A Choice Between Two Futures — Part 2

[This is Part 2 of 3 — Click here to read Part 1: Part 1]

As I explained in Part 1, this series of posts is specifically addressed to Christians who follow this Blog — even more specifically, to Christians who are eligible to vote but have not yet done so.

Quick Recap Of Part 1

To summarize key points from Part 1 [detailed statistics were presented there:]

• The upcoming election is NOT about choosing between two PEOPLE. It’s about choosing between two diametrically opposite IDEOLOGIES.
• Christians CAN actually dictate the outcome of this election — easily if only 15% of them who didn’t vote in 2016 vote this year, and by a landslide if all who didn’t vote in 2016 vote this year [backed up in Part 1 with facts and statistics that show why I believe very strongly that they SHOULD.
• Polls and media coverage now are almost identical to what they were at this point in 2016 — Biden [Clinton in 2016] is “in the lead,” a shoo-in, no possible path to 270 for Trump, it’ll be a landslide for Biden [Clinton in 2016.]

Election Math In The Current Paradigm

Quick Refresher About “Paradigm”

Perhaps the most dominant underlying theme in all of my posts to this blog — and of the host website I created as the platform for it — is that there is a major paradigm shift underway in this country [“paradigm” being “a philosophical or theoretical framework within which theories, laws, and generalizations are formulated” according to Merriam-Webster — i.e., “the way things work.”] Although the shift is occurring less rapidly than I thought it was in 2016, it is very real, and its pace is accelerating rapidly now. In a paradigm shift [a phrase coined by Joel Arthur Barker in his 1992 book Future Edge,] the Current Paradigm is rapidly deteriorating to a point at which problems are not being solved and new things aren’t gaining enough support to get done [even when there is voiced bipartisan support for them.] As soon as that begins [at least a decade ago in terms of how our Government operates,] a New Paradigm begins to form, and it becomes more and more effective until its effectiveness is better than that of the Current Paradigm, at which point the Current Paradigm’s demise is clear and the New Paradigm becomes the Current Paradigm. This concept is explained more fully at A Major Paradigm Shift Underway [written in 2016, but the principle is still the same.]

Current-Paradigm Election Math

Many people — including many Christians — have allowed their voting decisions to be driven either by their personal desire to make an ideological statement about a particular issue or their personal like or dislike of one of the two candidates. In principle, this sounds at least OK, maybe even good. For example, several million votes for the Green Party candidate would show that there are a lot of people who want our country to do a better job in controlling Climate Change. Or, voting for Candidate A because the voter dislikes Candidate B’s persona gives the voter the personal satisfaction of not having voted for a person he/she dislikes personally.

Obviously, a person in the latter category is explicitly voting in support of the platform of Candidate A’s party even if he/she identifies more closely with the platform of Party B — the apparent rationale being that his/her dislike of Candidate B is stronger than his/her identification with either of the two major-party platforms. 

Unfortunately, in our Current Paradigm, when a person uses his/her vote to “make a statement” rather than to consciously and deliberately support one of the two major-party platforms [i.e., votes for a minor-party candidate, writes in somebody else, or doesn’t vote at all,] he/she is actually unwittingly voting in support of either the Democrat platform or the Republican platform. Even more unfortunately, he/she won’t know which platform he/she supported until the election is over and the results are analyzed. This is true because these votes always reduce one of the two major-party candidate’s chances of winning and increase the other’s.

This chart depicts what I’ve said here graphically: Decision Logic 2020. For anybody who’s interested in more quantitative evidence, see Decision Logic 2020 — The Math or just take my word for the following statements that are confirmed by that graphic:

• After the results of the election are tabulated and certified, one of the following environments will prevail for at least two of the next four years, possibly all four of them [regardless of how many “making a statement” votes are cast:] 1) Trump is president and the legislative branch remains as is, b) Trump is president and one or both legislative branch majorities change, c) Biden is president and the legislative branch remains as is, or d) Biden is president and one or both legislative branch majorities change.
• In any of these environments, the PLATFORM of the president’s party will guide this country’s policies for at least the next four years.
• Which of the two major-party candidates was harmed by the sum of all the “making a statement” votes described above will be evident.

Coming In Part 3

In Part 3, I’ll point out what I believe are the contrasts between the two platforms that are the most critical from a Christian perspective, and why this election is a time for Christians to rise up and “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all entrusted to the saints” [Jude 3 NKJV/NIV — “the saints” are us]. I’ll close that post with an earnest plea for all Christians to pray diligently about this decision and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in making it.

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