Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's The WallBuilders Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution co-chair with David Barton, and Tim Barton Davids, America's premiere historian and our founder, WallBuilders. Tim Barton, national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders. The rest of the program is going to be an election special program with David and Tim Barton. And we did a couple of these last week and the week before, and I think there's six total of them. We're going to make those available to you. Now, if you want to get the actual videos, not just the audio that we're sharing with you here on the WallBuilders Show, the radio program. But if you want to see these video programs, you can get them right wallbuilders.com on a thumb drive and you can get all six episodes. I encourage you to check that out wallbuilders.com. Let's jump into this election special with David and Tim Barton. 

David Barton [00:00:51] 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 as the elections unfold. 

Tim Barton [00:01:09] 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 [00:01:16] 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 [00:01:29] I'm Tim Barton. And this is elections. As we look at elections, we know we have a president who's the leader of the nation. We know the president is chosen through the Electoral College process, which includes all the people voting, and the states can have a part in that. But how does a president really become a president? What do you have to do to be a president? Is this something you and I can sign up for this afternoon and we get to run for president? Because according to the Constitution, the founding fathers did lay out details of what it takes to be president. And it's not as complicated maybe as people might think. 

David Barton [00:02:04] Yeah, in some ways it's not that complicated because last election cycle, there were 200 people who ran for president United States. Now, you didn't hear about most of them because they didn't make it through the process. But the Constitution lays it out very simply. When they were writing the Constitution, they had never had a federal government before at all. And so they said, who's going to fill the slots in the federal government? They said, okay, if you want to be a congressman, here's requirements. If you want to be a senator, here's the requirements. If you want to be president, here's the requirements. They all have requirements and the president only has two. You got to be 35 years old and you have to be a natural born citizen. Now, you could be a senator or congressman or a governor or a state rep or anything else. If you were an immigrant that had become naturalized, you didn't have been born in America. 

Tim Barton [00:02:45] Which means you became a U.S. citizen, became. 

David Barton [00:02:47] Yourself. 

Tim Barton [00:02:48] Right now, there are people serving in Congress who are not born in America. They came to America, got legal citizenship status, and then ran for Congress. In fact, we've had some pretty famous leaders in America, at least on some levels. You go back to California, one of the governors of California was Arnold Schwarzenegger, not an American, but came to America, became a legal citizen, then became governor. So for a lot of political offices, you don't have to be born in America. But for president, not only do it to be 35, which is not very old, by the way, although during the founding era, the lifespan wasn't more than about 35 years old. So for them, it maybe had a little more weight and age to it than it does for us today. But to be a 35 and then a natural born citizen, where you were born in America, which again is different than most other other elected offices, you don't have to be born in America, but for president you do, which actually has its roots back in some biblical thoughts. 

David Barton [00:03:40] When Israel was first being formed. They've come out of Egypt. They've never had a nation before to speak of, and they're forming that nation. And God helps get them established there and they have their first laws. You actually have several levels going on there and that you have a national leader like Moses, and Moses has 70 elders under him, which could be like a national Senate maybe. And then you got 12 tribes, each had a leader of the tribe. So it's like governors over state and under the leader of the tribe. He had a council, kind of like a state rep. And it's interesting that as you look at what the requirements are, the Bible says that for your national leader, your national leader has to be one that is, quote, born among you. So it had to be native born. There were governors of Israel that would not necessarily be native born and same as America. Like we were just talking about, but to be the national leader, the Bible says in Deuteronomy 17:15, that has to be one born among you. And that's what we have in the Constitution. 

Tim Barton [00:04:33] So looking at a president who or maybe somebody who wants to run for president, you have to be 35. You have to be a natural born citizen of America. But beyond that, it really is kind of open. But there is there is kind of some worked out political process involved because even though anybody can sign up for run for president, if you run as an independent all by yourself, you really don't have the finances needed. You don't have the support structure around you. To be successful, you really need to be inside of a party and not because we always, like parties are like the party system, but because they have a structure around that. It's a lot easier to to gain the support needed from a party and to get the notoriety, to get the recognition from a party. Because a party can help you raise money if you did it by yourself. I mean, it's millions and millions of dollars to run a presidential campaign. 

