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I’m not finding it easy this year to decide which candidate and what party will get my vote on Saturday 7 November and I know many others are sharing my political uncertainty – not only in New Zealand.
So, what to do?
I’ve done my best to read party manifestos and listen to local and national candidate views. Overall I’m not sure how much my new knowledge has helped my clarity.
The problem is that so often everything is promised by those seeking power and later, especially in coalition compromise, little is delivered.
So I then decided to vote for the candidates I trust only to realise that the ones I most trust are not standing in my electorate, and one electorate even has two candidates from different parties to whom I would happily give my vote.
In recent days I have turned to online questionaires (I have now completed three) answering questions about which issues are most important to me and which parties and candidates match my preferences.
Unfortunately this didn’t seem to help much either.
Now I have decided to vote as if I were one of the most needy people in our society – using my vote to benefit them.
My method has been simple.
I think of someone (by name) who I know to be struggling – perhaps sensing that their vulnerability is financial, health, security, relationship or employment.
Then I complete the questionaires from their point of view answering on their behalf (albeit from my limited perspective of their reality and their need).
When I did this a clear consensus came to light with very similar results across the surveys giving a clearer indication of which policies, candidates and and political parties would most represent their views and work to meet their needs.
And now it is my intention to use my vote as a gift to those who most need the boost of a good election result.
And to those who might be thinking of not voting…surely this opportunity to participate in the life of our nation is too important to discard?
Perhaps you are considering to use your vote as a protest, a reaction against what you don’t like in our current political environment? Rather than be motivated by reaction against why not search for policies and people you can positively endorse?
Of course the way things are at the moment is not ideal. But isn’t that true of everything I’m involved in, even my own life?
And thanks be to God that Christian faith gives us the ability to live as people of hope in the midst of ambiguities and imperfections in every person and institution, seeking out and nurturing every seed of life and hope.
I welcome your own election advice in the comments section below where I’m sure we can help each other to vote wisely and well.
Really appreciated this post and the reminders it gave as I have felt more conflicted and dare I say it confused rather than impressed by what I’ve witnessed in National and local politics of late:. That feeling was compounded yesterday when seeing the local MP and a small band of supporters including a child, brandishing a party sign at a busy intersection and cheering and guffawing at drivers who were better served by concentrating on navigating rush hour traffic. Your approach has much more resonance with the deeper issues that matter most.
Amen
Thanks Father John, yes, particularly difficult this year.
Apart from the policies thrown at us; which party is going to be wisest regarding the use of the funding available and NOT just have a lolly scramble promising everything?
I too am finding it hard to decide after voting for the same party all my life.It seems that as you say the parties offer much but deliver little. This election I organised a meeting of our local candidates and surprisingly found that I was able to suspend judgement from my preceived ideas of the candidates by they party the represented and listen to their reasons for wanting to represent us. I was able to hear them, then as wanting the best for all but different ways to achieve this.Not making the choice easier. Then I read today that the opportunity party land tax would likely see people defering their payment until they had departed and that was seen as unfair because we want our children to inherit what we have earned. Made me think is what I have access to here mine to own and pass on or is it all Gift from God to use and return on death. This will challenge my idea of who I vote for but doesn’t make it easier, your suggestion to vote for the most vulnearable maybe the way to decide.
A most insightful and helpful way of looking at our political situation here in New Zealand come voting time. Considering a candidates Moral Christian Family values alongside of their party does cover a multitude of today’s political issues that concern most of us.
Thank you Fr John. Most helpful.
Thank you Father John. Your thoughts/comments have been most helpful to my decision making for this year’s Election.
The ‘nudge’ I received most valuable. I feel confident in making my selection of Candidates.
Here’s a paragraph I’m using to guide me, along with the NZCBC letter on voting. What follows could have been written yesterday; it was written by St Pope Paul VI .in 1978:
‘There exists also sinful inequalities that affect millions of men and women. These are in open contradiction of the Gospel. Their equal dignity as persons demands that we strive for fairer and more humane conditions. Excessive economic and social disparity between individuals and peoples of the one human race is a source of scandal and militates against social justice, equity, human dignity, as well as social and international peace.’
Now I just need to decide which party/parties has the ability to deliver! And pray for an election result that delivers for the marginalised.
The worry that I have and have been trying to navigate is that the perceived parties who stand for the needy and those marginalised also stand directly opposed to the most significantly marginalised in my mind (the unborn, invalid, and elderly) where those people don’t seem to have a voice at all.
So how do we vote then? When a party will increase benefits for families who need the assistance but happily extend assisted dying to the disabled or mentally ill, or who render a precious growing baby to something seen as less than human and able to be terminated at later and later stages.
I’m at a loss this year