Politics, Just in General

I hate that I am such a cynic about politics. The thing is, the thought of leading is so distasteful to me that I am suspicious of anyone who wants to. And yet, I know that God gives gifts to people, and sometimes the gift is leadership. There are good leaders in the world. My bishop is one of them. At the first ward council he conducted, he said to us, “You were called to your leadership positions because God knew you could do good there. My job is to support you. Please ponder your stewardship and, at our first one-on-one meeting together, come with some ideas of what you’d like to accomplish and how I can help you best to do that.” I was amazed at his concept of leadership-as-servant.

 

But things get convoluted when you try to translate that concept to leadership in the political sphere. Is a man or woman of integrity supposed to figure out what his/her constituents (or the party that helped them get elected) want and then fulfil that at all costs? Or is s/he supposed to assume that those constituents trust him/her to study issues and then vote by wisdom and conscience?

 

I am glad that I don’t have to lead. I am grateful for the honest of heart who are willing to do so. What can I do to make it easier for the honest of heart to run for office, and then to fulfill their assignments? I’m not sure. For one thing, I can write to tell them thank you when I see them standing up bravely for something moral when it is unpopular. And maybe I can notice when people around me (such as my bishop) display traits of righteous leadership. I can help my children recognize the examples in the Book of Mormon of righteous and unrighteous leadership (power hunger vs. service, for example). I can recognize that issues are always much more complicated than the sound bites we hear make them seem.

 

Another thing that I have become a cynic about: whether people actually can and do change their minds when it comes to politics. I began thinking about this more seriously when an acquaintance whose political leanings I do not share posted something on facebook about media bias. I realized that both he and I were convinced that the other person was not getting an objective view about the world from the news sources we relied on, and that both of us felt that our own preferences of news outlets were closer to objective truth than the other’s. I did some research on media bias and found some websites that I felt were helpful—but I realized that my friend would never believe that the websites I had found; he would say that those websites themselves were also biased. I wondered what info I could possibly use to change his mind—and from what source. Then I wondered what info he could show me that would change my mind, and from what source. The point is that we both had people, or sources, we trusted, and if those sources were to tell us they had been wrong on something, we’d consider it, but not if someone from outside our network of trust did so. What is the solution to this?

 

Easy seminary answer: the Holy Ghost. But both of us are sure that we are using that. What else?

 

I don’t know. I keep coming back to Nephi: “I do not know the meaning of all things, but I know that God loves his children.” I’ve paraphrased and reversed the order of that sentence--because it works best for me in that order. When I can’t get to pure knowledge of the world, I can at least rely on God’s love. For me. For my friend with whom I so disagree. For the politicians I think are damaging the world. For the people who pay the price of their power-hunger and immorality.

 

Meanwhile, politically, I try to vote for the most loving thing for the most people. Some would say that this is unwise, because it lets some people off easy, or leads to freeloaders or people who get away with things. I say that, in the absence of objective truth, in the presence of constant misinformation, erroneous black-and-white thinking, and oversimplification of complicated problems, I’d rather err on the side of mercy. I’d rather risk giving too much than too little, even to people who are ungrateful or unwise. I’d rather give people the benefit of the doubt, even if it leads to waste, than refuse to help the poor, the sick and the afflicted, as I believe I and all Christians have covenanted to do. I don’t know much, but I believe God loves his children, and expects us to, too.