The "Vote"

A little late, but a collection of thoughts and comments with friends over email:

Here's a quote from the US Bishops' "Faithful Citizenship" (2007): "When all candidates hold a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, the conscientious voter faces a dilemma. The voter may decide to take the extraordinary step of not voting for any candidate or, after careful deliberation, may decide to vote for the candidate deemed less likely to advance such a morally flawed position and more likely to pursue other authentic human goods."

These are extra-ordinary times. The U.S. government is an Empire of political, social, and economic violence that keeps its lot off of the blood and sweat of millions of poor, oppressed and marginalized people all over the world. Do not be fooled by patriotic whims of electoral duty...a vote for any president is a vote for war and violence. Take a stand for peace and truth, withdraw consent from bloody regimes and begin organizing local, sustainable, nonviolent communities from the ground up. Quit paying taxes to the war machine. Quit our consumer habits that rape the Earth and pillage the poor. Vote by every mile you ride your bike instead of driving the car. Vote by buying fair trade, local and organic food from cooperative projects. Vote by demanding, (with our bodies, because talk is cheap these days) every power elite to shut down Guantanamo, shut down immigration raids, shut down wars for oil, shut down discrimination and hate based on age, gender, race, orientation, shut down nuclear proliferation, shut down the prisons, shut down scandalous electoral politics and hundreds of billions of dollars of campaign finance...put that money into the Dunkin' Donuts cup of the homeless man begging for a meal, a bed, a conversation. Don't let the politicians play their games of rhetoric and backdoor devilry, don't let them spit in the faces of the widows and the orphans who are turned away empty handed because all the coffers have been emptied for Blackwater and Halliburton, don't let them bleed the Earth of the life and beauty that sustains us all. The good news here is that we don't need them. They need our votes, but more importantly, they need our dollars. Tell them to take a hike and give you dough to the young veteran back from Iraq who has been left on his own to find treatment for PTSD. Give it to the local food shelf, or better yet, invite the hungry into your home and cook a meal for them and make some new friends. Give shelter to the undocumented who are being persecuted by ideologues and bureaucrats. Change starts here, not Election Day. We don't need four more years. The revolution, the real revolution, of learning to love our neighbors AND our enemies, has been going on for thousands of years. We don't need a president or elected official to tell us how to do that. We have each other, we have community...start building it now: our lives depend on it.


Is this "rhetorical flourish," or do you dare believe what you write?
And God said to Jake, "You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you" (Luke 12:20).
If what you write is true, then our lives should never...can never be the same.


Why do we waste so much time not meaning what we say or saying what we mean...I do dare to believe this. Dare I take this on faith? Dare I write this and share it with others? These are but passing fancies.

The real rub, the task at hand: Do I dare make this belief reality - or, rather - does my life become one with the creator and creation so that this daring proposition is made real? My salvation is your salvation is her salvation is their salvation is...

Who am I to say if this is true...I've merely been blessed (or cursed, the jury is still out!) to have caught a glimpse of the banquet feast at Maryhouse. The Lord said "Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people" (Ezekiel 12:2). And we are called the rebels by the ones with the bombs and the ballots!

Spare some change? Sorry, good sir, I am on my way to vote so that you are no longer poor. I would buy you a meal but gave my last to the Obama campaign. I hope you understand, but change is on its way, if you would just wait a bit longer... "Aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." (Matthew 26:10-13)." So much for the least of these. The works of war (ahem, I mean politics) have once again usurped the works of mercy.


Because the structures that govern this country are inherently created for injustice to persist...it does not matter who is a part of them, violence and extortion are part of their function. A voting system exists to create illusions of control of the people. The reality is that these votes are manipulated by slick advertising, non-binding campaign promises, and cheap rhetoric that borders on idolatry. I fundamentally disagree with the way our country is governed and have strong reservations about the ability of a nation-state to even hold a nonviolent position. So I withdraw my consent and support for that structure (by not voting, paying taxes, etc.) while realistically recognizing that the dismantling of that structure will take some time. The ethical mandate of a Gospel politic (concerning citizens and interaction with the State) is rooted in the works of mercy, the forgiveness of sins, the calling of conversion to state and church powers to serve the poor. That morality, because it is rooted in truth, can be spoken to any politician or person in the power elite because it is the good news. One need not vote for one or the other because any person, whether it be in a local position or the executive branch, will need reminders of what it means to be good. That is just the nature of the beast. In the meantime, I will continue to work on behalf of the poor, the tortured, the oppressed by serving them directly as best I can and organize communities that can create an alternative social structure that eliminates the power elite and their nuclear weapons. Forgiveness and self-sacrifice is the only way God can be known and the government refuses to do either.