Trevor Bechtel attends Shalom Community Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

I am watching a caterpillar make their way from the roof of my porch down to the ground. Tethered by a thin strand of silk to departure and seemingly deeply ambivalent about arrival this caterpillar seems like a good metaphor for a Christian in this election season. It’s been more than 20 years since I cast a vote in a federal election. This is not a particularly noble confession.  As someone who is extremely leftist and interventionist on economic issues and flayed out across the spectrum on social issues there is never a candidate that represents my political views but my not voting probably has more to do with having lived for two decades in the US without citizenship, and having let my residency in Canada lapse.

However, as a Mennonite and a pacifist I do have access to very noble reasons for not voting.

Mennonites are working for the revelation of the children of God as they bring about the reign of God of earth. This is a deeply political stance and one that looks to the gospel for social policy and finds in the church’s attempts to bring heaven to earth the best expression of political involvement. Voting is often seen among my people as an attempt to control, in a very flawed way, the outcome of a process that is at remove from God’s purposes. Participation in the process is either tantamount to sin, or actually sin.

This can be a very helpful worldview when it focuses my attention on the people, places and communities that can benefit from the work that I can do, and when it blinds me to political expediency and has me care for and about the less fortunate. It is a helpful worldview when it reminds me that God is in control of history and not humanity. It is less helpful when it tricks me into thinking that I can separate myself from ideas or people I don’t like.

I want change. Accessible government funded health care for all. Draconian increases in banking regulation and campaign spending limits. Massive military cuts. Huge increases in education funding. I will not get what I want through a democratic process. Capitalist liberal democracies are very good at creating wealth, but also at securing the power of those who have wealth. I am not committed to seeing the current economic political system continue. I am committed to the reign of God on earth.

What will bring about the change that I want?

A revolution might, or an apocalypse. The campaign of Donald Trump for President might seem attractive in this light, as it does to theologians like R. R. Reno, editor of First Things who writes about being Anti-Anti-Trump. Supporting Trump in this election is massively irresponsible for people who care are committed to the reign of God on earth though, and not just because Trump is committed to racism, sexism and wealth all values diametrically opposed to God’s reign.

A vote for Trump is a vote for revolution because Trump does not participate in our current system of economics or politics. He benefits, at will, from our economic system but not in any kind of fair way. He has impressively made a mockery of our political system. Any kind of revolution that changes a system has always left massive destruction in its wake. In times of upheaval, those that are hurt the most are exactly those who the gospel privileges: the poor, the orphaned, the dispossessed. A vote for Trump is a vote for anarchy, and not the nice kind of anarchy, the kind of anarchy that grabs the dignity of all who brush up against it.

A vote for Clinton is a vote to retain liberal capitalism as the system of economics and government in this country. It is also a vote for a strong military, a liberal supreme court and for politics as usual. It is also a vote which stabilizes the meek support our society currently offers the less fortunate be they poor, of color, or somehow different. It is a vote which shifts the historic gender of the presidency. But it is the one vote which does not seek to control the outcome of history for it is the one vote which says, I will not bring about the revolution, God will bring about the revolution when God is ready.

Just then as I am anxious about people voting for Trump, I am anxious about the damage Trump is doing to the Republican Party and the opportunity placed in front of the Democratic Party to wreak havoc with their historical opposition. This may be the revolution that the Republicans deserve, but to destroy your enemy is also to seek to control history.

Looking again at that caterpillar I see that it is in fact not a caterpillar but a dead leaf caught in a spider’s web. Interesting how it captured my attention.

This “Opinions” section of our website provides a forum for the voices within Mennonite Church USA and related Anabaptist-Mennonite voices. The views expressed do not necessarily represent the official positions of The Mennonite, the board for The Mennonite, Inc., or Mennonite Church USA.