“Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has always believed that those who are entitled to vote should do so, and she has also believed that in such matters no one should seek to dictate the actions of others.”
– from Prose Works by Mary Baker Eddy

Christian Scientists are expected to follow individual conscience when it comes to voting. There are no bossy britches big wigs in the Christian Science movement telling other Christian Scientists how to vote… and, frankly, trying to dictate voting choices to Christian Scientists would be like trying to herd cats, anyway. We are a… peculiar… people. (And “peculiar” might be an under-statement. 🙂 )

In 2012 I served as a delegate for President Obama at the state convention. This year I am rooting for Bernie Sanders. It is very tempting for me to explain my choice by pointing out the flaws and foibles of the other folks running for President. But it’s probably a more positive thing for me to talk about the things about Mr. Sanders that I like and respect – things that I liked and respected about him even before he announced his candidacy: He is honest; consistent in his views; fights for the humble, poor, and disenfranchised; and cares about the same things I care about. He is an upright man:

“The upright man is guided by a fixed Principle, which destines him to do nothing but what is honorable, and to abhor whatever is base or unworthy; hence we find him ever the sane, – at all times the trusty friend, the affectionate relative, the conscientious man of business, the pious worker, the public-spirited citizen…He assumes no borrowed appearance. He seeks no mask to cover him, for he acts no studied part; but he is indeed what he appears to be, – full of truth, candor, and humanity. In all his pursuits, he knows no path but the fair, open, and direct one, and would much rather fail of success than attain it by reproachable means.”
– Mary Baker Eddy’s re-working of a description found in Murray’s The English Reader, published in 1823

There’s a quote in Timequake, by Kurt Vonnegut, that I think could have easily been said by Bernie Sanders: “Many people need desperately to receive this message: ‘I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.”

Feel the Bern! 🙂

photo by Carolyn Kaster