This is something that has been on my mind for a while, and I am just now getting to type it all out. One thing that stands out to me about the Republican Party is that they usually have the vote of the Evangelical Christians, and this vote is very important to them - just look at how Trump went from saying he wasn't a Christian to saying he was born again so he could get the Evangelical vote to become the GOP candidate, and then the PotUS. But, I think the Evangelicals also have a reliance in the Republican Party to the point that they will vote for whoever the Republicans put out simply because they are Republican.
This is not necessarily always true, but having grown up Evangelical and living around Evangelicals this is what I noticed - the Republicans are God's chosen and the Democrats are evil incarnate.
Republicans used to be able to point to Bill Clinton and his affairs as a "gotcha" that Democrats are pure evil - well that and the Democrats trying to grab our guns, and being for abortion. But look at who they voted in to the presidency - a man who has had multiple affairs (confirmed, not those that the news agencies are trying to prove), a man who is for gun control, and a man who was previously for abortion (before he realized he was losing the Evangelical vote and changed his tune overnight).
Now, when the Trump supporters have this pointed out to them they claim, "We voted for a president, not a pastor." The problem when they make this statement is that they then lose any moral high ground that they may have held. For years the Republicans have been telling us that they are the party that believes in the sanctity of life, marriage, and the Second Amendment, but now they are telling us it doesn't matter what the character of the PotUS is because they didn't elect him to lead a church, but a nation.
This is telling people that Evangelical Christians don't really care about the morals they've been preaching about and using to hit everybody else over the head with to show how holy they are as long as there is a Republican in office and he's pissing off the opposition.
What has happened is that they are letting their politics inform their religion, instead of letting their religion inform their politics. For them, being a Republican is almost like a religious identifier just as much as being Christian.
Similar can be said for the Democrats, except you would substitute Atheists for Evangelicals. Democrats are constantly criticizing Christianity in almost every way and they have set themselves up to be opponents of the Republicans.
But they aren't merely just political opponents in the sense that their party stands for different things than the Republican Party, they are opponents to almost anything a Republican says or does - even if they have said and done the same things themselves (this also holds true to the Republicans). And the adherents to both parties similarly pit themselves against each other.
People are following political ideologies almost as if they were a substitute for religion, and in many cases it flows over into their actual religions. I've attended many an Evangelical church where it has been stated that you can't be a good Christian unless you are a Republican - I've also heard the opposite in some other churches.
This is deplorable and we shouldn't separate ourselves like this. We shouldn't let ourselves be divided by political parties that only care about pushing their agenda instead of caring about the people who voted them into office.
Instead of letting politics inform our ideologies we should instead let religion inform our politics.
How do we do this, then? Simple, we look at the core beliefs of our religions and we apply those to our politicians. Now, I know many naysayers will say this breaches separation of Church and State, but no, it doesn't. The separation of Church and State means that the State cannot form a religion, or mandate a religion for all citizens to follow - it does not mean that we cannot let our religious beliefs help us politically.
Politicians - our Senators and Representatives - are supposed to represent us, they are supposed to work for us and take our cares into consideration. That is why we are a Representative Republic, but it seems the politicians have forgotten that part where they actually represent us and instead have us representing them.
We should take a step back from the rhetoric of the political parties and take a look at ourselves, and our beliefs. Do our beliefs mesh exactly with the political party we have chosen? If not then why describe yourself as a member of that party? Does the party's preferred candidate mesh with your beliefs? If not why support him or her?
There is absolutely no reason to vote for somebody who you feel will not represent you to our government. It doesn't matter if the opposition will win, because neither party is going to represent you, and both are going to enact things that you disagree with. And you are indeed free to vote for whoever you want - it doesn't matter who is on the ballot for your preferred party, you can still vote for Joe Snuffy from down the street. And if there is absolutely nobody you would like to vote for, then don't vote - why waste a vote on a person who could care less about you and your beliefs?
I guarantee that if we stop voting for candidates based solely off of which party they belong to that the parties will take notice and start trying to field better candidates.
This is not necessarily always true, but having grown up Evangelical and living around Evangelicals this is what I noticed - the Republicans are God's chosen and the Democrats are evil incarnate.
Republicans used to be able to point to Bill Clinton and his affairs as a "gotcha" that Democrats are pure evil - well that and the Democrats trying to grab our guns, and being for abortion. But look at who they voted in to the presidency - a man who has had multiple affairs (confirmed, not those that the news agencies are trying to prove), a man who is for gun control, and a man who was previously for abortion (before he realized he was losing the Evangelical vote and changed his tune overnight).
Now, when the Trump supporters have this pointed out to them they claim, "We voted for a president, not a pastor." The problem when they make this statement is that they then lose any moral high ground that they may have held. For years the Republicans have been telling us that they are the party that believes in the sanctity of life, marriage, and the Second Amendment, but now they are telling us it doesn't matter what the character of the PotUS is because they didn't elect him to lead a church, but a nation.
This is telling people that Evangelical Christians don't really care about the morals they've been preaching about and using to hit everybody else over the head with to show how holy they are as long as there is a Republican in office and he's pissing off the opposition.
What has happened is that they are letting their politics inform their religion, instead of letting their religion inform their politics. For them, being a Republican is almost like a religious identifier just as much as being Christian.
Similar can be said for the Democrats, except you would substitute Atheists for Evangelicals. Democrats are constantly criticizing Christianity in almost every way and they have set themselves up to be opponents of the Republicans.
But they aren't merely just political opponents in the sense that their party stands for different things than the Republican Party, they are opponents to almost anything a Republican says or does - even if they have said and done the same things themselves (this also holds true to the Republicans). And the adherents to both parties similarly pit themselves against each other.
People are following political ideologies almost as if they were a substitute for religion, and in many cases it flows over into their actual religions. I've attended many an Evangelical church where it has been stated that you can't be a good Christian unless you are a Republican - I've also heard the opposite in some other churches.
This is deplorable and we shouldn't separate ourselves like this. We shouldn't let ourselves be divided by political parties that only care about pushing their agenda instead of caring about the people who voted them into office.
Instead of letting politics inform our ideologies we should instead let religion inform our politics.
How do we do this, then? Simple, we look at the core beliefs of our religions and we apply those to our politicians. Now, I know many naysayers will say this breaches separation of Church and State, but no, it doesn't. The separation of Church and State means that the State cannot form a religion, or mandate a religion for all citizens to follow - it does not mean that we cannot let our religious beliefs help us politically.
Politicians - our Senators and Representatives - are supposed to represent us, they are supposed to work for us and take our cares into consideration. That is why we are a Representative Republic, but it seems the politicians have forgotten that part where they actually represent us and instead have us representing them.
We should take a step back from the rhetoric of the political parties and take a look at ourselves, and our beliefs. Do our beliefs mesh exactly with the political party we have chosen? If not then why describe yourself as a member of that party? Does the party's preferred candidate mesh with your beliefs? If not why support him or her?
There is absolutely no reason to vote for somebody who you feel will not represent you to our government. It doesn't matter if the opposition will win, because neither party is going to represent you, and both are going to enact things that you disagree with. And you are indeed free to vote for whoever you want - it doesn't matter who is on the ballot for your preferred party, you can still vote for Joe Snuffy from down the street. And if there is absolutely nobody you would like to vote for, then don't vote - why waste a vote on a person who could care less about you and your beliefs?
I guarantee that if we stop voting for candidates based solely off of which party they belong to that the parties will take notice and start trying to field better candidates.
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