Seeing Through the Microscope

So tonight I attended a house gathering of Barack Obama supporters. That's not to say I'm definitely voting for Mr. Obama in November. Nor is it to say I'm voting for John McCain. But as I've been searching the issues, reading what the candidates are saying, I wanted to see what was happening and being said at the local level.

I fully expected a room full of hip, urban, young people of varied backgrounds. What I discovered was that I was the youngest in the room by a good 30 years. Granted, this was a small meeting for which about 80 invitiations had been distributed door-to-door by the host, but I confess it surprised me.

Fairly quickly we got into the "Go around the room and introduce yourself" bit. The ironic thing about it was that these "liberal" folks were just as quick to disparage anyone who might be a Republican as those right-leaning folks whom they accuse of doing the same to them. I heard several times how they couldn't imagine in their wildest dreams how anyone in their right mind could ever vote for a Republican. One person even went so far as to say Republicans must have their heads buried in the sand.

So it was interesting when it got to me. In a poetic justice sort of way, I got to go last. I told them it was a good thing they were sitting down because I am a registered Republican. But then, as graciously yet honestly as I could, I proceeded to tell them precisely why I was there. In all sincerity, I'm trying to make a decision based on what the candidates have to say and what they stand for and what kind of character I perceive them to have and how they handle the issues rather than on what some political pundit or talk-radio loudmouth has to say.

I shared with them that I think the problem with out politicians today is that they simply opt for what's expedient to the exclusion of what is right or what is healthy long-term. Too often they make decisions based on what will get them re-elected or what vote will garner more money rather than what is actually good for the people and the country they represent. And we can't blame just one political party--both Democrats AND Republicans are to be held accountable for many of the problems of not just the last eight years, as many at the meeting had been quick to point out, but the last 16 years and beyond. More than that, it's not just politicians who are to blame, it's all of us--the American people. We have become a country of people obsessed with possessions, comfort, and personal "rights" to the exclusion of ever making sacrifices for the good of others and all. We demand of our leaders that they enable us to live these hedonistic and utterly selfish lives. We consume without ever thinking of how it affects our brothers and sisters here, around the world, and in the future.

I'm leaning toward Barack Obama in part because of how I see his faith in Jesus Christ informing his decisions. From what I've seen so far, he seems to be a man who is deeply engaged in wrestling with the issues we all face--and not just in a politically expedient sort of way. The way he speaks about them betrays an acknowledgement that not everything in life is simply black and white--there are many shades of gray in this world. We cannot afford to adopt pat answers because our politics or religion beg us to. Jesus never fell into the trap of giving easy answers to hard questions. In fact, He often confronted such questions with more questions. There are no easy answers.

What struck me the most about this setting, was the sad fact of how quickly we create and adhere to caricatures of others. The folks at this gathering--good people, concerned for our country and for others--so easily resorted to name calling and strawman arguments. It was an us-versus-them mentality. This was evident when I shared my views on the immoral nature of abortion and why we should have laws against it. One man stated he was a Roman Catholic and that he thought abortion was immoral, but that we can't legislate morality. I didn't respond--I simply said I disagree but that this meeting wasn't a place to get into that discussion. I knew I wasn't going to convince any of them there of my position anyway (although, he was WRONG of course--we legislate morality all the time as in such areas as murder, stealing, welfare, healthcare, and so on).

My hope about Barack Obama is that he is not a black and white, us-versus-them, pat answer, party-line kind of person. I hope that he is a person whose confessed faith in Jesus Christ engages every part of his being in a way that it informs and shapes the decisions he makes. It may not always lead him to come down on the same side of the decisions that I would, but at least I think I can trust that he is engaged in that theological, philosophical, ethical process.

Shortly before I left, one of my last comments was to reflect on what I read a delegate say at one of 2004's national conventions. He said that if we could stop looking at each other through a telescope and start viewing each other through a microscope we would be much better off. I think what he meant was that the more we start seeing each other as brothers and sisters instead of these sad caricatures we want to make of each other (whether it be political, racial, ethnic, economic, national, and so on), the sooner we'll realize how much we need each other, and how much we owe to each other as fellow human beings.

And really, isn't that what Jesus demonstrated? He came down to the personal level to rescue us from the sinful caricatures we'd become--from the hopelessly self-centered, myopic, hateful, people we are. As Athanasius (and some say Irenaeus before him) once said, "God became one of us so that we could become like Him."

I'm still not sure who I'll be voting for--I could certainly change my mind between now and November. But two things I pray for is the grace to be Christlike to others around me during this political process, and that God would guide us (and we would listen!) to elect the person who will most reflect His will.