10 for 10: Voting Vision Not Division | From the Ballot to Action: Building Unity After the Election
In this special post-election episode of the "10 for 10: Voting Vision, Not Division" series, Rabbi Nancy Kasten and Rev. Dr. George Mason reflect on the surprises and challenges of the election results. They discuss how faith values can guide responses to shifting political landscapes, the importance of addressing local issues like housing and food access, and why advocating for good governance remains essential. Together, they emphasize the need for persistence and collaboration to create meaningful change, even when political winds shift. As the dust settles, this conversation invites listeners to stay engaged, persevere, and work toward unity and justice in their communities.
What is 10 for 10: Voting Vision not Division? Starting on September 2, 2024 and continuing every Monday for ten weeks through November 4, Faith Commons is offering ten 10-minute reflections on topics related to the upcoming election through the lens of religion. Our premise is that religion should be used to unite people and groups of people rather than to divide them, and that the founders of our country shared our view.
Watch the video, here.
George (00:24):
Welcome to 10 for 10 Voting Vision, not Division. I'm George Mason, and I'm joined by my partner, rabbi Nancy Kasten, and we are Faith Commons. You may recall if you have followed us, uh, before the election, that we had 10 weeks of conversations about particular issues that we thought were important from a faith perspective to consider in your voting as you prepared for the election. And now after the election, we thought we'd have a bit of a recap and, uh, take a pulse, uh, maybe take a breath, Nancy <laugh> as well. So tell us what you're thinking at this point. How do you see things? Uh, what's your perspective?
Nancy (01:06):
Well, I think taking a breath is really important right now. We saw a lot of things that we didn't necessarily expect, um, coming out of this election, and we keep getting new surprises every day. Yes, we did. Yeah. Um, and new ways in which our faith, um, values are being challenged. And, you know, I think it's a mis, you know, I think there's definitely, um, a lot of questions to be asked. I think historians may be able to tell us more about what actually happened, but in the meantime, you know, we have to think about who we are concerned about. uh, now who we want to protect, what we want to protect, Um, and, you know, how we see our religious and faith values, um, applied to this new America, um, this next stage in America.
George (02:06):
You know, I think your point about our values being the same and how we respond to this, not necessarily react, but respond. Right. I think reaction is part of the problem. Um, so I, here's an analogy. I'm a golfer, as you know. Right. Every day that we go to the golf course to play is not a day where the sun is shining brightly, where the temperature is mild, and where there is no wind to affect your shot. Some days you just have to reckon with the weather. Some days the wind is against you, or it's moving from one side to the other. And this is where your skill comes in. This is where you test yourself to see whether your game can accommodate the weather. So you, you have to play the way the, the, the weather dictates the weather, the way the ground dictates these sorts of things.
George (03:05):
I think that's true in this situation. We, we don't necessarily have favorable, favorable winds if you are a person of more progressive instincts of about these things. But, uh, it doesn't mean that you can't, uh, participate successfully. It just means that you, you have to reckon with whatever is the current administration and policies. And, and, and that may mean that you are more in a resistance pose, but it also doesn't change the fact that you have a goal, you have something you're shooting for, and so you simply keep your eye on that ball and don't only focus on, uh, what the adverse effects of, of, of the political weather may be.
Nancy (03:52):
Well, I think there are a couple of things about that analogy. First of all, um, I hope people won't just decide they don't wanna play the game anymore. Yeah. Right, right. And, and politics isn't, isn't a game. Right. It's not a win or lose. It's a, it's a verb, it's a process. Right. And policy is related to politics. Right. I mean, we need, we need to be political in order to get good policies. And right now we're seeing that their, you know, progressivism is up, is up for debate. I mean, what's progressive? Right. I think in some ways, some of the ideas that are being postured by some of the cabinet appointees, um, are very progressive. We need to overcome big food, right. We know that the way we eat in this country is causing a lot of health issues. Right. Big pharma and big food is connected to big pharma. . I mean, those are, those are, you know Right. Issues that we haven't been able to address and prog real progressives want those things addressed. Right? Yeah. So I think we're gonna see different kinds of alliances that are going to be, um, necessary in order to address the real needs of our community.
George (05:08):
So we're, we should not be doing knee jerk reaction. We should be careful in our analysis and find ways for us to find common cause wherever we can. Uh, one thing I do want to say, however, is because this, uh, program has been about, and so Faith Commons generally is about the application of faith to public life. Uh, I am es especially concerned about proposed appointees, nominees, uh, to positions of leadership in this country who espouse a version of Christianity called, well, Christian Nationalism for, for one. But a specific part of that being Christian Zionism, uh, which reads the Bible in a way that has not, was not read until less than 200 years ago. Uh, it's a relatively recent understanding of how to read the Bible. Uh, but the current nominee, Mike Huckabee for Ambassador to Israel and the nominee, uh, to be defense secretary, um, Hegseth, uh, both claim that the Bible has already told them what Middle Eastern policy should look like. And, uh, the idea that there is no such thing as Palestinians according to Huckabee, and that there is no such thing as the West Bank already then changes the political calculus in terms of how we solve the challenges of, uh, people living together in that part of the world, uh, successfully. Uh, and, uh, and, and presumes an outcome that is not part of political consensus, but is it, it is just a, a product of people's faith perspective. I think that's a huge mistake in public policy.
