One Soul, One Vote

Each year I make something clear to my students: I don’t hate America, I just have a complicated relationship with this country. Frankly, that isn’t even America’s fault. My standard for leadership is Jesus; my standard for a society is the Kingdom of God. No earthly nation has a chance of comparing favorably in that matchup. 

I understand why some mistake my disappointment for hatred. Those who consider themselves the most patriotic in our nation often train others to think that only the most full-throated, aggressive support of our country is acceptable. Anyone else, according to this lot, is to be considered an enemy of American values, and treated as such. Should this site ever become popular enough that I receive random, anonymous internet hatred from such proud Americans, I’ll ask the same thing of them that I do of anyone who comes through my class: get to know me a bit before you call me a communist. 

I am, to prove my point, more than happy to emphasize aspects of my nation that come close to how much God cares for people, and how we can all look forward to living once Jesus returns. This was why I was especially happy to have a conversation with a colleague today that helped me think about democracy in another way. To be clear: this isn’t a retraction. I still hold to everything I said in the last post: this is just also true. 

Democracy comes near to godliness in that it gives a voice to people who God dearly loves. 

At its most idealistic, America invests every citizen with the power to speak their mind and inspire change. Voting represents power in the United States because it means each of us has a say in the political process. Through our vote we each get to be heard, all the way to the highest halls of power in this nation. Given America’s global influence, this gives each American an incredible amount of potential influence. When at its best, our democracy reminds each of us that we matter more than we might think. 

I believe God agrees with this ideal. After all, Scripture could not be clearer about how much each of us matter to God. From our earliest beginnings; to the hairs on our heads; to the plans he has for our lives: we are deeply, personally known by our Lord. He rejoices at every lost one of us who returns to his love. He gave his one and only son that he might experience the joy of knowing us for all eternity. God desperately wants each of us to know that we are loved; that he cares for us more than we can ever fully understand—at least on this side of his Kingdom. 

In this way, the values of America echo the heart of God—however faintly. At its core our nation champions the idea that each of her citizens have a voice, and that voice has value. In the same vein, Scripture makes clear that in God’s Kingdom we will have no doubt of our value to our Lord. God’s Word makes plain how much every person matters to him. He sees each of us; hears each of us; knows each of us. To him, our value is immeasurable. 

To be clear: we matter much more to God than we ever could to our nation. I’m very tempted at this moment to step all over the point of this post. In some ways, such trampling would be very appropriate. After all, the value of an individual voice gets much quieter when some can spend millions to be heard above the crowd. More and more, the reality of America seems to differ widely from her core principles. The vast majority of Americans, in turn, have developed much more negative attitudes toward the systems that govern our country. 

Interestingly, though, Americans seem to still highly value our vote. Despite all our frustration with the ways our nation falls short of its own promises, we still believe it’s important to participate in our democracy. In this, I find a glimmer of hope. In holding voting in high regard, we declare that we want to be heard. We believe our voice matters, and we want others to believe theirs matters as well. 

In this, I think we look—however unknowingly—toward the glory of the Kingdom of God. When Jesus returns in power, we won’t have to shout over the voices of the rich and mighty to be heard. We won’t have to shout at all. We will simply get to live in the full understanding of how much God loves us, and how deeply we are known. We will know fully what our nation was only able to show in part: what it means to really matter. 

Still, if our democracy can point to even a small piece of what God has in store for us, then I suppose it can’t be all bad.