Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the intersection of faith and culture. Is the Wall Butter Show taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. Hottest topic of the day right now. We are just weeks out from maybe the most important election of our lifetime. I know everybody says that every election, but this sure feels like one. So we're going to get some sage advice from David and Tim Barton. This election special today, you want to share with as many friends and family as you possibly can and and just encourage people to participate. Be a part of the solution. Let's jump into this election special with David and Tim Barton. 

David Barton [00:00:39] Elections are a core foundation of our American government. And the early days, political debates were held in theaters and lecture halls across America like this one, drawing large crowds from every corner of society. Now we engage with the candidates through TV screens and Twitter feeds watching this, the elections unfold. 

Tim Barton [00:00:56] The spotlight may be on the top contenders, but it's really about the people. Today, we're going to talk about our role and this important election process. 

David Barton [00:01:04] By understanding where elections came from and how they work. You can help determine who will be in the room when our nation's most important decisions are being made. Today's lawmakers are tomorrow's History shapers. I'm David Barton. 

Tim Barton [00:01:17] I'm Tim Barton. And this is elections. As we talk about elections, the real question is how do elections work? I mean, we know every couple of years we vote for people. But but how does that really work? And why is it that so often we go to vote and there's not really good candidates or not people we like? How do we even get good candidates to the place where we can choose them to be our leaders? As Christians, if we're going to be involved with the process of if we're going to elect Godly people. We need to know how do we get Godly people there and how does this election process even work? 

David Barton [00:01:54] Well, the election process in America has gone through a lot of changes. When you go back to the very first years of America, we came out of England, which was a system that really didn't have elections. I mean, you had a king and not only was the king hereditary. You didn't even have a voice in your church leaders. And that was pretty common in Europe. If you were in Germany, the national leaders said, hey, we're all going to be Lutherans if you're in France, national leader said, We're all Catholics. If you're in England, we're all going to be Anglicans. And so the king would choose the leaders over the state established church. Well, those who came to America, a lot of them were out of the reformation, back to the Bible movement. And the more they read the scriptures and said, look, God allowed them to have elections across 1821 and Deuteronomy. And so when they get here, people like the Pilgrims, they got here, they said, Got a king. He's over there. We're having elections over here. So they chose their own governors. They chose even their own pastors. They chose their own leaders. And that became pretty common in America and northern colonies especially. They were into elections. And so really, election history starts a whole lot with New England and develops and goes forward. 

Tim Barton [00:02:55] Yeah. And even this notion of election, a lot of people think that, well, if everybody gets to vote in election, there must be a democracy there. But part of what we did in America that was unique is we elected officials to represent us because democracies kind of work when it's a small group of people. Right. If you are on a sports team or if you're the coach of a sports team and you say, hey, where do we want to go out to eat? And all the kids say, well, I'm going to go here. You can have this democratic process vote, although I would always default and say, you have a mom and dad or coach really gets to choose if we care that much. So there could be like this monarch dictator involved. But you can have a democratic process if it's a small group. But once you start getting hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of people, having everybody vote on every specific detail becomes very burdensome. It's cumbersome. And so it's easier to say, look for for us, 100 people, for us, a thousand people, let's elect somebody who can go do that process and vote every day for us, represent us every day. And this is part of what they did in America moving away again, this notion of democracy. Not really. We do in America. We elect officials to represent us. It's a Republican system. It's a Republican form of government. And this is what we started all the way back in Plymouth. And this was very unique in that time because nobody else was doing that at that time. I mean, you'd seen republics at other periods in world history, but not at that time. So what we started in America was very unique and largely based on the Bible, but the foundation really grew beyond just voting for this person right here in front of you. Elections and ballots even changed over time. 

David Barton [00:04:22] They did. And as you move further into American history, for example, you get to have Virginia and Virginia. They were having elections in Virginia. And Virginia was one of the most popular states at that time of the 13 colonies. So they were a big state. And even the way they chose their governor, the people chose their representatives to the state government. But the people didn't choose the governor. The people they chose to. The legislature are the ones who chose the governor. So you take a famous governor out of American independence, somebody like Patrick Henry, he was elected governor five times, all by the legislature. The legislature got together and said, hey, do we want to be our governor? Let's choose Patrick Henry. So what the people chose Governor Patrick Henry. It was the legislature. And by the way, unlike what we see today, two of the five times that Henry's chosen for governor, he didn't even want to be governor. Matter of fact, he turned it down. They said your governor, you just been reelected. He said, no, I'm not going to do that. 

