The following is a guest post by my friend Riley J. Hood. The subject of voting for the lessor of two evils has been a constant theme since I began to be politically active in the 1990s. Riley addresses the matter well, so I will post his comments as representing my own views on the matter.

The Lesser of Two Evils

“Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.” I Chronicles 21:10

By Riley J. Hood

I was watching a DVD made by Christians in 2016. They had a question-and-answer session, where a poorly worded question about choosing the lesser of two evils was read. “As a Christian, my conscience is deeply conflicted in this election. I don’t feel right voting for the lesser of two evils. How do I participate in the election without violating my Christian conscience?” I don’t know of any real person who makes that argument in such airy-fairy terms. The question is an obvious straw man.

It was answered by Dr. Ben Carson, “It is a very appropriate question for me, because I’m a brain surgeon, and the reason God gave us a brain is so that we could make decisions. You know every day when you get out of bed and you get dressed and you walk out that door, until that time you get back in that bed you are making choices between the lesser of evils because we live in an evil world. If you are unable to do that then you really can’t exist. So that’s a cop-out quite frankly.” He continued his answer by comparing choosing a paper cut versus having both your legs amputated. Then he appeals to the audience to be concerned about the nation. His argument has some truths in it, such as living in a fallen world, and God giving us a brain.

But quite frankly the cop-out is “choosing the lesser of two evils,” if and when you didn’t have to. What Dr. Carson leaves out is that a healthy person doesn’t have to give himself a paper cut, because he is more afraid of amputation. It is kind of like a person with a crummy job thinking his only two choices are being worked to death for substandard pay, or to break his pinky with a ball-peen hammer so he can collect disability. All the while ignoring his options to find a better company to work for.

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