I trust Mr. Shakespeare from somewhere beyond the grave will not mind me appropriating and paraphrasing his words for the theme of this column: To vote or not to vote, that is the question. After all, if indeed all the world’s a stage, including voters and candidates, and all the men and women merely players, then it is an appropriate usage of that snippet of Hamlet’s soliloquy.
It is another old phrase from a different kind of old writer, though, that has me thinking along these lines. This particular writer was a theologian and famous preacher, namely C.H. Spurgeon, and his famous quote was, “Of two evils, choose neither.” This, in our day, is often lengthened to “When faced with a choice of the lesser of two evils, choose neither,” or some variation of that. And its most common usage in our day seems to be that of an admonition for Bible-believing Christians to abstain from voting since there always seems to be something morally objectionable to one candidate or another.
And in practical terms, that belief utterly neuters what should be the most formidable voting bloc in America. As of 2023, Gallup reported that 68% of Americans regard themselves as Christians, which means that, in theory, if all of them got together and voted, their candidate or candidates would always win. But due in part to the growing and growingly vocal segment of “Choose neither” Christians, that potentially powerful voting bloc is usually about as weak as a giant cotton ball.
The foundational question, though, is not effect (do we win or lose), but logic (are we thinking right to begin with?) In other words, should we be saying “When faced with two evils, choose neither,” or should we instead be saying, “Always choose the lesser of two evils?” If we choose the former, Christians will not fully participate in the election process; if we choose the latter, they will fully participate, so it is indeed a pretty important question.
Let me give you my answer and then explain the rationale behind it. Christians should always vote, and they should always vote for the lesser of two evils.