decisions

I grew up in the rural Mississippi Delta, was in a Southern Baptist church every time the doors were open, and don’t remember actually “knowing” a Democrat until I was in college. The first election I voted in was 1992, and I remember being ecstatic when Dan Quayle came through town, after all I was an officer in the Young Republicans Club. Yet even then, it was the rumpled copy of the Libertarian manifesto Mainspring of Human Progress that I truly treasured, and its ideals of personal freedom unencumbered by government bureaucracies or edicts.

Over the next several years, these philosophies continued to mesh well my tie-dye college days of peace and love and bemoaning “the establishment” (in any form). But still I remember driving to my hometown to vote and not even knowing who was running until I looked at the ballot. In my community of about 400 people, a vote for a Republican was a vote against the corrupt Democratic cronies who used our local tax dollars to finance their new Cadillacs. So that is how I voted, with little thought beyond it.

Having never left the southeast U.S., I found myself on a plane for the first time at age 23, bound for China to teach English in a place that literally couldn’t have been further from home. To say it was an eye-opening experience is a grossly inadequate depiction of the intellectual, spiritual, and emotional shift that happened in those few short months. I came home a different person.

From there I went to Texas, where I was immersed in the Mexican immigrant culture of both my inner-city neighborhood and the family that pretty-much adopted me, loving me as if I were their own. Urban poverty was all around me there, and it wore a different face than in the small town South. I remember trying to bring a homeless couple to church and being turned away at the door by a respected elder. “Those people” weren’t allowed to come in. It was an unforgettable lesson that not all Christians act like Jesus.

Grad school immersed me in the most conservative of environments, with a faith community that I flourished in but a social mindset that was isolated and self-focused. I was a budding journalist and still a non-conformist, in all areas but politics. George W. Bush won his first term during my first semester. The buzz on campus = it was Divine Intervention. He said Jesus was the most influential person in his life, and I went to his inauguration and was excited about what was ahead. After September 11^th, his speeches were interwoven with Bible verses and hymn lyrics, but he encouraged Americans to “go shopping” as an antidote to grief and show of patriotism. I remember being taken aback but brushed it off and went back to my studies.

An internship in Israel then dropped me into the microcosm of monotheism – Jerusalem. All the Biblical stories I had read and heard should have come to life there, but all those places were mostly buried under centuries of history and war and conflict carried out in God’s name. I met Palestinian refugees for the first time, most of them Christian, and heard their stories of being separated from their families by random Israeli checkpoints and city-wide blockades. I struggled to mesh their plight and oppression with the Zionistic fervor espoused by many Christians. Spiritually, it was an enlightening time, but I brought home the philosophical baggage of feeling like the conflict there wasn’t about faith at all – it was about land and money, race and culture, and not much else.

I moved north the next year to our nation’s capital and began working in disaster relief. I crisscrossed the country chasing storms and took my first trips to Africa. Politics dominated most everything in the District, but amid it all I found a fantastic church that met in a movie theater, used popcorn buckets for the offering plate, and actually *invited* homeless people in from outside. When it came time for the ’04 elections, I realized I had been paying very little attention to politics, even while living in D.C., including the fact that our country was at war. So, after much waffling and a little study, I retreated to a single issue to seal my decision and capture my vote. It wasn’t until later that I wrapped my mind and heart around the fact that unborn children are not the only vulnerable innocents in the world whose lives should be fought for. Everyone has a right to life.

I have spent about half Bush's second term working in developing countries, including more than a year living in Indonesia doing tsunami recovery work. There I was part of something much bigger than a “relief operation” – it was truly a global community, sort of like our own little UN of humanitarian aid workers, with a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives that made for great late-night conversations and interesting, friendly debates. It was then that I experienced firsthand the shifting attitudes toward America. While colleagues appreciated our work in Indonesia and loved us as individuals, George W. Bush’s America had come to represent intolerance, torture, and misguided wars to many who had once admired our country. I was shocked at their sentiments at first, but once I started paying attention myself, especially to the war in Iraq, I began to understand and even share their frustration and disappointment.

In the past year and a half my work and travels have continued to carry me all over the world but primarily to Africa. Even on a continent with more than its share of problems, I was asked pointed political questions and forced to defend my country while our actions in places like Somalia have only empowered local warlords, stirred up hatred of America, and devastated millions of innocent civilians. It’s atrocities like these, and the harsh inequity that permeates the rest of the continent that keeps me awake at night even now – the more than one billion people who live on less than $1 a day, the millions that die annually from preventable and treatable diseases like malaria and pneumonia, the lack of basic infrastructure and sanitation and education, the 33 million refugees who have fled their homes and livelihoods because of civil conflict, war and persecution, only to continue to suffer as impoverished nomads.

I hesitate to start on the other realities of Africa – the atrocities in Somalia, Chad, Congo and Sudan, just to name a few, and the governments of dozens more countries that continue to siphon money into the pockets of their leaders and away from the poorest of the poor, unchecked by the UN, U.S. or anyone else. And then there's Guantanamo, the disregard for civil liberties (aka domestic wiretapping), the suspension of the Geneva Conventions, fattening the pockets of defense contractors in Iraq with our tax dollars and no accountability, and even pandering to the Chinese around the Olympics despite their outright involvement in Sudan and the flagrant victimization of Christians and anyone else who dares speak out. I could go on and on about the disasters and failures of the President and Party that have been in charge, but I guess my point is that when I really started paying attention, when extreme poverty, the refugee crisis, and all these “issues” had a face and a name and I had actually been there myself to see it, what our government was and was not doing as the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world completely astounded me. I could no longer stand idly by.

