It is of course, as if you could avoid it, Election Season. A period in our nation's life when we
are granted either the opportunity or perhaps the burden of thinking about the core values of our country, and the differences between the two parties that represent us.
If you’re paying attention, two very different visions of who we are, aspire to, and fear will be
spun out. Let’s take a spin through those worldviews shall we? Spoiler alert, none of this will be a surprise.
The Republican Party, led and represented by Trump, leans on and into the motivations, hopes, and heartstrings of working-class whites, of Christians, and of those who feel judged by a more educated “elite.” They speak, of course, of the value of low taxes, smaller government, and personal initiative. They not always directly, but consistently with the premise that the country is theirs, or ours, if they are speaking to a friendly audience, and that that country is being taken away from us. I think they speak from a place of fear. I am not the only one.
Republicans pitch a story that change can be held off from coming to America and that the “real Americans” worth consideration are those who wish things to be, simpler, slower, and continually more homogeneous than they are trending towards. Trump, like no candidate before him, has been able to tap into and stoke a fear that a future without his guidance and the elevation of whiteness would lead to more overall cultural confusion.
Largely, the Republicans are championing a narrative that speaks both wistfully and hopefully about a new golden age of America’s global prominence. All the while leaning into a conservative “we are not paying for that” insularity. Whether these chords are quite likely impossible hopes, or not, they seem to tap and appeal to a very understanding of what our country is or could be, and that thing is purer, more conservative.
All this seems to secure the egos of the Republican base, at the same time Trump created appealing scapegoats and enemies out of minorities and liberals. Good for votes, not good for our unity.
The truth is, more cultural confusion and a faster pace of overall change might just be inevitable. But alas, people vote for hopes and dreams as much as they do the truth.
On the other hand, Harris and the Democrats are able to pull on and tweak the motivations,
hopes, and heartstrings of minorities, disenfranchised groups, and of all those sensitive to
injustice, inequality, and ending the suffering of others. They envision a world in which America is a moral and cultural leader, not so much by force, but by cultural impact and high values. Often however, those are high and noble dreams and responses that are not directly paid for by those promoting them. Liberals and the left often promote projects whose costs are not directly felt by them.
The left, as you know, lifts up the very realistic fear that this particular election is absolutely
essential to win for fear of avoiding a very real threat to our democratic norms, and that these are among the last moments available to us all to avert the real impact of climate change.
While Republicans speak of individual opportunity, rugged individualism, Democrats speak of collective responsibility and something that might be described as a tolerant togetherness. And increasingly, both sides see and speak to their truths without crossing over to pay respect to the wisdom and or perspective of the other side. This lack of communication fuels real but divergent fears.
One thing that is shared is that both sides of the political debate are articulating very real fears about the future that will arrive if their ideas don’t prevail.
I don’t know if the polarization we face will abate or will increase. Although the signs are not
good, I do believe that some of the first steps forward will be when we all move past the idea that compromising one's strong opinion for the good of the whole is seen as a sacrifice for others to make. Clearly, we appear not to be there yet. Still, we, as Americans appear not yet motivated enough by the fear that America will split apart for any party to give up their version of what America should be.
People on both sides need to know and acknowledge that much of what helps explain the see-saw feel of our recent elections is that the greatest political loser of the 21st century has been the art of compromise and moderation. And just like there has historically never been anything thought so likely to improve the economy or morale as a threat to our sovereignty with a war, the threat of breaking-up our country simply because we are unwilling to compromise might be enough motivate us. Might.
I hope that after the election a deeper collective understanding that disappointment and
compromise are more sacrificial and noble than they are an expression of weakness.
See you in church,
Rev. Steve
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