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.
Related posts:
I was curious and attended a meeting recently to hear Mr. Lowe speak. He addressed the idea that he wants creationism taught in public schools by giving a brief statement about himself and his education, and then did not answer the very topic of concern he himself brought up.
He spent quite a lot of time saying that he thinks “culture wars” are over. Doesn’t he know that the whole idea of political parties with their very different Platforms are just the form this civilized society uses to direct how they want this culture to go? Does he consider good health and health care for all citizens a right for all citizens or a privilege of the wealthy? That’s the culture war that’s been waged all summer! He needs to find another way to say that he does not agree with the Democratic Platform that states women are equal citizens under the US Constitution and thereby should receive the same right to privacy that men enjoy. And then he has to explain why he thinks women are entitled to fewer rights than men.
After this past year of economic disaster, you’d think any serious politican would know some basics about why this happened and perhaps some ideas to discuss about repairing the damage. Instead, Mr. Lowe has no clue about any of it. He took notes like he was still in a classroom, but it’s too late for that.
Sorry, but having only one idea – the environment – is not enough.
If Roscam doesn’t shred this guy to bits, then I’ll wonder why.
If this guy is still calling himself a Democrat in ten years, I’ll be very surprised.
To the above post. As someone who has spent time living in other countries where the populations do not define themselves by their political party affiliation I would really encourage you to not succumb to that temptation in America. If we say that we are two cultures in America, defined by how we vote, what does that say about the possibility for national unity. That somehow narrows the immense diversity that exists in this country down to two political parties, which for how much they differ are also remarkably similar about many issues. Of course there are many people in this country for whom neither party represents their views; such as anti-war libertarians, or neo-socialists. (To the country where I live in europe, both republicans and democrats seem right wing.) These people are forced to find issues and people they can support in the main two parties but do not define themselves by those parties. That’s probably where I fit.
That said, I don’t think Ben Lowe is one of those people. He is a committed democrat, and there should be no single issue litmus test for being a democrat. It is not a party defined by a single cause, after all, I still believe that the democrats strive to be the inclusive party of diversity. There are many within the democratic party including democratic representatives who disagree on all sorts of issues while remaining faithful to the key party principles. If democrats would wake up, and even consider that when it comes to the unbelievably complex issue of abortion “everyone is right and everyone is wrong” it would pound the final blow in the republican stranglehold on faith, and you would see many who are crying out for a party to truly work for social, and economic equality and justice flocking to find their home within the democratic fold. Sadly it is not all one side’s fault, many members of faith communities have had the same single-issue litmus test when it comes to who they can vote for. We all need to open our eyes and look beyond our artificial boundaries.