For me, November 4^th offers a chance to do something.

I believe in the power of one, that a single person really can make a difference and affect change. In the election next week, I have chosen to support Barack Obama. This decision did not come easily, and I can honestly say it’s the result of months of research and soul-searching. Even as I traced my journey to this point, I continued to be surprised by my own contradictions.

I do not believe in big government or that government can solve people’s problems with handouts, but I’m voting for a Democrat. I am pretty moderate on most issues and do not agree with Barack Obama’s abortion policies, his vote on the bailout, or the entirety of his tax policy. But this is perhaps the most important election of my lifetime, and I have chosen to let go of my past partisan and single-issue voting and reach toward larger causes which also support life and reflect a spirit of hope and compassion for America and our world.

I believe our great country has been immobilized in recent years by partisanship and hostile division, both at the highest levels of government and in our own communities. We have been paralyzed by our differences rather than working together for the common Good, here and around the world. I believe Barack Obama is a new kind of leader, one whose entire platform is built on unity, cooperation and bipartisanship – that we are not white or black or brown people, Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, or red states or blue states, but that we are the United States of America. As a raging optimist, I believe in this unified vision for our country, and Barack Obama has been committed unwaveringly to these ideals since his campaign began.

I believe hope and compassion are more powerful than fear and hatred. I believe that peace is possible, and that as a Christian, I am called to be a peacemaker, to love my neighbors no matter how difficult, and to exemplify mercy and justice, without exception. Therefore, I believe that we must end the war in Iraq as responsibly and quickly as possible, and that we must initiate a new foreign policy based on diplomacy and humanitarianism, instead of aggression and isolationism. Our presence in Iraq, Afghanistan and actions in volatile countries like Syria only fuel the fires of terrorism and create more extremists against America. Barack Obama is the lone candidate who opposed going to war in Iraq from the very beginning and whose policies address the root causes of terrorism – poverty and lack of education and opportunity. He is firmly committed to tough and pragmatic diplomacy, to the Geneva Conventions, and to helping end genocide around the world. He will also be a steadfast commander-in-chief and is already supported by veterans and our allies.

I believe we need a leader who will work to alleviate the inequity in the world and will prioritize helping the “least of these” at home and abroad. America is a multi-cultural nation, and we are all immigrants, whether our ancestors arrived in 1608 or 2008. I believe our immigration policy should be both compassionate and just and help people come out the shadows, not cower in fear in this land of hope and opportunity. As a person of blended heritage, I believe Barack Obama has lived these issues and struggles – from being a person of color, to living abroad, to financial hardship. His policies for social justice, immigration and humanitarian aid reflect principles of compassion, mercy and justice that l wish more leaders today exemplified.

I believe that it is still possible to restore the reputation of America around the world, rebuild strained relationships with allies, and again become a nation that is respected and trusted. I believe our country is at a watershed moment, and we have the choice to move in a new direction with a leader that aspires for change and whose tone and propositions represent hope for the future and future generations, and I believe that leader is Barack Obama.

However, all of that said, you may very well disagree with me completely. And that’s perfectly ok. I believe we arrive at our decisions and perspectives as individuals, and who you vote for is your own unique preference and one I am honestly not trying to change. My decision did not come lightly. I knew from the beginning that this choice would put me politically at odds with many of my loved ones for the first time, which has proven to be more painful than I imagined. So my primary purposes in writing this was to trace my journey to this decision for those of you who think I have absolutely lost my mind and for those who are curious about this candidate I’ve chosen to support.

I will not even begin to attempt to combat the endless rumors and lies that have circulated about Barack Obama and have been perpetuated widely by email forwards and some commentators, mainly because that work has already been done by a host of credible independent websites (factcheck, politifact, the post factchecker, etc.). So, just as I spent time looking up answers to my many, many questions, I hope that you will, too, before just assuming things true. If you are getting your information from only one or two sources, likely you haven’t heard the whole truth, and I say that as a former journalist myself. I spent months reading as much independent analysis as I could find, watching old video footage and interviews, and looking up voting records, so I honestly feel that I have based my decision on factual information.

But just in case this is all the research you can manage, I can tell you with all confidence that Barack Obama is a patriot, who says the pledge of allegiance and wears a flag pin. He is not a terrorist in disguise or the anti-Christ. He will not take away your guns or thrust us toward socialism (any more than the bailout already has, thanks Congress). He is a strong Christian, not a Muslim, but I join Colin Powell saying “so what if he was” – I lived in the largest Muslim country in the world and did not meet a single terrorist, only kind, generous people. Obama supports the Constitution and studied and taught others about it. His campaign did not commit voter fraud, and he should not be blamed for what others say (Wright) or did thirty-plus years ago (Ayers).

But I realize, too, that as the pollsters trumpet their predictions for November 4^th, many of you are worried, afraid, and even angry. I, too, have had more than my share of sleepless nights. But I must confess that in writing this piece I did have one hope in mind, and it’s not to change your vote… I ask you with all sincerity that if Barack Obama does win the Presidency, would you please do your best to just give him a chance?

He will not be perfect, nor will we agree with all his decisions. Truly, no politician can fix all that ails our nation. He will also probably continue to hold positions that neither you nor I agree with. But (and it’s a big but) I am willing to take a chance on believing that real change can happen in Washington, that hope and compassion can overcome fear and division, that our country can be unified as we all work together for the common good. Our diversity and our freedoms do indeed make America great, and on November 5^th, I hope you will join me in supporting whoever our new President is, because we are not red states or blue states, we are the United States of America, and that spirit of unity begins with each of us.