our spiritual vitality. Whichever candidate any of us votes for, we cannot lose our compassion for our neighbors.
On the coronavirus: Who will better minimize the loss of life—both from the disease and from the lockdowns—and reflect a compassionate heart to all those affected? And how can we be sure that we are loving our neighbors and showing compassion to the way they’ve been affected?
Civil rights: Can we achieve racial reconciliation?
In the last several years, we’ve faced an unexpected (for many white people, at least) and powerful reckoning for the nation’s long history of racial injustice and the injustice that’s still happening today. It’s clear that white supremacy has been part of the fabric of the nation for a long time, and that it’s harder to extricate it than we think. What’s not so clear is exactly how we move forward. This, too, has divided Christians sharply.
Racism is a threat not just to individuals, but to the fabric of our nation. We can’t afford to be so divided on something so foundational. It should be clear that the current state of things is unacceptable. There is a long way to go before we can say that Black Americans, as a whole, experience liberty and prosperity to the degree that white Americans do. I think every white American knows this. But it’s also clear that many white conservatives feel that, rather than put forth tangible and reasonable ideas for moving forward, left-wingers would rather blame white conservatives for every social and cultural ill in the country. Justified or not, this hinders further progress from being made.
The Bible seems to me to affirm the idea that people groups do bear collective responsibility to not only avoid the evils of their ancestors, but to right historical wrongs. The pattern in this country, tends to be that conservatives downplay or deny that responsibility, while liberals do a poor job of communicating the idea in a way that makes any sense to people who don’t think like them. The result is that liberals simply resort to condemning conservatives who don’t think like them, conservatives don’t take them seriously, and nothing gets done. We need leadership who will not exacerbate this or ignore it, but help change it.
On civil rights: Who will do better at ensuring that the voices of the historically oppressed are heard and enabling real reconciliation to take place? And how can we be sure we are listening to the voices of the historically oppressed, trying to understand the big picture, and doing our part to strive for equity and reconciliation?
Abortion: Do we really believe all humans are God’s image-bearers?
Everyone’s tired of hearing about abortion. No one wants to talk about it, and who would? But the issues being addressed in the abortion debate are even bigger than abortion specifically. Abortion is just a manifestation of our modern-day struggle to answer fundamental questions that challenge the notion that all people are made in the image of God and created equal. What does it mean to be a human being with human rights? What characteristics must someone possess, and what would happen if we applied those characteristics to human beings outside the womb as well as inside? What is the point at which one person’s rights override another’s?
Politicians, lobbyists, and the media don’t want you to ask these questions, because if you think too hard about them, you might not vote for who they want. But if we fail to think hard and arrive at coherent and consistent answers to them, then we will open the door to the devaluing of certain humans as lesser than others. We know that God knits babies together in their mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13) and relates to people even before that (Jeremiah 1:5). Christians must acknowledge these things and arrive at coherent, consistent answers to the questions above if they take the idea of human value and dignity seriously.
One thing is clear, though: If we really want to reduce the number of babies killed by abortion in the United States, the most effective method will not be by overturning Roe v Wade. There were still hundreds of thousands of abortions per year before it, and there would be after it. The most effective method will be by changing the culture and fostering a greater respect for the inherent value of human life and the equal value of all human life, regardless of what characteristics and capacities a particular human being possesses. When we get to the day where anyone can look at a 12-week ultrasound and have no doubt they are looking at a human being, then I have to think fewer abortions will take place.
On abortion: Who will better enable the formation of a culture that respects human life as inherently and equally valuable at every stage? And what can we do to personally model that kind of respect for life?
Healthcare: Will we show compassion for our neighbors?
Unsurprisingly, during the pandemic, the question of how much the government should be involved in healthcare has become one of the top concerns in the final days before the election. It’s one aspect of the classic right-versus-left issue of how much control the government should have over the economy in general.
Because people’s livelihoods are important to them, this of course stirs up powerful emotions in people that often lead them to scorn those who disagree with them. It’s been wildly oversimplified as Democrats wanting all the free stuff and Republicans not caring about the poor.
This is closely connected to the issue of abortion and being “pro-life” as well, because it is true that many who support criminalizing abortion pay no mind to a poor family who is bankrupted by tens of thousands of dollars in medical treatment for a 3-month-old infant, or to parents who must choose between foregoing preventive care or accepting substandard medical treatment or paying their bills. It’s also closely connected to the issue of caring about the poor, because many who claim to have compassionate hearts for the poor pay no mind to the working-class family barely getting by that gets saddled by higher taxes and stricter regulations and is subsequently forced to rely on government assistance (often with far fewer and lower-quality options than they could get themselves). Indeed, many people seem to simply deny that these two types of families exist because it’s not convenient to their narrative.
The unfortunate truth is that both right- and left-wing policies on healthcare help some and harm others. And anyone who thinks there is an easy or obvious answer is, I think, in great danger of harboring hatred and contempt for their neighbor who will be harmed by their favorite policy. The truth is that most people support the policies that will benefit them most and/or carry a cost that will not make their lives harder. We need to be aware of our own ulterior motives whenever it comes to economic policy, and we need to be careful not to lose our love for our neighbors.
