Are you a good citizen?

Being a good citizen requires more than showing up at the voting booth. It means carefully considering the options before you. I've shown up in the past only to find confusing names and issues and felt ashamed for going in unprepared. Not anymore. I've learned and admonished myself enough over that to always prepare by checking out the issues and candidates ahead of time. Not that this is giving any readers much notice for this election, but a website I've found to be handy is "smarvoter.org." About to go there myself to do a bit more research on the issues after spending about an hour or so last night reviewing the candidates. It doesn't take that long to find out what you need to know to feel informed, but ultimately, you can't really know the candidate entirely from any information you can find at this or other sites. The next thing to do, then, is to leave it in God's hands after prayer. Really, unless we've done both, we're not being good citizens, nor good Christians.

One last pertinent comment regarding Obama's statement about him not being socialistic because he shared his cookies in Kindergarten. Roger pointed out, deftly: "But did your teacher make you share them." Aye, there's the rub, now, isn't it. Let's see it for what it is. Democrats, I'm all for many of the programs that you want to support, but let me choose when and how much to give, and it might surprise you how much you get. Christians are supposed to work hard to obtain excess--yes, that's right, excess. But what is the excess for? Ephesians 4:28 tells us. Sadly, I bet that I give more to multiple charities personally than many of the Democrats in office with much more affluence, and I'm not "giving until it hurts," by any means. When Dems put their money where their mouth is (not mine), I might consider their social work policies more seriously. Not that there aren't other glaring problems with their policies otherwise, namely abortion on demand.

Now, go do your part ... THEN vote. Let's not encourage ignorance or popularity polls. And let's continue to set the example for how to care for others without compulsion. That, my friend, is charity. Government is something else, entirely.

Addendum (11/4/08):
I meant to add this earlier. Reading with 'Ri last night brought us to Isaiah 37. Verse 14 is particularly appropriate today. Let's lay our ballots--and the nation--before God today.