To Vote or Not to Vote...

This time four years ago, I was a community organizer. I worked for an organization that advocated for more affordable, quality healthcare for all. Naturally, we used the momentum gained under the Obama campaign to further our cause. Though I strongly discouraged my friends from becoming one issue voters, I was one- voting not for 'a change we could believe in' but rather, a healthcare option that made sense to me. Four years before that, I drove from my school in Arkansas to my hometown in Kansas and voted for George W. Bush. I was primarily voting on the pro-life issue, and knew nothing of his other policies. Unknowingly, when I voted for both Bush and Obama based on one issue, I also signed up for many things I later regretted associating my name with. With Bush, it was an Iraqi war. With Obama, I pledged my allegiance to more troops being sent to Afghanistan.

Most of us have the ability to make the party we are affiliated with become the ‘good’ and the other party the ‘evil’. As I’ve come to notice, it seems that candidates from both major parties have done their fair share of lying and hiding behind manipulative messaging of more jobs, a better economy and blue collar/working family stories. The truth is none of the candidates represent good or evil, though our parties would tell us differently. We are forced into a position to choose a lesser evil- to hone in on a few issues or policies that we can relate with and then to choose a candidate, with all their other policies in tact. Recently artist Derek Webb cautioned the American public with regards to voting. He told them to be aware of what happens to your soul when choosing a ‘lesser evil’. When we choose a lesser evil, we justify evil- even small bits of evil- for ‘the greater cause’.

Even during the debates, it was obvious from the language that was being used that neither candidate has any of the personal relationships that matter when talking about these issues. They haven’t shared meals, common spaces or evenings around the fire with people who have been incarcerated, addicted, homeless, trafficked, resettled or just living in that place between welfare and self-sufficiency. People who use the words ‘gang-bangers’, ‘poor kids’, ‘autistic kids’, and use hunting language when talking about a human being (regardless of which human being) are not people that I want to be a leader for our country. It shows not only a lack of understanding and ability to articulate (which is what our country seems to value), but clearly shows a lack of relationship with the poor and the struggling. How can someone who has no relationships with the people of the issues really speak to them?

Recently, I was able to attend the opening ceremony for a Peace Colloqy happening in Independence, Missouri. They had invited Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, former mayor of Hiroshima, to open the weekend with an acceptance of the annual International Peace Award, this year funding peace studies at Hiroshima University. This man reminded us of the importance of not only disarming nuclear weapons, or remaining neutral in war time, but encouraged us to be active peacemakers. He talked about the importance of gaining knowledge about the bombing of Hiroshima, and reminded us that we were the last generation that could hear the first-hand accounts from the survivors. He talked about cultures coming together through foreign exchange student programs and a program called Mayors for Peace. This was an intelligent, articulate man who had the simple goal of promoting peace through understanding, cultural sharing and dialogue.

He sited a conversation that was had between Akihiro Takahashi, survivor of the bomb and former director of Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Col. Paul Tibbets, a pilot who dropped the first enemy bomb on Hiroshima.  Mr. Takahashi, expressed his first hatred of all the military leaders of both sides that were involved, and then his later reconciliation and works for peace. Col. Tibbets responded ‘It was war, and if given the same orders under the same circumstances, I’d do it again.’ When he was sharing this story, I hated the kind of military brainwashing that happens in my country. Asking men of courage to not only risk their lives, but also to give up any sense of empathy or ability to think for themselves, seemed liked a page from a book like 1984 or Fahrenheit 451. Dr. Akiba, in his eloquence, simply responded to our gasps of horror with this answer: ‘It was a stepping stone for peace’. He said that he honored his countryman’s remark about his regret and appreciated my countryman’s honesty, and that was a place where peace could begin. Not always through agreement, but through mutual respect, dialogue and learning. It baffled me and also humbled me to hear a former mayor of Hiroshima honoring a man that would say such a thing, simply for the cause of peace.


This is the kind of man I would want to lead the country I live in. Not a candidate of big money, corporations, celebrities and emotional messaging, but someone who values cultural sharing, education, and peace-building. Someone who promotes economic growth through local economies and open-mindedness is someone who has not only heard stories, but had to live them. Once a person has had to live the kind of stories that our struggling friends have, I would trust them to write policies, build peace between nations and promote our economy through local endeavors. Until there is a candidate that qualifies, I see no reason to participate or sign up for hidden agendas that I’ll later regret.