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"When Good Men do Nothing"

The familiar saying, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" originates from the following excerpt from Edmund Burkes’ 1770 writings entitled, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents: "when bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

According to The Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission, only 30 million out of 60 million self-proclaimed Christians voted in the 2012 General Election. That’s one for every two! This figure astounds me. Most Christians are quick to complain about our nation’s moral decay, yet they have done nothing to stop it. One of the most important duties we have as citizens of the United States of America is to exercise our right to vote and only half of Christians do! Some have said, “I can’t bring myself to vote for either of the two candidates,” or they say, “It’s all rigged anyway. They only give us two choices.” Let me correct both lines of thought here and I can do it with the same reasoning. Yes. Elections are rigged. They are rigged by us– the voters. We are not given two choices from some conspiracy-controlled committee; rather, we have chosen them either as a result of action or inaction at the polls. You see, a candidate is chosen through a long process of selection. Each starts out at the local level where you and I vote to choose whether or not he continues to advance up the political ladder. By the time Election Day arrives, many candidates have already been screened out. This process is more commonly referred to as primary campaigning. Did you vote in the 2012 primaries? I would dare say that even fewer than one of two Christians voted during this most recent process.

One could argue that voting is secondary to involvement. As Christians, we should be more proactive getting involved in politics, especially at the local level. Only by involvement in the political party will the Christian have the opportunity to influence the party platforms or position statements, urge support for one party candidate among the host of others vying for the office, and participate in a precinct meeting where important political decisions begin to be made. Some may argue that the political platform is no place for a Christian. Tell that to our Founding Fathers. According to Christian historian David Barton, 27 of the 56 signers of our U.S. Constitution were ordained pastors. Some even speculate that number to be more.

“Politics is not a hobby like scrapbooking. Getting involved should not be an option. Politics, whether we like it or not, affects every area of our lives,” says columnist Sudi Kate Gliebe, co-founder of Patriots’ Campaign Ministry. “We the people means that all of us are responsible to preserve our republic.”

So, this November, we will be able to choose one of the candidates that we helped get on the ballot. Our two options are to vote or stay idle. Either way, we will be choosing our leaders. If our idleness has led to a poor pooling of candidates, it will be our duty to choose the “lesser of two evils.” This is the result when “good men do nothing.” As Christians and good men, let’s not be content doing nothing. Going forward into the 2016 election season, let’s get more  involved in our political process and let our Christian voices be heard. Only then will God’s blessings return to America.□

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