We Need a Christian Left
Ok, I’ll admit it. I’ve been brooding for the past month over the election results. Given the state of our economy, the casualty rates in a war of choice, the erosion of basic civil rights and a series of lies that make the Clinton administration look like a Billy Graham Crusade, it really seemed like a slam dunk for the Democrats. Yet 51% of the voters who showed up on Election Day chose to stay the course.
The Christian Right, as expected, displayed its usual lack of humility, gloating and pontificating on the sorry state of Democrats and their evil ways. Several writers on this page even publicly thanked God for the re-election of George W. Bush.
This left me in the aforementioned mood, convinced that America had lost its collective mind.
Ever since it appeared on the wall of the “War Room” in the 1992 Clinton campaign, “It’s the economy, Stupid!” has been the clarion call for the Democratic Party. Yet increasingly, millions of lower and middle class Americans have voted against their own economic self interests to support Republican candidates because the Republicans have exploited a deeper need in the electorate. The fact is that millions of Americans feel out of place in a society that values materialism and selfishness over “moral values”. Capitalism, of course, mandates this self-centered drive, but these people intrinsically want a life that has purpose and a deeper meaning, a life that eschews the searching narcissism that permeates life in 21st century America. They realize that they have material needs and that health care is a pervasive worry, as is job security and the ability to fund their children’s college educations. But on a deeper level they want more and are responding to candidates who seem to relate to them and seem to care about values and purpose.
They think they’ve found it on the right. As they gather in right-wing churches each week they are given a worldview that speaks to the longing they feel. Most of these churches are highly adept at caring for their members, meeting needs for affirmation and socialization. It matters not a whit that there seems to be a pervasive willingness to demean those outside their walls. So, the parishioners experience a level of mutual caring that is rarely found in the rest of society and a sense of community that they cannot seem to experience anywhere else.
This hunger is being exploited to the nth degree by conservative leaders.
How?
With hyperactive attempts to “preserve” families by denying gays the right to marry.
With blind support of policies that speed up the destruction of our environment and do nothing to promote respect for creation or an aversion to the practice of turning nature into a commodity.
With the position that life is sacred (only for the unborn) without a commitment to medical research, gun control and health care reform.
With the preposterous claim that they care for their fellow man while denying them a living wage and ecologically sustainable environment.
All of this leads Democrats to shake their heads in wonder and dismiss not only Republicans, but most Christians, as first class hypocrites.
Let’s do a mental exercise in what if’s.
What if John Kerry had called George W. Bush on the carpet by taking the position that a serious Christian would never turn his back on the suffering of the poor, and that the Bible’s injunction to love our neighbor required us to provide health care for all, and that the New Testament’s command to “turn the other cheek” should give us a predisposition against responding to violence with violence?
What if the Democratic Party talked about the strength that comes from love and generosity and then applied that to foreign policy and homeland security?
What if the Democratic Party espoused the virtues of a new bottom line, with American institutions judged not only by their efficiency and profits, but also by their ability to substantially improve the lives of their workforce, not only financially but in lifestyle issues as well?
What if Democrats called on schools to teach generosity, volunteerism, gratitude and the wonders of nature around us?
This Democratic Party, continuing to embrace its agenda for economic fairness and multicultural inclusiveness, could have won in 2004, and it can win in the future.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not calling for the Democratic Party to move to the right. We do not have to become like them to defeat them.
What’s needed is a Christian Left to point out the unbelievable hypocrisy of the Christian Right.
A Christian Left would no longer choose candidates who support preemptive war or appease corporate power.
A Christian Left would fight abortion at a level that provides options, not in courtrooms far removed from the lives of pregnant women.
A Christian Left would support candidates committed to providing healthcare and affordable housing to every American, regardless of their respective rung on the employment ladder, whether they deserved it or not, remembering that grace is a gift freely given and not at all deserved.
A Christian Left would take back Christianity from the pit bulls on the right who have hijacked God’s name for their own selfish purposes.