David Barton [00:05:18] But you mentioned the importance of having a party, because we've had basically the two parties we have now, Republicans and Democrats, for about 150 years. And if you look at presidential politics, virtually every president come from one of those two parties trying to get an independent and is just almost impossible. And the current system we have. So if you say, okay, I think I can do this, then you say, which party am I going to run in? And you look at what you believe. You look at what the party believes, what their platform says. I think it's going to be that party. Well, there may be 25 other people in that party that are going to run for president same time. So now you're going to have to say, okay, what makes me different from others that have my same general belief? How can I distinguish myself? And then the way the party process works is I'm going to have to go from state to state to state where the states have primaries to vote only on the people in that party. I'm going to have to get a majority of votes before I can even face the other party. 

Tim Barton [00:06:11] Which also means that you have to raise money even to get into the primary, because you have to find supporters who go. I really like what that person says. She's really smart. He is really great. So you need supporters who can help financially hold you up to be able to go from state to state and help you get campaign staff. And so there is money involved even at this primary level now it's going to only get more expensive the more you go. Hopefully these candidates are gaining more support. If they don't, that's why they're dropping out, because they're not able to last as long. But you have to be competitive in these states. And so Iowa has been one of the traditional early states where there's early primaries in Iowa. And so you have to have money to start campaigning in Iowa. The problem is after Iowa, there's there's the next primary that happens pretty fast, which means you can't only focus on Iowa. You have to be thinking about the second and the third and the fourth and the fifth and the sixth and seventh and on down the list, the primaries getting not only yourself, but your staff and the campaign messaging. You're taking out ads in those states. There's a lot involved in this primary process. 

David Barton [00:07:09] There's a lot involved in the primary process. And that's where you're also messaging as you go. Because when you start in Iowa and you're going to go to South Carolina, those two states don't think exactly alike. And so I'm running against ten other guys that believe generally what I believe. So how do I communicate that in Iowa? And then how to go to South Carolina and then I'm going to come up with Super Tuesday, where there's a dozen states that I've got to run in at the same time on the same election. And so if you can get through that process, which is generally at 6 to 8 month process, you get through that process and let's say you win for your party. Okay. Now, you won for your party, someone else's won for the other party. Now we're going to have to start a whole new campaign, so to speak. And that is just two of us running now as myself and my opponent from the other party. And we're having to run in 50 states at the same time because instead of having two primary elections, we're going to have one general election in November. And on that night, all 50 states are going to vote. And now I've got to spend money in all 50 states at the same time. It could be in the primaries. I didn't have to spend in all 50 states because I won it early. Now I've got to spend a lot of money and all 50 states have a lot of media, have a lot of support. I've got to have a lot of people going to talking for me. And in elections, there's really only a few states that really decide most elections. 

Tim Barton [00:08:19] And what's fortunate, right, if you make it to the primary, if you win the primary, what's fortunate now is your entire party is behind you helping support you. So you have a much better structure once you get to the general election. But even if you win now, the primary, we're now looking at the general election. So. So you've beat all the other contestants who were in your political party. You go to the general election, as you mentioned. Even though we look at the nation, there's 50 states that you want to win. There's a lot of states who are already very strong on one side or the other. They're very strong Republican. They're very strong Democrat. And that doesn't mean you shouldn't campaign in those states. We've seen some presidents make some mistakes and not campaign in states they thought they were going to win and then went the other way. But there there are a handful of states that it seems almost every year you're going to find a couple of states that is kind of about 5250, and that's where you'll see it's a low swing state. It seems that you see presidents spending a little more time there. 

