Vote Jesus 2016!
I have watched most of the debates for both political
parties during this grand nightmare known as the election cycle. To
be perfectly upfront, I have been registered as a non-partisan independent
voter for years and I do not believe in the two-party system-- but that is a
discussion for another day. Suffice it
to say that I do not consider myself truly a Democrat or a Republican. But on this election cycle’s merry-go-round,
I have found myself feeling increasing anxiety and angst over the words of the
Republican candidates, claiming to be directed by Jesus in their political doings.
These feeling
peak when the individuals conclude their remarks with a cheesy pander of gratitude to “my
Savior, Jesus Christ” who guides their decisions, etc. etc. To me, there is no clearer example of taking
the Lord’s name in vain than this— using the name of Jesus in an attempt to
scrape up a few votes and arrogantly demonstrate your superior virtue. Adding insult to injury, these vain oblations
always come after an hour or so of the same person ranting off their policy
proposals, which I am sure Jesus Himself would have a hard time agreeing with.
If Jesus Christ ran for President of the United States
of America in this 2016 election, what would His campaign look like? Would Christ honestly care about not raising
taxes? Would he be adamant about cutting social welfare programs?
If not, can you honestly say He would run as a Republican?
Despite the conservative Christian block being
nestled comfortably within the Republican Party for many years, I think that
there are cracks forming and that all this –lead, in part, by the Mormons—may
be about to change.
What follows is a non-inclusive list of some things
currently important and also generally important to the two parties, compared
with what Jesus Himself (or His prophets) said or did about the same or similar
subjects:
Tenets
of the Republicans
Lower
Taxes; Corporate Loopholes OK to Aid Economy
Luke
20:25 And he said unto them, Render therefore
unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.
(ie, PAY your fair share of
taxes to the government, but give your loyalty to God.)
Less
government involvement in the economy & our lives
John 2:15 And when he had made
a scourge of small cords, he drove them
all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out
the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16 And said
unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house
an house of merchandise.
(ie, He threw out the money
changers. Watch out, check cashing
stores! When Jesus is President, you’re
in trouble! This is a special case
because business had corrupted the temple, but the image of Jesus zealously
tearing down corrupt business ventures is certainly telling about his feelings towards Corporate Fat Cats!)
Curb
Social Liberties that are Immoral (eg, abortion)
Helaman 5:2 For as their laws and their
governments were established by the voice of the people, and they who chose
evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening
for destruction, for the laws had become corrupted.
3 Yea, and
this was not all; they were a stiffnecked people,
insomuch that they could not be governed by the law nor justice, save it were
to their destruction.
(This is tricky. The people voted on evil laws, which poised
them for destruction. But the nail in
the coffin may really have been that they had descended to lawlessness—whether
their laws were good or evil, they had opted to not be governed by them
anyway. So perhaps the content of our laws
is less important than our individual choices within those laws.
This is how many of us feel about Gay Marriage and Abortion. The content of the law is one thing, how I
behave in my personal life is completely another. My choices are not effected by what may be
construed as “bad law,” because I do not choose to exercise certain “immoral”
liberties I may have because of my own moral choices. ((Alternatively, becoming lawless regardless
of a law’s content MUST be paralleled to the Bundy Family’s Oregon
lawlessness in the name of seeking “good laws” which got ZERO Church
support for a reason!)).) http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865644791/LDS-Church-condemns-seizure-of-Oregon-federal-facilities-by-militia-citing-Mormon-beliefs.html?pg=all
Tenets
of the Democrats
Increased
government responsibility to provide social welfare
Luke 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said
unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute
unto the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Increase
minimum wage + wage parity for women
Zechariah 7:9 Thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts,
saying, Execute true judgment, and
shew mercy and compassions every
man to his brother:
10 And oppress not the widow, nor
the fatherless, the stranger, not the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against
his brother in your heart.
2 Nephi 20:1 Wo unto
them that decree unrighteous decrees,
and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
2 To turn
away the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my
people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
Enhanced
Social Liberties
Joshua 24:15 And if is seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this
day whom ye will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
(ie, freedom of choice. Under the umbrella of personal liberty, there
is always the opportunity to serve God.
Serving God can still happen without it being an institutional mandate.)
Some
Other Issues for Jesus’ Talking Points
Child
abuse
Luke
17:2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged
about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of
these little ones.
(I work in the field of child
advocacy, and I can attest that one of the first state programs to be cut when a Republican
governor takes office are child protection services. Jesus 2016 would have none of that! Protection of children would be a very, very significant
line-item in Jesus’ budget!)
Hunger
Isaiah 55:1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he
that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price.
Luke 9:16 Then he took the five loaves and the two
fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the
disciples to set before the multitude.
Elder Jeffery R. Holland,
Are We Not All Beggars?
