I've been thinking about my latest post in my series on What To Do? Again, it appears that I’ve touched a nerve with many of my friends, as well as with many of our ministry's followers. They just can't understand why I don't agree with them that Christians are divinely duty-bound to punch a ballot every time there is an election. In an attempt to clarify what I'm arguing, I’ve come up with a good illustrate—our nation's laws against monopolies.

What prevents businesses in America from offering cheap and inferior products and services to the American consumer at exorbitant prices. It is this simple fact; no business in America can take their customers for granted. They can’t count on customer loyalty if their customer service is deployable, their products defective, their prices exorbitant, and their business guarantees insincere and dishonest. Any business taking its customers for granted is doomed to bankruptcy, since its customers will quickly be lost to a competitor.

On the other hand, what if all competition was eliminated and one specific business was given a monopoly on a particular product or service? The American consumer would then be at the mercy of that one business, which could treat its customers shabbily, sell a shoddy product, and charge sky-high prices. Anyone needing that company’s goods or services would have no alternative but to do business with that company. The consumer would have nowhere else to turn and that company would have no incentive to provide any customer satisfaction, being enabled by its monopoly to take its customers for granted.

What is prohibited by Washington politicians in commerce is both practiced and protected by them in politics. Our two-party political system has evolved over time into a political monopoly. Today, Republicans and Democrats have a monopoly on our politics. The electorate is left without any viable alternatives; consequently, voters are taken for granted, especially those comprising the base of each party, as well as each party’s patronized minorities and special interest groups. Today’s politicians know they can count on their political party’s catered to constituencies to cast their ballots in their favor, regardless of whether or not they renege on their campaign promises once elected and prove themselves to be self-serving rather than public servants once in office.

Permit me to provide you with a couple of particular examples of what I’m saying. I’ve been flabbergasted for years by professed followers of Christ who religiously vote for Democratic candidates because of the Democratic Party’s support of labor unions. These professed Christians, who belong to a union, appear to belie their Christian profession by unconscionably voting for ungodly Democrats who promise to both safeguard and better all union benefits. If you’re a union member, even one who professes Christ, who is governed at the polls by your pocketbook rather than the Good Book, then, the pro-choice, same-sex marriage defending, society profaning, Christian-bashing, socialist promoting Democratic Party has a monopoly on your vote. You may have to hold your nose over all the other things today’s Democratic Party stands for, things which are merely the means of monopolizing the votes of others; such as, the votes of feminists, homosexuals, atheists, and Marxists, but, as a union member, you feel your pocketbook leaves you with no other alternative but to vote for a Democrat. As a result, the Democratic Party is able to take your vote for granted, knowing that no matter how offensive to you the other planks in its political platform are, you’ll still show up at the polls each election with your union card and voter registration card in hand to punch your ballot for a Democrat.

On the other side of today’s corrupt political spectrum is the majority of today’s evangelicals who religiously show up at the polls to vote Republican, despite the fact that the Republican Party has been incontrovertibly proven to be populated by “Joe Isuzus” and “Benedict Arnolds.” No matter how many times evangelicals are lied to and betrayed by Republican candidates, evangelicals keep going to the polls and voting Republican. Why? Is it not because the Republican Party has a monopoly on the evangelical vote? 

The only choice for evangelicals in today’s corrupt political system is between unrighteous Democrats and unrighteous Republicans. The only difference between the two is one openly vows to promote unrighteousness in our society, while the other subtly feigns to promote righteousness. In the end, evangelicals opt to support the underhanded politician over the upfront one; since there are no other alternatives. As a result, the Republican Party takes the votes of evangelicals for granted, knowing that no matter how many times they renege on their false campaign promises to promote righteousness in our society back-scarred evangelicals will continue to show up at the polls to cast their ballots for backstabbing Republican candidates.

This political modern-day monopoly is exacting a most exuberant price upon our country, one we can ill-afford to pay. It is trapping us in a corrupt political process within which the electorate is being monopolizing by politicians for the good of their own political careers, as well as for the self-serving ends of their power-hungry political parties. Everything boils down to political expediency; that is, what is best for the politician and his/her political party. In the end, the modern-day politician doesn’t care about what is best for our country and its citizenry; neither does he or she care about whether the American electorate is served or snookered. All the modern-day politician cares about is winning the next election.

In his farewell presidential speech, George Washington warned how political parties could one day lead our country into “a frightful despotism.” Our second president, John Adams, said that a two-party political system should “be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.” The political wisdom of these two Founding Fathers is clearly seen today with the “frightful” and “dreaded evil” they warned us about being currently perpetrated in our country by Democrats and Republicans.

To protect their political monopoly over the American electorate, Democrats and Republicans attempt to persuade voters that there is no other viable alternative at the polls than to vote for one of their candidates. They malign independent candidates, as well as any attempt to form a viable third party. According to our political monopolizers, all an independent candidate or third party can accomplish is to take votes away from one major party’s candidate, with the subsequent result of throwing an election to the other major party’s candidate. Therefore, monopolized voters are deceived by their political monopolizers into perpetuating political monopoly in these United States. Voters are hoodwinked into believing that their only viable political alternative is to continue to dutifully and thoughtlessly patronize either Democrats or Republicans at the polls; otherwise, they’ll throw elections to the other who is less sympathetic to their special interests.

The big lie that keeps the American electorate monopolized by today’s two-party political system is that the only way to effect change in America is to win elections. Since there is little chance of elections being won by anyone but a Democrat or Republican, voters feel obligated to vote for one or the other, lest they throw their vote away. While voters may have to wade through all kinds of trash to get to the polls in these days and times, many still prefer going to the polls to staying at home. While voters may have to hold their noses to vote for today’s Republicans or Democrats, many voters still prefer putting their vote in a ballot box to perceivably tossing it into the trash can. As a result, our political monopolizers continue to sit in the catbird seat and grin like Cheshire Cats.    

My argument with the political activism of today’s evangelicals is that it is based on the false proposition that winning elections is the only way to effect change in America. One of the last events in the life of our Lord was His losing of a public election by a landslide (Matthew 27:15-26). Yet, our Lord changed the world! How? By His uncompromising stand for the truth, which is also the reason He lost a public election to a common criminal by a landslide. As our Lord clearly demonstrated, it’s the truth, not winning public elections that changes the world. 

As long as today’s evangelicals compromise the truth in order to continue voting for truth-spurning politicians, we’ll effect no change in America. Neither is there any hope of us ever doing so as long as we refuse to opt out of today’s two-party political monopoly. What we must do is serve notice to both political parties that we will no longer violate our Christian convictions to punch at ballot for their candidates. Furthermore, if knowing they can no longer take our votes for granted fails to force them to nominate candidates who will fulfill their campaign promises to do the right things once elected to office, then, I would propose that we start a third political party, regardless of whether or not any of our candidates ever wins a public election. At least we’ll be able to go to the polls for the real good of our country and punch a ballot without violating our Christian convictions or compromising Christ’s Gospel! Win or lose, such an uncompromising stand for the truth is the only way we can hope to change America.