Political Deists

Well, as anyone who has any news source at all knows by now, Rick Santorum dropped out of the race, leaving only (for all intents and purposes) Mitt Romney. Romney has run a phenomenal (expensive) campaign that carefully explained how all genuine conservative candidates are bad while skillfully accentuating his out-of-touch-rich-guy status. While he has been adamant that he is a real conservative, we don't really know where he is. Both the Democrats and the Republicans know that Romney is good at a few things. He knows how to outspend his opponents. And he is a world-class flip-flopper.

Back in February I wrote about my dilemma: How do I vote when there is no good vote? Over at Blog & Mablog Doug Wilson has started an uproar among conservatives by saying that he cannot vote for Romney, which spawned more commentary on more objections. "What?!" the cry will be, "Do you want the horrors of Obama to stay in office???!!!" Dr. Mattson called it Pragmatic Misanthropy and warned about "real suffering. Real economic stagnation and/or collapse. Real houses under water. Real 401(k) accounts depleted. Real babies aborted. Real medical death panels. Real Supreme Court appointments. Real Iranian nukes. Real race and class divisions and conflict." You see, if we don't vote for the wavering reed, Mitt Romney, we are voting for ... what ... the end of the world? At least as we know it.

I'm not here to smooth out the brouhaha over whether to vote for Mitt Romney as the only right and practical thing to do in the face of the Axis of Evil headed by Barack Obama or whether to vote (or refuse to vote) on principle even if it necessarily rejects Romney and elects Obama. Like I said before, I'm asking that question myself. But what I can tell you is that most Americans are political atheists and most Christians appear to be political deists. And I don't mean that in a good way.

Look, we need to examine the issues carefully. We need to vote and we need to vote our consciences. We need to decide if the general principle of not voting for someone with whom you heartily disagree (or, at least, whom you find wholly untrustworthy) is a larger principle than voting out the offensive current administration. You need to consider whether there will be new appointments to the Supreme Court and whether or not those would make a difference (because, I'm telling you, it seems as if more often than not they don't). You need to decide if the current trend against Christianity in America is something you can tolerate or if you think that voting against the current president might change that. You have to weigh the issues, perform your finest prognostications, consider as many angles as you can. I'm not saying that I'm telling you how to vote here because I'm not.

What I am telling you (as I write basically to genuine Christians) is that no matter what occurs in Washington D.C., God is on the throne. God will do with America what He will do with America. Voting in a Rick Perry or a Michelle Bachmann would not stop God from erasing America if that's what He wants to do, and another 4 years of Barack Obama cannot eliminate the country if God doesn't want it to. Maybe God wants to take the country to its bottom rung on the ladder to light the fires under our feet and make us repent back up. Maybe God has decided enough is enough and will end it all for the United States. You know, maybe our iniquity is complete. Could be, you know, with all the hard work we've been putting into it. Practice, practice, practice. But no matter who is in the White House, God is on the throne. "There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God" (Rom 13:1).

By all means pray about it. Absolutely spend time examining issues, considering alternatives, examining your heart, testing your principles. By all means vote. But don't do it because you're pretty sure that it would have gone better if only you had voted right and, oh, too bad, the country went in a direction that God never intended. Do it because there is no authority except from God. Do it because you are a follower of Christ and want to do what will bring Him the most glory. Do it because you think it is right, not because you are a believer in a God who isn't there when it comes to American politics. That God doesn't exist.