In the past year I heard both presidential candidates as they visited Charleston. One came to the college campus, one to the Jewish synagogue. One was a rally, a substance-less hype that left us all feeling like we like this guy! He wants to pay for college! (oh wait, not my college… DirectLoans still has an iron fist around me) The other was a dry speech about issues I didn’t understand, experience nor care about (social security) followed by a lot of questions posed about foreign policy.
I want to understand the domestic policy issues that are bound to face me at some point. Some things I will soon understand as I am in my first month of living as an independent adult, facing my student debt, fending for myself on a small salary. I can’t just depend on the nice ideas posed to me at a college rally or respond to the facebook blasts of my friends. I need to understand.
The media confuse me. I hate feeling like I’m being talked down to feeling lied to, seeing errors and discrepancies in “news” sources. I bristle at the tone that commentators take, I cannot stand political advertisements. I’ve been reading the news a little more this past week, getting different points of view and perspectives and opinions, also a few facts.
This is what I want to “get” out of policy discussions:
1. What will it mean to me? How will it play out in my life/ day to day {ex: how much of my paycheck will be deducted in federal taxes?}
2. What will it mean to the poor?
3. What will it mean to the rich?
4. What will it mean to the rest of the world? I notice that we, the younger crowd, tend to focus on foreign policy and empathy– see the ONE campaign’s following. This is important, but I have only recently realized that it is not more important than the domestic issues at hand.
I don’t think I understand yet. I’m uncomfortable in political conversation. I don’t have a strong conviction, I don’t like these candidates, I don’t know what they really stand for. Last week I started reading the news, and am planning on reading a lot and thinking and processing. I would also like to pray about it, knowing that I live with a God who gives direction. I would like to fast for it, knowing that the outcome of this election will have dramatic implications on the quality of life and the pursuit of justice in America for the next 10 years.
How will the Kingdom of God be served? Will it be our country’s leaders that build it, or set up systems so the many of the Church can build it? Will policies set by our government “seek justice, love mercy”*– speaking for the lives of the unborn? Protecting the innocent? Caring for the lawbreaker? Clothing the naked and feeding the hungry?** Is that what the government should be doing? Or is it someone else? Does the “someone else” function within a structure or institution? Is it the Church?
*He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. –Micah 6:8
**Then the King will say … I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ -Matthew 25:31-46
This is the Day 