There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen. – Job 24:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 4, 2012): Job 24

In my area of the world we are in the middle of a political campaign. What is at stake is the premiership of the province. At the current moment, it looks like it is going to be a close fight down to the final vote, which is a bit of anomaly here. Alberta has been a one party province for a long time. But this year things are different, well, at least we are pretending that they are.

But beneath the political jargon of the current election is a problem. Yes, we have two parties (or five parties) fight for the votes. But the myth is that these are different parties. In any election, most of the electable parties have more in common with each other than things that make them different. (And if we would just realize that, maybe we would stop being disappointed with the ones we elect.) But in this case, the similarities are even closer. And in the end we actually have one party claiming to be better at being the opposing party than they can be. (Confused? So are we.) Basically, the campaign is saying something like this – vote for me, because I am better at being you than you are. The two parties are trying to stretch toward the same the ideal. There is no real question of differences between the opponents. The only question is which party do you think will do the best job at reaching for the goal.

So, earlier this week a Conservative staffer got in trouble for making a crack on Twitter about how many children the opposing leader had. (The answer was zero.) The point seemed to be to question how she can run on family values when she has no children. The response was that wanted children but couldn’t have any. And it all seemed like a big surprise to the political watchers. But, often that is exactly the things that make headlines when there are no other issues in a political campaign.

In the ancient days, a piece of territory was marked out with boundary stones. Job comments that it is only an evil person that moves the boundary markers. Unfortunately, in a political campaign it is usually exactly what we do, and in this one because of the similarities between the parties, it is even more a danger.

What we as voters really need are clear choices. We need the boundary markers so we can know what it is that we are making a choice for. Being better at being the opposing party just doesn’t cut it. For political parties everywhere, all we can ask of or political leaders is that you will admit where you are the same, and tell us where you are different. Leave the boundary markers alone and find your own space within the system.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 25 & 26