June 19, 2014
The American Family Association Action Voter Guide has made its Internet rounds this election season, prompting Christian voters to prioritize conservative ideologies at the polls.
The http://ivoterguide.com">online guide asks for my address and generates a liberal-to-conservative scale for each candidate in my area. The candidate’s campaigns and platforms are then broken down to show their donations, endorsements and responses to statements like, “Governments should pay to develop wind and solar energy solutions when these are not economically feasible,” or, “Free enterprise and the right to private property turn mankind’s natural self-interest into the fairest and most productive economic system there is, and are the key to national prosperity.”
(Senator candidate Chris McDaniel, who recently http://www.salon.com/2014/02/19/tea_party_senate_candidate_retweets_white_supremacist/">retweeted a white supremacist, responded Strongly Disagree and Strongly Agree, respectively).
A box below the candidate ranking says politely to me, “Thank you for being an informed voter.” Also on the bottom of that page is a disclaimer: “We do not support or oppose candidates; iVoterGuide.com should not be construed as support for or opposition to candidates.”
Still, the iVoterGuide has “AFA Action Voter Guide” plastered across the top of its website.
On the AFA Voter Guide http://appcrawlr.com/ios/afa-action">cellphone app, each candidate is given a grade A through F. Now, if giving an F grade doesn’t “construe as opposition to candidates,” I don’t know what does.
The AFA Action http://afaaction.net">website, which appears affiliated with the voter guide, also offers a http://www.afaaction.net/scorecard/Default.aspx?state=MS=H">“congressional scorecard” for each current representative, comparing how the representative voted on certain issues with AFA’s stance on that issue. A thumbs up or down indicates how the representative voted, and the color, red or blue, indicates if they voted the way AFA analysts would.
I was put off at first by the number of blue thumbs on the Mississippi senate race’s scorecard, considering that both senators are Republican, until realizing that, ironically, blue indicates that the senator’s vote aligned with AFA’s stance.
Two red thumbs up for each senator shows that while Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker voted yes on the nomination of William Kayatta to serve on the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, the AFA believes they should have voted no, including on a bill to improve services for women facing domestic abuse.
The purpose of these AFA apps is, as it says on the voter guide iTunes description, to determine “who will best represent their Christian values.”
The description goes on to say, “The guide was developed from a group of panelists selected for their conservative credentials and belief in constitutional government, free enterprise, strong national defense, and traditional Judeo-Christian values, such as sanctity of life and marriage.”
As my good (practicing Christian) friend and roommate reminded me recently, “Jesus stayed out of politics.” But the AFA doesn't seem to.
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