Statistics Are For
Losers?
Vrtually no one has been immune from the barrage of
voting percentages and trends resulting from the past election. In our
information age, we consume slices of analysis all the time and attempt to fit them
into our notion of what happened, or what we wanted to happen. Most would agree
that the dramatic map of blue and red counties across the nation is impressive
and insightful, as is a recent “purple nation” version where
gradations of color show the degree of dominance each party had in every
county.
Voting
trended to the conservative end of the political spectrum along many fronts
— black, hispanic, evangelical, married, women, etc. However, the much
vaunted youth vote didn’t change appreciably from 2000 in percentage or
how they voted. The question I have, is should we be preoccupied with the
“numbers”? If your guy won, life is good — the details only
give interesting insights. If your guy lost, each wave of numbers just becomes
a constant reminder of defeat.
Ultimately,
we know the Lord is the deciding factor. He who has counted the stars and calls
them each by name has no trouble ensuring election results are consistent with
His purposes. He is not concerned about touch screen displays, ballot box
conspiracies, voter fraud, dimpled chad, provisional votes or whether
hyphenated-American voter percentages were greater or worse for President Bush
this time around.
What carried
the day, after all was said and done, was the support for moral values and
leadership. These factors weighed heavily in the Presidential election as well
as in our state and county down-ticket races where a few more votes could have
made a dramatic difference in championing our values in the public domain.
Interestingly,
the major media outlets, and one large political party, appears to be
completely befuddled about why their “values” didn’t carry
the day. What are these values that appear to be so out of step with theirs?
I’ll give my short, core list - yours may vary somewhat:
•
Protection of, and respect for, the sanctity of human life from conception to
natural death.
•
Protecting and encouraging the creation and strengthening of only traditional
families (one husband married to one wife, with children) and not politically
correct ones.
•
Elimination of special rights afforded to sexual perversion and impurity.
•
Protection of religious freedom and expression in the public domain.
•
Protection of our nation against all enemies foreign and domestic.
• And
finally, judicial restraint.
Does the
mandate President Bush received indicate a sudden, major increase in the number
of people embracing a Biblical worldview and moral values as listed above? I
haven’t seen this. It does appear, however, that those holding to
God’s standard, those already embracing a Biblical worldview,
participated to a much greater extent this time in both voting and getting out
the vote. As one poll showed, the greater the voter attendance, the
“redder” he was. Grassroots efforts were apparent across the
nation, particularly with churches encouraging Christians to vote, and to vote
their conscience. This wasn’t true just in blue states. In San Diego, one
of the few red counties on the left coast, President Bush received 52.8% of the
vote compared to only 44% statewide. In Orange and Riverside Counties the
percentage was even more dramatic (59.8% and 58.1% respectively). This result
is very encouraging, since it shows a strong moral contingent still active in
one of the most liberal states in the nation.
Statistics
can be interesting, but we’re not to rely on them. They can inform, they
can give insights, they’re great to argue over, but they don’t
become our standard to measure success or failure. Our God reigns independent
of the final vote. As Christians become more involved in our local election and
legislative affairs, the more our standards (moral values) will influence our
community. God’s pattern for mankind is eminently logical, wise, just and
good. We have the answers, and just like with the gospel, we need to begin
applying it in our own backyard. I am reminded of Francis Schaeffer’s
comment in the early 1980s during the Reagan Revolution that a door had been
opened for evangelical Christians to influence our society for good. Has
another door been opened? And if so, are we going to capitalize on it and keep
it open and extend it? I trust we will.
As they say
in the sports world statistics may be for losers, but right now I have to admit
a smile comes to my face as I savor the numbers that came out of the
presidential and congressional elections.
Frank
Kacer is president of Christian Citizenship Council of San Diego. He can be
contacted at frankkacer@hotmail.com.