Christian conservatives are grappling with election results that suggested that the cultural tide has shifted against them
I tend to vote at every opportunity. However, I don’t buy the argument that “not voting” is a dereliction of duty. We don’t have “none of the above” on our ballots, and the decision to not vote expresses something about the election itself. I suppose one could spoil one’s ballot (can you do that with electronic voting?) as a stronger protest, but it would amount to the same thing. Each citizen has the right to express his choice however he chooses.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
First your comparison of Stericycle to Waste Mangement. This again is the factual difference between lesser evil and EVIL. It is possible for some ones investment portfolio to have investments in things that are questionable in nature. Investments in strip joints, abortions mills, tobacco companies, and even “medical waste” companies, by a investment company. While I would not knowingly invest in these kinds of companies, I do not have power over the investments that the investment company makes.
This however is different. It is EVIL. I quote from the article which broke the story,
Here’s what happened with Stericycle. In November 1999, Bain Capital and Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, filed with the SEC a Schedule 13D, which lists owners of publicly traded companies, noting that they had jointly purchased $75 million worth of shares in Stericycle, a fast-growing player in the medical-waste industry. (That April, Stericycle had announced plans to buy the medical-waste businesses of Browning Ferris Industries and Allied Waste Industries.) The SEC filing lists assorted Bain-related entities that were part of the deal, including Bain Capital (BCI), Bain Capital Partners VI (BCP VI), Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors (a Bermuda-based Bain affiliate), and Brookside Capital Investors (a Bain offshoot). And it notes that Romney was the “sole shareholder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of BCI, BCP VI Inc., Brookside Inc. and Sankaty Ltd.”
The document also states that Romney “may be deemed to share voting and dispositive power with respect to” 2,116,588 shares of common stock in Stericycle “in his capacity as sole shareholder” of the Bain entities that invested in the company. That was about 11 percent of the outstanding shares of common stock. (The whole $75 million investment won Bain, Romney, and their partners 22.64 percent of the firm’s stock—the largest bloc among the firm’s owners.) The original copy of the filing was signed by Romney.Another SEC document filed November 30, 1999, by Stericycle also names Romney as an individual who holds “voting and dispositive power” with respect to the stock owned by Bain. If Romney had fully retired from the private equity firm he founded, why would he be the only Bain executive named as the person in control of this large amount of Stericycle stock?
Highlights were inserted by me.
Again, there is a vast difference between a person who holds an investment run by a third party management firm, and a man who “in his capacity as sole shareholder….holds voting and dispositive power” made investments in a company contracted with Planned Parenthood. If you can’t see the difference, we can not have any further discussion.
As to my vote, I wrote in a man for President and one for Vice-President. Let me think about whether to tell who they were, but for now, know that they hold a Biblical Worldview and believe we must follow the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.
As for fellowship, there are men on our deacon board who I disagree with about numerous issues. Public education is one example. I do not consider sending ones children to a government indoctrination system, whose stated religion is secular humanism, the actions of someone who is separated from the world. But, since I tend to be something of a Christian “libertarian”, (notice I am a Christian first, and a small l, libertarian) I believe those men are accountable before God for their actions. As long as they are not forcing me or anyone in the local body of believers to do what they are doing, and allow me to follow the dictates of my conscience in how I raise my family, I will bite my tongue, and keep peace with my fellow believers. They and I will one day answer for how we lived our life. I am perfectly content to live mine the way I see fit, and let them do likewise, as long as they do not directly violate a clear Biblical principle.
The same applies to voting. If asked I clearly and honestly gave my reasons why my conscience will not allow me to vote for Willard. At the same time, they are free to do what their conscience leads them to do.
One thing I would add though, someone is wrong in both of those scenarios. Either voting for Willard was something of which God approves or it is not, I do not believe there is middle ground on the issue. Same way with secular humanist education. Either it is good or it is not, I see no ambiguity in either situation.
But then, I’m a black and white type guy.
Here’s the link to an article about Romney and why he lost,
I agree with the jest of this article.
http://stevedeace.com/news/national-politics/yes-romney-was-the-problem/
Ok Tom, I have to ask. Were you cracking a joke with the use of “jest,” or did you mean gist? Either way it’s kinda funny, but I do like to know what I’m laughing about.
Why is it that my voice always seems to be loudest when I am saying the dumbest things?
Laugh at me. In my hurry I put the wrong term.
I really need to proofread what I attempt to write. :(
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