The Ethics behind our Votes
by the Chaplain
The political debates on television have done much to raise awareness of this coming election and you may be already forming ideas and opinions as to the relative merits of the main parties. I know that the election has become a great topic of debate around school and I hope those discussions have continued at home with all whom you know to be preparing to vote this year.
Many of you are getting ready to cast your first ever votes in a General Election and by the time of the next election, all of you here this morning will be eligible to vote. I hope it is a privilege and a responsibility you will take seriously. Democracy is one of the key values of this country. It is a value that we believe to be worth speaking out for, and even fighting for in countries where it is denied and where dictatorships flourish.
It is a popular topic of debate as to whether the voting age should be lowered so that it might include many more of senior-school age. But this is often countered by the argument, which you might agree with, that many younger people have not thought about the issues and would not yet be ready to express an opinion through their vote.
Some use this same argument to suggest that the voting age should be raised; but at what age could we agree that people are able to make considered and informed decisions? Some people never seem to reach that level of maturity regardless of their age!
I hope that the chance to exercise a vote is a regarded as both a right and a privilege and would be approached as such. It is often said that those who do not vote also forfeit their right to complain or speak out afterwards about things they dislike about the party in government.
But the election is not just a test of those seeking to be voted for; it is also a test of the character and values of those of us who vote.
Many people simply vote as their parents did or as those in their immediate social circle claim to do. People vote for those that pledge to serve the financial interests of the perceived voting majority. People vote for those who seem to be gaining media popularity; we like to feel that we have voted for the winning side; that is why a tabloid such as The Sun, changes its allegiance from election to election. As the recent televised debates have shown, people seem to express approval for those who present themselves well and who simply offer the promise of change or difference, regardless of the actual details.
But what do elections say about us as individuals and also about our society? Possibly they say that we are quite shallow or even selfish in our reasoning? Perhaps they say that we are too impressed by personality and presentation? Maybe they say that we are too easily influenced by media or even those around us and are unable to make our own decisions?
But I think that voting is a test of the voters because it challenges us to be honest about our values and what is important to us. It is amongst other things, a test of our ethics - our moral values - and the way that we think the world should be.
Some party policies aim to provide a level of social services that are accessible to all and would particularly benefit those in different financial circumstances to our own. But, policies on state education may not seem to be important if that is not your experience of schooling. Policies on national health may not be important if you pay for private health. Policies on minimum wage levels or the value of the basic state pension may seem irrelevant if that is not what you will ever imagine depending upon. Policies that provide social care and financial provision for the poorest in society may not seem important to you if that is not, or seems unlikely to ever be, your experience in life.
There is a great temptation to simply vote for a party that will serve our own interests rather than realising that we belong to a wider society in which we value the dignity and well being of all people. It is too easy to believe the propaganda that people who suffer in society do so because of their inability to pick themselves up or sort themselves out. Even less true is the belief that people are poor because they are lazy or unwilling to work. Yes, some tabloids will find exceptions to support this fiction, but that is not the case for the many people who live in relative poverty in this so-called compassionate nation.
If we have any ethical values within us they should affect the way that we choose to vote, not just to serve our own self-interest, but instead to support the good we believe in, even if that will have a cost to ourselves.
Party politics sometimes plays to people's inherent selfishness and government can sometimes be characterised by making short-term decisions that will maintain little more than the party's power and popularity. Elections can become little more than about hanging onto power or getting into power. Ethics and values can get lost along the way.
The occasion in Jesus' life that comes to mind when thinking about elections and priorities, occurs when Jesus finds the disciples arguing about whom amongst them was the most important.
Mark 9.33-35
Then they came to Capernaum; and when Jesus was in the house he asked them, `What were you arguing about on the way?'
But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.
He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, `Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.'
The measure of value in God's eyes is in those who serve and bring good to others, not those who push themselves forward. That is what it means to be called a minister: whether an ordained minister, or a government minister. Indeed the Prime Minister is literally the one who is there to give the greatest service.
That willingness to serve is something that should be the true measure of the priorities of someone seeking election. I hope it might also be the true measure of our character; in what we give to others, rather than the importance we claim for ourselves.
I hope it would not be betraying any secrets in saying that at the Full Tutorial Board on Monday evening we discussed the potentiality of all those who might become prefects next year. All members of staff, along with all members of the lower sixth, as well as all of the current prefects had each voted to express their approval as to who should become prefects. It is not, by any means a popularity competition, but more it is concerned with those who would be good leaders and good examples and able to take on particular responsibilities whilst being in the Upper Sixth.
Each pupil was also considered in terms of the duties and responsibilities they had undertaken in the Lower School houses and at the Manor. That seemed to me to be an important measure of the responsibility they had already cheerfully and responsibly undertaken within the school community.
Of course, the cynical or the ambitious, in any area of life, could try to give the impression of wanting to serve, when what they want most of all is the reward, whether that is the honour of being chosen as a school prefect or the title of Right Honourable they gain from being elected as a member of parliament.
The words 'servant' and 'minister' and their associations of 'service' and 'ministry' may seem a long way from the trappings of power and the scandals surrounding MPs and their expenses. Amongst the most awkward questions at the final leader's debate was that from a man who questioned whether or not politicians had forgotten that they were there to serve.
I would want to say to you that to minister, to care about people and to wish to serve them, still remains the greatest ideal by which any human can choose to live. The question of who will serve the good of the whole nation should be at the heart of whom we choose to vote for. That same willingness to serve should also be at the heart of our own character.
The Revd. David Johnson
Dauntsey�s School Chaplain
April 2010
