It’s my firm belief that in addition to our tax dollars, when God placed me in a federal republic with a participatory government, part of what I am required to give to Caesar is an informed, knowledgeable vote. That is the bare minimum of what I, as a citizen, owe my country.
I got a phone call from a volunteer for a candidate for state Senator on August 5th, asking for my support. The volunteer was unable to answer any substantive questions. His website gave nearly no information – not even his political party! Just vague platitudes about how Life Will Be Good after he takes his seat in Baton Rouge. So I fired off a list of twelve questions using the form on his website:
1.Does he view service in the legislature as a full or part time job?
2.Should the legislature have a pay raise – if so, why and how much?
3.What will his criteria be to determine whether an outcome is best achieved by passing a bill, asking the Governor to issue an executive order, or whether a given situation is best left for other agencies/organizations or the public to resolve?
4.Will he pledge to refuse earmarks/pork?
5.Of what political party is he a member?
6.What is the highest tax rate that Louisiana residents should pay?
7.How exactly does he plan to “make our streets safe” from criminals?
8.Redirect educational dollars into the classroom – from where?
9.What will he do to support increased drilling off of Louisiana coasts to help increase the supply of oil in the United States?
10.What will he do to help restore our coastline?
11.What will he do to hold the Corps of Engineers and others accountable for the deplorable condition of our levees, and to see that they are adequately repaired?
12.Will he pledge never to vote on anyone else’s behalf, and never to allow anyone to vote on his behalf?
And didn’t get a response for some time. On the 11th, I got a lame excuse about the website malfunctioning and a promise for a response that day. On the 16th, I sent a followup email asking if a respose was forthcoming. And finally today, I sent an additional email, identifying myself as the organizer of one of the groups instrumental in pressuring Governor Jindal to veto the legislative pay raises recently, and stated that I intended to post his answers on our website and send them to our subscriber list. I had a phone call from the candidate within the hour. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I very much doubt it. The strong probability is that they figured as a businessman he had enough name recognition to take this election on a walk, and that no one else is even asking questions about what he’ll do if he does win.
It’s far easier to passively pay taxes than actually get involved. But passively paying taxes results in our enslavement. The only thing protecting our freedom is active involvement – and the more actively we get involved, the more freedom we are going to enjoy because it reminds our legislators that we don’t work for them; they work for us. That leadership is a privilege and they are not entitled to retain it.
Having said all that – as a Christian I need to balance that obligation with the fact that this isn’t really my home:
They did not receive the things God had promised, but from a long way off they saw them and welcomed them, and admitted openly that they were foreigners and refugees on earth. Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own. They did not keep thinking about the country they had left; if they had, they would have had the chance to return. Instead, it was a better country they longed for, the heavenly country. And so God is not ashamed for them to call him their God, because he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)
