At the last General Election, fewer than 60% of those who were eligible, actually voted. This led to great soul-searchings in the media and among politicians about a supposed 'crisis of democracy', while cynics expressed the opinion that the low turnout indicated that people believed (rightly, they said) that it didn't matter which way they voted: the decisions of Government would be pretty much the same whatever the result.
Democracy is, as Churchill famously said, the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. There will be times when we all wonder how much of a good idea democracy actually is. For me, those times usually occur when I consider the reality shows and soap operas that pass for entertainment on the media, or the adulation of celebrities, or the quality of political reportage in the popular press, or the standard of debate used by many serving politicians. But the suggestion of limiting the franchise on educational or intellectual grounds ’Äì to those who deserved to exercise it because they had taken the trouble to inform themselves and think through the issues ’Äì would be just as misguided and ultimately wrong as the earlier notion that only the propertied classes should vote, because they had more of a material stake in society. The vision of democracy, the idea of 'one adult, one vote', affirms that no one in a free society ought to have decisions made that affect their lives, without having a say in selecting the people who will make those decisions. It is essentially a Christian insight: that all people are equally created in the image of God, and all are of equal value, whether they are the child of a billionaire or of a slum-dweller. In everything else that affects their destiny, they may be poles apart. But at the moment they stand in the polling booth, their votes are of equal weight and influence. The opportunity of making one's mark on a ballot paper is something that millions of people in the world can only dream of. It is not so much our democratic right or privilege, as our duty. So, however weary or disillusioned you may sometimes feel about the process: do vote on May 5th!
But thinking, and if we are people of faith, praying, about how we vote is also important. It is depressing to see how much political debate is pitched at people's worst characteristics; which indicates either that politicians have a very low opinion of the people they represent, or maybe they are simply realists. They seem to assume we will choose to vote out of greed (what will make me financially better off? - so they offer more tax cuts, or advantages for me and the people like me) or fear (who are the people I feel threatened by? - so they promise to protect me from them) or prejudice (what are the emotive issues I feel so strongly about that I find it difficult to listen to any other point of view? - so they try to get me to vote only on the basis of those selected issues). All of this is a million miles away from the kind of values of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus preached. Those values were all about protecting the poor and vulnerable, strengthening the position of those who lose out in the mill-race of life, setting restraints on the power of the mighty, caring for the needy, and loving outcasts and strangers. A vote inspired by Kingdom values will be cast on the basis of what will be good for others; what will promote the greater good of all, even if it entails some personal sacrifice for me.
And of course, it is essential not just to pray about how we should vote, but for the outcome, for those who will be elected to power, for the way they use the position we entrust them with.
How would Jesus vote? It would be wrong, and quite probably illegal, for me as a vicar to try to influence how anyone voted by expressing the opinion that any one candidate or party expressed the mind of Christ more fully than all the rest. But more to the point, I don't have an answer to the question. Not only was Jesus not living under a democracy but under one of the most absolutist empires in history; he was also notoriously counter-political in his views and actions, refusing to be pinned down within the political arguments of his day, and insisting that people take a different view.
More important than my giving an answer to the question, is to encourage everyone who will vote to ask themselves the question. And then, according to their conscience, to vote in the way their questioning leads them, rather than in any of the ways that might be dictated by selfishness, greed, fear, prejudice or habit. I always feel in great awe when I go to the polling station and cast my vote. It is as holy a moment, in many ways, as kneeling at the altar rail to receive the Sacrament. And just as Jesus is present in church, so he is there in the voting booth, to stand with us and guide us in the way we exercise our democratic right and responsibility.
Published in the Marston Times, May 2005