Red or blue?

With the presidential election looming in a week and a day, the topic dominates the media as well as our personal emails. Yesterday one email caught my attention. From Richard Rohr’s daily meditation, “There is no such thing as staying out of politics.”*

I am guilty, having said this very thing on several occasions: “I don’t get involved in politics.” As Rohr says, “For many people, politics and religion are so personal that neither topic is deemed appropriate to discuss publicly.” Exactly. Religion and politics are not to be discussed at the dinner table.

Rohr, an American Franciscan priest and writer, further states, “The idea of ‘staying out of politics’ doesn’t come from God. My sense is that it arises from our egoic, dualistic thinking that has a hard time hearing a different perspective or learning something new.”

Our country has become so polarized, red or blue, I wonder how or if we can truly hear our inner Voice without the many filters of community, church, friends, and family? And what if we don’t like either candidate? Or live in a state where our vote will seem to not count?

What I do know is that voting is a privilege, one that women did not have until 1920, and Blacks did not get fully until 1965. Also, voting is also a private right; no one gets to know who I vote for unless I choose to tell them.

So I ask that you ponder in your heart how you will vote next week. For me, it will be based on the most love and integrity.

*Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 10/27/24