David Barton [00:09:07] Yeah, you do see presidents spending time there because, again, the overall strategy, because the Electoral College, which is that brilliant system of giving people and states a vote, you have to come up with 270 electoral votes. And there are certain states that you kind of say, those are my people, I'm going to win, that my party owns that state. You're not going to spend time there. But at the same time, if you've got a swing state that has 25 electoral votes and a swing state that has three electoral votes, you'll probably spend more time in 25 because you've got to get to that 270 threshold to win the presidency. And so that that really makes the process difficult. So running for president, it really can be a four year process. A lot of times it starts right after the election. The other side will start choosing their candidates and grooming them and getting their party stuff ready in those states. So it can be a very long process. It is a very grueling process that we now have under this two party system with primaries the way it is. This is what's been going on in presidential politics for almost a century and a half now. 

Tim Barton [00:10:02] There's a lot involved with the campaign process. 

David Barton [00:10:04] There really is. And when an individual campaigns for office, especially at the federal level, even at the state level, he or she generally chooses 3 to 5 issues to talk about with voters. Now they have platforms and they're presented like a playbook for their time in office. But it's important to recognize that these talking points are just the tip of the iceberg. The individuals we elect will be responsible literally for thousands of policies on numerous issues. Hundreds of those policies will become law and they'll affect each and every one of us. So how can we be sure we know the true platform of each candidate, not just the 3 to 5 issues? Well, it's not that difficult if you know where to look. 

Speaker [00:10:44] In order to run for president and appear on the election ballot, you must either be nominated by a political party or register your own name with the Federal Election Commission. In some states, a candidate may have to pay a filing fee or show that they spent up to $5,000 towards a campaign in order to have his or her name printed on the ballot. Not too bad, right? But in reality, $5,000 will barely cover the pizza for the volunteers needed. If a candidate is truly serious about becoming president. Each presidential candidate must establish eligibility by showing broad based public support in state after state across the entire nation. That means travel petitions, volunteer staff, paid staff, town meetings, fundraisers and advertisement. All of those expenses can start adding up pretty fast. Then once the candidate gets on the primary ballot, things go a whole new level with even more travel debate cost. TV commercials. More staffers. And their staffers. More town meetings, wardrobe and photo ops. Because you have to look your best direct mail. Email. More pizza for the volunteers, press releases, hats, yard signs, bumper stickers, online advertisements. And the list goes on like a poker game. Each candidate and their supporters keep upping the ante until the actual election. Whoever is able to stay in the longest makes it to the finals. And the money stakes are raised even higher. But is this all necessary? Well, spending more money than the other party doesn't always guarantee the victory, but it can make an impact all together. In the last election of 2016. Political parties as a whole received and spent $1.6 billion on the congressional and presidential elections and political action committees raised and spent $4 billion on their favorite candidates in only a 24 month period. That's a lot of money. But as you can see, it takes a lot of money to reach 220 million voters. Now, when your candidate asks for support, you'll have a better idea of where all that money is actually going. 

Tim Barton [00:12:43] As president, consider running for office. One of the things they have to measure is where is the general populace when it comes to their support? Do I have to support a takes to be able to be the president? And this is where it's interesting looking at polling, because even though polling is not always super accurate, it gives you a pretty good indication if you even have a chance, should you run, and maybe even once you've made it to the primary in the general election. Polling is just kind of a big deal in presidential elections. 

David Barton [00:13:06] It is a huge deal in presidential elections. And there's two kinds of polling, actually. There's polling you do internally for the campaign and there's polling you do externally to release to the public. So if I do internal polling, I find that I'm really well known in all the states that I'm going to release to the public, that I'm this popular guy in all the states. If I do polling and it shows that nobody knows me and nobody likes my positions, I'm not going to release that to the public. So polling can be a political tool, but it's also a political assessment that's used. And so different kinds of polling happens at different times, but it really is crucial what goes on. And the further you get into a campaign and the more it becomes between the two candidates. The more polling is used. And sometimes it's accurate and sometimes it's not accurate. Sometimes you use it almost when you use the word propaganda, you're wanting to make a point. And we've seen in so many elections for so many years, polling has been so inaccurate when it's all over and done with. But it's a way of trying to convince you that everybody else is moving this way and you need to get over here, too. So you really have to be careful when you start seeing polling. There are some accurate polling, some accurate pollsters, but there are some very inappropriate ways to poll as well. 

