An Open Letter to Christians regarding Dr Dobson’s Open Letter To Christians Regarding The Election
I'm not a particularly heavy user of social media. I try to avoid it, but like most, I fell into its pull this week. In one of my stumblings, I came across this letter, reading it several times and struggling with the conclusion.
Premises begins with stirring emotion toward justice and aligning it with the republican party by manifesting a vision of slavery during American history, along with all its monstrous realities. The letter ties Lincoln with images of the republican party and praises him for delivering the nation from darkness, emphasizing his painful and untimely death. The second paragraph juxtaposes Lincon's battle against slavery with the current election citing a possible revolution and beacons voters to take it seriously. There was then a question of the validity of considering the candidate's character calling it frivolous. Finally, the letter draws on borrowed rhetoric that states the republican party is "the future of my country," and the aim should be to control the Presidency, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Supreme Court.
To summarize the argument from premise to conclusion:
Slavery was an atrocity.
Lincon fought against slavery.
Lincon was the republican party.
The republican party was the savior and, thereby, the future of our democracy.
Therefore, a good person should align themselves with the republican party.
Further, if you're concerned about the candidate's moral character, you should brush that concern off as it's frivolous anyway.
As I read and reread the letter, I found myself feeling disenchanted by the conclusion's sentiment, but I couldn't pinpoint the reason. It wasn't until several iterations later that I found the issue. The letter was feeding me a fairy tale: that one side is good and one side is evil.
As children, we were all taught ancient stories that survived the ages based on their morals. Whether they be the stories from Hans Christian Andersen or the Bible, these stories have existed with a purpose which still offers service. They concern themselves with archetypical themes of good and evil, giving children and adults exposure to morals. They further help express profound feelings dramatically so that humans can explore and understand those unarticulated drivers. Children find themselves enraptured by the challenge of a good life, rooting for the character who would choose to fight something bigger than themself selflessly and heroically.
This lesson is all possible through the distilled story, distilled many times, clearly showing a good character and an evil character. While watching the struggle, children find themselves aligned with the good, which, later, evolves into a life situation of choice. Whether or not they can fully articulate their feelings, people fundamentally understand the concepts from childhood. Now they can choose between good and bad, but good and evil are only introductory. The true hero of a story is not a good or bad character. The brilliance of the structure of these ancient stories is the protagonist.
In every story, the hero finds themselves surrounded by good and evil forces, but those are not the focus. They're uni-dimensional. The real act of heroism manifests when the hero transcends strictly good and evil and realizes their ability to choose a path when they defeat one-dimensional characters and discover their own strength. They grow beyond who they were and into something that can genuinely help.
The central argument of the letter proposed an unsophisticated and shortsighted view of the election. It argued a clear choice between good and bad, the republican and democratic parties, respectively. But since childhood, we all know there's no such thing as a solely bad or solely good, especially in choice. In truth, we usually face a bad choice and another bad choice. But we must still make a choice. The hero that lives inside of us demands it. That's why Mufasa and Scar both die in The Lion King. Simba must understand that he has both sides inside himself and decide the future of his own accord.
Claiming a thing is only ever good or bad is fantasy. We can further conclude the notion that the republican party is only ever positive and righteous and altruistic while the democratic party is harmful and evil and selfish is also fantastic. The crux of the issue resides in the severity of the democratic process, the voter. Perpetuating the concept that one party is good and one party is bad is nieve and dangerous and exactly contrary to democracy's fundamental tenants that allow for leadership choice. If only one party should rule, why have a vote in the first place?
No, don't vote for a party because of their history or because someone else tries to align you with their platform. Further, take into account the moral character of every leader. It is not frivolous. It's valuable and driven by the utility of profound, mysterious, primordial drivers we've been practicing since we were children.
I'll agree with one point the letter made: Pray! Pray or meditate or consider or discuss or dream or investigate to do whatever you must do to decide your direction for yourself. If you've searched yourself honestly and genuinely and you believe the republican party is the proper choice, then vote for them. But don't allow yourself to be misled into believing only one side is right. Listen to the hero inside you. The choice will not be easy, but neither is democracy.
