Well, without telling you who to vote for, I've got some somewhat-politically-related thoughts to get off my chest. Here are three topics I feel compelled to share about.
1. RAPE CULTURE IS A THING.
This has been on my mind as the latest Trump scandal has brought it to the forefront. In the past, I have had multiple family members - male and female, and truthfully people I consider to be more intelligent than myself - tell me that rape culture is a myth. Their logic is that, while rape/sexual assault/etc. may be pervasive, it isn't normalized, and you need it to be both pervasive and normalized in order to call it a rape "culture" rather than a rape "problem". Like, our culture doesn't brush aside rape (when we believe it's rape, that's the kicker), and no one WE know thinks it's a good thing, right? And when talking with them, I understand where they're coming from, since it really is true of the majority of people we know, and because they are frustrated with the ways rape culture is being used as a buzzword for other policies or mental policing that they might be opposed to. I get it, even if I don't stand by it. But this past week has shown me that I don't have to back down on my position that rape culture is real, and has reared its ugly head in a nasty way this election.
Is what Donald Trump has said or done the reason I've been convinced? No. People in power have the power to do terrible things. They always have. (See the next section) No, I have been convinced not by Trump, who has shown himself to be a scumbucket again and again; but by the ways we have responded to it. We, US. My neighbors, my relations, my friends and my friends' Facebook friends. The internet commentators. The justifications, the straw-mans, the everyone's-done-its, the but-they-are-worsers. The fact that the term "locker room" is used to explain a certain way of thinking and talking as acceptable, when were no vestiges of such a setting, and yet superimposing that setting on top makes it seem more innocent? The thousands of likes on a comment that, using derogatory language, says about Trump's sexual assault comments, "we've all done/said/thought this sort of thing". Well, hate to tell ya folks, but there it is - the normalized part of the rape culture equation. It's there. It's been there all along, but perhaps in murkier waters. Now it's glistening and oozing in the sunlight, the brush-off of sexual assault from people I know, and consider to have good hearts. That's prevalence and normalization.
The worst -and yet maybe the hopeful part? - is that there's no imaginary enemy "They" perpetuating rape culture - in the same way I don't believe there's a separate Patriarchy living underground somewhere building iron bars. WE ARE THEY, THEY ARE WE. We are among them and they are among us. While we can legislate consequences, we can't legislate morality. We can only teach it, develop it in ourselves, catch ourselves when we fall short, and pass it along to our children.
2. POWER AND CORRUPTION
Let's talk about power. Among my favorite books of all time is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If there is ANY overpowering message from that story, it is this: power corrupts. In the trilogy we see a wide variety of characters play out this theme - from Gollum to Denethor to Saruman to Sauron to Frodo. The Ring is a symbol for power, and does anyone achieve any good by it's power? No! Because the pursuit of power as an end unto itself, CORRUPTS. With that corruption and power combined, destruction, death, deception, and decay ensue.
So, if you know me, you can guess where I'm going with this. . . I'm not going to vote for Hillary Clinton just because I hate Trump. Trump is corrupted by power in one way, and Hillary in another - and one that I personally find far more difficult to fight against.
Hillary Clinton is the Saruman of this analogy. She's someone whom I really believe started out with high ideals, and perhaps is delusional enough to think she still is on track with those high ideals. But in her pursuit of power she has sold out on her honesty, her moral compass, and chillingly treats as collateral damage anyone and anything that stands between her and power. Now, for all those who may scoff at my concerns as being tin-foil hat conspiracies. A number of the things I believe about her may well turn out to be just that - empty theories. I'm prepared for that and would welcome it. But 1) The things I DO know about her are enough to let me see the moral decay I cannot vote for, and 2) Never in history do we see ALL of the evils of a evil leader brought to light right away. Such things are often discovered in trickles, or years after the fact. So we can't be so quick to discount something because it hasn't fully been brought to light. All there is to do is hold it up against the knowledge that we already have, and keep it around without necessarily sewing it into the fabric of your banner.
(As I was typing this, my husband asks, "So what does that make Trump? A stupid orc with high hopes?" Bahaha!)
(On second thought, yes. He's all the Uruk-Hai combined! Which is why this race is so mind-boggling . . . like, I see people getting tricked into voting for Saruman, even as a more terrible evil, but WHO VOTES FOR THE URUK-HAI??)
Anyway, I'm pretty sure an Aragorn or a Samwise wouldn't vote for either of them. So I won't either. It's too bad all the corruption can't be personified. Like the Mouth of Sauron! And how Aragorn doesn't even give it the time of day, he just cuts it off - literally. Okay, I'm getting carried away. The point is. Power corrupts. I believe power has corrupted Hillary Clinton (And Trump) in extremely dangerous ways. I cannot vote for it.
3. I DON'T BELIEVE THAT GOD IS POLITICAL - AT LEAST NOT IN THE WAYS THAT WE THINK
You might read the two posts above and feel very affronted right now. You might have a dozen things to tell me about why I should vote for Trump or why I should vote for Hillary or why you're making the right choice. And I'm willing to bet you ARE, be you on the Trump Train or With Her! No, really. All LotR joking aside, I feel like I can't call anyone I know "good" or "bad" for voting for Clinton or Trump - EXCEPT MYSELF, because I know my heart. I don't know the heart of anyone else, except what they choose to show. When there's no clear answer from the skies, or when there's ambiguity, the only ones who really know if you are making the right or wrong choice are you and God.
I know that God cares about who leads our country - but I also know that at the end of the day, He cares about YOU, bringing your heart to Him, coming home to Him. That stands independent of who leads our country. The only place that those things two converge is in your own heart and decisions. So yeah, you should care about who to vote for. Your reasons for voting should bring out your best impulses, enlarge your best God-driven qualities, or perhaps develop new ones. But you might be surprised to realize that, when give two such terrible choices, you may find that these best impulses are brought out with EITHER terrible choice, or even other options, as you seek to fight evil in the ways that you see fit. Thank goodness God looks upon the desires of our hearts.
You pray it out. You will be guided into doing what is best for your personal journey toward God. And if enough of us are doing that, we may find that it turns out to be what is best for our country's journey, too.
