Letter to My Granddaughter: Why I Vote for Democrats in Spite of Their Positiion on Abortion

This is what your mother told me: Some time back, when your (Christian School) teacher was talking to you about politics, she said, “Christians vote Republican.”   This upset you because, as you said to your mom, “Grandpa’s a Christian and he votes for Democrats.”  You were right on both counts, and I want take a little time to explain why I as a Christian vote for Democrats most of the time. 

First of all, let me say that I am glad you and your friends and teachers are talking about politics. American citizens should be talking politics, and you are a citizen.  In a democracy like America we believe that the ordinary citizens are the people who govern the country.  When we vote, we elect people to be public servants.  That means that they must do things for the citizens, that is, for the public weal.  (That’s a good old-fashioned word you should get to know.)  They must serve the public.  But it also means that the ordinary citizens (you and me) must know about the candidates and the issues so they can vote wisely.

In our country we have two political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. (There are other parties, but they don’t usually have many members or much influence.) If people want their vote to count when voting for a president or governor or senator or representative, they must usually choose to vote for Republicans or Democrats.  But they can mix it up if they want and vote for some Democrats and some Republicans.  When I vote, I usually vote for Democrats, but sometimes, when I know a Republican candidate who is a really good person or who has ideas that I agree with, I vote for him or her.  But usually I vote Democrat.  Here’s why:

                Reason 1:  I believe that the Republican Party is more concerned with helping rich people stay rich than it is with helping poor people escape from their poverty.  They talk about a “trickle down” effect, the idea that if rich people pay less tax, they will have more money to create jobs and thus their money will “trickle down” to the poor people.  They have been saying this for a hundred years, but it seldom works. 

I believe that Democrats are more interested in helping the poor.  One of the main concerns of God in the Bible is that people and governments help poor people.  (Over 2000 Bible texts talk about caring for the poor.)  Now, some Christians that you and I know will say that the government has no business taking care of the poor—that’s the job of the church, they will say.  But there is not a shred of biblical support for that opinion.  In both Old and New Testaments we read that governments are required to do justice—and economic justice is often most needed in societies.  John Calvin, the reformer whom the Reformed churches claims as its primary theological influence, was most adamant in his requirement of the government of his city of Geneva be active in seeking economic justice for the poor.

                Reason 2: I believe that Democrats are much more concerned about the care of creation than Republicans.  Now you may ask, why is creation care so important?  When water and air and land are abused and polluted, people suffer and die.  Right now in the United States, breathing disorders—some of them leading to death—are far higher than they were 25 or 50 years ago.  Why?  Because we (with our cars and our factories) have pumped many harmful chemicals into the air and these chemicals affect people’s (especially, children’s) ability to breath. 

The single most important creation issue is Global Warming.  You have probably heard of this, so I am not going to say much about it except that if we don’t try to stop it, living conditions for people all over the world 50 years from now—in your lifetime—will be drastically worse.  Terrible droughts and floods and storms will occur, causing almost unimaginable harm to people.  The position of the Republican Party (2012) is that human activity—vehicles, factories, heating of buildings—does not contribute to global warming.  Ninety-eight per cent of all climate scientists disagree.  But most Republicans continue to oppose any regulations and policies that would help to diminish our heating of the planet by producing carbon dioxide.

Apart from recognizing the bad things that happen to people because of creation abuse, we have to remember that God loves the creation.  He made it, and when he made each part of it, he said, “That’s good!”  He commanded humans to care for this creation, but ever since sin entered the world, we have been busy abusing it.  Yet God so loved the world, that he sent Jesus to die for it.  In Colossians 1 we read that Jesus Christ “reconciled all creation unto himself.”  Not just humans, but all creation!

I could give more reasons but these are the main reasons I vote for Democratic candidates.

But you may be wondering  how I can support the Democratic Party even though it supports “a woman’s right to an abortion” since for your teacher and so many other Christians you and I know, this is the reason for voting Republican that trumps all reasons for voting Democrat.

Let me attempt to explain why I am able to vote for a candidate that supports abortion even though I am opposed to abortion:

                Reason 1:  Politics involve more than one issue, abortion.  When a large numbers of people look at only one issue in deciding whom to vote for, our political system ceases to function very well.  Abortion is a terribly important issue, but so are the issues of health care and welfare and poverty and environmental care, and there are many more issues that are life and death issues, justice issues.  Sorting all that out is a complex task and in my analysis, when I weigh other issues against abortion,  I have chosen to vote for democrats most of the time.

                Reason 2:  I believe that while many Republican politicians want to outlaw abortion,  others are not really serious about making it illegal.  Some time back, when Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority (an organization committed to overturning Roe v. Wade) helped elect Ronald Reagan to his first term as president, they did so because they were assured that Reagan would do something about abortion.  But according to Ed Dobson, Falwell’s right hand man, Reagan did absolutely nothing to change things.  In fact, Dobson says, once Reagan was in the White House, he simply ignored the Moral Majority.  Sometimes I wonder whether some Republican politicians in high places, knowing that the anti-abortion cohort of their constituency is its strongest and most steadfast cohort, choose to do nothing about  abortion because if they did—and it were no longer an issue—they  might see that cohort gradually fade away.  That’s terribly cynical, I know, but I sometimes wonder.

                Reason 3:  Most Republicans who want to see Roe v. Wade overturned expect the abortion regulations to be turned to the states.  What would be the result of this?  Some states would outlaw it, but some states would permit it.  So, there might be fewer abortions, but we would be a long way from eliminating abortions in this country.  I say this only to illustrate that abortion is terribly complex issue that will not be fixed by electing a Republican president.

                Reason 4: For years now many Republicans have been unwilling to support programs and policies that help poor mothers trying to raise their babies.  They claim to be Pro-Life but often seem to care only about unborn children—not about born children.

                Reason 5:  Pro-Life means much more than being against abortion.  Did you know that every day 30,000 children die of starvation and treatable diseases?  For thirty years I have been a member of an organization called Bread for the World (BFW) which seeks to influence our government to enact bills and allocate funds that will help end poverty and hunger around the world.  Every year BFW sends me a report card on how the people in Congress vote on hunger related bills, and every year my Republican representative from Iowa has one of the worst voting records on these bills.  In fact, a spokesperson for my Republican representative told me straight out that when Rep. King says he is Pro Life, all he means is that he is Anti-abortion.  In other words, Rep. King is not going to support any use of government funds that go to help single mothers without jobs or starving children in other parts of the world.  He is ideologically opposed to that kind of aid.

But I have gone on too long.  Let me conclude by saying that some Christians vote Republican and some vote Democrat.  Your teacher was wrong to suggest that Christians are automatically Republican.  There are millions of Christians who are Democrats as well.   Life often involves making tough choices, and voting is a part of life that can demand really hard choices.  In about four years, you are going to have the privilege to vote.  I hope you take it seriously and I hope this letter, which may be hard to read, will help you understand why your grandpa votes for Democrats most of the time.

Love,

Grandpa