We have come to describe our nation as a democracy. While our form of government has democratic elements embedded within it, our Founding Fathers created a republic. We would do well to understand the difference.
For many of that Founding generation, democracy looked a lot like slavery. A majority imposing its will on a minority, including the deprivation of the most fundamental of rights. One of our Founders, Philadelphia physician and abolitionist Benjamin Rush, used “mobocracy” at times, notably in a letter to John Adams.
What seems to have concerned him and others was what we would recognize as “participation bias.” Those who chose to participate in an activity, by nature, hold different views than those who do not. (This explains why polling, which is now conducted via opt-in text messages, has become increasingly unreliable.) The mob might be full of people who agree that “X” is a problem and that “Y” must be done to correct it … but left out of the equation are those who neither see the problem nor endorse the solution.
It was those people whom the wise, cautious, revolutionary men who framed our Constitution sought to protect.
The 19th-century Christian ethicist, historian, and British parliamentarian, John Dalberg-Acton, noted that the genius of the American constitutional system was to curb the “absolute power of the majority.” Economist Ludwig von Mises warned in the 20th century that “democratic majorities” can become as “drunk with power” as any despotic regime.
As we have drifted from the Christian shores upon which our nation was established, the human heart still craves a solid mooring. Or, at least, the illusion of something solid. As such, we have retreated into the prehistoric mentality of “safety in numbers.”
Divorced from God, our culture has begun assigning a positive moral value to “winning” an election. Garnering the approval of 50 percent plus one of those who choose to participate no more legitimizes evil than it justifies the unconscionable.
Holy Scripture is not so flippant about the limits of our approach to democracy. The Prophet Isaiah wrote, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
Christians are called to participate in the world, not for the purpose of clinging to the dark but rather bringing light. Therefore, we must vote. Not to be on the “winning team,” but to proclaim the favor of the Lord. Our votes are not cast to signify some dimly perceived human righteousness of a particular candidate (“all have sinned”), but to practically pursue “justice.”
Disliking a candidate is not sufficient reason to oppose that candidate when the alternative is empowering someone who works in open opposition to the precepts of orthodox Christian morality. It is not a “kindness” to use our vote as a way to conflate our own personal moral outrage with God’s standard of spiritual perfection.
As Christians, we must take seriously our duty to engage the world. When we vote, we must be like sheep among the wolves; we must be gentle and shrewd. And, of course, “walk humbly” with our God.
Our republic’s democratic elements are limited by the morality our republic’s citizens embrace. We can be enslaved by seeking the approval of the world, or bring forth the joyous freedom found in God’s love.
