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Why I am Voting for Kamala

In 2016 I wrote in John Kasich for president. In 2020 I wrote in Larry Hogan as I couldn’t vote for Trump and couldn’t bring myself to vote for a Democrat, having been raised “right.” But this year, I know that I will vote for Kamala, but I did not know why. So I wrote to figure out what I think. First I explore my values, then I compare the two candidates in light of them. Finally, I imagine the continued work by Christians in the public sector, if Kamala is elected.

But first, it is generally understood that humans make decisions with their emotions and then support them with their intellect. This is certainly true in politics. So, I will readily admit that my emotional reason to vote for Kamala is that I just don't like Trump... at all. I could stop there, but this is what my intellect interjects. 

My Values

First of all it is useful to understand my core values. Other good people have different values which drive their decisions. These values drive my beliefs and decisions.

1. Environment: Our management of the environment is hurting the least powerful people in the world today, and is hurting our own descendants. I believe Jesus has given us a mandate to care about others and the earth. I feel deeply responsible to others in this area.
2. Character Matters: While policies are obviously critical, I believe the character of the person leading is critical as well.
3. Power dynamics: I believe power should primarily be used to serve and bring peace rather than control or dominate. Humility should be our norm.

Candidate Comparison

Environment

Trump is a climate denier and while Kamala has not spoken of climate as I hoped, I believe we would care better for the environment under her leadership

Character Matters

Years ago during the Bill Clinton era, the church in America cried out, “character Matters!”, and I believe they were right then. I judge Harris character as superior to Trump’s, and I would rather she represent me to the world.

Personal attacks.

Trump loves to name call and attack his opponents personally more often than Kamala. I find this behavior juvenile and offensive.

Lying.

Based on fact checking reporting, I believe Trump lies more often than Kamala. The stop the steal campaign is just one of many examples.

Relationships with the church

I believe Trump has used the church in America for his own power without any concern for the church or Jesus. The quintessential moment was Trump standing in front of Saint John’s church holding a Bible elevated like a secret charm mocking the actual teachings of Jesus. Trump has brought out the very worst in the church. We succumbed to the allure of power rather than the harder road of love, sacrifice, and persuasion. The church needs a reboot and this will be harder with Trump in power. I would rather have a political leader that doesn’t claim a connection to the church than one that falsely claims to have one.

Abuse of power

Trump seems more likely to use his power abusively. Trump has employed power dynamics within public relationships and various publicized private relationships. Of course, January 6 is a great example of poor use of power to me.

Policies

The policies positions that I care most about and I think Jesus would care most about align better with Kamala than Trump.

Environment

For me, saving the planet is the most important issue of all and a great way to love the least of these. While Kamala only touched on this in her acceptance speech, to my regret, Trump and many conservatives deny much or all of climate change and the human effect. I am firmly convinced we will make more progress under Kamala’s leadership.

Immigration

While I don’t love the immigration policies that either party has demonstrated, I hate the demonization of “the other” by Trump. Furthermore, I was disgusted that Trump thwarted the recent bipartisan immigration bill putting his grasp for power above the good of the country. For me this one act disqualifies him for office. While as a nation we must have a defined process and limitations regarding immigration, Jesus would also have us to love the immigrant. We must do the hard work to figure out how to do both.

Minority Rights

While I have questions regarding minority rights policies along racial, gender, and sexual preference lines, Trump and the republicans have a history of fear mongering in these issues that makes them unable to find a reasonable policy balance that best preserves the rights of all Americans.

Healthcare

I think Jesus would want we, who are more powerful and wealthy, with better healthcare, to sacrifice so that all Americans would have sufficient healthcare. I am certain that Kamala would encourage a more equitable healthcare policy than Trump

Abortion

This policy is more complicated. I don’t like the complete reproductive freedom espoused by Kamala, because I  think reasonable legal limitations make sense. I also don’t love very conservative ideas like criminalizing women for having abortions. I absolutely think that, rather than focusing on more laws, fewer abortions should be the goal, and  I question whether using power rather than persuasion is the long term best strategy. If the opportunity for decreasing abortions through power disappeared,  perhaps the church would focus on what it does best, work through love and persuasion. I suspect we would be far more effective at lowering abortions in this way.  Additionally, Trump is clearly back peddling away from a traditional pro life position leaving the pro life community without a dog in the race. I recognize that Kamala is more progressive than Trump in this area but, I don’t think either candidate represents my beliefs around abortion, leaving this something of a toss up.

