A Primer for Christians in Political Life or Why We Call It Public Service

Bryan Fischer had an excellent piece on why Christians ought to be involved in politics:

God rarely acts directly in human affairs. (That’s why we call them “miracles.”) Rather than working apart from us, it is his customary practice to work through men and women to whom he delegates his authority, whether in the home, in the church or in society.

He is always looking for willing servants who have a humble recognition that their authority is not their own but has been delegated to them by God, and have a humble awareness that they are accountable to him for their use of it.

It is unconscionable for Christians to absent themselves from the public arena on the grounds that “Christians shouldn’t be involved in politics,” when the Bible they profess to believe tells them that political power comes from the very God they worship.

DFO posted about it on HBO and a great debate ensued with both Bryan Fischer and State Senate Candidate Clayton Cramer joining the discussion. However, I want to turn to a comment that DFO made:

Dare I say this? Religious conservatives tend to make poor lawmakers because they go to the Legislature, to Congress, wherever, with a religious social agenda — and all to often without a background broad enough to fight for the overall good of their constituents. Former state Sen. Gordon Crow was an exception to the rule.

I guess it kinda depends on how you define religious conservative. I can think of several people who are Conservative Christians with a strong social base that are great legislators including Senator McGee and Senator Fulcher in Idaho. I could also think of several at the national level. Henry Hyde pushed the Hyde Amendment and was quite versatile in Congress, serving as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and International Affairs.

However, I think what is true is that if you only view politics through a prism of social conservatism and that’s your driving reason for being in Washington or the State Capitol, you’ll be severely handicapped.

For example, in this past legislative sessions, hundreds of votes were cast in the legislature. Only two had to do directly with social conservative issues. As an average member of the legislature, you may spend 1% of  your time in the legislature dealing with pro-life and pro-family issues, perhaps a little more if you serve on a committee like State Affairs, Health and Welfare, or the Judiciary Committee, you may deal with these 2-3% of the time. Most of your time will be spent on issues that would bore your average person to tears, but are still vital to the future of your state.

In County and City Government, it’s even worse. I can only think of one issue to come up in City of Boise in the past five years that pertains to social issues and none in Ada County Government.

As an activist, you can be focused on just one issue such as gun control, taxes, abortion, immigration, etc. But you won’t find electoral success as a lawmaker or a candidate if you can only deal with 1-3% of the issues that are going to come forward.

Serving in public office, you have to represent all the people. This doesn’t mean compromising your beliefs, but it does mean expanding your horizons. In my home state of Idaho, if you’re in the legislature, you represent 40,000 people. You’ll have home owners and renters, farmers, businessmen, gun owners, single moms, college students, pastors, and atheists. You can’t pretend to be all things to all people but you have to serve everybody.

Key principles:

1) You must understand your district:

Whether its a city, county, or state, you better know the political situation. What are the issues that are driving the political debate? Talk to people in government. Talk to people on different sides of the issues, get a feel for what’s going on. Running for office with your own agenda with no understanding of what’s going on currently is an ingredient to get beat down. Diligence is key to success in public life. Just as you’d prepare for a job interview, prepare for the campaign.

2) Leaders Listen:

Listening is key. It shows respect, concern, and understanding. People like to be listened to. Even if you don’t end up with agreeing with them, some people will support you because you sat down and listen. When I ran for the legislature in 2004, my fondest memories were when I would stand at someone’s door and listen to them talk about what they thought about our state. I didn’t say a whole lot usually, I let them express their opinions. I looked into things they were concerned about. I even changed my mind on Grocery Taxes. I used to think increasing the credit was enough, but travelling my old district, I realized that it’s folly to support taxing people in a way they detest.

This isn’t to say you’re just a weather vane that changes. Leaders move things forward, but there has to be willingness to hear what people are saying. 

3) Leaders are Patient

Our political system was designed to protect freedom. It does that by making major changes a hard and complicated thing to achieve, and there are no exceptions for you. Those who have achieved lasting changes in history have labored hard and long. Slavery wasn’t abolished until William Wilberforce was nearly dead. John Quincy Adams spent the last decade and a half of his life fighting to merely allow Congress to receive anti-slavery petitions. Nothing worth doing is easy and you better be willing to put your shoulder to the wheel for the long haul if you ever expect to accomplish anything.

 4) Leaders are Servants

Fundamentally, political life is about being a servant. Your average political leader has less personal time than you and I do. They go to dozens of meetings, and many Congressmen rack up thousands of frequent flier miles. While, we love to focus on those who catch rays in the Florida keys, or Hawaii. Others fly to much less hospitable regions such as Iraq, Afghanistan, or even Detroit on Congressional business. When they’re back home, their Congressional staff keeps them running ragged with various meetings.

As a good public servant, you don’t get to just do what you want to do and talk about the issues you’re passionate about, but rather, you have to be concerned with the larger picture and all the issues that are coming up. You can still press for the things you believe in, but if you haven’t learned to serve, you’ll be pretty ineffective.

The truth is that Christians are needed in politics, Christians who are committed to serving others. We need it at the Federal level as entitlements are in desperate need of reform and will bankrupt our country if something is not done. We need it at the State levels as many of our states have absurd economic systems that destroy growth. We need it on school boards, city councils, and commissions. We need the Wilberforces and Adamses, those who will change the course of events through a slow and steady push. It’s hard work, it’s demanding work, and I would reccomend making a career out of it. But, if our country is going to change, we need people who’ll put their hand to the wheel and their nose to the grindstone.