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Election Terms Explained

November 3, 2016 by Justin

Election Day is just around the corner, and if you’re like me, you’ve probably wondered about some of the language the candidates have been using. To find out more, I looked though the BJU Press vocabulary curriculum. I came back with some rather interesting information.

Election Terms Explained

Red Tape

Candidates often talk about “cutting the red tape” that slows down anything the government gets involved in. But have you ever wondered where the phrase “red tape” came from?

As early as the mid 1800s, Charles Dickens and Thomas Carlyle wrote about the annoying red tape of their day. In English government offices it was customary to use strips of red fabric for tying legal papers in bundles. Red tape became a symbol for needless forms and regulations issued by the government. Government business is now largely computerized, but red tape is still with us.

red ribbon on letters

Casting a Ballot

It’s almost time to cast our ballots, but we aren’t really going to cast anything. We’re going to write our vote on paper or press a button on a machine. So why do we call it casting a ballot?

Originally voters did literally cast their ballots. To cast means “to throw,” and the ballots that were tossed into a ballot box were pebbles or small balls. In Italian, ballotta means “little ball.” A black ball indicated a negative vote. Today, to blackball a person means “to vote against or to exclude a person from a social group.” Paper ballots and voting machines might have replaced the pebbles, but we still speak of casting ballots at election time.

black marbles

Budget

We hear a lot of talk about “balancing the budget,” but where exactly did the term budget come from?

In Old French the word bougette referred to a little leather bag. A merchant could tell how much money he had by opening his bougette. In Middle English bouget  meant “a small sack for money.” It would be wise for those who are trying to balance a budget to follow the example of those medieval merchants by looking in the bag and spending only the money they actually have.

black leather bag

All these examples and more can be found in the BJU Press language arts curriculum, which you can preview on bjupresshomeschool.com.

Filed Under: Successful Learning Tagged With: election, etymology, language, language arts, politics, words

Homeschooling During an Election Year

July 28, 2016 by Justin

JH Politics and HS

The controversies surrounding the 2016 presidential election have at times made me want to shut politics out of my life until the election is over. But each time, I decide against that because I know how important it is.  As Christians, we can’t hide from the issues since many directly impact us. It’s our responsibility to make sure that both we and our children are well informed and ready to cast our votes now and in the future. There is no better time than an election year to be teaching children what the political process of our nation involves and how to evaluate the issues and candidates from the perspective of a biblical worldview.

Our Biblical Worldview: Creation, Fall, Redemption textbook (pages 239–40) says it well:

God laid the foundation for government as He laid the foundation of the earth. Government has been part of God’s good and glorious plan from the beginning. . . . Governments have power from the Highest Power. But governments are made up of fallen people who twist that power in frivolous ways.

Government in itself is not bad and is something that has been planned by God (Romans 13:1). So it’s important for all Christians to understand their nation’s government and participate in it appropriately. However, it’s also true that all governments are made up of fallen individuals, making it equally important for us as Christians to be well informed about what the Bible has to say about the issues and the candidates who take positions on those issues. It’s also our responsibility to make sure our children are prepared to do the same.

I strongly encourage teenagers who are looking forward to voting in this election for the first time to work though Biblical Worldview: Creation, Fall, and Redemption. It takes the biblical values they have been hearing from you as well as from BJU Press curriculum and applies those values to politics, government, and adult life. It also can help you prepare them to defend their Christian faith against the many challenges they’ll encounter as they transition into college and adult life.

Take a look inside the book here.

 

Filed Under: Shaping Worldview, Successful Learning Tagged With: Bible, election, history, politics, teenagers, teens, worldview

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