At the east end of the giant Wal-Mart parking lot in this northern Indiana town of about 32,000, there’s a metal-roofed building accommodating as many as 20 horse-drawn buggies. People in plain dress—flat black hats, white bonnets—can be seen around town. Goshen is a population center for Mennonites and their religious “cousins,” the Amish. Both are Protestant Christian faiths built on foundations of pacifism and keeping government, politicians and politics at arm’s length.

The Amish remain non-voters who believe in the strict separation of church and state. However, some Mennonites, especially younger members such as those on the campus of church-founded Goshen College, are seeing an opportunity now to integrate politics into their lives in a way that furthers rather than diminishes their religion.   » Read more…

I remember my first voting booth: a cardboard refrigerator box in the hallway of Oak Street Elementary school in Orrville, Ohio. In the 1972 election between Richard Nixon (R) and George McGovern (D), my sixth-grade class studied the electoral process, ran campaigns for the candidates, and cast our votes in our own polling station.   » Read more…

Tomorrow, Indiana residents will play a significant role in the Democratic presidential race. It has been a long time – at least 40 years – since voices in this great state in the country’s heartland have had such influence and were so valued.   » Read more…

I am at once excited and dismayed about the historic nature of this race. I am of course excited about the possibility of a woman or an African American in the White House. It is thrilling to see both candidates cause such a flurry of excitement across the country as people who have all but given up on the political system speaking to them become part of the process itself.   » Read more…