On healthcare and the economy … Who will create policy that more adequately meets the needs of our neighbors and improves people’s quality of life? And how can we show compassion for our neighbors who are getting the short end of whatever policy is implemented?
Foreign policy: Will we be righteous among the nations?
Foreign policy usually matters to people when it concerns one of two circumstances: 1) war that sends our troops overseas; or 2) economic fallout from issues related to trade.
Both of those things certainly come into play with every presidency, but they’re also very unpredictable. Yet even when those two things are not an immediate factor, Americans should still care deeply about foreign policy. Why? Because we live in the most powerful nation on Earth, one that is uniquely capable of addressing the needs of the poor and suffering around the world. It’s crucial that our leadership be bold in condemning countries that violate human rights and is willing to wield some power on behalf of the poor and mistreated throughout the world.
Of course, foreign policy doesn’t always work this way—many US allies are terrible on human rights—but that doesn’t mean we should not ask that our government act rightly in its dealings and exert influence to improve the state of the world.
On foreign policy … Who will lead our country to be more ethical in its dealings and more often exert its influence to help the poor, destitute, and persecuted? And what part can we play in using our American privilege for the benefit of others?
Climate change: Will we preserve God’s creation and protect those who will live in it after us?
This probably would have played a big role in this year’s election if not for the pandemic. You don’t need to believe we are heading toward an apocalyptic climatic dystopia to recognize that global temperatures are rising, and that is a problem with a considerable cost, especially for the poor but also for everyone.
Truthfully, I don’t think either political party takes climate change seriously. They seem to be more interested in weaponizing it for political gain. We’ve got a president who openly calls it a hoax. The opposite party purports to take it seriously, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez even putting forth a “Green New Deal” purportedly to combat it. Yet her own chief of staff admitted the bill “wasn’t originally a climate thing at all … we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.” In other words, the idea was to essentially use climate change as an excuse to transform the American economy into something more socialist.
While politicians are focused on weaponizing climate change for their own benefit, it’s already affecting the environment. Although it’s impossible to attribute any specific event to climate change, we may be seeing its effects already in major storms, droughts, heat waves, and even winter weather as weather becomes more erratic. The changes occurring now will play an even bigger part in the struggles of the next generations. It will be refreshing when we see a candidate who will acknowledge the reality of our changing atmosphere and focus not on apocalyptic fearmongering, but on realistic measures of adapting and adjusting to the change that is already inevitable while working to innovate new methods to curb it.
On climate change … Who will better lead the way in helping us become equipped to face the reality of our changing environment and put forth reasonable, realistic plans to adapt and aid those who will be affected? And how can we play our part in appropriately managing our use of God’s creation?
Religious liberty: Will we preserve an environment where the gospel can spread and thrive?
There are people (usually on the left) who scoff at Christians for acting as though religious liberty is in danger. However, I think this is a form of the very Euro-American cultural arrogance that left-wingers criticize when it manifests in any other way. How so? Just take a look at how many times religious liberties have rapidly collapsed in other parts of the world. North Korea was booming with missionary activity before the communist revolutions. In 1900, Eastern Europe was almost entirely Christian. By 1950, Christians were being systematically hunted and persecuted. If it happened elsewhere, who are we to think that can’t happen here?
To be clear, no one is worried about Joe Biden or Kamala Harris becoming a tyrannical despot who throws Christians in jail. No one thinks the First Amendment will be tossed aside in 2024 or even 2030. But what will 2060 America look like? We can’t predict that, but the course we set in 2020 will lead somewhere by 2060. Even this year’s election will help determine that.
Although Jesus warned Christians would be persecuted, it would be foolish not to do our best to help set the country in a direction where, in 2060, religious liberty will still be fully respected so the gospel can be freely proclaimed.
On religious liberty … Who will better set the country along a path where, in 2060, our children and grandchildren will live in a world where their religious liberties are zealously protected?
Election Day
I’m sure I missed some things in there that are very important. But these seven things should certainly play a major part in determining who we vote for as Christians. With our vote, or even a lack of a vote, we are making a statement about where we stand on these issues and, by extension, where we believe Jesus stands.
Most people want a president that will make America prosperous and powerful. But that shouldn’t be the primary desire we, as Christians, have for our nation. Instead, what we should desire above all else is for our nation to be a righteous nation that pleases God.
We can’t guarantee that everyone in our country will love God or love their neighbor, but we should want to create a culture in our nation where it’s the norm that, from top to bottom, we love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, foreign and domestic, present and future, and where Christians are free to share the gospel with anyone who will hear, and where people will see Christ’s love shine through his people so clearly that they will want to hear.
It’s certainly an idealistic vision for a country, but as far as temporal nations go, I can’t think of another that a Christian should want to see materialize. Our votes help determine whether we move in that direction.
