Politics: the Cause is Lost
29 Jul 2004 
in the early evening 
Matt Winckler
I’m tired of politics. Politics is not only entirely vain, but it’s downright annoying, too. Politics give the unwashed masses an excuse to treat some morno’s words and ideas as if they were important and worth listening to. Kind of like this Red Book gives you an excuse to treat my words and ideas as if they were important. (Except that I’m funny and interesting. Admit it!)
Seriously, though, Christians too often identify with political parties as if they were “allies” or something. I know that a couple of years ago, I read an article in WORLD magazine that promoted the idea of voting for candidates being analagous to voting for baseball hitters. They all have a “batting average”–some candidates might bat .500 when it comes to issues you agree with, others might bat .700, another might bat .200. The author’s point was that it’s better to have someone batting .700 than .200, so you should vote with the candidate that agrees most closely with your agenda.
I was convinced of that principle for several years. I voted for President Bush in 2000. I have tended to vote Republican and sometimes Libertarian. However, I now believe that this stance is flawed.
As a Christian, I am not here to bat .700. As it stands, the United States are a car driving in the direction of a cliff. The liberals want to drive this car at 120 mph toward the cilff. The “conservatives” want to drive the car at 80 mph instead of 120. But they’re all heading for the same cliff. Doug Wilson, who is one of the people whose thoughts have influenced me on this subject, has used an apt analogy: if the liberals presented a bill to burn down the capitol, the conservatives would counter with a bill to do it over three years. It’s not good enough that a candidate agrees with “most” of my core values. I am not willing to trade off any of my core values just to vote for an “electable” candidate who will do me “less harm” than his opponent. 120 mph, 80 mph, who cares? We’re going over the cliff anyway. From that standpoint, might as well get it over with! I would sooner vote for an “unelectable” candidate that agreed with and would stand for all of my core values (in the unlikely event that such a candidate existed), or even not vote at all, than vote for a candidate batting .700 and have to justify my support of the .300 when judgment finally comes. We as a people get the representatives that we deserve. As a people, our nation is unrepentant, therefore we have a system of politics that is unrepentant.
However, this is not the heart of the issue. The central issue is that politics is not our savior. Politics is a petty tool, and a useless tool for conversion. We do not need, nor should we want, to achieve any “spread of the Gospel” by political means. Jesus Christ is reigning on His throne today, and His power cannot be overthrown. In short, it does not matter who is elected President this fall, or who ends up representing us in Congress. God ordains leaders, and He ordains the events of this world. His kingdom is going to be advanced regardless of who eats dinner at the White House. As Doug Wilson puts it: “Why would we use the grimy little god of politics to try to usher in what Jesus Christ already purchased on the cross with His own blood? Why would we insult His authority in this unbelieving way?”
I would encourage you to listen to Doug Wilson’s talk on R.L. Dabney from this past Credenda/Agenda History Conference for the source of some of the material above. It’s just under an hour long, and well worth the listen.