I did something last week I've never done before. I talked to a caller who said she was conducting an impartial political survey. Normally, I hang up on such calls as soon as I know what they are, but this time I thought I would give them my views. I found some of the questions misleading, some were confusing, and a few were obviously not impartial.
The question that most peaked my interest was when she asked if I leaned more towards the Republican party or to Donald Trump. I asked her to repeat the question to make sure I didn't misunderstand. After she repeated it, I responded that the question didn't make any sense since Donald Trump had been elected president on the Republican ticket. She moved on to the next question.
Now, it can be argued that Trump is not exactly the typical Republican, and that many Republicans dislike him as much as do the Democrats. Still, I felt it was a loaded question and represented an obvious bias against Trump. After all, I was not asked if I leaned more towards the Democrat party or to Hillary Clinton. I wasn't even asked if I was a Democrat or a Republican. I answered a couple more questions and said I was done and hung up. I had wasted enough of my time.
Every election cycle I say it can't get much worse, and every election cycle I am wrong. It can and does get worse. Every candidate is long on attacks against their opponents and short on ideas for improving the country. We hear a lot of generalities and few specifics. Every candidate promises to improve health care, but none explain how they will do that. They all want to fight the war on drugs, but none say what they will do to actually win that battle. A lot of attack ads, a few general statements guaranteed to appeal to everyone, and no specific plans for doing anything.
As I told someone lately, our nation is plagued with a lot of office holders and few leaders. The majority of politicians are running for an office, a position, but few offer any real leadership. It's amazing to me how Congress can have such low approval ratings and yet the same people keep getting reelected.
Our nation has serious problems, and you can't solve problems with the same people who created them. Most of the ones who are in office today have proven they have no solutions to the problems facing this country, so why should they be returned to their offices? People often call for term limits, but there is no way anyone in Congress is going to vote to put themselves out of a job. However, the American public doesn't have to wait for them to vote in term limits. We have the power to set term limits every time there is an election.
We vote out the ones who are doing nothing and replace them with their opponents, and if they prove incapable of doing the job we replace them the next time they are up for reelection. We should expect and demand real leadership from our elected representatives or we replace them with those who will provide it. If enough American voters take this approach perhaps those running for office will realize we are serious about wanting real leadership from those we elect to represent us.
Every Christian should vote, but our involvement in our political system cannot stop there. Scripture also mandates that we pray for those in office. That includes the ones you voted against. We have no right to complain about our leaders if we do not exercise our right to vote, and we have no right to complain about them if we do not pray for them regularly.
If you have not voted early I encourage you to vote tomorrow. Too much is riding on this election to sit home.
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