Protecting
Wall Street
2 Nephi 9:30 But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the
world. For because they are rich the
despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their
treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their god. And behold, their treasure shall perish with
the also.
(If you don’t read that as a call for
re-distribution or wealth, then read it again!)
End
institutional racism
2 Nephi 26:33 …he inviteth them all to come
unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him,
black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen;
and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.
Prison
Reform, 3 Strike Laws
Luke 17:3 ¶Take heed
to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against
thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
4 And if he
trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again
to thee, saying, I repent; thou
shalt forgive him.
Isaiah 42:6 I the Lord have called thee in
righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for
a covenant of
the people, for a light of
the Gentiles;
7 …to bring out the prisoners from
the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
War, Being the World Policeman
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the
children of God.
---
How did those policies add up for you? Do you still think that the Republicans are
the unquestioned party of Christianity?
Interestingly, I think the Mormons have gotten a head
start on the idea that the Republicans may no longer be a safe haven for
them. Mitt Romney certainly helped. Although he doesn’t speak for all Mormons,
his influence was obvious in the steep Utah Primary Election results. Romney clearly denounced Trump, even if it
meant appearing disloyal to the party.
One of my problems with the Two-Party System is the constant “Us vs. Them” mentality inherent to a
system with only two camps. If you are
trying to change or even improve your own party, it is immediately construed as
an attempt to strengthen your opponent by showing your own weakness. There is no winning with changing and
adapting, there is only slowing down, creating fissures, and encouraging cracks
that necessarily leave the other party with the upper hand.
Romney did not seem to care about the party itself
when he unabashedly disavowed the party’s front-runner. For Mormons, gone should be the days of
accepting the Republican Party’s rhetoric, simply to maintain its
strength. Principle must be examined before mere unity. If we are all united behind a two-headed
monster, our unity no longer looks like a strength, but looks more like the
intellectual (and moral?) weakness of a lemming.
And what exactly has the Republican Party done for
us? We are regularly slighted by
Christian Coalition types (remember this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZI2K8roLG8) and called “not Christian enough” even though the Church regularly stages
HUGE Jesus-centered media blitzes and sunk probably as much money and time as
any other faith in the (so-called) Christian battle again same-sex marriage.
And let’s not forget our own history as a fringe
group, systematically victimized with violence, pillaging, and rape; forced to
flee our homes and communities again and again. (If you have not read the Gospel
Topics Essay on 19th Century Violence, it is very illuminating: https://www.lds.org/topics/peace-and-violence-among-19th-century-latter-day-saints?lang=eng) Yes, we were refugees. So how
can we now as a people become the aggressors we once fell prey to? How can we abandon fellow refugees, seeking
peace, safety, solace, and personal freedoms as we once did?
What a blessing it was to watch the first session of
this season’s General Conference with its message to reach out with love for
the flood of refugees living in terror around the world today. General Conference always begins with a
special session for women and girls and the theme was clear—we are responsible
to bear one another’s burdens. “…as ye are desirous to come into the fold
of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens,
that they may be light; Yea and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea,
and comfort those that stand in need of comfort…” (Mosiah 18:8,9) If that doesn’t sound like a Bernie Sanders
speech, then I don’t know what does!
Speaking of Bernie, there was an alleged email leak of
an exchange between the President of the Mormon Church, Thomas S. Monson, and
the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Russel M. Nelson. According to the supposed leak, President
Monson praised Bernie Sanders and mentioned that his words sound like something
the prophet Brigham Young would have spoken.
Whether this came from a true email exchange or not, I love this point
and think it is so true.
When Brigham Young was the prophet, the Saints
relocated to a far-away desert (Utah), away from developed society, where they
could live in peace, free from violence and religious persecution. Here they established their own society- a
social utopia where they shared “all things in common.” As they had under the leadership of Joseph
Smith, the Saints practiced a religiously-mandated form of Socialism. (Doctrine
and Covenants 42:30, And behold, thou
wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support…) Social welfare programs were begun or
re-started since their Exodus, programs like The Law of Consecration, Home
Teaching, the Relief Society, etc.
And no member of the Church is unaware of Welfare Square
(http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/welfare-square-place-of-hope-for-the-needy) No long-term member of the Church is
unaware of Church Welfare Farms —yes!— entire farms owned by the Church and
operated by volunteers, whose harvest is given to the poor and needy. And surely no member is unaware of the
amazing Humanitarian Aid program of the Church (https://www.lds.org/topics/humanitarian-service/church?lang=eng
), early and significant responders to natural disasters at home (including
Hurricane Katrina and Super-Storm Sandy) as well as abroad.
True, we live in a Capitalist country. True, many Mormons are very successful with
their Capitalist ventures. But our roots
are undeniably Socialist, and we still covenant that we are willing to give everything to benefit others.
With all that said, vote Jesus 2016! In other words, don’t vote Republican :)
"...and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)
