Honesty in Politics — too much to ask?

We all have an interest in politics. Though the constant wrangling, arguing, shouting, noise, gimmicks, dirty deals, endless scandals, and genuine nastiness that inhabits the political world turns us off, still our interest remains. Political decisions affect us all. Some political stands by people we oppose produce fear and anxiety lest they should come to power and implement their policies. We find ourselves allying politically with people and movements that sometimes represent other positions we can’t stomach, to hopefully see our agenda accomplished.

When Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1980, one stop was the Bob Jones University platform. I attended the meeting, one of my roommates was able to shake his hand after the meeting. He famously claimed, “I’ll never wash my hand again!” (I suspect he didn’t hold to that!) I recall one of the Greenville papers gleeful headline, something along these lines, “When a Divorced Movie Actor Speaks at Bob Jones, That’s News!” I suppose it was, but it is an example of the compromises one must make to put people into office who may implement policies you approve of. The current American political situation reflects this reality to an even greater degree.

Many Christians have a very hard time supporting Donald Trump. In his initial election, this reluctance came because of his notable public character and (from the Christian perspective) very bad behaviour. Coupled with fear that his mixed business success (and failures) hadn’t adequately prepared him for national leadership, many Christians looked elsewhere for a worthy candidate. After most of President Trump’s first term, my perception is that most of that fear no longer exists. President Trump is not perfect, some of his policies and management style deserve criticism, but overall most Christians are at least grudgingly satisfied with the administration he leads.

As we are now in an election year, the political conversation rears its ugly head once again. My Facebook feed is full of claims and counter claims on politics (my friends are not uniformly conservative). I am not convinced that Facebook or any other social media platform can be all that effective in waging a campaign, but you can’t avoid the issues if you choose to participate. Someone among your friends will say something, even if you don’t. I often think my more politically active friends are merely “tilting at windmills” and little good will result. However, I understand the urge to speak up.

My headline says, “Honesty in Politics — too much to ask?” Of whom do I ask this question? Well, I don’t ask it of the politicians themselves. I expect them to put the most self-serving spin (if not outright lies) on their self-promotion. Its not right, but it is human nature. I also don’t ask this of the media. Impartiality is a word in the dictionary, but not a description of the media. Consequently, of whom am I asking my question?

I am asking my Christian friends and relations to be honest in the things they say in support of their causes or candidates. The motivation for this post was when a beloved relative of mine posted something that just couldn’t possibly be accurate. The post in question shared a post from someone else claiming to represent Henry Kissinger’s support for Trump. The bulk of the post contained the author’s opinions, not Kissinger’s. A couple of the quotes reflected some things Kissinger said in 2016, but weren’t exact quotes. Some other alleged quotes have no verifiable source. The whole thing serves to create an impression that Kissinger strongly supports Trump. I have no idea whether that is true or not, but I strongly suspect that his views of Trump are much more ambivalent than that. The point, however, is not what Kissinger thinks, but what supporters of Trump want you to think Kissinger thinks. Aren’t posts of this kind fundamentally dishonest? This isn’t the only example. You’ve probably seen many others of them. I hope you’ve resisted passing them along.

Is it too much to ask Christians to be honest in their political activity? We live in a free society, where our speech is (mostly) free. We have the privilege of supporting who we wish to support. For the record, I will encourage my family members to support President Trump in this election.¹ The policies I think best for the United States and the world are far more likely to come from President Trump’s initiative than any other candidate in the running. Yet I really can’t support Christian friends passing on lies and half-truths in support of Trump or any other candidate. So many of the “internet memes” tell less than half the story, it would be better for us to not say anything at all, rather than passing on lies because we like to “stick it” to our opponents.

Honesty in Politics — too much to ask?

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Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.

1. To be clear, I am not an American citizen and have no vote, but I am married to an American and have five American children. They don’t always do what I say, but I will encourage them on this point this time around. [↩]