At risk of being stoned, I think that Bill Clinton's opinion that "abortion should be safe, legal, and rare" is the best compromise policy for our nation. I would add that I would prefer a limit in terms of how many weeks within pregnancy that decision should be made. We in the church have worked for decades to limit abortions through trying to get power

Israel

I believe we have lost our way in our Israel policy. It seems that Israel wants peace through domination, but I don't think they will ever find true peace in that way. As Christians we are taught to value all lives. Better principles for the United States would be:

• Shift to a policy of "Pro Israel and Pro Palestine"
• Not enable Israel to kill so many civilians
• Connect a two state solution with continued support

Neither part has this mindset, but Kamala seems to be closer to it than Trump.

After the Election

Kaitlyn Scheiss has said that no party accurately represents Jesus ideals. Therefore, Christians must vote and then continue to be engaged to provide Christian influence to "correct" where the leader/party does not reflect Christian values. Given that idea, I think its worthwhile to reflect on what work would be needed for a Kamala administration.

Abortion

A Kamala administration would push for more abortion freedom. I believe Christians should encourage reasonable limitations which reflect the values of its citizenry. However, I am firmly convinced that laws are the least effective means to minimize abortions. Rather, I think we should embrace programs in the government, non profits, and churches that support women and minimize the need for abortions and persuade women to not desire them. Within the Christian world, I think we should invest the most in the pregnancy center model.

LGBTQ+

While I firmly believe the rights for LGBTQ+ people should match that of any other citizen, I think the transgender issue must be carefully studied and debated. It is difficult to balance the rights of transgender and non-transgender athletes. It is difficult to balance the rights of transgender youth and their ability to make life long decisions, and the rights of parents to choose transgender affirming care for their kids. As Christians we can not espouse parental rights on issues we like, and espouse the opposite on issues we don't like. We must find a reasonable balance in this issue, and Christians should be a part of this debate to help our country find a reasonable solution. My thinking on this issue is that as a nation we allow transgender affirming care but provide significant limitations and requirements to lower the chance of a youth having care they will regret later. My personal hope is that transgender affirming care be very rare because we become comfortable and happy with the way we individually are made.

Israel

As Christians we must push for better policy on Israel, one that will finally bring lasting peace to the area.

Immigration

Immigrants are not bad and they are economically critical for the US economy. And too many too fast can strain our country. We need a reasonable process, and we need to enforce it. Christians must remain engaged to ensure a balanced policy that does not look like the far right or far left.

Conclusion

Each candidate has flaws but I believe Kamala has better character and supports policies that on balance will be more Jesus-like, and better for Americans and the world. 

More Good American Jobs Requires a new Paradigm for Consumers

President Trump has stated that he wants to put 20% tariffs in place for all or most imports. I don't love this idea. I understand the thinking, but I don't think it addresses the actual problem which I believe is our collective consumerism and over emphasis of profit over employees and community development. Our consumerism drives investors, owners, and business leaders to be laser focused on profits at all costs. The solutions are to change how we think and to implement the balanced scorecard.

It is common knowledge that supply and demand are the two primary factors influencing markets. Therefore, when we consider the problem of American jobs being sent overseas, we must consider the supply side economics and the demand side. For example the company outsourcing labor to sell a car cheaply is no more the problem than the consumers that desperately want more car for less cost. We the consumers can not point the crooked finger at corporations thinking they bear all the blame. As Taylor Swift sings, "It's me, Hi!, I'm the problem. It's me." We the consumers (and to a lesser extent, we the investors in companies) tell companies by the way we spend and invest our money how they should operate. We are telling them to cut cost! Therefore, to bring back jobs to America, we the consumers need to change our thinking, our spending, and our investing. We must be willing to

• Intentionally look for made in America items
• Spend more per item and have less stuff
• Live more simply
• Invest in companies that invest in their people and communities
• Accept lower investment yields so that companies can put more money toward their people and communities.

In America we think about, dream about, and focus on growing profits. We are the most prosperous nation and expect to continually produce successful businesses. However, businesses that succumb to this pressure see people as resources instead of partners, causing them to look outside their communities for others who will accept less compensation to produce the same product. Making money is not wrong, but we who run businesses must be willing to

• Use the balanced scorecard to help us move from capitalism to compassionate capitalism.

The idea is the balanced scorecard which was developed by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton to help businesses not focus on profits alone but to focus holistically on all parts of the business. The general idea is to define a small number of big goals that work for their business such as

• Make Profits
• Help the Environment
• Help the Employees
• Fulfill the business mission

The business then defines specific goals and metrics under each big goal. The business is then managed to accomplish the big goals in a way that their success is balanced among the big goals. At times trade-offs will have to be made when a conflict exists between big goals. But, if businesses would institute the balanced scorecard and include their employees wellbeing and local community development as one goal they would approach business strategy and human resources very differently.

Tariffs and tax breaks can have a small benefit to creating good jobs in America, but they are only band aids. Until we the people change our way of thinking, we will never see the job market and rising wages we say we want. Will we change our buying and investing habits and change the way we manage our businesses in order to benefit our neighbors and our country?