Choosing My America

A cable news station which shall remain nameless was reporting on the election. Not the past election, the future election. The banner at the bottom of the screen read "YOU DECIDE 2008."

I actually laughed out loud.


It is indeed laughable to think “we decide” an election that will not take place for two years. Furthermore, the word “decide” needs to be qualified once for every dollar spent by the moneyed interests, and every minute donated by the media, which will serve to restrict our choices down to a few “viable” candidates by the time all is said and done.


For example, Evan Bayh’s announcement to run for presidency was carried on one website with the headline: “Clinton Actively Weighs 08 Bid.” This was kind of funny too, though not for Mr. Bayh.

Reporting on how folks get elected, the New York Times commented yesterday, “There is only so much money, seasoned political expertise and media attention to go around…” In the same story, a gentleman was quoted as saying, “Obama is a very serious candidate who will compete with [the others] for the limited supply of activists and media attention.”

Activists and media attention… Yes, indeed, “we” will decide who is president in 2008.

This brings up a host of thoughts about culture and freedom. Here are a couple of mine.

1. In spite of Americans’ love affair with “free will,” the will is actually shepherded along by a host of salesmen, some of them quite aggressive. Oh, perhaps we make the final choice – we pull the lever, push the button, buy the sneakers, or whatever – but we are far from making a choice that is entirely our own.

2. When it comes to choosing our beliefs, we are similarly affected. Many evangelists like to say that we need to make a “free will” decision for salvation, that God will not override our “free” will. But our will is in bondage – as Martin Luther and Jonathan Edwards rightly said – to a host of internal predispositions, commitments, and passions. The biblical view of free will is that, yes, we must “choose” – but we’re not going to really choose that which is countercultural and/or countersensual apart from some serious intervention on God’s part.

3. Christians should be humbled by #2. Is my faith, we might ask, really a gift of God – or have I been manipulated into this belief system? The best indicator that it is God, and not spiritual salesmen, that have changed our heart is whether our beliefs are truly countercultural – whether they demand or create something profound and beautiful, rather than more of the same.

First Peter begins with these words: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion…” That’s an interesting turn of phrase, elect exiles.

The question isn’t whether we have elected to believe in God but whether God has elected (or chosen) us. If he has, this should show itself in our own choices – not so much for president (since we have so little choice), but in the 1,000 other choices we make each day.