The Election - Unmasked

I wasn’t planning on writing on the election this week but, given the magnitude of the situation, I couldn’t resist. So much has been said that it is a little overwhelming to even know where to start so I am going to keep it as simple and straight-forward as possible. My thoughts center around one key premise that rises to the top of everything else:

The true measure of character in a political candidate lies in their policies. What they are for and what they are against reveal their political character and worthiness of office.

Character matters. It always will. Each of us evaluates character on a regular basis to know who to marry, date, befriend etc… We use different measurements for character depending on our relationship with that person. Evaluating the character for a political candidate is quite different because it is done from afar. They live in a fish bowl but yet we never actually get to know them personally. So, in order to evaluate their character we are left with the influence of the media, their stated polices and their adherence to those policies.

Judging someone’s character is always a slippery slope. Scripture tells us that there are “none righteous, not even one.” Like the candidates, we all experience pride, envy, anger, prejudices and an assortment of other sinful behavior. Given that, it puts us in a precarious position to put someone that we have never even met on the scale and make a judgment about them. I am always interested to know about their family because I figure that if a man can’t lead his own family then he certainly cannot lead this country.

In an election, that leaves us with choosing between two broken and sinful people - just like us. However, what does separate them is what they are for and what they are against. What is their stance on the sanctity of life, the role and reach of government with the economy, national defense, supporting our police, sanctuary cities, as well as things like transgender bathrooms in public schools? We know what their positions are on these issues because the candidates are very open with their policies. It is these policies that define the character of the candidates and provide us with the information that we need to make a voting decision.

Policies matter. They always will and the stakes of these policies are very high. We have the ability to make our own decisions about whose behavior we would like to emulate - politician or otherwise. We do not have the ability to choose to obey the laws of the land and the decisions handed down by the US Courts. We have to live with these and they will outlast the political candidates themselves. The legacy of those elected to office will matter to us and those coming after us. It is up to us to try to get people in office that support what we are for and what we are against.

Stay hungry,

Big E