By following the Sermon on the Mount, a Christian Left could work toward the fulfillment of John Winthrop’s vision, making America truly a City on a Hill, rather than the city we’ve become.
The Christian Right, as expected, displayed its usual lack of humility, gloating and pontificating on the sorry state of Democrats and their evil ways. Several writers on this page even publicly thanked God for the re-election of George W. Bush.
This left me in the aforementioned mood, convinced that America had lost its collective mind.
Ever since it appeared on the wall of the “War Room” in the 1992 Clinton campaign, “It’s the economy, Stupid!” has been the clarion call for the Democratic Party. Yet increasingly, millions of lower and middle class Americans have voted against their own economic self interests to support Republican candidates because the Republicans have exploited a deeper need in the electorate. The fact is that millions of Americans feel out of place in a society that values materialism and selfishness over “moral values”. Capitalism, of course, mandates this self-centered drive, but these people intrinsically want a life that has purpose and a deeper meaning, a life that eschews the searching narcissism that permeates life in 21st century America. They realize that they have material needs and that health care is a pervasive worry, as is job security and the ability to fund their children’s college educations. But on a deeper level they want more and are responding to candidates who seem to relate to them and seem to care about values and purpose.
They think they’ve found it on the right. As they gather in right-wing churches each week they are given a worldview that speaks to the longing they feel. Most of these churches are highly adept at caring for their members, meeting needs for affirmation and socialization. It matters not a whit that there seems to be a pervasive willingness to demean those outside their walls. So, the parishioners experience a level of mutual caring that is rarely found in the rest of society and a sense of community that they cannot seem to experience anywhere else.
This hunger is being exploited to the nth degree by conservative leaders.
How?
With hyperactive attempts to “preserve” families by denying gays the right to marry.
With blind support of policies that speed up the destruction of our environment and do nothing to promote respect for creation or an aversion to the practice of turning nature into a commodity.
With the position that life is sacred (only for the unborn) without a commitment to medical research, gun control and health care reform.
With the preposterous claim that they care for their fellow man while denying them a living wage and ecologically sustainable environment.
All of this leads Democrats to shake their heads in wonder and dismiss not only Republicans, but most Christians, as first class hypocrites.
Let’s do a mental exercise in what if’s.
What if John Kerry had called George W. Bush on the carpet by taking the position that a serious Christian would never turn his back on the suffering of the poor, and that the Bible’s injunction to love our neighbor required us to provide health care for all, and that the New Testament’s command to “turn the other cheek” should give us a predisposition against responding to violence with violence?
What if the Democratic Party talked about the strength that comes from love and generosity and then applied that to foreign policy and homeland security?
What if the Democratic Party espoused the virtues of a new bottom line, with American institutions judged not only by their efficiency and profits, but also by their ability to substantially improve the lives of their workforce, not only financially but in lifestyle issues as well?
What if Democrats called on schools to teach generosity, volunteerism, gratitude and the wonders of nature around us?
This Democratic Party, continuing to embrace its agenda for economic fairness and multicultural inclusiveness, could have won in 2004, and it can win in the future.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not calling for the Democratic Party to move to the right. We do not have to become like them to defeat them.
What’s needed is a Christian Left to point out the unbelievable hypocrisy of the Christian Right.
A Christian Left would no longer choose candidates who support preemptive war or appease corporate power.
A Christian Left would fight abortion at a level that provides options, not in courtrooms far removed from the lives of pregnant women.
A Christian Left would support candidates committed to providing healthcare and affordable housing to every American, regardless of their respective rung on the employment ladder, whether they deserved it or not, remembering that grace is a gift freely given and not at all deserved.
A Christian Left would take back Christianity from the pit bulls on the right who have hijacked God’s name for their own selfish purposes.
By following the Sermon on the Mount, a Christian Left could work toward the fulfillment of John Winthrop’s vision, making America truly a City on a Hill, rather than the city we’ve become.
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