I’m voting in the next election! Whom should I vote for?
Welcome to another political season. Like many people, I have been fairly immersed in trying to understand everything before election-day comes; and – being a Christian who has the freedom to participate in the process, I am eager to vote.
You should know that as a pastor, and because this blog site is related to our church’s website, there is no way that I can try to persuade church members about their vote for a particular candidate. Even if it were not against IRS rules or denominational guidelines, I believe in letting each person be convinced in his or her own conscience.
However! The conscience of the Christian should be trained by biblical values, and to those things I am fairly comfortable speaking.
Republican, Democrat, Conservative, Liberal?
I am happy to announce that I am a registered… R… D… INDEPENDENT! Have been for almost 3 years. Before that I was registered with the same political party (not telling which) for 15 years.
I pastor people who are Republicans, Democrats, independents, and non-voting, non- participating citizens. But they are all Christians.
I should make it clear that I DO have values and philosophical beliefs that guide my decision-making process when I vote. If you’d care to know what those are, keep reading. If not, happy surfing elsewhere.
Defining two terms… Conservative / Liberal
We all hear the terms “conservative” and “liberal” thrown around. The fact is, those terms have multiple meanings depending on what one is considering or talking about.
A person might identify with a very conservative perspective on one issue, but seem more aligned to the so-called liberal viewpoint on another issue. This is where the whole exercise gets confusing for some people, and this is also one of the reasons that I have chosen to register as an independent voter.
Let me try to outline some perspectives of conservative and liberal ideologies. In this post, I will only cover one ideology, and then I’ll share three more in the next three days.
Conservatism vs. Liberalism and THE POOR AND NEEDY
The Bible teaches that there will always be poor people (Mat. 26:11). The Bible also teaches that the “rich in this world” have a responsibility to care for the poor (1 Tim. 6:17-18). Jesus himself taught that if we fail to care for the poor (the least of these, my brethren), we have failed to care for Him (Mat. 25:40).
Both the Old and New Testaments show us God’s concern and compassion for the poor and needy. Both conservatives and liberals claim to share God’s concern, but their respective philosophies about how to care for the poor is where we find the proverbial fork in the road.
Conservatives and the Poor & Needy
Believe that the poor should be cared for, and that their needs should be addressed.
Most conservatives believe it is the individual’s responsibility to give to the poor out of his own personal resources based on whatever he is convicted to give. This enables him to “conserve” his resources for other things that are also needs.
He does not believe it is the government’s job to care for the poor by taking “liberal” amounts of his money and passing it out at the government’s discretion.
Five dollars analogy: He believes that if he gives five dollars directly to a poor person, the person can use the whole five dollars. He can “conserve” all of the funds for his personal use. Under a conservative value-system of caring for the poor, the whole five dollars is given directly to the person in need to use as he sees fit. Under this value system, the donor can give discriminately and personally in order to ensure that he is giving to a cause that is worthy of his consideration. There is no over-head cost or administrative expense. There is simply the putting of a five-dollar bill into the hand of a person who needs it.
The primary means of addressing the needs of the poor: Private, free-will, personal contributions based on internal motivations and convictions. Examples are privately funded soup kitchens, homeless shelters, thrift stores, church benevolence programs, corporate donations and sponsorships, and one-on-one assistance. In this case, conservative means “careful, budgeted, decisive, moderate, and in keeping with other financial obligations.”
Liberals and the Poor & Needy:
Believe that the poor should be cared for, and that their needs should be addressed.
Many liberals believe that those with more money (i.e., the comparatively rich) should be taxed by the government so that the government can decide who gets needed money. They “liberally” (in this case liberal means “generous”) give the money to the poor on behalf of the government, which took the money from other people through mandatory taxation.
If the number of poor people, and the needs of the poor continue to increase, liberals tend to believe that those who still have some money left should “liberally” or “freely” – even as an act of patriotism, give even more of their money to the government to disburse it as they see fit.
The primary means of addressing the needs of the poor: Taxation to fund programs created to meet needs, regardless of whether or not the taxed citizen agrees with or subscribes to the values and outcomes of the program (like planned parenthood, government housing, welfare, and free healthcare, for instance).
Five dollars analogy: He believes that taking, exacting, requiring, deducting (through government taxation) the same five dollars from each citizen will enable the government to create a huge system – complete with buildings and referrals, and computers, and software programs, and employees and forms and copy machines and phones and air conditioned office spaces, in order staff an army of government workers to care for the poor. Under this system, the majority of the money is spent on buildings, personnel, and administrative costs. After all this infrastructure for government benevolence is put in place, and paid for with the taxes, whatever few cents is left over from the five dollars is given to the poor.
A Summary –
A conservative will encourage personal involvement and private enterprise in addressing the needs of the poor. They see the individual as the personal steward of his own money, which he may give to the poor as he is able.
A liberal will encourage higher taxes which can be used to create more programs geared toward giving the “collected by force” tax dollars away to people who don’t have as much money or as many resources as others. They see the government as the steward of money for the poor. This is also known as “fiscal socialism” or a form of “communism” – which is another way of saying “wealth redistribution by governmental dictates.”
Would you be comfortable responding to this in the comment section? If so, answer the questions below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Questions for reflection:
1. Could there be a balance between these two perspectives? If so, what would it look like and how would it work?2. Does the Bible teach anywhere that a civil, federal, or state government has a biblical mandate to be the primary mechanism for caring for the poor through taxation of the “rich”? If so, where are the texts? If not, what mechanism does it teach?
3. How would you answer someone who said, “If you were patriotic and cared about the poor, you would not have a problem with higher taxes”? What would you do if they called high taxes “patriotic” or “neighborly”?
4. After all of this, do you consider yourself a conservative or a liberal with respect to caring for the needs of the poor?
5. Has this blog post changed your thinking or reinforced it?
6. How will you keep a Christ-like attitude toward those who see things differently?
God bless
Pastor Kenny