Tim Barton [00:14:10] Yeah. And also looking at polling, we have friends who actually do some political polling. They do a lot of work with a lot of communities. And one of our friends points out that you can get almost any answer you want from the poll based on how you ask the question. And this is sometimes where you see very inaccurate polling, but not only do you want polling to know where a candidate stands and the sense of where their level of support is. You also will if you're a candidate, you want to do polling of the people to see where are they on this issue. How do they feel about this wording? Do they like my message? Because what you will often find is that during presidential campaigns, presidents will begin to use different words or even shift their message. And part of it is because their campaign has done polling and found out, hey, we're about to go to all these states and they didn't like that word you used in the lot. You need to use this different word. And this is what's interesting about polling, too, is it's not just polling that lets the people know how a presidential candidate is doing. There's a lot of kind of in the House polling that happens. Right. You talked about within the campaign that happens that lets a presidential candidate know how should we be messaging this? What should we be communicating? Because if you know who you're targeting and in theory, you're going to target all 50 states, you want to win everybody. But for example, if you know there are some swing states and I need to win these swing states, there might be certain messages that are carried off better or better received in certain states and others. So this is where polling becomes significant, not just the general polling of how many people like that candidate, but also presidential campaigns will use polling for lots of purposes inside of their campaign. 

David Barton [00:15:38] And this is where that we as Christian citizens have to be really committed to our principles. We have to look at the principle, say, this is what I stand for. And even though polling shows everybody else is going the other way, that's not necessarily accurate polling. I mean, that's that's the kind of stuff that's often done to sway opinions. Here's a former president from back in the 70s who said data from polling other things is much like the way a drunk can use a lamppost. He can use the lamppost to lean on it, or it can use a lamppost to illuminate. And a lot of times polling is done to give you numbers to lean on, to say, this is where I want to go. Everybody's going this way. 

Tim Barton [00:16:12] To prop a candidate up to make you think that candidates awesome. Well, really, maybe they're just propping it up with some inaccurate polling. But that does happen. 

David Barton [00:16:20] It does happen. 

Tim Barton [00:16:21] Or they can use the other way. 

David Barton [00:16:22] And so they can use it to illuminate and say this is what we actually believe. This is where the nation is. And truth is always the objective for a Christian individual. A Christian candidate should be the objective. A Christian campaign where the Christians are involved. Truth is got to be the assets. And so for us as individual voters, we look and say, I want to know what's. Truth is, and that's based on principles. It's not based on where all the people are on this issue or this region of this pole. So we really have to be careful when we hear that. And the same thing when we get into social media, which is another way of shifting and shaping opinion. And it's not always necessarily true. 

Tim Barton [00:16:54] And social media is also where so much campaigning is going to happen going forward. Certainly presidents or people running for president in a presidential campaign, you're thinking, I need TV ads, I need ads all over social media and YouTube, and you have to get yourself known. But most of the time you get a 32nd or one minute spot that you're running. And most people actually will vote for a candidate based off a 32nd ad that they saw a president take out one 30seconds. You don't always give the full values of what you believe or support. And in 30s, you actually can make a really bad person look really good. If all you know is what this 32nd commercial showed. Which is why we shouldn't just look at what a campaign advertisement says, right? We don't just watch what's on social media. We don't just watch what's on TV. We want to look beyond that. And one of the really good places to look even at presidential candidates is where do they stand on the issues? And one of the things they do running inside the party is they have a platform that they are advocating for those values on the platform. We need to go beyond just the campaign ad, We need to look at the platform. 

Break [00:18:58] How can you know what a candidate really supports? In some ways, election campaigns are often like watching a quarterback perform a fake handoff. He keeps you looking at one hand when it's really the other hand you should be watching because that's where all the important action is happening. But when it comes to politics, you don't have to be fooled by a candidate's sleight of hand if you know where to look. When candidates run for office, they're playing on a particular team. So if their team wins, they will be following the playbook of that team. A party's platform is what sets forth the team's game plan. It lists what they will do, what policies they will pass if they get in, whether at the federal, state, county or local level. So it's important to know what the candidate's party or team thinks about issues like education, freedom of speech, gun control, abortion, international relations, big government, small business. National security. The platform or playbook by which a candidate runs reflects much more accurately what they will do once they get into office than any campaign ad or commercial. So take the time to read the various platforms. They are short and accurate indicators of how the candidates will perform if their team wins. 

