Like Lemmings Off A Cliff

There are many things about being a minister that are not apparent at first blush. The amount of work that is required is one thing. Another is the amount of emotional energy (and sometimes physical energy) that it takes. Hazards include the likelihood of embarrassment while speaking in front of crowds. And caution is needed in dealing with people because of the possibility of lawsuits for giving bad advice or simply being in the in ’wrong place at the right time’ and having people jump to conclusions. Another hazard is saying the wrong thing during an election season and potentially losing the church’s tax-exempt status. Well, it is election season, and I will refrain from making any rash statements either from the pulpit or from this forum that would be construed as supporting a particular candidate or party.

However, one of my previous posts dealt with the subject of the right and duty of a citizen to vote. Maybe it is just me as I get older but I am noticing more things this election season that have managed to make e upset than in any previous election. For instance, does anyone know the name of the Libertarian Party candidate? Green Party? Constitution Party? Have you seen an ad for them or has one of the third party candidates been included in any of the debates with the Republicans or Democrats? The last time I looked the United States was a multi-party republic, not a two-party system. Yet the third party candidates are ignored.

The mainstream media has long been demonized in this regard. They do not seek out such third party candidates since they are not as popular and won’t generate as good ratings as the major party candidates. To be fair, people don’t seem to realize that media, although it carries a burden for public service, is a business and as such it seeks out customers who will generate the greatest revenue. The major parties have money to spend and people want to hear them, so they get the lion’s share of attention.

One subtle influence that the media does carry though is the capability to sway an election. It is subtle because even the observing and reporting of public opinion can change the atmosphere. The way it works is this…a media outlet conducts a poll, which shows that politician “A” has a 5-point lead over politician “B”. People listen to the results of this poll and some give in to the natural reaction to want to be ‘on the winning side’. So when the poll is repeated the following week politician “A” has a 10-percent lead. People begin to doubt the ability of “B” to win, so some more decide to vote for “A”. This is a natural thing for people to do who want to be on ‘the winning side’, yet if the media had not performed and publicized those polls, maybe the election would have been closer or the results different.

What happens to an election when the media begin reporting those same poll results and predicting which states will go with which candidate and allocate electoral college votes weeks, perhaps month in advance of the election? Such and such state is solidly Party A and so all those electoral college votes go to them, while this state and that one are solidly behind Party B. The feeling people have is that they should vote in a certain way, or that their vote doesn’t matter anyway since their state is expected to go in a particular direction. Essentially the media is determining through use of polls the results of an election that hasn’t even been held yet!

What else am I doing here besides complaining? There is only one thing which can stem the tide of these influences, and that is for an educated voter base to resist going with the crowd simply for the sake of going with the crowd. I am encouraging you to look beyond the polls, look beyond reporting by the mainstream media, get educated in the platforms of not just the two major parties, but the minor parties as well. And above all, vote for who you really want in office despite potentially being on the ‘losing side’.

Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual--or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.
Samuel Adams

The fact is that if we all follow each other like lemmings off a cliff, ultimately we are all losers in this contest.