Tim Barton [00:05:12] Now, let's clarify, because who gets elected without what everybody if you want to be elected, you run for office and you campaign. You're putting up signs everywhere. That almost seems hypocritical. How did you get elected? You didn't want to be elected. 

David Barton [00:05:22] This is where ballots are really fun. Back then, if you take New England again, you go on to New England. Let's say we have a city election. We're going to have a mayor and we're going to have aldermen. We're gonna have a state representative legislature. What you would do is you go into the ballot box with a blank piece of paper and say, I'm thinking of everybody I know. Who do I know that be the best governor? And so I'd write that, Tim, you should be governor. And so what happens is that they take the ballots that count them all up at the end and said, Well, Tim, you got the most votes, Governor. We would go say, Tim, the people chose you to be governor. I wasn't even running I didn't know. So it's really interesting that this is the biblical model. You see, it were that as they're choosing deacons, the apostles say, hey, go choose out from among you deacons and get people who are full of Holy Spirit and honest integrity and hard workers. And the people know their best leaders. And so that's what happened in those early elections. They would choose people and and you wouldn't know you were running. And so one of the great examples is a guy who ran for president United States didn't even want to, but his name was William Wirt. He was the attorney general. And the people came and said, we've started a new party and we chose you to be our presidential candidate. New party. And he says this part is not going to work. It's not going to last. But he felt like he had to. And this is where it gets really interesting. We talk back then in textbooks and school books, some of the greatest educators in American history, Noah Webster, Benjamin Rush, they wrote that the people chose you to serve them. You didn't say no because God put you here to serve others. He didn't put you here to serve yourself. So if the people came and said, Hey, we want you to be our state representative, you say, Well, if you think that's the way I can best serve you, then that's what I will do. And so they specifically said, you're not to turn down office when it's offered you because that is a ministry. The people have chosen you to minister to them through civil government and you don't turn it down. So elections back then were quite different from what we see now. As a matter of fact, they even wrote in the textbooks that if someone puts himself for drop says, someone says, I'm going to run for office, is that disqualified? That that means they're proud and they're arrogant and you don't want that. Now, it's a different system now because we have more than 300 million people. You can't just write individual names down and count 300 million ballots and say, who wins the most? So now we have a system that's developed with elections where we have primaries and we have parties, and we can choose and people can put themselves forward. But early elections in America was all about being a public servant. And that's still the way it should be to date public servant. 

Tim Barton [00:07:38] And even as we think about elections, right. One of the things that I know is challenging for a lot of people is we say, okay, but now that there's more than 300 million people in America, does it really matter that I vote because there are so many people out there? Does one vote really make that big of a difference? Well, let's find out. 

Speaker [00:07:57] Does your vote count? Let's take a look at the numbers. Only about 1 in 4 American adults vote to choose their federal and state legislators and their governors in non-presidential elections. 2.6% is all it took for a landslide win in a recent mayoral race in America's second largest city, where less than 10% of adults voted. Only three out of four Americans registered to vote. Four out of ten choose not to vote for the president. Thus, four out of every ten adults who are qualified to participate in the process voluntarily refused to do so. 5% of eligible voters elected the mayor of Dallas, Texas, in a recent election. Only 5%. And that's in a city with a population greater than ten separate states. In the U.S., only six out of every ten registered voters actually bother to vote in presidential elections. This makes it possible for our nation's president to be selected by less than one third of the population. Seven out of every eight eligible voters do not vote for their governors, senators and representatives. Hard to believe, but in non-presidential elections, only about 1 in 4 American adults vote to choose these elected officials. And since only a majority of that one fourth is necessary to select the winners, those numbers add up. Which brings me to number nine. Nine out of ten U.S. citizens, 18 or older, have the right to vote. And yet tens of millions of Christians are not even registered to vote. At the end of the day, the votes that count are the votes that get cast. And yet 90 million eligible voters did not vote in the last presidential elections. That's 90 million Americans who decided their vote didn't count. So what will you decide? Does your vote count? 

David Barton [00:09:39] As you can see, your vote does count. We encourage you to do your research and get the facts on those who are running for office. This is your country and your opinion matters and you need to let your voice be heard. 

Tim Barton [00:09:49] And this is important for us as Americans to remember that we are in a republic where we choose an elected officials. And it does matter that we are involved in the process. And remember, we're also a constitutional republic because everybody we elect is going to be bound by their state constitutions, bound by the US Constitution. So we're not just choosing people to arbitrarily go do whatever they want to do. There are standards or boundaries around it. But we the people are the ones who help hold our elected officials accountable. 

