God did not say it would be easy
Was it Rick Warren who commented that “God did not say it would be easy”? Guiding government and loving others can be challenging. But it can be very rewarding. Those of us seeking fair government in our democracy have learned that it is not easy. Sometimes we see our own and other countries’ elected representatives doing amazing things.
In Australia we have had a recent horrible event with 16 people murdered and we see politicians doing extraordinary things that are hard to explain. Mainly they seek to gain electoral advantage by their responses. That might be okay, if they would only stop attacking each other.
Nobody raised an eyebrow that 1300 people were killed on the roads, usually due to deliberate decisions by someone.
Mentoring
When I set out in 1986 to find a way to have governments treating people equally, I did not feel very comfortable about it. My community had just been shafted by a division of government that just lied and cheated as I had not expected. I was at that time a very happy CPA with a Chartered Accountancy practice. By that time I had also been a very active Christian for a quarter of a century. Not only did we find out how to get governments working for the people and the voters. We also learned that we could mentor voters in democracies anywhere with our strategies and techniques.
Bible Based Political Persuasion
Votergrams are based on Christ’s teachings. When you think about it that is not a bad basis for anything. Jesus set out to provide us some guidelines for life. It would seem that God has led us to develop an excellent system of government in democracy. The only challenge is that under the ruthless and self-serving domination of monarchs and dictators the people did not have any role. They just did what they were told. In democracy they must elect and guide their representatives. Voters need to tell them what they would like done and explain why.
Ask and you will receive
Many voters fantasise that democracy will automatically deliver all the good honest and fair things they want of it. They forget that politicians have to represent millions of voters with quite different ideas on almost everything. So the politicians cannot possibly know what everybody wants, let alone do it.
Millions of people don’t say what they want. They are what we call the “silent majority”. By definition and their own choice, they can never be heard.
Of the rest of the population, many still think that the politicians will automatically understand what they want. How could politicians possibly know what millions of people want? Without the people telling them?? No way!!
So the first step in guiding government is to ask the politicians to do what you want and explain why they should do it.
Good Samaritan
We do not need to think only of ourselves. Christians do not need to say “I will not spend my money on improving the lives of others.” When we see a community need such as the road toll or cigarette smoke from the person next to passengers on a flight across the world, we can stop it. But we need to spend some of our God-given money. Our in-house Votergram campaign cut the road toll in Australia by 70% over 15 years. So far it has saved 64,000 lives. It probably cost us $100,000. The brief campaign that wanted smoking banned first on Australian airlines cost about $1,000. Then 2 years later the USA followed suit. Now airlines around the world have banned smoking. This has saved huge health suffering and costs.
Do to others as you would like others to do to you
Politicians are perhaps the most criticised people in the world. They have a thoroughly thankless task. For all the abuse they cop, they are very rarely thanked for all the good things they do. MPs come up with marvellous policies. In parliament they devise services for governments to provide. Politicians have facilities and infrastructure built for our use.
At Votergrams we always make a point of passing the credit to our politicians when they achieve what has been sought. We ask our clients to thank them profusely. We do not seek credit for ourselves – “man’s empty praise”. The downside of that is that we miss out on valuable PR and promotion. That means we miss the opportunity to spread the word that, of course democracy can be guided by and for the people. We need Votergram users and Voters Network members to do that for us.
Parable of the sower
What Votergrams do is sow ideas, suggestions, solutions and support into the minds of each MP in the parliament. That is just as Christ’s parable of the sower. And all the seeds that people sow by Votergram into the fertile minds of their elected representatives, do exactly what the seeds in Christ’s parable do. Many produce magnificent results.
Make peace with the other side of the argument
The most well-known form of political influence is the public protest. People gather in street, in front of Parliament house or in a park. They chant abuse as a mob over and over along the lines of “What do we want” xxx. When do we want it ?” “Now!!”. All the time speakers berate the politicians or bureaucrats for what they have done. The impact of this is to instantly make enemies of the very politicians capable of fixing the problem. Christ said “Go and make peace with your brother” and “settle your dispute with the other side before you go to court”.
Surely the protesters want the politicians onside not offside. Confrontation makes the politicians work hard to justify what they have already done to cause the anger. So the action makes it unlikely that they will do what is wanted. It can achieve the opposite of what was wanted.
A far more Christ-like policy would be for each of those protesters to explain by Votergram, what they want and why. They would do that in a carefully orchestrated way. Senders would reach each and every MP in a friendly way. Each unique brief message would come from one protester. Over a time they would paint a mural of ideas that would win over most politicians. The messages would come from a wide range of electorates carrying an electoral message as well as the one on topic. That is how to win friends and influence governments.
Take up your cross
It is not easy. It does take time, research and effort, as well as a little money, to change minds. Becoming a democracy influencer is a learning process for there are many unknown facets to democracy. Strategies, failures, experiences all combine to build solid professional skills. For those who commit to Guiding Government for the betterment of society, it is a cross to carry. But that is what Christianity is about. Isn’t it?
With faith you can move mountains
I have never thought that Jesus was interested in relocating mountains. I think He was speaking of metaphorical mountains. He said it was faith in our ability to do it, that did it or faith that God would help us. Faith, except for “blind-faith”, is usually built on experience. One prayer is answered and others follow. Then one has faith in prayer. A top tennis player could hit an ace that I could not have faith that I would hit. What our wins have taught me is that using Votergrams is 90% successful. I also see that those who have faith in their ability to win, almost always do.
Voters stopped a Bill of Rights which they felt would remove some of their rights. They dumped an ID card in an era when privacy was key. Motorists cut the road toll when everyone I asked for help from, said it could not be done. A church group beat the Tobacco lobby on the smoking on airliners. Womans’ Temperance Union beat the alcohol industry on pregnancy warnings about Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. A pharmacist got generic medicines dispensed. The pharmacy association got $1.5 billion a year in government subsidies. One man got Victims Impact statements introduced into courts.
All of those people moved metaphorical mountains by Votergram.
Christianity is not just about pie in the sky when we die. It is about shaping society on Earth today in your home town and mine. That is why Jesus said that He had come so that people could live life to the full. You can do your bit by influencing your democratic government. Our mentoring service is mostly available to those who need it.
