Political foo: Trump, the form of despair
Feb. 24th, 2016 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alpharaposaI have always had an interest in politics. I largely understand how people relate to each other the way I understand everything else: by reading a lot of theories and then observing how well it fits what I see. (I am such an introvert at heart, and an analytical one, too.) So I studied political theories of how people organize themselves, and historical cases of how things fall apart. I still do this.
My dad has similar interests. Before he heard the Call to ministry, he studied to be a lawyer and took political science classes. We often talk politics together, comparing notes on what we see or discussing an article or book one or both of us have read.
When I was a teenager, grappling with the issues of being in the generation that comes after the Baby Boomers, he would tell me a story of when he was in high school, and blew up the world.
It was a role-playing exercise based on the Cold War. The class was split into two sides and fighting each other. His side did well. They won. And when they had the advantage, they pressed it. They left no way for an honorable surrender, no way to save face.
So the other side, looking at no way to win and no way out, set off the nukes that would bring mutual destruction to everybody. They blew it all up.
With that in mind, I bring your attention to this article:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-culture-of-trumpening/
The analysis fits what I've seen. I can't bring myself to vote for Trump, because I still care about fighting within the system. I've chosen to keep believing that there's a way to fight back that doesn't include burning everything down.
But it's not irrational to decide that our opponents in the culture war have won, and have decided to shoot the wounded instead of giving us a place in the new world they're building. Being cornered and seeing a world in which we shall be hunted down and eradicated, I can understand people deciding to smash the whole system.
That doesn't mean that I agree with it.
Christians are told straight out that despair is a sin, and not to give in to it. We are told to be ready for persecution, and to continue with our duties, even if we do not see how that will help in this world - our true reward for them is in the next.
I think the proper path going forward isn't about elections at all. I think we need to return to the model with which John Wesley reformed the smugglers and drunkards of England and Wales. We need to return to tending the garden that we have allowed to grow wild. If we have rotten fruit full of worms and bugs, it is because we have not spent time tending the soil, pulling weeds, and bracing up weak saplings until they can grow into strong trees. If we want to see Christ in our garden, we must return to grafting him on the rootstock we find there, and caring for the plants until it takes.
Our newly incorporated United Methodist Pathfinder organization met yesterday to discuss Scouting Ministry. There were three of us at the meeting. Our group has fallen upon difficult times in many ways. But the only way to rebuild is to go out and do the work, so we scheduled an event for next year, to commit to beginning again.
My fellow Christians, I implore you: do not vote for Trump. Do not fall into despair. If the world of politics leads you to that choice, turn your eyes away from it. Don't vote. Go to your community and build something. Build a Scout Troop. Start a Bible Study. Build a rehabilitation center for the addicts in our midst. Go on a food drive for the local pantry. If the building of this country is falling down, that is only because the foundation needs work. Go do the work. If the feet are set right, the rest of the body will follow.
Start small. Get a few people to bear each other up. It will grow. Believe in that, not in the promises of men.
My dad has similar interests. Before he heard the Call to ministry, he studied to be a lawyer and took political science classes. We often talk politics together, comparing notes on what we see or discussing an article or book one or both of us have read.
When I was a teenager, grappling with the issues of being in the generation that comes after the Baby Boomers, he would tell me a story of when he was in high school, and blew up the world.
It was a role-playing exercise based on the Cold War. The class was split into two sides and fighting each other. His side did well. They won. And when they had the advantage, they pressed it. They left no way for an honorable surrender, no way to save face.
So the other side, looking at no way to win and no way out, set off the nukes that would bring mutual destruction to everybody. They blew it all up.
With that in mind, I bring your attention to this article:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-culture-of-trumpening/
The analysis fits what I've seen. I can't bring myself to vote for Trump, because I still care about fighting within the system. I've chosen to keep believing that there's a way to fight back that doesn't include burning everything down.
But it's not irrational to decide that our opponents in the culture war have won, and have decided to shoot the wounded instead of giving us a place in the new world they're building. Being cornered and seeing a world in which we shall be hunted down and eradicated, I can understand people deciding to smash the whole system.
That doesn't mean that I agree with it.
Christians are told straight out that despair is a sin, and not to give in to it. We are told to be ready for persecution, and to continue with our duties, even if we do not see how that will help in this world - our true reward for them is in the next.
I think the proper path going forward isn't about elections at all. I think we need to return to the model with which John Wesley reformed the smugglers and drunkards of England and Wales. We need to return to tending the garden that we have allowed to grow wild. If we have rotten fruit full of worms and bugs, it is because we have not spent time tending the soil, pulling weeds, and bracing up weak saplings until they can grow into strong trees. If we want to see Christ in our garden, we must return to grafting him on the rootstock we find there, and caring for the plants until it takes.
Our newly incorporated United Methodist Pathfinder organization met yesterday to discuss Scouting Ministry. There were three of us at the meeting. Our group has fallen upon difficult times in many ways. But the only way to rebuild is to go out and do the work, so we scheduled an event for next year, to commit to beginning again.
My fellow Christians, I implore you: do not vote for Trump. Do not fall into despair. If the world of politics leads you to that choice, turn your eyes away from it. Don't vote. Go to your community and build something. Build a Scout Troop. Start a Bible Study. Build a rehabilitation center for the addicts in our midst. Go on a food drive for the local pantry. If the building of this country is falling down, that is only because the foundation needs work. Go do the work. If the feet are set right, the rest of the body will follow.
Start small. Get a few people to bear each other up. It will grow. Believe in that, not in the promises of men.
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no subject
Date: 2016-02-25 01:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-25 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-27 04:46 pm (UTC)I cannot understand why any real Christian would vote for that man. He has no morals, no compassion, no ethics, no restraint.