Voting my Conscience
and Third Parties
Is a vote for one of the major parties, the Democrats or the Republicans, always a vote of compromise? Is a vote for a third party always a vote of conscience? This is a thorny issue for Christian conservatives. The third parties in this country that most attract Christian conservatives are the Reform Party, the Libertarian Party, the Constitution Party, and the Natural Law Party. The pull of these parties for conservatives is that they return to the principles of government espoused by America’s founders, which emphasize common, natural, or Biblical law, individual freedom, limited government, and low taxation.
Juris Naturalism is the type of government philosophy espoused by the founding fathers, claims Richard Maybury, author of Are You Liberal? Conservative? or Confused? Juris Naturalism is the belief in a natural law that is higher than any government’s law, and evidence of this view can be found running all throughout the Declaration of Independence. It was commonly adhered to even as late as post-World War II, as the verdict of the Nuremburg Trials depended on the truth that natural law supercedes the law of the state. The pull of the third parties for Christians, I believe, is that a Juris Naturalist philosophy is also that of the Bible.
But we have a problem in America today. Those that have studied history, that are armed with the knowledge of common law and Juris Naturalist philosophy, make up a small percentage of the adult population in this country. Liberalism, loosely defined as big-government programs and bureaucracies as the ideal solution to the ills of society, took hold in American culture one small step at a time. It’s been at work since before the Great Depression. Aspects of the Civil War encroached on states’ rights. We have a lot to do to educate people about the founders’ ideas of government.
I believe we’ll have to reclaim that lost ground step by step, just as liberalism advanced on it step by step. It won’t all happen in one administration, one decade, or even in one generation. We have to build for the future, and that takes time.
But the first thing we have to do is preserve our right to homeschool, because we can’t build for the future if our children can’t learn the truth. We have to open up the stranglehold that the public education system has on this country’s children. Parents need alternatives to that system, alternatives that are not hampered by the state-licensed teachers and state-approved curriculum mantra of the NEA. In this way, little by little, hopefully non-homeschooled children can learn the truth about history, the truth about the founders’ vision for government, the ability to read well and think for themselves.
We have to stop the bleeding before we can repair the damage. In this election, this year, I believe a vote for Bush is a vote to stop the bleeding. There’s about 5% support in America today for third party candidates. And the lion’s share of that is for Ralph Nadar, the ultra-left Green Party candidate. In a recent Rasmussen Research Portrait of America poll, a maximum of 21% of Americans would vote third party if assured their candidate had a chance to win. That 21% is not enough to carry an election.
In short, it is not feasible for a third party candidate to win the White House this year. I don’t even believe the American Church is ready to elect a third party to the Presidency. In the 1996 presidential election, 38% of professing evangelicals voted for Clinton!
We have a lot of house-cleaning to do, not to mention the mess the secular society is in. Someday, hopefully in my children’s lifetimes, perhaps a third party would have a legitimate shot at the presidency. Has anyone seen those commercials that ask, “Want a step you can really skip?” I don’t believe the Republican Party is a step conservative Christians can really skip right now.
But how out of touch with Juris Naturalist principles is the Republican candidate for president? Governor Bush made these remarks in a speech he gave in Washington state on October 21st:
I do not believe government is the enemy - but I do not believe it is always the answer. At its best, it can help people find the tools they need to build for themselves. At its best, it gives options, not orders. At its best, government can help us live our lives - but it must never run our lives.
My opponent’s ideas are shaped by a quarter century in the city of Washington - and they were tired even when his career began. Every big idea means bigger government. Rules replace choices. Regulations replace responsibility. It is an old temptation: You start off trying to help people, and end up telling them what to do.
The Vice President talks about “the people versus the powerful.” But, in all of his plans, who ends up with the power? Who always ends up making the choices? Not taxpayers, but tax collectors. Not senior citizens, but HMO overseers. Not parents, or even teachers, but some distant central office.
He says he wants to help “the people.” If only he would trust them.
The Governor sees the principle of non-encroachment on the horizon, even if he doesn’t clothe it in those words. It’s a step in the right direction.
The unspoken premise at the root of the conservative Christian dilemma is that a vote for a GOP candidate is always a vote for evil, not good; for lies, not truth; against God, not for Him. I question that. The man in the office makes the decisions, not the party. A vote for George W. Bush is a vote to reverse the destruction of liberalism in this country, and it is a vote that conservative Christians can cast with the full support of their conscience.
Christine Miller