I write about voting now in advance of Tuesday, November 3, because according to the Michigan Students Vote Toolkit “Important Dates and Deadlines” (https://www.michigan.gov/documents/sos/Michigan_Students_Vote_Toolkit_701243_7.docx):
September 24: Absentee ballots available
Clerks begin to mail ballots to voters who requested to vote from home.
In person absentee voting is available in city and township clerk’s offices.
I confirmed my voter registration at the Michigan Voter Information Center (https://mvic.sos.state.mi.us/).
Elections are volatile and vulnerable national events. Attempts at genuine persuasion based on reliable sources of information are assailed from every direction by misinformation, disinformation, deceit, malice, and contempt.
One of the books I read near the end of 2019 was Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974 by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer. They present recent history along economic, racial, political, and gender and sexuality fault lines. They support their time period this way:
But the turbulent decade of the 1960s caused the common ground of the mid-twentieth century to crumble beneath Americans’ feet. Rather than seek to find new sources of agreement, the nation reconstituted itself in the 1970s and the decades that followed in ways that augmented and institutionalized these lines of division (p.3).
Fault lines have at least a double meaning as the authors explain:
While these fault lines in America were important, so too were the lines Americans were fed about who was at fault. The media became increasingly fractured during these decades, changing from a fairly rigid industry dominated by three television networks and a handful of prominent newspapers to a more cluttered, chaotic landscape (p.3).
In the midst of overwhelming divisions and confrontation and peaceful protests and violent riots, I turn to our Social Principles for one source of guidance.
While our allegiance to God takes precedence over our allegiance to any state, we acknowledge the vital function of government as a principal vehicle for the ordering of society. Because we know ourselves to be responsible to God for social and political life, we declare the following relative to governments:
We hold governments responsible for the protection of the rights of the people to free and fair elections and to the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, communications media, and petition for redress of grievances without fear of reprisal; to the right to privacy; and to the guarantee of the rights to adequate food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care…
The form and the leaders of all governments should be determined by exercise of the right to vote guaranteed to all adult citizens. We also strongly reject domestic surveillance and intimidation of political opponents by governments in power and all other misuses of elective or appointive offices (Social Principles of The United Methodist Church, “The Political Community – Basic Human Freedoms and Human Rights”; I bolded the text).
We evaluate candidates and policies in accordance with these affirmations while living with fault lines all around us. I hold deep and abiding convictions about the positive responsibilities of our secular government and how these responsibilities are denied in cruel, racist, and violent ways.
Jesus and the prophets remind us that our world always has been marred by cruelty and oppression and unjust distributions of wealth and benefits. It’s really hard work to stay engaged in our national and local and Church communities. Jesus also declares that the reign of God is near and by grace, we are capable of change.
Our opportunity as disciples of Jesus Christ and citizens of the United States is to faithfully participate in the governing processes available to us. The responsibility for this comes from our baptism service:
Do (we) accept the freedom and power God gives (us) to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?
According to the grace given to (us), will (we) remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world?
I invite you to confirm your voter registration and make a plan for voting. Let’s make it our fault that there is a noticeably greater turnout in this election cycle and pray for the grace to stay engaged in the church and the world.