Nancy (07:08):
Well, and how it applies to our lives now, you know, and what we can do Right. Under those circumstances. I mean, I think we have to do everything we can to raise up the, um, identities of Palestinians that we know, right. To introduce people who may not know that there are Palestinians. Right. And let them tell their stories in public forums. And, you know, this is in some ways analogous to the, um, attack on immigrants, right? . . I mean, we need to show how these are all people, they're all Americans. They've been living here, they've been contributing to our society. They deserve dignity, they deserve their identities to be valued and acknowledged. . And, you know, our faith values are that everyone is created in God's image. That's right. Our faith values are that you, that we belong to the world and that we need to make room for one another. . And, you know, given the fact that we've, um, destroyed so much of the world through, uh, our, you know, sort of abuse of our natural resources and then misappropriating our technologies. . Um, and then, you know, of course the, um, global geopolitical situation, you know, we eventually we're not gonna have anywhere to live <laugh>.
George (08:27):
Well, okay. So let, let's, let's take that and, and apply it broadly because, uh, what you're saying is a perspective about land itself and peoples, uh, that would be helpful to move things forward, I think is something you've stated. Often it grows out of an indigenous perspective, and that is to say that people belong to the land. The land doesn't belong to people. When it, when the idea is that the land belongs to people, then everybody fights for more of it. Everyone thinks that it's a zero sum game. Everyone is drawing lines on a map. Everyone is going to war to protect their right to that land. If instead we had the perspective that we belong to the land, that it is part of the symbiosis of the way God has made, uh, creation, and that it feeds us, and that we have a stewardship of it now, we share it. Now we have to find ways to live together on it and from it. And that should change the whole geopolitical calculus. That's a faith perspective that I think we need to bring increasingly in this time. Well,
Nancy (09:44):
And I think we can enhance that faith perspective again, if we just start locally. you know, if we're willing to build higher density neighborhoods in our own neighborhoods. Right. Not say they have to belong somewhere else. Yes. Right. Um, but to say this is something that is of value. We wanna live next to the people who are working in our hospitals and teaching in our schools. Right. Fighting in, you know, our policemen and our firemen and women. Um, you know, we're willing to live with those people. Right. Uh, people who can't afford a half acre lot with a private home on it, we're not gonna, um, continue to fight zoning laws that would allow for higher density, um, neighborhoods.
George (10:29):
Well, and, and let's talk about food as well. Yeah. Uh, uh, we, it's not just about housing, but it's also access to healthy food, which vast parts of the city of Dallas itself lacks that access. And the consequences of health and of wellbeing of a city are, are, are impacted by simply food, which is medicine in a sense. And so we, this is one of the reasons Faith Commons is working on, uh, this food accessibility and security in, uh, south and southern Dallas at this point. So, okay. Overall, these are our initial reactions, uh, to, uh, to the election. We think we should be working locally, we should be showing up and continuing to do the work, not allowing ourselves to be discouraged if our candidates didn't win. If our philosophy of government is not in place nationally or at the state level, but instead continue to vote, uh, by our work, uh, between elections, uh, our vision, uh, which is a vision of unity, not division,
Nancy (11:44):
And, you know, just one more word because, you know, we are talking about the electoral process in voting. we need good government. . philanthropy and business cannot make up for bad public policy. Right. We need good government. . So how we spend our tax dollars, we can use it for a lot of good things. Yes. Taxes are not the enemy. Right? Right. We just need to be using them for the right things, and I think they can reflect our faith values.
George (12:16):
Right. And often Christians have been heard referring to scriptures from the New Testament about how God has set authorities in power. And, and sometimes they, they take that to mean particular candidates or particular parties. But if we, if we take your point about this, what we can say is that God is not opposed to government. Uh, God, uh, authorizes human beings to be good stewards of their life together on this planet. And we should not therefore be the enemy of government, but be the advocate for good government, as you say. So thank you for joining us for this, uh, revisiting of the election. Uh, there's still a lot of work to do. We are faith commons and we are at this work. We're up to it. We're, we're, we're inviting you to be part of it. And we hope you'll look at our website, faith commons.org and you'll follow us on social media. We're on all the major social media sites. Uh, we're grateful for your support in any way that we can receive it and hope to be good partners with you in the future. Thank you for joining us.