{"id":85265,"date":"2018-03-15T11:11:59","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T10:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=85265"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:57","slug":"laat-de-kiezers-tot-mij-komen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/03\/15\/laat-de-kiezers-tot-mij-komen\/","title":{"rendered":"Let my voters come to me"},"content":{"rendered":"
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They have been all over town these last few weeks: posters advertising political parties. At the same time, we\u2019re being inundated with all the usual oneliners and slogans through all sorts of media channels. After all, the municipal elections will be upon us soon.<\/p>\n

For some people, seeing the posters or hearing the sound bites is the closest they will come to being involved in the elections, while others do wish to vote so as to exert some influence on what goes on in their city. As for me, I often wonder during election time how much influence my vote will end up having. I also wonder if I might be able to exert some influence in some other way \u2013 preferably without turning into one of those angry people who don\u2019t vote as an act of protest and who have an antipathy for democracy.<\/p>\n

When I look at the posters, I\u2019m always struck by how prominently the parties\u2019 leaders are depicted in them. In itself, this is all right; it\u2019s good to have a mental image of the person you are considering voting for. Even so, it will then occur to me that in a way, it is quite strange to entrust your vote to someone you\u2019ve only seen on a large piece of paper and may have heard say a few things somewhere at some point. Of course, we don\u2019t really know these people at all.<\/p>\n

I also wondered whom I would entrust my vote to \u2013 someone who is not a politician but did set an example that can be followed. Which is how I arrived at Jesus, even though I have no idea what he looked like. That said, I do know enough about his life and ideas, from reading the Bible, that I would not have hesitated to vote for him if he had been a candidate in Rotterdam\u2019s municipal elections.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure whether Jesus would have come up with a slogan he would have distributed across the city \u2013 perhaps something along the lines of, \u201cLet my voters come to me\u201d \u2013 but personally, I think Neil Armstrong\u2019s words are an apt description of his methods: \u201cOne small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.\u201d Jesus had global ambitions but took baby steps first. For instance, he got in touch with the riff-raff of his society and forgave his enemies, and ended up giving his life for mankind.<\/p>\n

Please rest assured that I\u2019m not writing this to promote a party with Christian values. However, I am writing this to promote using Jesus\u2019 intention \u2013 i.e. encouraging people to do as he did, so that societies can change in a way from which everyone will benefit \u2013 as guidance when you cast your vote.<\/p>\n

The great thing about that is that you will still vote for a political party, while at the same time being more likely to exert actual influence on our city. Because just imagine what would happen if every Rotterdammer considered his fellow man more important than himself!<\/p>\n

Marnix \u2018t Hart studies Philosophy at the EUR<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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