John Piper on Single-Issue Politics

Life

I found this excerpt from John Piper’s A Godward Life helpful when thinking about voting based on a single issue. 

there are numerous single issues that disqualify a person from public
office. For example, any candidate who endorsed bribery as a form of
government efficiency would be disqualified, no matter what his party
or platform was. Or a person who endorsed corporate fraud (say under
$50 million) would be disqualified no matter what else he endorsed. Or
a person who said that no black people could hold office—on that single
issue alone he would be unfit for office. Or a person who said that
rape is only a misdemeanor—that single issue would end his political
career. These examples could go on and on. Everybody knows a single
issue that for them would disqualify a candidate for office.

So it is with politics. You have to decide what those issues are for
you. What do you think disqualifies a person from holding public
office? I believe that the endorsement of the right to kill unborn
children disqualifies a person from any position of public office. It’s
simply the same as saying that the endorsement of racism, fraud, or
bribery would disqualify him—except that child-killing is more serious
than those.

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