1. Who’re Ya Voting For?

A ‘new’ mate asked me this recently. According to common wisdom you shouldn’t talk about politics or religion. The short version of this conversation was that I told him I don’t vote and that a vote is a prayer. In response to the former concept he ranted about anarchy. He scoffed at the latter. The longer version follows and will likely destroy a newfound friendship. Whatever. Read on to find out why this may come about . . .

New Zealand entertains a silly season every four years when our collective consciousness goes all ‘gah gaah’, our mouths open with a blank stare and our brains switch off while the mainstream media pawns a parade of politicians all desperate for power to convince us that they are the Messiah. We’re entering this election period as I write and this is the context in which my friend asked this question.

Over the last few months I have been buying a few tools & stock from a guy in Hamilton. “Who are you voting for?” he asked when we went in for a cuppa tea.

“You’re a nosey bugger aren’t you?” I replied, laughing off his digging in a futile attempt to keep a friendship, by avoiding the question.

He pushed on . . . “No . . . No . . . I just want to know! It’s a natural question isn’t it?” This is called ‘doubling down’. Many would bugger off back off and stop asking questions at that stage but my mate didn’t, so, OK methinks, this dude really wants to know.

“I don’t vote. Never have. Never will!”

His rant begins . . . “But it’s your civic duty to vote . . . ” blah blah blah.

I’ve heard it a gazillion times before . . . my grandfather [uncle/neighbour] went to war and risked his life [or died] so that you could have this peaceful lovely democratic world that you have inherited as a result of his sacrificial selfless actions . . . [violins in the background].

Sorry, but the world I live in is a little different to yours . . . most people I know about in the two world wars went because they had no choice – they were either shot if they didn’t or plonked in jail and labelled for life, socially ostracised as a Conscientious Objector – the wars had nothing to do with peace and freedom, truth and justice, good guys vs the bad guys. It had everything to do with money and power, bankers and businessmen using deception and force for political and financial objectives from what I can see . . . and the world we have inherited seems to me to be far from the perfect, peaceful little place it is presented!

I digress from this story though, my own little rant over for the moment.

So what I then asked was whether my mate really truly believed the political leaders that he was voting for. Ouch! I knew that he had a brain and that he wasn’t afraid of using it but it seemed to me that he was voting for liars, BS artists, self-interested politicians and that he knew it.

“Well you have to choose the best of the bad bunch . . . ” OMG! Who said that you gotta play in a bad system? My father has said the same thing for years – you gotta use the system to change it. No . . . logically, using the system simply empowers it, never changes it! You can never change any system from inside it!

My friend actually started off his turn to rant in reply with his pearls of wisdom about anarchy. “But, but, but, there is no alternative . . . but anarchy and anarchy is not good!”

Oh spare me days, this guy clearly had not researched the alternatives, so I parked his question about what was the better form of government than the democracy that he clearly idolised. “Another question for another day!” was my reply.

He wouldn’t give up so I said, “A vote is a prayer!” which made him raise his mocking eyebrows and engendered a denial, “Noooooo!”

“Really? Are you nuts? Do you really believe that?” was his thinking – if his eyes could only talk.

There . . . we now had politics AND religion! Bye, bye friendship, I reckon.

Well he asked for it, so he got it.

Now when it comes to democracy, God says, “Trust Me! Do it My way!” Democracy says, “Nah! We’ll do it our way thanks!” My money is on Him – every time, and I definitely do not worship democracy.

When it comes to the existence of a Creator (if that’s an issue for my mate, I never really got into that one with him) evidence of design indicates a designer. I see evidence of design. Logically then there is a Creator. His identity, name, nature, character, requirements and so on all have to follow from acceptance that He exists.

I know that this concept runs contrary to current global[ist] thinking but trusting that ‘chance & time’ generated the world we live in requires blind faith infinitely more than I have. The untenable concept of macro-evolution is an utter deception – technically neither a theory, nor is it scientific. It’s pure religion. I’ll just stick with logic applied onto the facts as I find them, thank you, and keep on keeping on with the God that I know, love and serve.

So for the record, I do not vote because I have faith. I have faith that there is a God; that He is alive and doing very well thank you very much. I have faith that when He tells me that if I do things His way then He can do what He wants in His time – with me and with whoever. Certainly much better than having to select the best of a bad bunch every four years and put up with the 51% bullying their way over the other 49%. So I don’t vote. I do not vote because a vote is most definitely a prayer, it is an outworking of a principle. If I will be accountable at the end of my time to a Creator who gave me the responsibility along with the free-will choice then I will exercise that gift in the best way that I can use it. I know that He despises human pride and is pleased with true faith.

Then I get in and do what I can in my own little space to make the world a better place. And that is where my mate was going with his questioning – trying to work me out. What made me tick? What gave me the reason to buy up all his old, excess tools and set up the Tiny House Workshop in Taumarunui and to build something called “Club Wairua”? Was it philanthropy or something like that? Sort of.

My mate knew that I’ve written nigh on 3 dozen books so he asked for one of my books. Cheeky! He says that he wants to “check out my writing style” or something like that. Pretty much the same as I talk in person, methinks, but whatever.

There’s over 2 million words available online free but a copy of my latest book, The Secret Life of a Private Investigator is on its way to you by Courier Post this afternoon Mike. Be careful though because most people who are genuinely interested in the truth find that when the light comes on, they can see more . . . of themselves, and sometimes we don’t like what we see.

Chin up everyone! Who’re you voting for?