David Barton [00:10:13] And actually we often have several times a year where we can choose our elected officials because a lot of times city elections don't occur when state or federal elections might. And there are several states where there state elections don't occur when federal elections occur. And in other states, you have referendum elections. Doesn't matter if there is an election. A Christian should be involved in it. We are told we should be salt and light. We're not just supposed to influence just our family or just our home or just our church. We need to influence the entire culture. And we do that through who we choose to office. So the Bible tells us we should have leaders of 10 or 15, hundreds and thousands. We should be involved in local elections. School board, City council Mayor. We should be involved in our county, elections, county judge or whatever we have. We should be involved in our state elections and our federal elections. And as a Christian citizen, to be a good steward of this country that God has given us, we need to be involved at every level. 

Tim Barton [00:11:03] And according the Constitution. The founding fathers actually allowed states to be over elections for their own state because the Constitution says that each day gets to determine the time, place and manner of their elections. 

David Barton [00:11:13] And because each state gets to determine those time, places matters. Not all elections happen in the same year. And not all elected officials hold their positions for the same length of time. This can get a little confusing. So to simplify it, here's a quick overview of the election cycle. 

Speaker [00:11:30] In the U.S., our elections fall in three major categories federal, state and municipal, which is sometimes called local. Here's how they work. Federal or national elections take place every even numbered year. Senators serve six year terms. The president serves a four year term and congressional members serve two year terms. Every two years, one third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives is up for election. And every four years, the president is on the ballot. The years when the president isn't up for election are called off year or midterm elections. Every two year election is important for in it citizens choose all 435 members of the House and one third of the members of the Senate. So each election gives the people a chance to decide which political party, Democrats or Republicans, will hold a majority in each chamber of Congress for the next two years. And they do the same with the president every four years. Most state elections occur along with federal elections, but a few states have their state elections in odd numbered years. Most members of state houses of representatives serve two years. And most governors and state senators serve four years. Some states also elect their judges and often ballot initiatives or state constitutional amendments are on the same ballot. Then, when it comes to municipal or local elections, they follow their own schedules. These are the elections in which we choose officials such as mayor, city council, school board, sheriff or local judges. The length of office for local officials are usually 2 or 4 year terms. But local elections often take place at a different time than federal or state elections. Okay, that may seem like a lot to remember, but really all you need to know is when federal, state and local elections are happening in your area. Each of these elections will shape the environment in which you live. For they determine the leaders who will govern you. Their policies will affect you whether you want them to or not. That's why it's so important for you to stay engaged in what's happening where you live. Don't let any election pass you by. Stay informed and cast your vote. Remember, important elections happen every year and sometimes more than once a year. But only 1 in 4 Americans actually vote in a non-presidential election. That's not good. You can be part of changing that statistic. 

Tim Barton [00:13:40] And looking at elections. What are the questions we need to ask is how do we actually get people through the process? We're voting for them as a candidate. And we know in America there's political parties, and political parties are usually the means by where we choose. I like the candidate from this party. I'm voting for that party. I'm voting for that candidate. But how do parties really form and is it the best way to do it? 

David Barton [00:13:59] You know, parties are not really often what we think of. We've come to see organized structures a day with candidates and lots of money and all over the nation. Parties are really what people have a common interest and they come together to advance that interest. So it might be at the city level. We want the way that they do the door catching thing change and there's 500 hours in the city that we want to change and we're coalescing to change that policy. You have now started into politics because you're changing policy and I can't get the guys to do what I want, so I want to recruit people for office or change the way they do door catching. I'm now into. 

Tim Barton [00:14:30] Politics. I've got a buddy who could do a much better job than that guy there. I'm going to recruit my buddy, I'm gonna get all my friends and we're going to vote for my buddy. Well, that's how politics really happens. And once you get enough of your friends together to say, we're going to start doing something, that's how oftentimes parties are formed based on a certain policy issue or position that you want to see something changed or you want to add something that's not currently there. So really, it's just a coalition, a group of people, collective body coming together that have common values and they're trying to promote those values. And that's where political parties are really kind of originate. 

Rick Green [00:15:02] Could break, folks. We'll be right back. You're listening to The WallBuilders Show. 

Break [00:15:04]  

Rick Green [00:16:12] Thanks for staying with us on The WallBuilders Show. Jumping right back into today's election special with David and Tim Barton. 

