A Gut Check...

As we draw nearer to the election day i feel more and more like i'm watching a football game. People are democrats or republicans more out of loyalty or because they were raised that way, or because one team is winning. Very rarely do i read in the popular media a well thought out explanation of the differences/advantages/disadvantages of being a republican/democrat.

I see all sorts of commentary on Palin's sexiness and outfits and much made of Barak's Muslim heritage but no real commentary on why these things matter. I also haven't seen an unbiased account on the political history of America and just what was going on during the boom years. I've seen alot of facts spun to prove a point, or to sway a vote, but nothing to show the possible consequences of a policy or a historical view on the fall out from similar measures.

And then today i read a commentary in the NYTimes that cited a behavior scientist that made this statement "...but he does touch on many of the perceptual biases that distort our thinking: our tendency to see data that confirm our prejudices more vividly than data that contradict them; our tendency to overvalue recent events when anticipating future possibilities; our tendency to spin concurring facts into a single causal narrative; our tendency to applaud our own supposed skill in circumstances when we’ve actually benefited from dumb luck."

Granted this piece was on how we as human precipitated the financial crisis through our belief in deregulation. But i think it could easily be applied to politics. We tend to watch/get our news/hang out with people who support our biases. Very rarely do we deeply engage with the people across the aisle much less be honest with ourselves about our prejudices and where they were formed.

So why do you vote a particular way? Let's move beyond the "bible sez" cuz we all know the devil can quote scripture too. Besides I've read biblical arguments on both sides. And historically democrats were christians. Most of the southern democrats switched to the republican party over race. The evangelicals over the issue of abortion. Should we as christians be one issue voters?

I guess what i'm looking for is an engagement/discussion of, "is it your class/race/personal history that has led you to vote one way or another?" Because it is through those things that the lens through which we engage scripture/God/one another is formed.

Thoughts?