It is presidential election season over the pond and the debates are up and running and people are being given reasons to vote for him and not vote for him. It is this time of year that the arguments are rolled out about the importance of voting and what was done to ensure people had the right to vote from the war efforts to the Civil Rights movement.
As someone who take an interest in politics, these kind of seasons are really fascinating for me. One particularly familiar argument that cropped up triggered something in me that went beyond the basic political sphere and appealed to something higher and deeper.
That argument states that if you don’t vote, you have no right to make a complaint if things go wrong. It suggests that if you don’t vote, you have no voice, and you must live with the consequences.
Ever since I first heard that argument, I knew there was something false with it.
Recently, however, what occurred to me is the issue about having no voice and not having the right to complain.
First of all, what is the purpose of complaining? I’m reminded of the murmuring that would carry on with the people of Israel as they were lead from Egypt in the miraculous Exodus. It seemed as though nothing could be done right. Complaint about the lack of water. Complaint about the lack of food. Complaint about the lack of quality food. Complaint about the direction the journey was taking. Complaint about Moses spending too long up the mountain. Complaint when it seemed as though they couldn’t defeat the bigger and apparently more powerful occupiers of the land promised to them.
The writer of Hebrews would later class all these complaints as expressions of unbelief. An expression reinforced with, what was termed as, a ‘stiff-necked’ attitude that did not endear them to the God who powerfully delivered them from the hands of slavery. The complaining exposed the ungrateful, selfish hearts of those who had been rescued.
Likewise in some cases our complaining can be of the sort where nothing can ever please us and there’s always an issue somewhere and we can never be happy – we can never just enjoy what has been done and see what surprises occur when you make the most of each gift given by God. Therein lies the blessing.
That is one problem with complaining. Addressing the issue more carefully, however, even if there is legitimate ground for complaint, the nature of the complaint must be linked to a wrong made right. It is not just grousing that things aren’t going your way, or they are not how they used to be. It is the very cry for justice and righteousness.
Now when that is the case, it is the drive for justice and righteousness that motivates, and if that is the drive then with wisdom it echoes the very desire of the holy God of justice and righteousness. History is full of stories of such cries, and funnily enough these were not resolved by the power of the vote. These were resolved through many spiritual, social, economic and political tactics. Some appealing to the people, some appealing to principle. For some it called for a campaign of letter-writing and marching. For others it was about prayer, fasting and community support. Some shed blood for what they believed. Some would spend time behind bars standing up for what they believed was right. Some set up organisations and groups that not only highlighted the injustice, but sought to practically address it.
All this without a vote being cast. All these changes made through compassionate people in action.
What this continues to highlight for me is that whether you vote or not, interest in the local community, the country and the world is not something that is centred on ticking a box for a candidate. Useful though representative democracy might be – and despite the cynical approach to politics, there are decent people putting in long hours to serve in this capacity – the truth remains that change is made through means far greater and more important than the vote. Indeed we, as people who want to see God’s Kingdom come and will done on earth as it is in heaven, know that it cannot and will not come solely through the means of voting.
I have my own take on voting, but I can save that for another entry at another. For the time being, though, any conscientious member of the human race is at liberty to express their voice in whatever society they are in, by being led by their convictions to by living out the change they want to see, and supporting the marginalised, oppressed and neglected.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 
I agree with your basic statement, but what i think you miss is the difference in being able to vote and those who had no other options! If someone in America does not vote its not because they have been oppressed or prevented from doing so, it is because they have chosen not to be a part of the system of change. These people are willfuly giving up there right to try to change what they perceive is wrong, and then complain when it doesn’t change.
I do agree, however, that the biggest changes have happened not by votes but by a moving of the people, either in protest, or in prayer…but here is a question. If Nelson Mandela had been given the choice to vote would he have? and the answer is yes…he was willing and did go to prison for his beliefs, so do we really think he would not have done even the small things to effect change?
Respectfully, I don’t think the writer of this blog has missed the point because, as far as I can see, the right to speak out against wrongdoing doesn’t come from an initial right to vote but rather a knowledge of justice and the correct desire to rectify injustices. These things have nothing to do with whether you had a right to vote in the first place. I personally wouldn’t speak about the reasons others don’t vote. Although you give a possibility, I can’t say much more than that. And even for those that willfully choose to vote, as someone else said below, if they see the system as geared toward ineffectual choices, then they may have a different understanding of how to make a change other than choosing “the lesser of two evils” or “the evil to two lessers.” Also I personally don’t know Nelson Mandela. I didn’t know him when he was younger and got imprisoned and through any portion of his life. I only know what was reported about him (what is reported and what is actual is rarely ever the same). So although you may feel the strength of conviction in your beliefs to speak for Mandela about what he would do.. And I won’t speak for him with what I say next: I strongly believe that any rational person who felt logically sure that his vote would not make a bit of difference to make a positive change to what he sees as a corrupt system, then there is every chance that he wuold not waste his energy to vote but to make a difference in another way. That’s my opinion
Or perhaps choosing not to vote for one of the two major parties that perpetuate the same system is the only sane choice. Republican or Democrat the government grows, the debt swells and young men go off to die in the next meaningless war.