David Barton [00:16:16] And it's going to be almost impossible not to have political parties because you have people with contrasting views on virtually everything. If you're in church, you know that you've got political parties in your church just over what the deacons choose and how they're going to do whatever it is. So people have positions they want to hold and see advance, and that's where parties come from. Now, the significant part of it is that now in America, we really have used state laws to give parties a place and how to choose our candidates and move their candidates for it. So with there being two primary parties in America, there's really about 17 different parties that are identified in America, but there's two primary parties. The states say, whatever your party is, here's how you move your candidates for it. And so what we do now, rather than voting on the entire statewide candidates, we have primaries where we say, okay, the Republicans got the candidate or the Democrats or the Green Party or Constitution, whatever. And so your folks get together and choose the people that you think best represents what you stand for, and they will go into a general election where they'll face the candidates from other parties. And that's how the whole state or the whole city or the whole nation will get a choice. But it starts with that primary process, which is really built around parties. 

Tim Barton [00:17:23] And this is something we see a lot. If you look at presidential elections, you'll see sometimes that on the Republican side, on the Democrat side, they'll have 12, 15, 20 different people running for president. It's because inside of political parties you do have different factions. You have people that have different things. They value more or different priorities that they think are more important than something else. So they will nominate a candidate they think best represents what is most important to them, their value system. And so inside of the party, there will be an election inside the party, the election inside the party will choose who ultimately is going to be the primary winner. And the primary is the election within the party. And then the primary winners from a different party will face each other in the general election. And that's where the whole nation gets to vote for the winner between the different parties. And as mentioned, there's multiple parties in America, but there's really two large parties in America. And so from that, there's several ways you can have an impact in the political process. Part of it is saying, you know what, I want to make sure that whatever party I'm a part of and we'll talk about parties a little later and how we need to make sure that we're aligning ourselves with parties that have the same core values that we have. With that being said, inside of our party, we might say, I really think we need someone who looks like this, this, this character, this value, this nature, this integrity, and we will put that person forward and we can encourage other people in our party. We need to vote for this person. Well, the first way we can get involved in election process really is in in that primary and partly in helping find good candidates. We can recruit them to actually run for office. 

David Barton [00:18:48] And that really is key because a lot of times if you wait until the general election, which is when all the primary process has occurred, all the parties have had their inter-party fights, you now have just two or 3 or 4 candidates at the final election. A lot of times you look and say, my gosh, I've got a choice between the bad and the worse. Well, I can almost certainly guarantee you that back in the early primary process, there was probably a good person in each party that got eliminated. So if you want to have a choice between the good and the better at the final election, you need to get involved in the primaries and help the good people move forward and not just wait to see what comes out the process at the end. So it's really important for Christian citizens to say, I'm going to be involved at every level. I want to be salt and light. I want to make sure the best candidates get to the end, that we have the best choices, and that comes from being involved in that primary process. 

Tim Barton [00:19:35] And this is something, too, that I would encourage if if we're looking at politics in general and we feel like politics is just so dirty and by the way, we kind of feel like it is too part of how we improve that is saying, well, then we need godly people, we need righteous people who are going to be in office who can do godly and righteous things. Where do we find godly and righteous people? Hopefully in your church. Right. Which is where if we're going to recruit people for office, we say, then where should I find these people to recruit? Let me look inside my church. Let me see who is doing a really good job serving and loving and right. They have their life kind of put together their finances in order because those are the kind of people we want to be leaders representing as well. Once we have recruited those candidates, once we voted in the primary and I guess the general this is where it's also interesting in America, states have authority of how they're going to conduct their elections, not in the sense of they can't try to trick it and make it hard for people and do different kind of nuances that are really illegal in that regard. But they do have what the Constitution says is the time, place and manner they can choose. So not every state votes on the same day. Not every state has has the polling places in the same location. So there is some freedom that states get given the Constitution. 

David Barton [00:20:44] There are several ways you can do this because states do have the time, places, the manners mandate. So some states will have a primary. Some states will have a caucus. Some states will have a closed primary, which means you have to be registered in a party to vote in that primary. Some will have an open primary, says your citizen. Just choose which primary you want to be, part of which party. Choose that. Some will have a jungle primary where that all the parties put all their candidates on the ballot and the top two will make it. Enter the final runoff election in your choose one of those two. This is also where states have it incumbent on them to protect the will of the voters. And so that's where you have voter fraud laws or voter ID laws or other kind of laws that come in that say, hey, we want to make sure that when you vote, your vote goes forward. So we don't want ten people voting with your name. So this is where election laws come in. And there are a lot of laws in states to protect the integrity of the ballot. 

