The Old Hippie Behind the Curtain

Vinick:      “Whatever happened to the separation of church and state?” 


Bartlet:      “It’s hanging in there, but I’m afraid the constitution doesn’t say anything about the separation of church and politics.” 


Vinick:      “You saying that’s a good thing?” 


Bartlet:      “I’m saying that’s the way it is: always has been.”

– President Josiah (“Jed”) Bartlet and Senator Arnold Vinick

TheWest Wing
Season 6, Episode 20, “In God We Trust”

“Every two years, we drive to the fire station and overthrow the government…”

– Will McAvoy
The Newsroom 

Season 1, Episode 3, “The 112^th Congress”

I usually don’t drive our 14-year old minivan to the churches where I’m invited as a guest preacher.

It’s not because the car has seen better days (it has) or because it’s not a fuel efficient-enough vehicle to take on long drives (oddly enough, it is). Rather, it’s because over the past three presidential election cycles, the van has become a political billboard of sorts, boldly proclaiming that we are “Old Hippies Against __________.” And, while this will no doubt come as a surprise to family and friends who have endured my political rants (not to mention the steady stream of debate-inspired memes on Facebook), for the most part, when I don the robe on a Sunday morning, I have tended to keep my decidedly partisan convictions to myself. So instead, it’s our other car that transports me on my itinerant preaching journeys – the one whose sole political statement is a small sticker on the rear windshield that reads: “Jed Bartlet Is My President.”

In a perfect (or at least, more interesting) world, presidential candidates would be more like Jed Bartlet – brilliant, witty, with deep moral convictions, and capable of bridging the great partisan divide. In the interests of full disclosure, let me say that there have been election cycles in which I’ve done my small part to span the partisan chasm. I have voted Socialist and Libertarian (before my frontal lobe was fully formed) and even voted for the other party in a gubernatorial election as a fully-lobed, middle-aged adult for no reason other than the incumbent’s having presented the championship trophy to the Port Chester High School Marching Band the year my son was a senior in the trumpet section.

This year, election day falls on the 29^th anniversary of my ordination. Today as I drive, not to the local fire station but rather to a former Masonic temple-turned-Orthodox church to exercise my right as a citizen to participate in the peaceful and orderly overthrow of the government, I will vote for the candidate whom I believe will accomplish the most for the common good and who most shares the core values that have been shaped by my faith and by half a lifetime of ministry. That said, here, in no particular order, is a very short list of what will be on my mind as I step behind the curtain into the voting booth:

1.    I will cast my vote mindful that I am the daughter, the mother and the spouse of persons counted among the “47%.”

2.    I will cast my vote as an immigrant for whom the phrase “…take back America…” is all too reminiscent of  “…why don’t you go back to…”

3.    I will cast my vote as a mother of a multiethnic, multicultural family that believes that diversity is a gift and not a threat; as the mother of an adult child with a disability who depends on government programs to provide essential services; as the mother of daughters who have a right to unrestricted women’s health care.

4.    I will cast my vote as one who believes in and affirms the sacredness of all life and all love.

5.    I will cast my vote knowing that for all those whose convictions will lead them to vote along these same lines, there will be as many others (or maybe even more), equally led by their deeply-held beliefs to vote for the other guy.

Who knows – perhaps in another four years, you’ll spot me driving to church some Sunday. I’ll be the one in the ancient minivan held together with bumper stickers. And maybe by then, the newest one will read: “Old Hippies For __________.”