I’m just a DJ, but I’m warning you that I’m about to preach to my church-going Christians: the ones who are considering NOT going to the polls on election day and to those of you who may have some influence on them. If you weren’t ever planning on voting or if you’ve never supported the President, I’m not talking to you. I’m appealing to those of you campaigned for him, and prayed for him and voted for him four years ago.
The President stood before the nation in Chicago the night of the election and told us it would take more than four years for him to accomplish his goals. So, if we believed then, that he was a man who can lead the country, what’s changed?
Okay, he said that he believes that gay Americans should have the same rights as all Americans and that women should be able to decide whether they will terminate unwanted or unplanned pregnancies. He didn’t say that YOU should support gay Americans or abortions. Our choices are so simple. If you are against gay marriage, don’t marry a gay person, don’t attend a gay wedding, and, tell your family and friends your feelings. Maybe you can persuade them not to be tolerant of those who don’t think like you. If you don’t believe in abortion, don’t ever get one. And have no sympathy or empathy for those who have made that decision due to rape or incest or whatever reason they have for making this deeply personal decision.
I thought that God gave us free will make to decisions, and if they turn out to be wrong, that God will deal with us. I thought we were supposed to leave judgment up to Him. We like to tout “One Nation Under God,” and “Land of the Free.” But we often don’t display the qualities God would want us to have. Nor are we recognizing that freedoms include things we don’t necessarily agree with all the time.
But I’m not here to give a civics lesson. I’m just here to try to send a message.
You don’t have to agree with everything on the Democratic Party platform. I’m not sure that even the president does. He’s trying to represent the millions of people who support him. They represent your concerns, their concerns and mine and they aren’t all the same. What if the Big Chief decided to turn his back on health care, just because some Democrats have great benefit packages on their job? What if he ignored education because many of his supporters can afford to send their children to the best schools? What if he didn’t try to create new jobs because all his friends are employed? That isn’t what he does. That isn’t what any successful presidential candidate does.
We laughed at Mitt Romney for his gaffe about not caring about 47 percent of Americans. We called that political suicide because Romney offended people who weren’t even likely to vote for him.
So what would the president be committing if he decided to ignore part of his own base? President Obama isn’t our savior, or our pastor, or even our moral compass. He is a politician representing the party you once believed had more of our interests at heart than his opponent’s party does. You can believe that and put this man back in office and still keep your other personal convictions because that’s what freedom is all about.
If you think all Republicans that are going to the polls in November believe every nutty thing that comes out of the mouths of their candidates then you’re naïve. But these voters know if they stay home, President Obama will be re-elected and finish the work he started. Some are not for Mitt Romney at all, just against our president.
Here’s another reason to go to the polls. The presidential election is the biggest motivation symbolically, but practically, state-wide and local issues actually will have more of an impact on our everyday lives. It’s our chance to elect judges and representatives and police chiefs, and our chance to vote on laws like “Stand Your Ground.”
And to any ministers (which I believe there are few) that have told his or her congregation not to cast their votes in November, I question your motives and your methods. If that decision was based on direction from a larger church organization that may be using their “religious” muscle to get President Obama out of office, then you’re being used. Just the history of Civil Rights in this country alone should cause a red flag to go up anytime African-Americans are discouraged to vote. If your decision not to vote and to lead others not to is based on your religious conviction, then I’m sure nothing I can write here will change your minds.
But to any still on the fence, still wondering if voting for President Obama is the right thing to do, weigh it out. I’m sure you’ll agree that there are more reasons to exercise your right to vote Democratic than to stay at home on election day. If we don’t show up, we are, in a sense, voting for Republican candidate Mitt Romney. If he represents more of what you stand for, has more of your needs and concerns on his radar and has made you feel that he will make life better for you, more power to you. If your pastor has influenced you, maybe he or she has some answers about the economy, education and health care. President Obama doesn’t have all of the answers either. But I’d rather let him lead the country and let pastors run the churches.
Amen?
