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The previous election cycles combined do not equal the caustic intensity of 2016, 2020, and 2024. Regardless of which side you are on, the whole country is equally passionate or distraught over what might happen to us over the next few years. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or Republican; you’re some combination of stressed, frustrated, passionate, hopeful, or confused. Pick your top two descriptors. I’m sure they are on my list, and a few others are waiting their turn at the top. The consensus is that the final two nominees standing were not everyone’s preferred candidates.
Our current candidates reflect who we are. How we got here has been speculated and debated ad nauseam, though it hardly matters any longer. It would have been prudent for some to understand history better than they do. Nevertheless, we are here and heading toward an inevitable outcome. Apart from a stunning out-of-left-field act of God, either a socialist or Donald Trump will be our next president, and you have four possible voting options when the voting season rolls around.
Opinions about these options fly through the X-verse every single second of every day. This cyber phenomenon will continue even after it’s over. It’s our world. Some say there are no good options. When they make a case for their no-good option, they feel compelled to footnote their reasons for voting for that person. I understand. Making a solid biblical case for any of them is a challenge. Perhaps you can pull a couple of biblical planks from their platform and say, “At least they say they believe [fill in the blank].”
Options three and four are noncommittal votes that place you on the sideline while leaving the decision to those who will pick between options one and two. I suppose if you voted for three or four, you could at least say, “I did not vote for [one or two], so it’s not my fault.” I’m not sure how that could make you feel better other than pretending to have risen above those who voted for a “not-so-satisfying-winner,” which makes you a loser like the rest of us. It’s like standing on the Titanic, saying, “I told you something bad was going to happen.” Good for you. The water is rising fast.
One ironic thing about this presidential cycle is its similarity to the 2008 election. Many people agreed that Obama’s election had more to do with voting for an idea than voting for Obama’s values. His base wanted a black person as President of the United States. No black person had ever sniffed such a reality, and as the election drew near and the possibility seemed likely, the momentum was unassailable. It was an emotional, reactionary vote as much as anything.
The pent-up black person, who has had people in their family lineage legitimately oppressed for hundreds of years, had the possibility of having one of their own as the leader of the United States. That likelihood would tempt any frustrated demographic to kick clarity into neutral and vote emotionally rather than think through what it means to change the freest country ever created fundamentally, which President Obama said he planned to do, and the consequences of that statement are with us today.
But when I talk to black people about killing pre-born babies, LGBTQ+ initiatives, and significant government dominance, few of them are pro any of those issues because they practically understand them and realize how some of those legislative overreaches will continue to oppress them. They know about slavery, and they perceive the new slave master in the form of a paternalistic government. Like the rest of humanity, black people are reasonable when you talk to them one-on-one.
The instructive similarity of the 2008 voting cycle with the current voting cycle is that conservatives are the emotional and reactionary ones. Up until Trump, we have experienced years of unabated liberal legislation and media bias that has propelled many conservatives to react by putting forth their version of an unusual candidate as the solution for our national woes. It’s 2008 all over again, but different.
Donald Trump is nearly everything that conservatives are not. Nobody in their right mind would want someone like Donald Trump as their president. But here’s the thing: if you pile up everything that is wrong with Donald Trump and put it beside a Socialist or Left-Wing Progressive, you experience a tension like you never felt before. It’s an anxiety that has never crossed your mind because nobody would ever come up with such a storyline.
Donald Trump may be pandering about all the things you care about—I do not know, but the Socialists and Progressives are not. They don’t like you, and they want to squash you, your beliefs, and your life as you know it. They want to kill pre-born babies from conception to after they are born. They want to make sure that they have the right Supreme Court Justices on the bench to carry out their anti-God mission, even if they pack the court. They despise Christians and their agendas.
They oppose virtually everything you love and do not equivocate on those issues. Where Donald Trump is wishy-washy, disingenuous, or pandering, they are not. They are pro-Gay, pro-Abortion, pro-Government, and anti-Christian. If you’re a believer, it means they are anti-You! Left-wing supporters are perplexed as to why anyone would vote for somebody like Donald Trump.
If the truth were known, most conservative camps agree with them. The reason left-wingers do not understand the problem is that they are asking the wrong question. The question is not why anyone would vote for Trump. The question is, why would anyone vote for a Socialist or Left-Wing Radicals who hate America? Trump may be a loose cannon, but the other side is not, and that’s the problem. Their guns and sightlines have a clear target: everything associated with “Christian value” is the target.
I will not tell you who to vote for this year. I have always prayed for our country, but I have never prayed the way I do now. In the past, I prayed while believing that the human family would vote wisely. Now, we’re at the total mercy of God—as though we weren’t before. Yeah, it’s come to that. Our collective human responsibility to vote has no good options. What will you do? I recommend that you start with this short prayer: “Dear God, Have mercy! Amen.” And then make your decision.
These days are troubling; we understand that. But we cannot bury our heads in the sand because we are responsible to God for being salt and light in His world. Sitting with a friend and doing life over coffee with them would serve you well. Let these questions guide your conversation as you talk about and pray for our country.
Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.
In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).