Tim Barton [00:20:02] So we see that platforms are very important for identifying where a candidate stands. And one of the reasons we always want to know where they stand is because even though in culture today, we look a lot of the personality of the individual and we say, I really like this person. I like their attitude, I like their behavior. But personality is not what we really should be prioritizing our vote on. It really needs to be the principle. And where you find the principle is the platform. And a lot of times today we look at a party and people say, well, that's my party. I'll vote for them. Well, sometimes that's okay, but we want to know what is the principle of the person involved. And that's where sometimes the platform really does help show the the principles, at least of the party. But we've come to a place today where it seems that fewer and fewer people are caring about principle and we care more about personality, which is kind of a bad place to be. 

David Barton [00:20:46] Yeah, it is a bad place to be. And I would say it's a safe thing, I think, to say that most of the people and the two major parties, most of those voters have never read their own platforms, their party. They're voting on the personality of who's running or on 32nd ads or on soundbites or something else. And they're not seeing that when that person gets in office, they're going to enact literally thousands of policies. And you want to be principle driven. One of the early pieces of great political wisdom was given by President George Washington. President Washington had given so much to see America become the strong nation after having spent 45 years in public service and finishing his last eight years as president United States. As he's leaving the presidency, he gives his famous farewell address. And that farewell address he sums up for Americans what really we pretty much already knew. But he's just reminding us and he said one of the greatest banes or enemies of free government is a love of party. And he didn't say parties were bad. He said, if you love your party more than you love your principle, that will destroy a free government. And so he talked about how important it is to love the right principles and not have a love for party. And so as Christians, when we get involved, it's okay to be involved in parties. But I'm involved in party because I have certain principles I want to see move forward and I'm involved in that party to move those principles forward. And if I can't get them move forward, I'm going to find a place where I can move those principles forward because principles are more important than personalities. And that really is the core of Proverbs 14:34, which tells us to be careful about our public policies. 

Tim Barton [00:22:16] Yeah, One of the great examples I think from American history is Benjamin Rush. Benjamin Rush signed the declaration of ratified the Constitution, and then he served under the first three presidents, all of whom were from a different political party. And there was a time in his life somebody came to him and said, okay, Benjamin, help me out. You are working with all these different guys. And Benjamin Rush's I've been called an aristocrat. I've been called the Democrat. People are trying to figure out what party I'm from, he says. I'm not any of that. I'm a Christocrat Meaning the only thing I care about are Christian principles. And I want to move those forward regardless of the party. And this is where in culture today, it's so easy to look and say, this party's good, that party's bad for whatever reason. We need to say, Wait a second, What we care the most about are the principles we want to promote Godly principles. We know biblical principles. We know that righteousness is what exalts a nation. So we want to, as Christian, to promote godly and righteous principles. Part of how we want to do that is try to elect a godly and a righteous president, a leader. And part of all that happens is that we have to get involved early through the process to the primary process. We get that candidate to the primary process and then we stay engaged the whole time, making sure that we are voting not just for a personality, but for principles of righteousness. 

Speaker [00:23:24] 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, praying become active and praying for leaders and officials at all levels as instructed in first Timothy two versus 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 [00:25:40] A big election is approaching. It's a 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 and this upcoming election. Your voice and your vote counts. 

David Barton [00:25:56] 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 of the House of Representatives seats will be up for grabs. So this is a year to show up and vote your values. 

Tim Barton [00:26:18] We have a chance to shape history one vote at a time. 

Rick Green [00:26:25] Alright folks out of time for today. Thanks for listening. Tomorrow, we'll have another election special program. You don't want to miss that one either. And by the way, you can get all six videos. I mentioned it at the top of the program. All six videos of these election specials. So not just the audio, but the videos as well by going to wallbuilders.com today and ordering it on the thumb drive. Thanks so much for listening to the WallBuilders Show