Christians: Where do you stand on this issue of Goverment and Religion?

The earliest CHristians stayed out of government because society was by and large pagan. The first Christian emperor ruled -to a goodly part- based on the teachings of Christianity. Christian kings carried on that tradition to a large extent. But the founding of representative democracy in a predominantly Christian society put the power of an emperor or a king in the hands of the ordinary man. We can vote our consciences and I think we should exercise that authority based on the teachings of Christianity.