Are My Emotions Trumping the Truth in the 2016 Presidential Campaign?

As I sat with the 2016 ballot before me this morning, two childhood figures danced into my thoughts. Chicken Little pumping his toothpick-size legs in a chaotic zigzag shouting, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”, and that adorable Winnie the Pooh’s familiar, “Oh bother,” accompanied by a deep sigh and shake of his furry head. Are my emotions trumping the truth in the 2016 Presidential Campaign?

Anyone on the planet with even an ancient transistor radio knows America’s splitting apart over the last minute campaign revelations. One thing is sadly apparent: Emotions trump truth.

From my journal

As a conservative Christian woman, I’ve joined the national outcry against the statements Donald Trump made on the eleven-year-old video. I well remember the occasions male supervisors took liberties to which I’d never agreed. I said nothing to anyone; I needed the job.

I also remember the details of one lunchtime in my thirteenth year of life as though it happened today. I’d written a Mother’s Day poem for the May service for a church I’d been visiting with friends. One hot day in early July, the pastor surprised me with a visit. His visit wasn’t the only surprise.

With trembling lips, I warned him that my mother would be home for lunch at any moment. Could pastors tell when kids were lying?

The unwanted guest removed his hands from underneath my shirt, leaving his ugly threats.

I said nothing to my mother when she got home from work that evening. I stopped visiting that church and never saw that pastor again.

Many years later, I learned the pastor had been run out of town for his behavior with little girls who had the courage to tell somebody.

Even as a university senior, I feared reporting my English 401 Professor. Though I had a strong A average going into the final writing assignment, his threat made it clear my degree ambitions may not be realized.

He drew his car alongside me as I walked through a parking lot. Come home with him, or fail English.

Terrified to refuse, I asked the Lord to give me a response that would protect me. “What I’ve written about my faith in my assignments is real to me. If you touch me or fail me, God will give me the strength to report you to the administration and then to the police. I’m walking away from you now. Your threat dies in this parking lot.”

I felt relief as my wobbly legs carried me into the department store and out of his sight.

He gave me the grade I’d earned. Neither of us spoke to each other ever again.

My great regret is that I didn’t have the courage to report him. Most girls kept silent because no one ever believed in the girl’s innocence.

Did the experiences affect my life? Certainly, but I didn’t stop working because of them. I had goals for my life, too.

I forgave them all, including the pastor. The frightening experience with the pastor didn’t keep me from more than thirty-two years of full-time missionary service.

Listening to the explosive Trump video brought back these memories. Like the rest of the sisterhood, I wanted to punish Trump and the reporter for the boys will be boys attitude. Can anyone deny it’s still a part of our culture?

On second thought

Then, reason returned. Choosing the President of the United States is not a

• Personality contest. I don’t have to like him. I do agree with the party platform. That’s the key.

• Beauty contest. I don’t have to insist he lose that thirty extra pounds he’s picked up on the campaign trail, or get a crewcut.

• Spiritual leader contest. I’m not voting he’ll be in the pulpit on Sundays. I’m praying the President will be a person with a Biblical worldview, choosing like-minded people to advise and direct the various offices.

Ultimate decision

As a committed Christian, I must hold to the principles of the Bible from which the Constitution of the United States was drawn. That means I have but one choice on my ballot, regardless of what I might think of the candidate, personally. Before casting your vote, ask yourself, “Are my emotions trumping the truth in the 2016 Presidential Campaign?”

Only one party platform upholds the rights of the people as defined in the Constitution. Only one candidate will appoint justices to the Supreme Court who hold a Biblical Worldview.

And if that’s not enough to encourage me to vote platform, not person–the words of a lady after the final debate brought hope: We already know what life will be like with Hillary—more of the same—so I’m ready to give someone else a try.

Conclusion

Let your search engine of choice provide videos and articles to fill in the gaps left by the traditional media. There’s a host of great information out there to help you decide.

No, the sky isn’t falling, though there are those ready to fill your ear with proof it will if you don’t vote for (____), but neither is it right to just shake your head and not bother to fill out that ballot.

The bottom line, regardless of your choice in candidates is this:

America needs your vote. Don’t stay away because you don’t like either nominee.