Who to vote for ?

[Anonymous]

DarkJedi wrote:

A couple things stand out to me here. First, I think I have felt like I have voted for the lesser of two evils in almost every election of every kind since the first Bush. (I consider myself independent and have not consistently voted for one party or the other.) However, it is unconscionable for me not to vote. In local elections in uncontested races I have left lines blank before, but the presidential race is contested and I won’t do that. The good news is that I don’t believe much of what ETB said and I don’t believe God cares who I vote for.

That’s how I feel, especially when I know people on both sides of the fence that feel like it’s the other side that’s evil. When viewed from certain angles anyone can look evil or good. I’d rather vote than not vote. There’s the old adage, if you didn’t vote, don’t complain. I like complaining too much.

Heber13 wrote:

I think these kinds of thoughts go along with what discussions in church are about in many ways.

Some things don’t really matter. Except for personal integrity or showing “I did something rather than nothing”.

…

It is hard to know what really matters and what doesn’t. So I can separate out what matters in the grand scheme of things vs. what matters personally to me.

Yes, there’s that parallel.

When I think about it I can say that at times it mattered a great deal to me that my opinion be heard, even if I knew sharing my thoughts amounted to a hill of beans. Even if I were to bear my soul at church the sun would sill rise in the east. Maybe it goes along with the thread about charitable contributions, we can make our comments, perhaps for our own peace of mind, but it becomes problematic when we expect our comments to make a difference. That doesn’t mean comments don’t make a difference, I’m just saying that I shouldn’t expect/demand that my comments make a difference.

Church can be a little different than politics but they are similar in many ways. Political party devotion can be strong but I think religious devotion edges it out slightly. There may be a silent sufferer at church whose world can change from the right comment at the right time. Heck, maybe it’s that way with politics too, what do I know?

[Anonymous]

I agree nibbler. Well said. (your comments made a difference to me 😆 )

I also think that with politics come differing emotional responses. And, it gives us chances to practice how to disagree with others charitably (see other thread on “How to disagree”).

We had some people in our ward send out emails to everyone to get out and vote in the republican primary votes, and even cancel youth activities so parents could all go vote for which republican they support and do their civic duty.

There were responses that some people just said they weren’t voting republican…and we should assume all in the ward will be involved in republican primaries.

It gives chances practice living gospel principles by dealing with these temporal issues.

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