It’s four days until election day. All the eligible voters in my household have now voted (and the other one wishes she could). You should as well; seriously. Yesterday there was a line down the block at the registrar, only took the kid fifteen minutes to get through. Most places are pretty quick. And, as I’m fond of saying it is literally the least you can do to live up to your responsibilities as a citizen.

Rant ahead

While it’s always been out there, the COVID19 pandemic has really brought the concept of rights and responsibilities to to the front of the national discussion. It’s not that most of us are looking at things philosophically, but it’s there in the content of every politics and politics-adjacent social media post and article, and the relative importance of each element of citizenship definitely varies by party affiliation and/or political philosophy.

If you’re not following my line of reasoning, let’s look at masks, and the kinds of opinions people have about them. The science says the primary reason masks work to prevent transmission is that it keeps the wearer from spreading the virus through exhaled droplets; that is, you wear a mask not to protect yourself, but to protect others.

Let’s look at the relative positions on masks from the right and the left. Those on the right (conservative, republican) side of the spectrum, are more likely to oppose wearing a mask, as an infringement of their personal rights to not be inconvenienced. The focus is on themselves and not on others. Those of us on the left (liberal/progressive, democrat) are more likely to wear masks because, although occasionally annoying, we see it as a citizen’s responsibility to do our part for the welfare of others around us.

Now, as a former civics teacher and a current public servant, I understand that citizenship carries with it both rights and responsibilities, as expressed here on the website of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services website in the space where naturalization (becoming a citizen by applying rather than just being born in the US) is discussed.

I just wish that more of us focused on the responsibilities of being a citizen, a member of a community, or thought about how our actions affect the greater population; particularly the folks in charge, for the moment, and those that support them.

What prompted this (admittedly disjointed) little essay were a pair of op-ed pieces that were published by the Christian Post this week, written by Joe Biden and Vice President Mike Pence.

Biden’s piece focuses on what he calls the “Greatest Commandment”, which boils down to “love your neighbor as yourself.” He writes primarily of how this guides his behavior and his political philosophy; doing what he can to help the less fortunate and treat others well, because “We are all created “imago Dei” – beautifully, uniquely, in the image of God”, and he cites his sources with appropriate scriptural references. Biden’s what I call a “justice Catholic”, and one of the kind of people who inspired me to stick with the Church a lot longer than I would have otherwise (shame there are so few of them, even if the Pope is one). His essay could’ve been written by a Jesuit; the key message is responsibility to serve those around us.

Pence’s piece, on the other hand (and I’m not surprised it was written by Pence and not the President), is all about what 45 has done to “defend liberties” of those in Christian club. There’s no talk of service or responsibility to others; not a mention of Jesus or Christ (I CTRL-F’d it to be sure) or anything he said. The piece is all about how the President stood up for “freedom”, not about how he’s walking the Christian path, as laid out by Christ in the Bible.

And, that’s not exactly atypical of the sort of person who loudly proclaims their Christianity, and who loudly supports the current administration. It’s all about them. They claim to read the bible every day, but somehow missed Matthew 6; they’d rather use the bible to beat up on those who they disagree with. The typical voter for the current administration just isn’t that interested in helping others, they are (as that iconic Republican voter in the NYT piece said) talking about wanting him to “…hurt the people he needs to be hurting.” For so many of them, the cruelty is the point, which is just about the opposite of the message pretty clearly laid out by the faith they ascribe to. If you’re a supporter of the current occupant and you’re reading this and thinking “well that’s not me!”, maybe you ought to rethink your position on supporting him; if you take the time to look, the disconnect between your professed values and the administration’s actions is pretty easy to see.

If you’ve voted for the incumbent this time around, know that that’s the philosophy you’re supporting. It’s not something I’d think you’d be proud of. If you haven’t voted yet but are considering voting for the incumbent, look again at the kind of things voiced by the campaign and it’s supporters; it’s not a good look.

Me, I’d rather be helping; and I hope you would too.