You Can't Vote on Just One Issue!

Well, the 2008 election is over, and I am relieved - not so much because of the outcome, but because the decision for whom to vote was nothing short of agonizing.  So allow me to exhale a great big WHEW!

I know, I know. . .  You are probably thinking what some of my peers were thinking (and saying for that fact).  That is:

"I don't understand why you are having a hard time with the decision.  Isn't it obvious who should be the President?  You must not have looked at what he stands for, and what he can do for this nation?"

Quite to the contrary, I did look.  As a matter of fact, I looked at both sides.  Mr. McCain struck a sour note with me for many reasons.  Yet, when I researched Mr. Obama, it was kind of refreshing to see that several of his plans reflected my own desires for what I would like to see happen in our nation.  So, like my peers, you may ask, "So what's the problem.  What would keep you for voting for him?"

The problem stemmed from a few issues on which we disagree, and one in particular that became the looming mountain that precluded me from jumping on the Obama bandwagon.  I really wanted to jump on that bandwagon.  I mean, as a biracial black woman who did not think I would see any possibility of a black president in my lifetime, I wanted to contribute my vote to making history and putting him in office.  And from what I could tell, he seemed to be a man with a plan who could possibly unite our sorely divided nation.  Not only that, but I knew in my heart he was going to win. Still, what became the reins around my volition yanking me to a grinding halt whenever I thought I may have reasoned myself into supporting him with my vote was that ONE ISSUE.  To vote for him would be a violation of my deeply rooted personal convictions.

Now if someone had said to me what I'm saying here, I would probably say, "Well, do what you think you have to do."  Unfortunately, though, I didn't hear that.  Maybe if I had, the decision-making process would have been easier.  However, what turned it into sheer agony was the the statement that I heard repeated seemingly in surround sound from friends, the pulpit, and co-workers-- "You can't vote based on just one issue!"  I was instructed by those whom I highly respect to consider all of my values when making the decision, not just one.

While attempting to heed this counsel, I learned something about my values that was not obvious to me before--my values have different "values."  Maybe others' values carry equal weight, so the quantity of issues which a presidential candidate promises to positively impact becomes their deciding factor.  But that is just not the case with me.

My conviction that it is wrong (not to mention inhumane, horrible, savage) to take the lives of innocent unborn children through abortion weighs heavily on my heart.  These are lives who receive a death sentence, not for a heinous crime, but just for existing or for not being perfect.  They cannot run and hide; they cannot appeal the decision, plead their case, ask for help, beg for mercy, or seek a pardon.  Child Protective Services cannot rescue them.  They possess no voice and receive no protection.  This makes it difficult for me to vote for a man who vehemently supports denying these children their right to live.  But what makes it nearly impossible for me to vote for him is that he does not stop there.  No, he takes it to a whole other level.  He is willing to have medical care denied for babies who survive an abortion (research the Born Alive Act).  That's just cold.  I have heard it said that support for Obama is evidence that we are now in the midst of fulfilling Martin Luther King's dream of a time when people would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.  Mr. Obama's stance on abortion and babies born alive after an abortion strikes serious concern in me about his character.   How hard your heart must be to think it is just to leave aborted babies born alive to die.  It is scary.  It is also ironic seeing how one of his most popular platforms is health care for everyone.  Obviously, he did not mean everyone.

As I stated before, I knew he would win.  However, now I must do as the Bible commands and pray for him.  And I do.  I pray that God's will be done in him and through him and that his heart would be pliable in the Lord's hands.

So, can you vote based on just one issue?  It depends on the issue.