The Bible warns us not to waste or squander the gifts God has given us:
“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away” (Matthew 25:29 NASB).
But for too long, citizens who are blessed to live free have taken for granted one of the greatest gifts we have been given: voting. For example, in the 2018 elections, only “47 percent of the voting-eligible population cast a ballot in the midterm elections”—and this embarrassingly low level was “the highest turnout for a midterm since 1966”![1]
To make matters worse, nearly one-third of Americans are not even registered to vote. In fact, “there are 25 million Evangelical Christians who are not yet registered to vote.”[2] And just because someone is registered to vote doesn’t mean they will.[3]
But in 2020, we could change that.
Remember 2016?—not just the American presidential election but also the Brexit vote in Great Britain. Nigel Farage, one of the great champions of Brexit, noted that:
“Brexit won because 2.5 million people who normally don’t vote or who have never voted in their lives turned out to vote on this occasion, meaning that a huge 17.4 million people in total ended up voting for Britain to leave the European Union. It was the first victory against an international political elite who have led us into an endless series of foreign wars and seen politics effectively purchased by the big banks and the multinationals.”[4]
Three years later, the British political establishment continued to resist the will of the people—until the 2019 election when, against all expectations, the people fought back, propelling Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his platform of “Get Brexit Done” to a large margin of victory, exceeding all expectations despite the personal attacks. Johnson explained:
“Many have put up with undeserved abuse. They have been egged, trolled, spat at, and screamed at. They have seen their expensive Corex boards repeatedly torn down and defaced. Much has been made, in parliament, of the need for a kinder, gentler ‘tone’ in politics. Amen to that, and let’s make sure we all take it out on the campaign trail.”[5]
People are remembering the power of the vote and are not squandering that gift but instead rising up and using it. Americans—and especially those of faith—should learn from our friends in Great Britain. We should also heed the words of Founding Father Samuel Adams:
“Let each citizen remember, at the moment he is offering his vote, that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual—or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society, for which he is accountable to God and his Country.”[6]
People of faith should be first at the ballot box throughout all of 2020—in all local, state, and federal elections, whether primary or general—because:
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?” (Matthew 5:13-15 NASB).
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[1] Domonoske, C. (2018, November 8). A boatload of ballots: Midterm voter turnout hit 50-year high. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2018/11/08/665197690/a-boatload-of-ballots-midterm-voter-turnout-hit-50-year-high
[2] Trump, D. J. (2019, December 13). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1205675536787349510?s=20
[3] Martinez, J. & Smith, G. A. (2016, November 9). How the faithful voted: A preliminary 2016 analysis. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/
[4] Farage, N. (2016, September 6). Nigel Farage: Donald Trump calls himself ‘Mr. Brexit.’ Here’s why he’s right: Trump can shock the world on Nov. 8, just as British voters did on June 23. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/09/06/nigel-farage-donald-trump-calls-himself-mr-brexit-heres-why-hes-right/
[5] Johnson, B. (2019, December 21). Boris Johnson: Perhaps my campaign was ‘clunking’. But sometimes, clunking is what you need. Retrieved from https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/boris-johnson-perhaps-my-campaign-was-clunking-but-sometimes-clunking-is-what-you-need/
[6] Adams, S. (1781, April 2). The Boston Gazette. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/notable-quotable-samuel-adams-1478564935
