I’m guessing that a number of people doing Quick Takes this week are going to be writing about the results of the election and that the majority of you are not happy little pumpkins about Obama being re-elected. In the spirit of non-partisanship and because I was in your shoes 8 years ago, I’m offering some ways you can make it through the next four years.
Before we start, could you please take a look at the boy on my sidebar? His name is Brett and he needs a mama. Do you know who his mama could be? Go show him some love and spread his profile around. Please and thank you!
OK… first things first. Romans 13:1-7 (NKJV) says the following:
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God??s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God??s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience?? sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God??s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”
You may not like that Barack Obama was elected president but it is your duty as a Christian to submit to him and praying for him is what Jesus would tell you to do. You might even find that praying for him softens your heart toward him and you’ll feel less resentment. It didn’t help me with George W. Bush but your heart might not be as hardened as mine is/was.
Bug the daylights out of your elected representatives. Your Congresspersons and senators were elected by you to represent you in Washington DC. This means that they need to listen to what you have to say and act according to your interests, so enlighten them as to what your interests actually are. Their websites have all their contact information. For those who need the URL, it is usually http://[last name].house.gov or http://[last name].senate.gov. Make them earn those salaries that they keep voting to raise! My thought is that if their staff doesn’t know you by name, you’re probably not bugging them enough. 🙂 Do be nice to their staffers though as many of them are college students doing internships and they don’t deserve to be treated like lightning rods for your frustration. Save that for your candidate’s appearances in your home district.
Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Your letter to the editor might be how someone learns about 40 Days for Life or that there is a crisis pregnancy center in the community. How do I know this? I’ve had a couple letters published in the Great Falls Tribune on the subject. One of them was actually clipped, copied, and handed out by the public health nurse for one of the counties in northern Montana where I used to live. (It probably didn’t hurt that she was the daughter of one of my husband’s shut-ins.) My point is this: opinion sections usually want to print a diversity of letters on a particular subject and would appreciate well-written letters expressing one’s viewpoint in a thoughtful manner. I’m sure the people putting those sections together would love to read something that isn’t from someone who is bat crap crazy.
Reassess the way in which you are fighting for your goals. Tell me, how is your fight against the HHS mandate going? Other than one Supreme Court verdict, I’m not seeing much in terms of change. I’m honestly not trying to be snarky in this particular Quick Take but I think it might not hurt to reassess the way in which you are going about this. You have an *awesome* cardinal at the helm of the USCCB — I follow him on Twitter and his letter congratulating President Obama on his re-election was excellent. You also have excellent law schools which train top-notch lawyers. Could the Cardinal’s people and the President’s people maybe get together and hammer this out? I know that I’m just a Lutheran pastor’s wife (who happens to be reading your Catechism as well as her own) but your approach really appears to be like the axiom about resentment — swallowing poison and telling the other person to die drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies. (It’s apparently a quote by Nelson Mandela.)
Keep some perspective. Unless I happen to occupy a different planet than most of you, the sun still rose and set on Wednesday. Yes, Romney lost but that doesn’t mean that you didn’t make a statement. The House is still Republican-controlled so whatever the President and the Democrat-controlled Senate want to do has to go by them. This means that Congress is not the President’s rubber stamp and he doesn’t have all the power — this is how the system is supposed to work. If we didn’t have the legislative branch to balance the executive branch and the judicial branch to balance the others, we’d have problems.
Keep your viewpoint visible. Keep participating in 40 Days for Life. Keep marching in DC for January as part of the March for Life. The mainstream media might not show it but pics on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram sure do. It is your right to peaceably assemble — exercise it.
Find ways to build bridges with those who disagree with you. Not all Democrats approved of the crass voting pictures from Planned Parenthood just as not all Republicans agreed with Todd Akin or Richard Mourdock on rape. The worst thing you can do at this point is generalize about people. I’m more than just a “lib”. I’m a mother, a daughter, a religious scholar, able to read multiple languages fluently, an activist for preeclampsia research, a Guardian Angel for Reece’s Rainbow, a voracious reader, an amazing cook, an enthusiastic fan of taebo, and most of all… A FELLOW HUMAN BEING.
This election meant exploring programs to aid the 47% with Thomas who is 180 degrees from me politically and we came up with some great solutions together. I’m a Guardian Angel for Reece’s Rainbow because Leila challenged me. I don’t think I would have found Brett without her and now finding this little man a family is on my to-do list every day. She and I are opposites but we can still work together for a common good.
For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.
