Tomorrow is election day. For millions of Americans, the ballot has already been cast. Early voting and mail-in voting means you do not have to go to actual polling places tomorrow.
It seems to upset a lot of people that we have something called the “electoral college” that is the final determining factor of who becomes our president. It doesn’t offend me. In fact, the concept was another piece of brilliant thinking from our “founding fathers.”
It parallels the wisdom of creating a legislature that has two separate and distinct political power centers: the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The two have different responsibilities and limit the rule of one over the other. This system also helps to keep some balance in governing by tipping the scales away from states with huge population numbers.
Actually, I should have no need to explain this to any American who has taken basic civics classes. In their lessons, students should have found a clear explanation of the purpose and value of the electoral college system. Alas, I find that the main opponents of this system are those whose preferred candidate may win the popular vote, but find the final decision honoring more marginalized states to be offensive.
I get the frustration of electoral college opponents. They are simply…wrong. Fairness should prevail. Representative government is how our republic works. The winner is not chosen by a popularity contest of individual votes. Enough said on that point.
The next big disagreement of the 2020 election is what to do with Donald Trump. Admittedly, the man acts in a more bizarre fashion than any president I have witnessed in my lifetime. I doubt I could ever report directly to him, though obviously he has his devoted fans.
In many cases, his values are not my values. I was never fond of his television series, “The Apprentice.” My heart goes out to any hard working and dedicated employee who gets belittled in the process of hearing, “You’re fired!” The American people may well decide to slap Mr. Trump with that message in this election.
On the other hand, many of his stated values…ARE my values. I’ve totally lost confidence that elected officials really understand the term “public servants.” And the way candidates portray their opponents in elections is pathetic. Thus, one of my main values related to government is that it be limited. Smaller is better than bigger.
I’m also keen on what has been given to us as freedoms in the First Amendment. It reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” I’ve figured out which political party truly supports religious freedom.
I’m also quite fond of our Declaration of Independence. It opens this way, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
High taxation and stealing great sums from the wealthy wickedly defeats the pursuit of happiness. As for liberty, I found it almost humorous as I searched to find how many federal laws are currently on the books that one site said, “No one knows.” We have often regulated away liberty.
As for life, this is a clincher. Nothing, I repeat nothing, offends me more from the political voices than a defense of killing babies and calling it “choice.” The horrific description of partial birth abortion should, at minimum, repulse us sufficiently to reject those who support it. In this election, that choice is clear.
Jesus was always an advocate for the disenfranchised. (Matthew 25:31-46) A strong America would be one that creates opportunity for everyone. Its leaders would inspire us to work together and look after each other while not creating dependence on government. And tender-hearted politicians would protect babies.
Those are my values. Tomorrow I make my vote. May God guide my conscience.
And yours.
That’s Forward Thinking. Click on the link to the right to connect via Facebook.
You can find a number of YouTube episodes and podcasts of Mark’s program, Moving People Forward at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCosyuBzdSh1mXIas_kGY2Aw?
For more information on the Elfstrand Group, please visit www.elfstrandgroup.com
Articles of interest:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.