I'm a Christian. And a Democrat. Here's Why

We're in our second week of early voting here in Georgia; I've been heartened by the strong turn-out. As much fear and anxiety can churn in the weeks before an election, I'm choosing to lean hard into hope. Perfectly timed, my Women's Spirituality Group is reading Rebecca Solnit's Hope in the Dark (you can read the opening here), where she writes that with uncertainty, there is space for hope, and for believing our personal and collective actions can and do make a difference.

In that vein, I encourage you to vote early. (You can still vote now through November 4, including THIS weekend here in GA. Feel free to message me if you have any questions). Beyond that, I encourage you to share about why and how you vote, and to encourage friends and family, neighbors and colleagues to vote as well. Our vote is our voice in our democracy, (which reminds me of this favorite Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile song, A Beautiful Noise, which I highly recommend to get you in the GOTV spirit!)

(I'm just gonna warn you, I was a little link-happy when writing this, so if you need more time, and a cup of coffee, tea or wine to accompany you, go for it! :))

It will come as no surprise that I am a passionate Democrat, and was happy to cast my early vote for Rev. Raphael Warnock, Stacey Abrams, Becky Evans (my fellow NDPC church member!) and other Democrats here in the Georgia election. In this divisive age where we so easily write off, even despise people with different views and voting records, I feel compelled to write again about why I am voting blue. I think if we could share our stories, the personal beliefs and experiences that have led us to vote the way we do, it would go a long way to healing some of our divides. (Which is why I love listening to the Run-Up podcast, where Astead Herndon interview voters across the political spectrum.) What if we started by trying to understand where others are coming from, without feeling the need to argue or try to change them? Seriously, when was the last time we had a conversation with someone of the opposite party, and just listened, without getting defensive or worked up? (I know . . . it's SO hard!)

So I’m sharing part of my story again, with an update for this election. If you’ve come this far, I appreciate your willingness to read on, whether you think the same way or not, and especially in a season when you may already be bombarded with political emails. I hope this one feels a little different; I’m not asking for a donation, just a somewhat open mind and heart to someone you already know. I offer the same to you, if you feel like sharing a bit of your own political story. I think we’re less likely to write people off, if we can put some beloved names and faces with the label Democrat or Republican.

I grew up thinking that being Christian and voting Republican went hand-in-hand. There was much about the Republican platform at the time, like fiscal responsibility, and “family values” that appealed to me. As a youth I was also encouraged to “love God with all my mind,” meaning to ask questions about my faith, to think critically about why I believe what I do, and how I live that out. I came to see that being Christian wasn’t just about my personal salvation, but about coming to know the love of God that creates and embraces the whole world ("God so loved the world . . ." not just Christians or Americans). I saw that the call to love my neighbor meant orienting my life toward others and trying to help build the Beloved Community (what Jesus called the “Kingdom of God”), rather than focusing on what was best for me and mine alone.

I began to see my vote, and the larger call of citizenship, as one important way to love my neighbor. And God kept stretching my own definition of neighbor . . . LGBTQ family and friends, people of other faith traditions and none at all, immigrants working among us and showing up at our border in crisis, people of color still experiencing racial oppression and violence, women on the margins who feel damned if they do, damned if they do not have the baby, and the planet itself. I’ll confess, I continue to find it way easier to love Jesus, than to love all of his friends! Lord, have mercy.

I don’t believe I can love my neighbors AND vote against their wholeness and thriving, much less dehumanize or threaten them . So I vote for candidates and policies that come closest to a Christian ethic of caring for all, and particularly those most neglected and despised, the “least of these” Jesus called us to serve in Matthew 25.

No party, person or platform is perfect, or in complete alignment with my beliefs and values, but I am not looking for perfect. I am hoping we as a people, as a democracy, guided by our elected leaders, will do more good, and less harm (very Wesleyan for those who grew up United Methodist), to help every American thrive. Even with all that currently ails us, I still really believe in the American project of democracy, and how we can all contribute as citizens to make it a more perfect union. For me, being patriotic means seeing our nation whole - its brilliance and its blemishes, its aspirations and its failures. It is not all rotten, AND it is not all roses. I believe love of country demands that we keep trying to make it better.

As for this particular election . . .

Of course, I along with most Americans have felt the pinch of inflation and higher gas prices. I literally cried the first time I pumped gas after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a family, we have had to cut back in a number of areas (yay for Aldi!) to stay within our budget . And I don’t like watching our retirement savings decline any more than the next guy. (But I also try to remember it is a privilege to be able to save, while millions of Americans struggle so much more just to make ends meet.)

But I see these global economic realities as the result of the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the recent OPEC decision to cut oil production, and corporate price gouging to take advantage of the crisis. I am proud of Biden and Democrats trying to steer us through these unprecedented waters of recovering from the pandemic, for the slow economic relief and growth provided. Truly, there have been so many times, I’ve wanted to shout, “SEE, that’s government working on our behalf!” I’m delighted that even in these tough times, with razor-thin majorities, we’ve been able to pass historic climate change and infrastructure spending bills, bi-partisan gun safety legislation, lower the costs of prescription drugs, cancel crippling student debt, and make sure everyone pays their fair share of taxes, so we can pay for these critical measures.

