Why are American politics so bad? It is because we, as Americans, have let fear dictate our political decisions.
Fear is a strong power; it is one that can be used to control large groups of people. It is, more importantly though, a power that causes us to make bad decisions.
As the government has grown in size, so too has its power, including the power of the President. All of us have felt some inkling of the government’s sheer power, and it can cause us to feel that we have no influence or say in what is taking place.
When we start to feel powerless, we start to become afraid of the power. When we become afraid of the power, we start to fear who may gain that power. When we fear who may gain that power, we will inevitably vote for anyone other than the person we fear the most. When we vote this way, we are often upholding “the lesser of two evils,” a phrase commonly used by many to describe a voter’s choices with potential candidates.
While many dispute whether God exists or not, most people readily agree that evil exists. If two choices of candidates are both bad, evil doesn’t care which one you choose. Either will feed the power of evil.
Why do any of us consciously vote for “the lesser of two evils”? Why do any of us vote for someone we know is bad? It is because we fear, and we fear because we have accepted the lie that our choices and actions do not matter.
Fear is not logical. When we accept the notion that we are powerless to make a difference, we then become convinced that we have to vote for someone bad to stop the other “more evil” candidate from winning. In other words, fear tells us that we cannot make a difference, and therefore must make a difference by ensuring that the more evil option does not win. There is no logic to this, only fear.
The reality is that we have the option to choose good. There are many good people that run for office, most do not make it far. Instead, they are met with the question “how do you plan to win?” Good people don’t lie, they don’t make promises they can’t keep, and they don’t play the victim card, stir others up to anger, or point fingers of blame. In other words, fear tells us “don’t support them, that would be a waste of your time and money. Only support those that have a chance of winning.”
What if, instead of living by fear, politics was faith-based instead? What if we each accepted that we can and do make a difference, and that there are many good options? What if we chose to put some time and effort into supporting good principles, good people, and good things, even if we didn’t see how they would win?
What would happen is that we would experience a radical transformation in politics. We all implicitly know this, yet we say “I can’t do it though, as nobody else will do it, so it will be a waste of my time, efforts, vote, or money.”
If you require seeing others do good to choose to do good yourself, you are part of the problem. You cannot sit and wait for others to vote a certain way before you vote a certain way. That is fear at its finest. Good does not ask how many others are doing it, good simply acts and does what needs to be done.
The following questions can help you recognize if you are making decisions by fear instead of faith:
Asking questions such as:
Will it win?
Will it work?
What will others think?
Convincing yourself that you have to vote for something you disagree with to stop something worse from happening;
Looking to a candidate as the solution to problems;
(candidates are not solutions. Principles and truth are solutions, and candidates uphold those in varying degrees);
Asking if you are ‘wasting’ time, money, or a vote if you are contributing to something that you actually believe in; or
Believing that you are powerless to change things or make a difference for good.
The antidote to fear is faith. Faith naturally encompasses personal responsibility to act. Good is powerful, and when we act on and embrace good, it grows and it can overcome all evil.
We have to make the decision that we will do and be good. We will sacrifice, we will live by faith, and we will stop making decisions based on fear. We will believe, and we will accept that we have the power to change our country, for good.
We would love to have you join us as we work to live by faith, not fear. Our country's best days are still ahead.
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