I have been mulling over Ben’s candidacy for Congress for the past few days trying to figure out whether I could lend him my enthusiastic support. I was encouraged by what Ben had shared about himself and his ideas through his website and by hearing him speak on the videos I had seen. But I admit to having been rather wary, both because of Ben’s relative youth, and because of a reflexive suspicion of an evangelical Christian running as a Democrat. That is a reaction of which I am not particularly proud, but which may be somewhat justified by the marriage of the religious right to the Republican Party of recent years which has left such an impressive trail of destruction, causing many of us to forget the progressive voices that exist in the evangelical movement and the greater Church.

Ben’s powerful defense of the place of evangelicals in the Democratic party and his reflections on faith and politics have helped to convince me. Reading Ben’s book, “Green Revolution: Coming Together to Care for Creation”, this weekend tipped the balance. It reveals him to be bright, remarkably accomplished, and leader of maturity beyond his years who will reject the tired paradigms that currently hamper progress in our struggle to create a better future for humanity. Here’s why I have decided to support Ben to be our Representative:

• Because he’s available. That is, because he has generously dropped everything to make himself available for what promises to a difficult contest. He is a brave man. We know from past elections that Peter Roskam will be a tough opponent who will attack Ben ruthlessly. We should all be grateful that Ben has offered to subject himself to this campaign. But I sense that Ben has the potential to be a giant-killer.
• More importantly, because Ben is exactly what we need. In fact we need 434 more of him. Ben is smart and articulate. He has, I think, a tremendous sense of compassion and empathy for those who suffer because of our unjust economic and political structures. He is unbeholden to the powerful interests that continually block our path to resolving difficult problems like global climate change and the nation’s healthcare crisis and that promote war over peace and exploitation of the planet over stewardship. And I think that Ben’s youth is an asset rather than a liability if we allow ourselves to be open to the new perspective that his generation offers on our world and its many problems.
• I believe that Ben shares my core values: a concern for economic and social justice and for care for the poor, a desire to end the militarism and nationalism that threaten to destroy us, a consistent ethic of life that concerns itself with not only the terribly difficult issue of abortion but also rejects war and the death penalty, and an urgent concern for our environment and the need to develop a sustainable way of living on our planet. I have no doubt that I will differ with Ben on some issues and I reserve the right to give him hell in this space when such a situation arises, but I am convinced that on the whole I will be pleased and proud to have Ben represent me in Washington.

Peter Roskam poses with a list of his bad votes over the past 3 years.