Thoughts on Pagan candidates


Reacting to the calls for support because X is a Pagan

I have to leave in a few hours, I'll try to get another post up but no promises.

Right now I want to deal with this "you should vote for them because they're Pagan."

One reason I have two blogs is because of the inevitable fallout when I mention two of my passions, politics and Paganism. The immediate assumption is that because I am Pagan, I am progressive or liberal in my politics. Especially since I do push politics at my mainstream blog. Many Pagans feel personally betrayed when they find out that I don't share their political views.

If you read me regularly, even here, this shouldn't be a surprise. I've never been one to put much store in group identity. I'm much more interested in what individual people have achieved.

Someone's faith should be the last reason you vote for them, even if you think you share that faith.

If you accept that these elections are about Christians vs (insert faith here), you've already handed the dominists a victory. You've let them define the "struggle" as "us vs. them"

You can't "win" under those terms. It comes down to sheer numbers. The weirder and more strange you seem, the more you will be treated as an outcast, fit only to beg for scraps from the Big Table Where the Important Decisions are Made. Under those circumstances, the only time ANYONE will deign to pay attention to you will be when they trot you out in the dog and pony show to get more sympathy and more votes.

You have rights because you are human, not because your membership in some carefully defined group.

Forget about their religion, forget about the groups, focus on character. Start with honor. Then move to tolerance. See if they accept you because you're human, not because you are the minority of the week.

That is what lasts. That is what changes nations.

The rest is just a way to steal votes.

If you can't trust them, then why are you voting for them?

If you can trust them, then their relationship with the Divine doesn't matter.

End of political rant. We now return you to the normal blog.

Posted: Thu - November 5, 2009 at 04:25 AM
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