Dan Z wrote:Josh wrote:This is a point my liberal brethren should consider - if conservative and plain Anabaptists all started voting en masse, you'd have a sizable chunk of new solidly Republican voters in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin - which are key swing states.
The fact that this is obvious to all of us tells me that many (most?) plain people are in the habit of opining quite openly about politics (if not voting) - and are as deeply vested in partisan ideologies as their liberal counterparts are.
And that's saddens me.
It's hard to have knowledge without opinion. I feel that a kingdom Christian can keep up with what is going on around him, partly at least so that he can communicate knowledgeably with those around him. Since we are human, we tend to have an opinion about what is going on. Those opinions differ. I suppose most people who have been on MD and MN know that Appleman and I know each other, and get along fairly well, though separated by several thousand miles at this point. Most of those same people also know that he and I differ a bit on things like capitalism and socialism. It makes for a real interesting evening when we get together. Not just about politics, but about lots of other things.
I wouldn't call that partisanship.
In fact, I get more worried when people aren't interested enough to even know what is going on in the world around them. It seems like a bad sign to me, especially since too often the same disinterest carries over to spiritual things. That isn't always the case, but too often it is. Get the same people talking about farming or hockey, or their business, then they really fire up.
I still feel that our greatest influence in the areas this thread is supposed to be about is with our neighbors and co-workers -- the people who can see if our lives line up with what we are saying.