Our electoral responsibility

It is very tempting to abstain from the confusion and incivility that characterises election processes all over the world, going as far as murder in some cases. Further, the ordinary citizen can sometimes feel that elections are merely a formality, lacking any real substance, and an obstacle to real participation in the life of the nation rather than a way of choosing persons best equipped to help us take care of the common good.

Cynicism and apathy seasoned by gossip and innuendo, replace serious reflection and enlightened choice. We know that for evil to triumph it is enough for good people to remain silent, so the bad state of our countries and of the world is created in part by our refusal to assume our responsibility as citizens. If we limit our understanding or our role as electors to collecting giveaways beforehand and marking an ‘x’ on one day, then we are inviting poor government. If we contribute to the pre-election climate of hostility and violence, we are ensuring that fear and a legitimate desire for one’s safety will keep thinking people away from serving in public office.

If we are too lazy, or worse, too prejudiced to try to understand what is at stake in the global economy in which we are implicated, what the values are that will foster authentic human development for the greatest number of our citizens, who those persons coming forward to serve in public office are, and what their reasons are for doing so, then whether we vote or merely pontificate in the rumshop or the drawing room, we are responsible for the leadership of the country.

Further, we have to understand that once we bleach the ink off our finger, our duty as electors is not done. No, an enlightened populace continues, vigilantly, to inform and critique the conduct of government. Critique is of course different to criticise - the former requires critical thinking of which every citizen is capable in a culture such as ours where language, self-expression and performance come almost naturally.

What needs work though is careful thought, self-discipline, and a refusal to be limited by self-interest and the prejudices of the tribe. What needs work is a contemplative attitude that takes into account our duty of reverence to God, our Creator, and the people whom he created as part of the human family to which we ourselves belong and an understanding of our responsibility to our common home so exploited due to greed and our obsession with our own comfort.

The martyrs of this weekend’s First Reading and of our own age, as well as the people who refuse to sacrifice their integrity for the almighty dollar, sterling, euro et al, continue to offer us encouragement to walk in the ways of justice and of peace. May we not falter due to cowardice.