Kingdom Voting (Part 10): You Vote for Candidates

There are many competing interests voters must weigh when they step into the booth with their ballots. Even when their priorities are clear, they have to evaluate candidates, parties, platforms, and the occasional referendum. How much do each of these matter, and how should Christians think of them when they vote?

Understand that you are always voting for a candidate. He or she is affiliated with a party and has a platform, but neither of those overrule the free moral agency of the individual. Your vote is for the individual politician who will remain in office long after those empty campaign promises have been broken. People are flawed, and they will disappoint you, but they are the ones on the ballot, not their parties, platforms, or promises.

History is a very effective teacher for those willing to learn. The presidential campaigns of 2000 focused primarily on domestic issues, and the electorate presumed those would be central to the winning candidate’s term in office. However, the world cataclysmically changed on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the United States, killing 3,000 Americans, and leading to protracted conflicts with terrorist governments and networks around the globe. George W. Bush walked into an elementary school that morning to read with some children, and emerged moments later as the unexpected leader of a global war on terror.

Bush certainly has his critics, but he was the man in charge when that fateful hour arrived. For better or worse, the world will never know how Al Gore would have handled that moment, or the weeks, months, and years that followed. The lesson that history teaches here is that you are always voting for known people to lead, judge, or represent you in an unknown future. No one voted based on who was best to lead the nation through the Civil War, Pearl Harbor, 9/11, COVID-19, or any similar surprise, but those were the issues that mattered. Parties and platforms are important, but your vote goes to a person.