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America vs. Political Panic

America vs. Political Panic

Last updated on: July 4, 2024 at 6:00 am by Gene Veith

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America vs. Political Panic 2024-06-30T17:55:27-04:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

America faces huge problems, politically and culturally. There is no doubt about that. And in this election year, both sides want to fill us with alarm. But on this Independence Day, let’s take a breath and consider what we have to be thankful for about this country.

If you listen to our politicians from both sides, you would think that America is a dystopian hell hole. In President Biden’s State of the Union address last March, when the media was praising his performance as disproving the charge that he was too old, he said, “Our cities are choking to death, our states are dying, and frankly our country is dying.” In Donald Trump’s response, he agreed with how bad things are: “We’re a third-world country at our borders,” he said, “we’re a third-world country at our elections.”

Is it really so bad to live in America?

Is America really racist to its very core, a land of oppression in which privileged groups exercise their power against marginalized groups, such as women, homosexuals, and racial minorities, as progressives claim? Is the American economy so bad that businesses are going bankrupt because of all the federal regulations, workers can’t find jobs because factories are moving to China, and families can’t pay their bills because of government-created inflation?

If all of this is true, why are so many people from the rest of the world trying to come here? Why are they pouring over our borders illegally in numbers too big for us to handle if the U.S.A. is dying, is a third world country such as the ones so many of them are trying to leave, is racist, oppressive, poor, and without jobs?

A liberal newspaper warns, Democracy won’t survive another Trump presidency. A conservative newspaper warns American democracy won’t survive the anti-Trump witch hunt. It sounds like American democracy is doomed either way.

Is America with its constitutional form of government really so fragile?

Does anyone think that either Trump or Biden has the broad national support that would allow him to suspend the Constitution, declare that the public will no longer be allowed to vote, and make himself ruler for life? If they don’t believe in democracy, why are they trying so hard to get elected, as opposed to just seizing power as dictators usually do?

Political rhetoric, of course, is filled with exaggerations designed to make the public afraid, to the point of fearing one candidate and turning to the other as a savior.

That rhetoric may include some truths or at least half-truths, and it may warn of tendencies or consequences that should be taken seriously. But we citizens need some perspective so that we can keep a clear head and avoid succumbing to political panic.

My Patheos colleague Jim Denison had a thoughtful reflection on said State of the Union address in which he points out how our constitutional democracy is designed to limit sweeping changes and how our Founders, aware of the dangers of human depravity, “set out to create a system of government that was best equipped to protect its people from their leaders.”

That statement deserves to be enshrined as a maxim and as a prime criterion of all political theories and practical policies: How to protect the people from their leaders!

Denison quotes Jonah Goldberg: “Presidents don’t matter as much as they would like you to think . . . Five years from now, America will be okay. You’ll probably be okay. And if you are not okay, it will in all likelihood have nothing to do with who was elected president in 2024.”

Of course, we Christians have a moral impulse, to be concerned not just for our own self-interests but for our neighbors. Not everyone will be okay. Not aborted children, not mutilated adolescents, not families that can’t make ends meet, not people losing their jobs, not soldiers killed in any wars that might get stirred up. . . .

This concern–the love of neighbor–is what properly motivates Christian political activism, not some ambition to seize power for the church or some utopian vision of building heaven on earth.

At the same time, as Denison reminds us “God is on His throne.” Those of us who believe in the doctrine of the Two Kingdoms know that we don’t need to build the kingdom of Heaven on earth because God is already reigning, working mysteriously for His purposes, which includes working through our human vocations, including that of citizenship. So remembering that God is on His throne can preserve us from political panic.

Furthermore, God blesses us through our country, government and all. Our country, even in its troubles, is God’s gift to us. Can you count the ways?

Illustration: American Flag via PickPik, royalty free

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