And I just don’t buy the Republican talking point that they’re being better on the economy. A booming stock market is not a boom for all Americans. Wealth inequality has reached staggering proportions (Please watch this.). Since I’ve been of voting age, it's the Democratic presidents (Clinton and Obama) who have presided over the times of economic growth and national debt reduction. Our family has personally received a lot more financial relief under Democratic leadership, including most recently Biden’s Child Tax Credits (which also cut child poverty rates to record lows), while being unaffected by Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy.

There are real differences in our parties' approaches to the economy (outlined in this balanced article). Growing up, I regularly heard folks celebrate Reagan and trickle-down economics. I have just never been able to square it with the teachings of Jesus, who taught about the dangers of wealth more than any other topic other than the Kingdom of God (I don’t hear many Christians advocating for taking THOSE texts literally.)

I see self-centeredness and greed as the biggest problems facing us. And before we go pointing the finger, I think we all struggle with these, if we’re honest. I happen to think that having either TOO MUCH wealth or TOO LITTLE is actually not healthy for anyone. So yes, I am for policies that try to rein in our greed and create a society in which everyone has enough, where no one is poor or hungry in a country of such affluence. If that sounds like pie-in-the-sky, bleeding heart liberalism, I don’t know what to say except, that’s what I learned from the prophets and from Jesus, even when I would have preferred to avoid those messages. So I celebrate the measures Biden and Democrats have taken and will take to reduce childhood poverty, relieve debt, raise minimum wage, protect Social Security and Medicare, bring down healthcare costs and help working families.

My biggest concern THIS election cycle is the survival of our democracy. I would love for history to prove my concern to be overly dramatic. But there are so many people I respect sounding the alarms. Democracy is not a given, it is in fact fragile, and it is absolutely being tested.

As if the four or five years of Trump’s divisive, dishonest, erratic “leadership” were not damaging enough. Here was a human so desperate to hold onto power, to not admit he lost, that he sowed lies and misinformation about the 2020 election (before, after and ever since), causing alarming numbers of Americans to doubt or contest the legitimacy of our elections. And as if that was not enough, his Big Lie strategy led to something I never, ever thought I would see here in America . . . a violent insurrection and attempted coup on January 6, 2021. I have watched or listened to almost all of the January 6 hearings, and am awestruck by the testimony of fellow Americans, mostly Republicans by the way, spelling out the truth of what happened, in an impassioned plea for us to all safeguard our democracy in any way we can.

Whatever party we typically support, I do not see how we can vote for candidates who deny the legitimacy of the 2020 election, who continue to push the lie that it was rigged or stolen, when no allegations of widespread fraud held up in our courts where people had to tell the truth. I believe that at our best, the United States has two or more healthy, functioning parties to vigorously debate ideas and policies, balancing each other out; there are things we need to “conserve” and ways we need to “progress.” I desperately hope that the GOP can somehow free itself of Trumpism; how I long for the days of a John McCain, Mitt Romney, or even George Bush presidential bid (I never thought I would say that!). In the meantime, I think we have to support candidates who believe in free and fair elections, and do not propagate the Big Lie. We cannot believe for a minute, that Trump and those like him, will not attempt to subvert our democracy again. And if we lose our democracy, it won’t matter how we feel about abortion, climate change, taxes, or whatever because we all stand to lose the America we love.

I could go on about why I support Democratic leaders, values and policies on specific issues. (You can read more here where I wrote a similar post about supporting the Biden/Harris ticket in 2020) On the whole, I feel like Democrats are more clear-eyed about the threats and struggles facing everyday Americans --shrinking economic opportunities for America’s middle class, violent, white Christian nationalism, climate change, insurmountable student debt and healthcare costs--and are TRYING to address them with bold ideas and initiatives. I feel like I mostly hear Republicans vent grievances and attacking Democrats, without articulating what they are FOR or offering clear proposals of what they would do differently. I think about one of the great lines from Hamilton: “Winning was easy, governing is harder.” At the end of the day, I want leaders who are not just fighting to win and hold onto power, but are ready to roll up their sleeves, get to work and govern.

I am so grateful for the awesome freedoms and opportunities that come from being an American citizen. In gratitude, I want to invest (yes, pay taxes, participate and VOTE) in a democracy where we can all thrive, not just the people who look and think, believe and work like me. What an awesome vision of what we can be --glorious people of multiple races and ethnicities, faith traditions, and ways of being and loving, learning from and enriching one another, while doing the hard, messy work of trying to figure out the most peaceful, just and equitable ways to live together.

Prayers and blessings for us all as we continue to fight (non-violently!) for this nation we all love.

With hope and love,

Kimberly