I’m a classic independent voter. In presidential elections I’ve cast ballots for Democrats, Republicans and third party candidates. In the latest election, I didn’t decide until the day itself. This will seem strange to true believers on either side, but many of us are not hard-core about these things. We listen, we waver, and we see truth in many corners.
A friend in college told me she was an agnostic on matters of religion. She was quick to distance herself from an atheist. “An agnostic doesn’t believe there is no god,” she said. “An agnostic doesn’t know.”
I’m a political agnostic. I don’t know who is right. The issues are so complex I must depend on ‘experts’ whose reliability I cannot verify. It’s freeing simply to say, “I don’t know.” I don’t know the answer to the Palestine/Israel conflict or the best way to eliminate poverty. It amazes me when religious people express ambivalence about traditional doctrines of the faith and in the next moment voice political opinions with the certainty of concrete.
Prime ministers and presidents deserve prayers, not condemnation. They face pressures and conflicting expectations those of us not behind their desks cannot understand.
A woman I know was once the Director of Worship for the Adrian Dominican Sisters. She tells of a morning right before chapel when two sisters were arguing over who would sit in a certain chair. My friend strode over to the bickerers, took the chair firmly in hand and said, “Excuse me, sisters, but I’m going to remove this chair because it’s causing you to sin.”
Fueled by a 24-hour news industry, people bicker over politics constantly. Grace recedes. Politics is a chair that causes people to sin. The beauty of being a political agnostic is that I can look for a seat elsewhere.
A really nice post. Made me think that actually none of us really “know,” do we? Just some of us act like we do. I’ve been working to build an independent movement for a while now, and one of the biggest challenges, it seems is how do you reshape political culture in a way that gives us room to not know, to attempt to build a better society w/o having the answers. Obviously, that goes completely against the traditional model of what politics is, but, in my experience, more and more independents are expressing that they don’t need “parties” to tell them what to think, that they want to vote for and support what they think best supports progress.
Thought you’d be interested in signing this letter to Obama re: Open Primaries
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/independentvoting.html
and checking out http://www.independentvoting.org
Don’t know that I could agree anymore with what you’ve written.
The sisters may have done well to remember the parable of the banquet guest, Luke 14: 7-11. Perhaps my favorite (if there is such a thing) parable.
Sad to say its my favorite because I see myself in it.
Gwen, thanks for the interesting links. I didn’t realize there were so many who self-identify as independents.
SRB, thanks for your comment. The parable of the banquet guest is the perfect one for this issue.
Peace to you all.
I called myself a political agnostic this weekend and I thought I was coining a phrase. HA! It is true that there is nothing new under the sun. It’s good to know there are others willing to say, “I am neither Left nor Right. When I am well enough informed (or when time is up, whichever comes first), I will make my decision as to what I believe to be the best choice, regardless of which side of the fence that choice may land.”
Yes, it is good to know there are people out there who think this same way. Peace to you.
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