We, in a very short amount of time, have made a cliché of calling this the most important election of our lifetimes. While this election may be just that, its heated debates have finally made clear to me what it is that has always offended me about politics.
Let me preface this with a little more detail on who I really am.
I come from a very small town in the south. I grew up in a family that taught me right from wrong, but not in a restrictive, conservative way. My parents taught me critical thinking and reasoning skills that allow me to discern the proper way through many situations myself.
I learned to treat people the way I would like to be treated, and through being treated badly in the past I associate a lot of meaning with this concept. I do not judge people for who they are. I try not to hold grudges against people for their actions. I'm not perfect.
I am a Christian. I believe that God sent Jesus to reconcile me to God by paying the debt of my sins. I believe that accepting Jesus as your savior and truly recognizing the cost he paid for you is all there is to being a Christian, and I do not discuss this any further unless a person is genuinely interested. I refuse to argue needlessly about issues of religion. I do not go to a church that encourages people to actively force Christianity onto others.
I digress, I have finally realized what it is that turns me off to the political scene: I am offended when politicians bring God into their arguments.
I understand that America has a Christian history, but I believe that the founders of our country had the foresight to base their laws on the morality of allowing people to exercise their rights within the respect of the rights of others, not Christian morals. The First Amendment to the Constitution sets the precedent for this, saying "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
This is such a clear statement that so many people apparently have a hard time understanding. Let me clarify this for anyone that is having difficulty understanding it.
The American government can not make or allow any laws to keep you from believing in and practicing the morals of any religion, so long as you do not violate any rights of anyone else. I have the right to be Christian, but not the right to live in a country without Jewish people. They have the right to be Jewish as much as you have the right to be Christian.
Also, the American government can not make or allow any laws forcing the values and morality of any religion on you, but only laws that enforce the morality of protecting the rights of others. The protection of the rights of others may often overlap with the morals of other religions. Obviously, Christianity does not condone stealing, but that doesn't make laws against theft a law based on my Christian values. Theft is a violation of the rights of others, and laws against theft protect those rights.
That is about as clear as I can be. This country was founded by men who understood the importance of protecting human rights regardless of how their own religious views guide them.
Today, too many people want to vote for candidates who push their common beliefs on the country. This kind of attitude is a direct insult to the great men who founded this country and the values on which it was founded.
What we need is the candidate who will honestly tell us what they believe personally, and then enact something in opposition to that if it protects the rights of the people.
I don't care if a candidate does not consider the union of two homosexuals to be Biblical marriage as long as they are brave enough to still support equal rights of a same sex couple to share the same benefits of any man and woman in the same situation. It is not the place of the government to define marriage according to God. The only stake the government has in the situation are issues such as (primarily) taxes. If a man and woman are in love and can file jointly, its discriminatory to deny the same to same sex couples who are also in love.
It doesn't matter if a candidate believes that abortion is an affront to God if they realize that any laws on the subject should be in favor of protecting the mother and her rights. A candidate can be morally opposed to pre-marital sex, sodomy, and birth control as long as they understand that they can not deny people the right to any of these things between two consenting adults.
So, America, demand a candidate who favors the rights of your fellow Americans even when you don't necessarily agree with the morality of the situation. Otherwise, you could find yourself on the other side of the religious morality over rights fence. It's the only way to truly be American.
