Two People – One Nation

It appears that we are a nation divided.  That much seems obvious when reviewing election results.  Two candidates, two parties, two people.  So who are these two peoples?  The categories we currently use don’t seem adequate or even appropriate.  Let me suggest some that don’t work.

Trump supporters and Hilary supporters

Liberals and conservatives

Urban and rural

Republicans and Democrats

They all fail because they are too discreet.  They seem to push people into categories that are not a good fit.  One may be a Democrat who voted for Trump.  One may be a rural Democrat.

So I want to suggest two categories that I find helpful right now.  And I will unpack each just a bit so you understand what I am seeking to express.  Here are my categories.

Fearful and Pessimistic

Fearful.  I see these folks all over the political landscape.  They are fearful of a future with little promise of improvement for them.  This in turn leads to fear of those who may be perceived as responsible.  Among these are Mexicans and other immigrants, who are perceived as taking jobs away and draining benefits from the system.  Also Muslims, who are threatening our sense of safety and security.  Non whites are seen as remaking our society with diversity so that the past hegemony is fading.  Now these folks might not describe themselves as fearful.  To the contrary, they may see themselves as bold asserters of values and policies that will Make America Great Again.  But under that bluster of superiority, I see folks who are unsure, afraid and needing help and encouragement.  They may have no intention of hurting anyone else.  They just want to feel OK and they don’t . So they have become a movement in our nation; a movement that will address their fears but whose methods and solutions are had at the expense of others.  Surely there must be a better way to help the fearful.

Pessimistic.  These are the folks who were deeply disappointed by the results of this election.  They have fallen into a deep funk.  Some are protesting and promising to organize resistance.  Others have given in to resignation and cynicism.  The nation is divided.  They see themselves as the ones with the right values and solutions, and they feel rejected by a nation that chose another way for now.  They want things to be better, but they cannot seem to present solutions with enough broad appeal, and the election hit them hard.  They tend to be quite judgmental toward the fearful.  But they too need compassion and understanding, because it isn’t working for them either.

Fearful vs. Pessimistic.  Neither is particularly attractive because neither is inclusive enough to encompass the other’s perspective.  If we met an individual who was fearful, we would want to reassure and offer help.  We also might want to take away their guns.  Fear and guns are a dangerous dynamic.  If we met an individual who was pessimistic, we would likewise try to offer encouragement and hope.  We might also relieve them of decisions about redistribution of resources.  Pessimism and resignation can lead to reckless abandon since the future is beyond repair.

So wherever we find ourselves today, we are deserving of some understanding and forbearance.  We see ourselves in the other and discover we are not so very different.  We all hope for a better tomorrow.  We have differing opinions on what happened and what needs to happen.  But we all agree something needs to happen.

As we journey forward from now as two people and one nation, it is too easy to condemn and too convenient to avoid self examination.  Neither side is all right or all wrong.  We are still trying to get this right.  As two people, let’s not lose the deeper reality that we are also one nation.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and this Election

I am angry, upset and disappointed.  But wait until you read what has upset me.  Trump?  Of course.  People everywhere of conscience are upset.  But what really galls me is the feeling of powerlessness.  I voted.  I got a sticker that says, “I voted today.”  I wrote on it these words.  “And look what it got me.”  But this is what has got me so upset.  My faith community.  By which I mean the Episcopal Church.

In a clergy meeting many months ago, I expressed myself in the presence of the clergy and Bishop of Maine.  My position was that this election had more at stake than elections of the recent past.  My position was that the church needed to name the issues, the characters, and call the spade a spade.  My position was that the church should openly oppose Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency.  I was fully aware of the church’s official position.  “Talk about issues but not about candidates.”  To fail this test is to jeopardize our tax exempt status as a church.

You know what?  I would have gladly sacrificed our precious and mostly unjustifiable tax exempt status if it meant having more power over what happened on Tuesday.  Imagine Dietrich Bonhoeffer being told to hush about Hitler because his church might lose its tax exempt status.  His martyrdom makes us look like toothless wonders.  The church should be willing to endure the fiscal martyrdom of the loss of our tax exempt status if the trade off is the deal with the devil that silences us in a critical time.

Let us honor all those brave leaders who have spoken out on the election from within the agreed parameters.  Let us appreciate that most clergy are under too many ecclesiastical restraints to take a controversial stand.  Congregations generally cannot tolerate clergy who are partisan, outspoken, passionate and who name evil as evil.  My former parishioners in Baltimore know what a mess I might have caused if I had still been their rector during this season of crisis.  In the Episcopal Church, we are far too reluctant to address human sin directly, to name it and to oppose it with word and deed, especially when it costs us.

So our little cozy relationship with federal tax law has led to us muting our voices as a critical time.  And as my cute little sticker says, “look what it got us.”

I no longer have a pulpit so here is where I blow off on this one.  Our Episcopal church has let us down.  We need members, and ordained leaders to put their stuff on the line for the cause when it is this important.  To fail to name Trump as a bigot, a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe, and an islamophobe, is a sin for which we have to repent.  And it is a sin that has consequences.  Could we have swung the election?  Probably not.  But the effort would have been noble and righteous.  We have a lot to answer for.  And that is why I am angry, upset and disappointed.