Obama Blue
Well, my candidate won, and so did his party, as shown by the resurgence of blue color symbolizing the Democratic victories in the Senate and the House. The high school students at the small Christian academy where I teach religion and history have been divided over this election race, and, at times, argue with one another. Some students cornered me as I supervised them at lunch, and wouldn’t accept my evasive answers to their persistent questioning: Who did you vote for, Mr. Miles? So I told them; it felt like a casual enough moment, outside the classroom, far from the authoritative “speaking as teacher” mode during which all teachers are loath to bring in their personal political opinions for fear of unduly imprinting their own values on impressionable kids’ minds.
I just finished refereeing another heated discussion in our World History class, in which there are students fervently supporting each of the candidates. The McCain supporters today are disappointed, angry, and some are resigning themselves to the fact that this Obama win means the end of the world just got a little closer to becoming reality. The Obama supporters are rejoicing, proud, and full of hope in their country’s future, one in which they are now eager to play a part.
As they wrangled over campaign talking points which had gotten embedded into their minds over the past months, I stopped everyone for a moment and expressed to them my desire to see them never put party politics over their friendships with each other. I told them that since I had told some of them at lunch who I voted for, that I wanted a chance to say something else about my choice of candidates.
I told them that I wish I could see four parallel Americas going through the next four years; one, with a President Barack Obama leading us; another, with a President John McCain in charge; a third, with President Joseph Biden in the Oval Office; and a fourth with a President Sarah Palin. I told them, and I sincerely mean this, that I have seen things in all four Americans that I would love to see in action in the Executive Branch. I also told them that I believe that any reasonable American citizen could execute the office of the President, given that at this point, the best expert advice in the world is at the fingertips of whoever occupies that position. And so, I believe that any of the four candidates could have been good Presidents. But we don’t get to choose four, just one, and so we choose who we choose, and trust that we made the right choice, no take-backs, no do-overs.
I also said that it is our duty, no matter who is in office, to make known to them our desires and wishes, and never relax our vigilance in holding them to account for what they do while in that office, working for us. And I do not think we should hold up any victorious candidate as our Messiah, the one who will solve our problems, deserving of our worship and adoration. He’s just a man, and not God. He’s part of a system that, while holding great potential for serving the needs of a great many people, is nevertheless imperfect, and subject to the corruptions to which all human governments will always be vulnerable.
Even so, Come Lord Jesus, and Thy Kingdom Come, and set up that perfect government on earth, in which nobody votes, but everybody’s needs are perfectly met by the King and Creator of us all.
Amen.