Tim Barton [00:21:33] And as Christians, we should be concerned with integrity because truth is a big part of what we should believe. We know that Jesus said he was the way, the truth and the life truth should be important to us, which means integrity should be important to us. And I think no matter what political party we affiliate with, we would say, no, we we want it to be a truthful, honest election. And this is why in many states, they will pass a law saying, well, you need to show an ID to verify you are the actual person voting here. And that's why there's even some concern in states where there's there's mail in ballots and mail in ballots make a lot of sense for people that are physically not capable of going in or maybe you're out of state and military guys that are deployed. There's a lot of cases it makes sense that you want a mail in ballot, but you still want to make sure that with a mail in ballot, we are preserving the integrity and not allowing people who are not who they say they are on this ballot to be voting to cheat and sway the election. The Constitution says we the people are in charge. We want to make sure we are the ones individually, us Americans, determining who wins the election, not some outside power, not somebody in a basement who is cheating, writing in lots of names on ballots. We want to make sure there's an honest, upright system so that we can actually be in charge of choosing those leaders. 

David Barton [00:22:46] And this really goes back to stewardship. I mean, you got to remember, civil government is given by God. It is his institution. And in America, we have tried to apply more biblical principles of what civil government should look like than many other nations. So this is not a secular thing that we do when we vote. This is really a sacred trust from God. He has put us to be stewards over the civil government that he ordained. He's the one who ordained civil government. And so when we look at this, we can't just say I hate politics. I'm not getting involved. No, no, no. If you hate politics, definitely get involved and help change politics to make them better. If we walk away from things, they only get worse. It's only when we engage and move forward with the values and with really the vision that God has given us for civil government that we can really make a difference in change in our counties, our cities, our state and our nation. 

Speaker [00:23:32] The civil arena can be an intimidating place, but the more informed you are, the more empowered you will be to get involved. Voting is not just a right, it's a responsibility. As Christians, we are called to steward the nation God has placed us in. But stewardship starts long before you head to the polls. First, remember this choose principles over party. Look at what the Bible says about education, life, economics, marriage, family, immigration, religious liberty. And then choose the party and the candidates that best mirror those values principles over party. Second, it's important to support the good, quality candidates running for public office. Although the candidate who stands for godly values may often be bullied, belittled, attacked or ignored by the media. This is not an insurmountable problem. A candidate can overcome the media with a strong grass roots team lifting him up. So when you find a good candidate, get involved, offer whatever financial support you can. Volunteer some of your time, even if it's only an hour to voice and show your support for those candidates in the community. Vote at all primaries and main elections. Call or write his or her office to let them know that you support what they're doing. Unfortunately, too few Christians communicate directly with those elected to represent them. Politicians are constantly making decisions that will affect your city, state and country, and a well written letter or email can have more impact than you can imagine. Third, once you have become active as an individual, it may be time to leave community change. Yes, you gather others who believe as you do and start a local group in your community. Effective change most often comes through well-organized and well-led groups that represent a body of the electorate. Finally, pray become active in praying for leaders and officials at all levels as instructed in first Timothy two verses one through four. Pray for elected officials issues, court cases and potential candidates. There is power in prayer. As a founding father, John Hancock wisely challenged Christian citizens in his day. I urge you by all that is dear, by all that is honorable, by all that is sacred. Not only that you pray, but that you act. Do all four of these action steps, and you can shape the future of your city, state and nation. It's time to put your influence to work through election season and beyond. 

Tim Barton [00:25:48] A big election is approaching and some major decisions are about to be made. Voting is one of our most important rights and responsibilities as US citizens, and this next election will ultimately determine who makes the calls on all the issues that you and I care the most about in this upcoming election. Your voice and your vote count. 

David Barton [00:26:05] The president who takes office will have the opportunity to make some major decisions this term that will impact. Generations to come. The one third of the Senate we vote in office. This election will determine just how far that next president can go in making those decisions. And all the House of Representatives seats will be up for grabs. So this is a year to show up and vote. Sure. Values. 

Tim Barton [00:26:26] We have a chance to shape history. One vote at a time. 

Rick Green [00:26:31] Well, thanks for listening, folks. Appreciate you listening today to the WallBuilders Show. That was David and Tim Barton election special. And we're actually going to do a little bit more of this tomorrow. So tune in tomorrow and share both these programs with your friends and family. Thanks so much for listening to The WallBuilders Show.