A vote and a prayer

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor I was watching the Democratic National Convention last night. And unsurprisingly, it was the same kind of “Rah-Rah” stuff and “Aren’t we great? Aren’t they the worst?” rhetoric we saw a few weeks ago at the Republican National Convention (although, unlike the GOP, it was sadly lacking in Hulk Hogan). It was, in fact, largely the same spiel we’ve grown accustomed to hearing and seeing at these conventions since they turned into big TV events back in the 1980s.

But still, it is always good to keep tabs on these things. After all, it’s where the future of the parties usually begins to make its mark. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both famously burst onto the national scene at the convention before they became president. Ronald Reagan very nearly took the presidential nomination away from President Gerald Ford at the 1976 RNC before getting the nod in 1980.

On that note, have you guys ever heard of Raphael Warnock? He’s the junior U.S. Senator from Georgia. I’d heard the name, but only in reference to the 2022 campaign in which he defeated GOP candidate and former NFL player Herschel Walker – a very closely watched race after all the controversy stirred up by election deniers in Georgia in 2020.

Well, he was one of the many speakers Monday night, and one of the few who actually got my attention enough to stop folding laundry and listen to him. He’s a Baptist preacher when he’s not busy being a U.S. Senator, so he knows how to engage an audience.

He said a lot of cool things but the one that stuck with me enough to want to write about it in this column was, “A vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children, and our prayers are stronger when we pray together.”

That’s a powerful message, I think, that anyone can hold on to, regardless of party affiliation. I assure you, just like there are folks who are going to vote for Kamala Harris and there are folks who are going to vote for Donald Trump in November, there are people who, before they go to bed tonight, are going to pray for Kamala Harris and pray for Donald Trump.

Now, I don’t think God cares one iota if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. I think the poet philosopher Don Williams said it pretty well in his song, “I Believe in You,” when he sang, “I don’t believe in superstars, organic food and foreign cars, I don’t believe the price of gold, the certainty of growing old. That right is right and left is wrong, that north and south can’t get along, that east is east and west is west and being first is always best …”

But I do believe in the power of prayer. And if you don’t, that’s fine. This isn’t an Oklahoma public school classroom, so it’s not mandatory …

So, what are we praying for here? Because I’m up for it. I’ll put my wife on it. She and the Lord are very tight. And we need to get our message together. Obviously, the Democrats will have a set of prayers and the Republicans will be praying to have those prayers canceled and submitting their own slate of prayers. Thankfully, there’s no “electoral college” for prayers, so it’s not “winner take all” and all the prayers will be heard. I’m told God is great at multitasking.

Surely there’s some overlap between the red prayers and the blue prayers, right? I mean, I think we all want America and its people to prosper, even if we don’t agree on what, exactly, that looks like. We want peace and prosperity and equality and freedom for everyone, right? Right?!?

I think, above all, what America truly needs is healing. We’ve had our ups and downs over the years when it comes to that. In his musical “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda asks, “Are we a nation of states? Then what’s the state of our nation?” It’s been a rough couple of decades, to be sure. Probably the most divided time in our country since the ’60s (1860s, 1960s, take your pick). Are Trump or Harris either one the answer to our problems? Probably not. Whichever candidate wins, fully half of the country will be upset. Of course, it’s like that pretty much every four years. We always manage to move forward. Because the truth is, I really do think that both Harris and Trump do love America. I love America, and I will still love America no matter who wins in November.

So do your part. If you’re not registered to vote, get registered. You’ve got about six weeks to get it done. And then, vote.

And in the meantime, pray.