My citizenship is in heaven, my allegiance is first and foremost to the kingdom of God, my loyalty is to the Church, and Jesus is king. This is all true today, and it will all be true November 4, 2008 and the day after.
But I do engage in the American political process as a steward of my civic responsibility. Last week I voted early and placed my vote in the presidential race for Senator John McCain. Unlike many of my Republican friends, this vote was not cast begrudgingly or primarily as a choice against Senator McCain's opponent. I was not, in my mind, choosing the lesser of two evils, although both men are sinners in need of God's grace.
I was happy to vote for Senator McCain. For the first time since I've been of voting age, the guy I picked and backed before my party's primaries won the nomination. I voted for Senator McCain in my state's Republican primary and rooted for him to win, and I was glad to get to vote not for a default candidate and not as a concession to my party affiliation, but for a man I respect and admire and have supported for several months.
Here's why I voted for John McCain:
1. He's all maverick-y and what-not. Sure, his opponent is running ads about his voting along with President Bush 90% of the time, but at least he's put in the time and taken stances on the tough issues. But there's a reason many Republicans, including high profile Republican pundits, were beside themselves (some in seething anger) about the prospect of McCain winning the nomination. Many saw him as unwilling to toe the party line. This appealed to me. I liked that McCain's reputation was voting his conscience and conviction, and no, I don't agree with him on all issues, but I respect a guy who is willing to risk making his own party mad because he prefers to vote his conscience. John McCain's reputation has consistently been one of willingness to reach across the aisle, to cooperate, to work with his Democratic colleagues. You don't make Republicans mad and get labeled "liberal" by falling in line with expectations.
2. He doesn't put up with shenanigans. John McCain has vigorously attacked pork and exorbitant congressional earmarks. His conservative credentials on this matter are near impeccable. He is a fiscal conservative, and his policies are good for taxpayers concerned about the government spending their money -- the taxpayers' money, mind you, not the government's -- on ridiculous and unnecessary additions.
3. He's a patriot. There is zero concern about where McCain's loyalties are. There are no long-term associations with America-denouncing ministers in his closet, no past alliances with domestic terrorists. Those concerned about McCain's support of the war in Iraq or the war on terror in general cannot charge that McCain holds these views ignorantly, having served in the armed forces, having endured a long, painful stint as a POW, and having two sons currently in military service. However awful one thinks his support of justifiable war is, one cannot say he does not understand or comprehend the cost of battle. In terms of foreign policy, McCain is the candidate with the experience and the memory to know what it takes to manage America's continued safety and security in a hostile world, even if this compromises America's popularity. To his credit, Senator McCain is not willing to trade our security for our popularity.
4. He isn't a narrowed issue conservative McCain's environmental policies often anger libertarians and Republicans because he is in favor of environmentally sound policy making, including the governmental regulation of prospects like Alaskan drilling and the reducing of carbon emissions. Yet another way McCain does not toe the party line.
5. The man is honest. He may not be as smooth an orator as Senator Obama, he may not be as young as Senator Obama, and he may not be as technologically proficient or culturally adept as Senator Obama, but John McCain has something Senator Obama does not: a sometimes aggravating penchant for honesty. He didn't mind telling Ellen DeGeneres that he didn't support a gay marriage amendment. He didn't mind telling Rick Warren that life begins at conception. McCain has a reputation for short-temperedness, and if that means a lack of self-control, that is not a good thing. But if it means he is willing to be real, to be authentic, to wear his loyalties and his opinions on his sleeves, that can be a very good thing. Especially in a world of slick political spin and partisan pandering. Even when it comes to where politicians and political campaigns get their money, Senator McCain is perhaps the most radically honest politician running for major office.
6. He's been around the block. Last week, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Clint Eastwood partially explained his support of John McCain by saying, "I just think he's been somewhere and done something." If votes were cast on experience alone, John McCain deserves the job. McCain has put in the time. He has put in the energy. He has invested and cultivated and worked. Even Hillary Clinton acknowledged John McCain brings "a lifetime of experience" to the campaign, contrasted with her then party arch nemesis who essentially brought a speech to the table as his credibility. In addition, Senator McCain has been tested and tried. Compared to his opponent, John McCain has been somewhere and done something.
7. He doesn't think the American holocaust should be made more efficient Over one million unborn children are killed every year in American via abortion. Even if a McCain presidency does nothing to reduce this number -- a claim many allegedly pro-life critics of McCain continue to make, despite its dubious veracity (given that the number of abortions has decreased during George W. Bush's presidency) -- this would still be preferable to an Obama presidency's affect on the culture of abortion. Unless Senator Obama lied to Planned Parenthood, his first order of business will be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which will effectively nullify the several gains our nation has made in the area of protection of the unborn and make abortion more convenient and accessible. If you are pro-choice or ambivalent about the issue of abortion rights, this probably makes no difference to you. You were probably going to vote for Senator Obama anyway. But the increasing number of self-identifying pro-life candidates who plan to vote for the most radical proponent of abortion rights to ever run for president boggles the mind. These supporters and their candidate think abortion is sad, but not all that bad, certainly not as bad as other mitigating factors. Senator McCain on the other hand, even if he does nothing (which remains to be seen), will be doing more for the cause of the unborn than Senator Obama, who has vowed to make abortion easier and quicker. At the very least, Senator McCain affirms the life of unborn children, while his opponent either says he has no opinion on the issue ("above his pay grade," as he quipped to Warren) or pays lip service to the "tragedy" of abortion while pledging to make this tragedy more expedient.
I am not a single issue voter. What I mean is, I wouldn't vote for a candidate who was pro-life if I opposed just about every other important aspect of his or her platform. But I am a single issue disqualifier. I may not vote for a candidate based purely on his pro-life stance, but I cannot in good conscience vote for a pro-choice candidate, no matter how appealing the rest of his platform was and how in agreement I was with it. As a guy who thinks all babies deserve a shot at life, I just can't bring myself to vote for someone who thinks some do and some don't.
Nevertheless, my vote cast for Senator John McCain was not merely because of his pro-life stance, although it is the most important issue to me. I cast my vote for John McCain for a variety of reasons, collectively which recommend him as a greater asset to American leadership than his opponent.
Whoever wins, however, will have my prayers. And Christ shall always have my allegiance and hope. More on that later in the week.
Jared Wilson is the pastor and co-founder of Element, a missional Christian community in
Nashville, Tennessee, and an award-winning writer whose articles, essays, and
short stories have appeared in numerous publications.
Jared's first book, The Unvarnished Jesus, releases Fall 2009 from Kregel.
A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, he lives outside
Nashville with his wife and two daughters.
Encounter Jared's passion for the ongoing reformation of the evangelical church
almost daily at www.gospeldrivenchurch.com.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
