This Lord’s Day begins a series of exhortations on the subject of our civic responsibilities. We are about a month and a half away from a local election, and I have come to believe that there is no little confusion on the part of many of us as Christians about what our responsibilities actually are.
We have emphasized repeatedly here that politics is not to be considered by us as a savior at all. We have also said that politics will eventually be saved, but by means other than what it is currently offering us as “the remedy.” The way out of our cultural dilemma will not be revealed to us through the democratic process, or through all the yard signs that we might print up.
Nevertheless, what do we do in the meantime? Do we follow the advice of the bumper-sticker—”Don’t Vote. It Only Encourages Them.”?
In modern politics, when people (especially Christians) get “into it,” their involvement frequently becomes a quasi-religious crusade, and that means that idolatry is not far off.
At the same time, something seems wrong about dropping out of the process altogether. And the response to that instinct is, “it all depends.” There is a way of not voting that is actually a principled vote, a way of saying, “None of the above, actually. Thanks for asking.” I have long felt that our voting processes would be greatly helped if “none of the above” had to be on every ballot, and if “none of the above” ever won, a new election would be required.
So if it is thought through and principled, not voting this way is a way of voting, and is little different than voting for a long shot third party candidate, or even a no-chance-at-all candidate.
Not voting because of lethargy, apathy or confusion is a different matter. Edmund Burke once famously said that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. And unfortunately, nothing is frequently what good men do. What is necessary is to learn how to discharge your civic responsibility in this without jumping into the rah-rah idolatry of modern politics. You vote because you want God to honor what seems to you to be an insignificant action.
Another bumper-sticker says, “Jesus is coming. Look busy.” The thing that makes this funny is that we know that surface appearances, the way we “look,” will be meaningless on that Day. At the same time, there is an element of wisdom in it. Be at your post. Be doing what you ought to be doing. You don’t have to see “momentous results” of your actions in order for them to be faithful actions, used by God. And one of those actions is registering to vote.