{"id":10051,"date":"2012-10-13T12:52:36","date_gmt":"2012-10-13T16:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=10051"},"modified":"2012-10-13T12:52:36","modified_gmt":"2012-10-13T16:52:36","slug":"why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Vote for This or That Person for President?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It is sometimes assumed \u2013 rightly or wrongly \u2013 that people naturally vote for a candidate who most resembles them \u2013 in religious affiliation, appearance, background, and many other respects. A photo I saw on Facebook made me reflect on how true this may be, and whether it is how things ought<\/em> to be.<\/p>\n

It is rarely mentioned that, in one respect, Barack Obama is the most traditional candidate running in the quickly-approaching presidential election<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The majority of presidents and other public office holders in the history of the United States have been mainline Protestants. And Barack Obama is the only person who fits that category on the Democrat and Republican presidential and vice-presidential tickets. Romney is a Mormon, and both Biden and Ryan are Roman Catholic.<\/p>\n

If it could be assumed that people naturally vote for \u201cone of their own\u201d (and that is a topic I intend to tackle further below), then we might ask why some Protestant voters don\u2019t find Obama a candidate to whom they naturally gravitate. I wonder whether the t-shirt in the photo below, worn by a Romney supporter at a recent rally in Ohio, represents the motivation (acknowledged or not) of a very small, or of a disturbingly large, number of people. For how many people is it even a consideration that Obama has a different shade of skin<\/em> than previous mainline Protestant candidates?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lest anyone mistake where I am going with this, let me say that I am glad<\/em> that, in so many respects, we have people as candidates for the highest offices in the United States government in this election who fit into categories which in the past have been underrepresented or simply absent, whether one is thinking of their appearance or their religion or anything else. My point is precisely to problematize all<\/em> efforts to treat the question of who to vote for in terms of things that probably should not matter at all, and definitely ought not to be decisive.<\/p>\n

This brings me to the question I asked in the title of this post: Why vote for this candidate or that one? I can think of a lot of bad reasons.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t vote for a candidate because of the color of their skin, or that of their opponent.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t vote for a candidate because the other candidate is a Mormon.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t vote for a party you never paid attention to before, because otherwise you\u2019d be supporting a Roman Catholic for vice president.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t vote for a candidate because their opponent is an atheist \u2013 or because their opponent isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

And the list goes on:<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t vote for a candidate because gas prices have been high, or for that matter because they have been low. The president does not have a lever in the Oval Office that controls that \u2013 does he?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t vote for a candidate, or for his opponent, just because the economy hasn\u2019t been doing as well as one might have hoped. The economy depends on a wide array of factors. One can and should support a candidate who stands for policies that one believes are best. But policies are not guarantees of a nation\u2019s economic performance.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t vote for a candidate merely because of the level of unemployment. Unless you want to support the Communist party and see employment controlled by the state, which could then not only ensure but require that everyone be given a job, then there is only so much that a president can do. And despite what you might<\/a> have heard<\/a>, unless you vote for the Communist party<\/a> candidate, you won\u2019t be voting for a communist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I think it would be useful if most Americans were to take the time to actually look at what the President of the United States does and does not have the power or authority to do, and then vote for the person who they believe will perform the actual duties of the presidency most effectively<\/em>, and will stand for policies which they support \u2013 keeping in mind that presidential support for specific policies is not the only thing that determines what happens in or to our country.<\/p>\n

\"\"Content Director\u2019s Note<\/em><\/strong>: This post is a part of our Election Month at Patheos<\/a> feature. Patheos was designed to present the world\u2019s most compelling conversations on life\u2019s most important questions. Please join the Facebook following<\/a> for our new News and Politics Channel<\/a> \u2014 and check back throughout the month for more commentary on Election 2012. Please use hashtag #PatheosElection on Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is sometimes assumed \u2013 rightly or wrongly \u2013 that people naturally vote for a candidate who most resembles them \u2013 in religious affiliation, appearance, background, and many other respects. A photo I saw on Facebook made me reflect on how true this may be, and whether it is how things ought to be. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,75,165],"tags":[1010,1543,1646,1835,1846,2998,5761,6877,7560,7697,8838,9305,9479,9480,9668,9896,10524],"class_list":["post-10051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-religion","category-politics","category-roman-catholicism","tag-barack-obama","tag-candidates","tag-catholic","tag-christian","tag-christianity-religion","tag-election","tag-joe-biden","tag-mainline","tag-mitt-romney","tag-mormon","tag-paul-ryan","tag-politics","tag-president","tag-presidential","tag-protestant","tag-racism","tag-roman"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Vote for This or That Person for President?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It is sometimes assumed - rightly or wrongly - that people naturally vote for a candidate who most resembles them - in religious affiliation, appearance,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Vote for This or That Person for President?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is sometimes assumed - rightly or wrongly - that people naturally vote for a candidate who most resembles them - in religious affiliation, appearance,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-13T16:52:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/files\/2012\/10\/White-in-White-House.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html\",\"name\":\"Why Vote for This or That Person for President?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-13T16:52:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-10-13T16:52:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"It is sometimes assumed - rightly or wrongly - that people naturally vote for a candidate who most resembles them - in religious affiliation, appearance,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Vote for This or That Person for President?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Vote for This or That Person for President?","description":"It is sometimes assumed - rightly or wrongly - that people naturally vote for a candidate who most resembles them - in religious affiliation, appearance,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Vote for This or That Person for President?","og_description":"It is sometimes assumed - rightly or wrongly - that people naturally vote for a candidate who most resembles them - in religious affiliation, appearance,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2012-10-13T16:52:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/files\/2012\/10\/White-in-White-House.jpg"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html","name":"Why Vote for This or That Person for President?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-13T16:52:36+00:00","dateModified":"2012-10-13T16:52:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"It is sometimes assumed - rightly or wrongly - that people naturally vote for a candidate who most resembles them - in religious affiliation, appearance,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/10\/why-vote-for-this-or-that-person-for-president.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Vote for This or That Person for President?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}