I hesitate to say anything about the presidential race because my comments seem always to be construed as subtle endorsements of particular candidates. That's understandable I suppose. But since I don't even know yet who I'm going to vote for I would hate to subtly sway you to vote for one candidate and then decide to vote for the other! I'd rather not be responsible for cancelling my own vote.
With that caveat established, it has no doubt occurred to us all that the presidential race of 2008 has already been historic. It marks a milestone in American life. For the first time, barring anything unforeseen, a person identifying himself as “black” will be nominated by a major political party as a presidential candidate.
This year is noteworthy also, of course, because a woman has come within a gnat's eyelash of receiving the same nomination.
Now, you may or may not feel any political connection to Barack and/or Hillary, but that is not what I'm getting at. What I am saying is this: Things have changed. Lines have been crossed. Glass ceilings have shattered.
Jim White
Does this mean that from now on a black and a woman will be on every presidential ticket? Perhaps. But probably not. I hope not. That kind of arbitrary inclusion smacks of quotas and placing less qualified people ahead of more qualified people on the basis of underrepresentation. What is noteworthy this year is that neither Democratic candidate arrived at the threshold of nomination because of their gender or race. They got there in spite of them. And get there they did.
Also noteworthy is that they couldn't have arrived there without the help and approval of millions of voters. This speaks to social change. We seem to have made an important stride forward in seeing people for their individual merit. It isn't that we have become color blind or oblivious to gender, but it seems that color and gender didn't matter.
My wife tells me that I often have my head in the clouds, and I admit to being rather Pollyannaish on occasion. In truth, I know that some support Hillary simply because she is a woman and others support Barack simply because he is black—just as I know others oppose them for the same reasons.
But even taking that into account, the social paradigm has shifted. For some, these are days of rejoicing. They anticipate with delight the variations they imagine on the horizon. Others, feeling tentative and unsettled about moving into unexplored territory, look wistfully at the past. The past for them, at least in their minds, represents a time of comfortable predictability, social order and economic plenty. They assume, correctly, that things will never be the same again and they fear that other changes—even greater and more unsettling—may be lurking. They believe their well-being is threatened.
It seems to me that these approaches do not describe two kinds of people so much as two differing reactions within all people. Even the most progressive are slow to embrace some changes and by the same token the most regressive foot-draggers can be among the first to get on board at times.
I've noticed that my own tendencies have a lot to do with how satisfied I am with the present. We all desire change to the extent that we find our present circumstances intolerable. And, we resist change to the extent that we are satisfied with the present and imagine the past to be better or the future to be worse.
Being a white middle-class male has certainly had its advantages. If I think only of myself, why would I ever want anything to change? Well, maybe one change. White wealthy male would be better.
But as a Christian, I can't just think of myself. It's inconvenient being a Christian because you have to keep putting yourself in other people's places. You have to rejoice as others rejoice and weep as they weep. You have to imagine life as they are living it. Only then does Christ's command take full form: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Certainly Jesus didn't mean that we are to give others anything they want. Without doubt, however, he did mean that as I want justice, I must grant justice. As I want opportunity, I must give it. As I do not want others to think of me as inferior, I must treat them as equals.
No one, black or white, should vote for Obama just because he is black or for McCain just because he is white. Each candidate deserves the right to an open-minded hearing from every voter. Candidates deserve to be judged by the merit of their ideas and by the content of their character not by the color of their skin, the nature of their organs, the labels of their parties or the eloquence of their tongues. America deserves it as well.
Perhaps it is Pollyannaish to think our entire society has moved at last to this point. I know this is not the case. So we Christians will have to lead the way. Let the unredeemed witness our fairness and our respect for and equal treatment of all people. Our founding fathers didn't just dream up these principles. They received them as they were handed down generation after generation from Scripture. Granted, the founders refined and applied them to social governance, but the principles originated in the Divine.
Virginia Baptists don't usually see things exactly the same way. Using my gift of prophecy, I predict that some will vote for McCain and others will vote for Obama. But let our votes be cast carefully, prayerfully. Let each vote be the result of thorough investigation and reflect the firm commitment that it was cast for the better candidate.