Friday, October 31, 2008

Evangelical Options

I've talked to or heard from a lot of Evangelicals regarding how they are voting in the upcoming election and why. Here is a list of the 15 most common positions. Which numbers resonate with you?

I'm an Evangelical and I will...

1. Vote Obama: He's the best candidate
I think his policies match Xianity well

2. Vote Obama: We need a change
We need to shake things up. He's different

3. Vote Obama: To punish the Republicans
That party needs to realize they've lost us

4. Vote Obama: To punish America
If the US gets worse, we'll get on our knees

5. Vote McCain: He's the best candidate
I think his policies match Xianity well

6. Vote McCain: Necessary to stop Obama
They're both bad, but Obama is far worse!

7. Vote McCain: I really like Sarah Palin
Palin is the lone 'Evangelical' of the 4

8. Vote 3rd Party: He/she is the best candidate
I think the CP, LP, GP, PP, other is ideal

9. Vote 3rd Party: To protest 2-party system
We need to break the 2 party system

10. Write-in: A ideal person who isn't running
There's no one good on the list, I'll still vote

11. Write-in: To mock the system
Our government is so corrupt, I'll vote snoopy

12. Not Vote: I'm lazy and/or don't care
It's not high on my priority list

13. Not Vote: There's no one good to vote for
Is this really the best we have to offer?

14. Not Vote: My vote won't make a difference
My state is already decided, the system stinks

15. Not Vote: I'm a pilgrim
Why would I vote in THEIR election?

13 comments:

matthew said...

My personal thoughts on all 15

I don't think Obama is a good candidate. I think he's too inexperienced. I think many of his policies won't work. I don't respect his foundational beliefs. I could never vote for someone I disagreed with on so many issues. So that eliminates 1, 2, 3 & 4.

I don't think McCain is a good candidate. I think he's too much of a war guy. I am saddened that the Republican party is no longer very conservative. I never seriously considered voting for him. So that eliminates 5, 6 & 7.

I don't match up too well with the views of Nader or Mckinney. I am a Constitutional-Libertarian, so I am left to pick between Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr. Of the people running, Chuck Baldwin matches my views best. So 8 resonates with me. I also think we need to break up the 2 party system (both parties are really bad right now). So 9 resonates with me too.

Ron Paul is my ideal President. So 10 resonates with me.

11 seems childish to me unless you 'write-in' "no confidence" or something like that. But that's still a negative vote instead of a positive affirmation of SOMEONE

12 resonates with me a little. I don't think presidential elections make huge differences in my own life in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes I vote more so that I can say I voted than b/c I actually think it's worthwhile.

13 makes some sense too b/c only 2 parties have a chance to win and they are really bad candidates.

14 makes sense b/c I live in NY and the election is already decided here.

You might think 15 would appeal to be and my anabaptist leanings, but really it doesn't. I think of myself as a citizen of heaven, but I don't see how that means I shouldn't or wouldn't vote in the nation God has placed me in.

In summary, I'd prefer to vote for Ron Paul. He's not on the ballot. And in NY, I can't even write him in and have it count b/c he's not a registered write-in candidate. In my mind, I have 3 valid options

1. Vote for Bob Barr b/c of all the candidates ON THE BALLOT IN NY, he's the one I'd prefer.

2. Write-in Chuck Baldwin b/c of all the people officially running for President, he's the one I'd prefer and my vote would be counted.

3. Write-in Ron Paul b/c of all the people in the country, he's the one I'd most want to be President. But my vote won't be counted.

I think I will choose option 2

Unknown said...

Although I don't have anabaptist leanings, my option is 15. Of course, it's not with the pejorative attitude, but simply because I'm Canadian and cannot vote.

I think voting is, in general, a fine practice, however, and is part of seeking the welfare of our cities, which both Old and New Testament encourage us to do. Of course, if voting does not seek its welfare, then Christians should feel comfortable not voting.

Mommy of Four said...

#6. If one is worse than the other in your mind, how could you not vote? In my case, I'm choosing the lesser of two evils.

I would highly encourage people to vote...not voting could hurt us more.

Jecca said...

since i live in ny, i'm writing in ron paul, even though it won't count. if i lived in PA, i'd probably vote for mccain, only because of the conservative view on abortion, even if he never affected any change on that issue.

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Anonymous said...

I'm voting for McCain. I would feel irresponsible otherwise. Of course, my state is iffy, leaning McCain.

I think we'd better get back in the trenches as Christians, because this battle isn't won by politics.

Tammy Craig said...

My option is #6. I, like Kayla, am going lesser of the two evils. If this wasn't such a pivotal election, and some third party even had a chance at winning, I would go that route. But where there's really only one of two people who could take this, I'm going to cast my vote towards the one that will match me far better than the other one. I don't like either of them, personally. But one of them has to win, and I'd rather it be McCain, so I will do my part to make that happen.

Owen said...

I'm voting for Obama because of 1, 2, and 3, (although I don't think punish is the right word, I think that the Republican party could acutally benifit from a time out. I might help them figure out what they are about and clean out some of the curruption in the party right now).

There are more Christian issues than abortion, and Obama represents pretty much all of the rest of them. I don't have a lot of confidece in him beause of his lack of experience, but what are you gonna do.

I tried very hard to find a third party I liked. I was going to vote for Bab Barr, until I found out that he WROTE the patriot act back when he was a Republican. I'm not going to make a point on someone who dosent deserve it.

On another issue that dosen't apply to anyone else but DC'rs- Obama strongly supports giving us congressmen and senators. McCain dosen't. I would kind of like to be able to be represented in congress one day. Bush was very opposed (he had new lisense places made without "Taxation without Repersentation" on them, which I thought was sad)

Aaron Perry said...

Just a question regarding Lindy's comment: Aren't the "Taxation without Representation" plates a protest to the lack of congressional representation? I think those are decrying the fact, not supporting it... Can anyone fill me in?

matthew said...

The 'taxation w/o representation' plates are indeed a protest to the fact that DC doesn't have representation

But I think that's what Lindy was saying. Bush took away that phrase b/c he doesn't think DC should have representation. McCain, apparently, agrees with Bush on this. Lindy and Obama think otherwise.

SO I think you're both saying the same thing, just with different words. Right?

matthew said...

I posted this as a poll on a leading evangelical message board. Here are the leading answers

15 people said mccain was the best candidate

4 people
-said obama was best
-said 3rd party was best
-said mccain as necessary evil

2 people said they'd write-in their favorite candidate

1 people said most of the other answers

Owen said...

To Matthew and Aaron- right!

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