Are You a One Issue Voter?

I am a single issue voter. By that I do not mean that a single issue qualifies a person for a particular office. I don't mean that I do not care about a multitude of policies and positions. I care about government debt, about health care, and a host of other issues. What I mean is that there are positions that, if a candidate holds them, disqualifies him or her from office.  That might be a bit shocking, but it shouldn't be.

It shouldn't be shocking because you are a one-issue voter too. Everyone is. There are certain issues that would automatically disqualify someone from public office in your view too (assuming you are really a thinking person). If you don't think so, read how John Piper puts it in his 1995 article "One Issue Politics, One-Issue Marriage, and the Humane Society" (I saw this on Denny Burk's blog).

No endorsement of any single issue qualifies a person to hold public office. Being pro-life does not make a person a good governor, mayor, or president. But there are numerous single issues that disqualify a person from public office. For example, any candidate who endorsed bribery as a form of government efficiency would be disqualified, no matter what his party or platform was. Or a person who endorsed corporate fraud (say under $50 million) would be disqualified no matter what else he endorsed. Or a person who said that no black people could hold office—on that single issue alone he would be unfit for office. Or a person who said that rape is only a misdemeanor—that single issue would end his political career. These examples could go on and on. Everybody knows a single issue that for them would disqualify a candidate for office. 

It’s the same with marriage. No one quality makes a good wife or husband, but some qualities would make a person unacceptable. For example, back when I was thinking about getting married, not liking cats would not have disqualified a woman as my wife, but not liking people would. Drinking coffee would not, but drinking whiskey would. Kissing dogs wouldn’t, but kissing the mailman would. And so on. Being a single-issue fiancé does not mean that only one issue matters. It means that some issues may matter enough to break off the relationship. 

So it is with politics. You have to decide what those issues are for you. What do you think disqualifies a person from holding public office? I believe that the endorsement of the right to kill unborn children disqualifies a person from any position of public office. It’s simply the same as saying that the endorsement of racism, fraud, or bribery would disqualify him—except that child-killing is more serious than those.

As a Christian voter, I realize that being pro-life does not qualify a person for office, but being pro-abortion automatically disqualifies a person. 

I don't claim that this points exactly to who we should vote for. There may be several options. There may be an election where every candidate is "disqualified." I would not say that means we don't vote. We do have to make tough choices, but we ought to give weight to the things God says are most important. Government sanctioned killing of unborn humans is too serious to overlook in a leader.

Ultimately we don't trust in politics. We trust in the Lord, but the Lord does require us to think as Christians in every act we undertake, even voting.

HT: Denny Burk for pointing to the Piper article.