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What Would Jesus Do…
If he were president? Or an American voter?
An Essay by Jim Miles
October 20, 2003

The national unity enjoyed by this country after terrorism struck September 11, 2001 has been squandered by our president. By wasting American lives and international goodwill on a political war in Iraq, Bush has left us worse off now than we were in the days after 9-11. The international community is confused and frustrated by our actions, our citizens are divided by the Republicanized talk-radio and Fox News spin doctors, and the pressing economic problems at home are neglected and festering.

Jesus taught us to defend the defenseless, and give to the poor. He challenged us to pursue peace and speak for those who can’t speak for themselves, the victims, and those without advocates. Pure capitalism can only succeed if the rich are allowed to exploit the poor without restraint; greed must run free to have a free enterprise system. The U.S. has mixed capitalism with socialism; the poor have an alternative to ruthless exploitation and hopelessness: welfare, workman’s compensation, social security. The defenseless have hope: government regulations protect us from pollution, deceptive business practices, exploitation in the workplace, and harmful food and drugs. The environment we were given by God to live and work in are protected by law from industrial pollution and greedy exploitation.

The Democratic party and the liberal community attach themselves to this aspect of Jesus’ teachings. It would be easy to imagine why a Christian would want to identify themselves with the left side of the political spectrum; much that is Christian is found there. The Republican party and conservatism, however, tends to draw more support from Christians than the Democratic, liberal side of American politics. There are many reasons for this, including the following.

First, Christian organizations openly identify themselves with Republican, conservative political leaders and organizations. Denominations themselves rarely speak politically, but when they venture into that world, it usually slants to the conservative side. Then there are organizations and companies which are openly Christian, and usually they are just as openly supportive of Republican policies. For example, James Dobson’s organization regularly criticizes liberal thinking and institutions, like the ACLU. So, when a church-going citizen listens to Christian leaders comment on politics, they will hear viewpoints expressed which are almost always very biased toward the conservative Republican side of the spectrum.

Second, the liberal community tends to shy away from questions of the morality of individual lifestyle, and spends most of its time dealing with the morality of political decisions. This makes many useful liberal sources of information unpalatable to the scrupulous Christian. Unfortunately for those careful souls, freedom of speech in many liberal magazines or websites sometimes means freedom to use profanity, and sometimes ridicule religion. Mark Morford, for example, columnist for the San Fransisco Chronicle, has incredible wisdom and razor sharp insight into the issues facing the country, but peppers his writing with so much profanity and sexually charged language, it becomes very difficult to digest, and impossible to share with those who might benefit.

Third, a consumer-oriented economy plants the seeds of materialism and greed in the society in which it operates. Republicans tend to be champions of capitalism and wealth-creation, which have admittedly provided for advanced technology such as this computer this essay is being written on. But unrestrained greed and materialism have changed the larger tendencies of our society from a service-oriented culture into a serve-me-first culture. The Church has put up very weak resistance to this trend as it has permeated churches and organizations working in the name of Jesus, who served others first. The aspect of Democratic and liberal thinking which looks out for the defenseless has been lost to the relentless pursuit of greed and selfish pleasures. The modern Republican party tends to ignore the needs of the needy and look after the needs of the wealthy; since most Christians are more interested in the same things the consumer-culture is feeding them, they naturally gravitate toward the Republican party.

Neither party is perfect. But Christians need to stop demonizing the Democratic party for its free-speech excesses and very liberal fans and notice what Jesus would like about it. Christians need to vote by listening to their consciences, not Republican spun media tales. The church needs to resist more vigorously the inroads consumerism and materialism have made into Christian communities. And we all need to stay well-informed, and be Christians first, and citizens second.