[Context: The following four paragraphs were written in May of 2020 when it first appeared we were perhaps emerging from the worst of the Pandemic. While you are welcome to comment civilly on all things related herein to Trump—whose leadership is my context and about whom I write both negative and positive commentary—my thoughts were directed to the Church and any faith tradition, noting what I perceived then and believe now is the greater threat to our communal experience than either Trump or Biden could ever be. It is us—and our inability to treat one another with the reverence all life, especially human should have.]
Portion written in May 2020 Can we who are Christian or Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist or humanist not get out in front of the next/current debate over economic verses health that will surly ensue? Given Trumps unfortunate use of the daily Corona update for political opportunism instead of leaving the daily updates to the Vice Presidents task force —as he did initially—his, I think appropriate, signaling of his intent to get America working and back to school and soon will now be seen only through the lenses of Trump/Anti-Trump! The fly-over country will say, “I told you so; what a pathetic waste in impoverished lives who, just getting hope that they too might have a steak in American full employment and slam, the door is shut on opportunity.” The left will say “he cares only for Boeing (aka, the rich) and willing to kill masses of Americans to protect 10 points on the Dow—what a monster!” As a result the country will splinter into factions that leave us with a flattened economic curve and a spiked Corona curve because we take our eye off the real ball, our mutual intolerance of one another—which, if unaddressed will leave us sliding into a mass induced collapse of hope, unable and unwilling to come together to address disease and economic collapse. We are, for the first time in my life ready to turn President Franklin Roosevelt’s affirmation on its head, from “we have nothing to fear, but fear itself” into “we have everything to fear, pandemic and economic collapse—because we cannot listen or talk through our distrust of one another.” ____Above written in May of 2020 (with some editing)_____ Back to the Present It’s been a year and five months since the above thoughts were archived and never published, for future review. Except for my central indictment of Trump taking over the daily briefings and imposing himself into the chaotic center of the Covid19 crises, I thought then and think now he got the strategic decisions right. 1) Protect by cancellation early flights from China and 30 days later, Europe—as their variants emerged. 2) Layout a nationally guaranteed effort to have the private sector expedite vaccine development and while retaining FDA standards cut the approval time from three to five years down to 8 months to a year. No one—absolutely no one—thought it could be done.
3) Limit lock-downs of the economy and society to what is needed to maintain a responsive health care system and focus on population groups most vulnerable.
4) Emphasize Federal-State-Private Partnerships allowing for response per regional needs and keeping as much of the economy moving forward as possible. 5) Appointment Vice President Pence to lead a federal task force and begin extensive weekly conversations with all governors, all states to communicate best information about a fluid pan-demmic for which we knew precious little. What that did was put at center a former and very trusted governor (Pence) whose demeanor was reassuring and guaranteed a federalist approach where the states took the lead and the Feds solved the strategic issues, like lightning speed manufacturing of ventilators or setting up temporary hospitals to amplify bed space. It literally gave us the best of this political team—Pence’s calm and skillful ability to bring all governors to the same table, listen to what they need and make sure they had it, keeping them and their differing constituents and diverse needs central—Federalism. It also kept Trump focused on the strategic issues and his ability to genuinely think outside of the box for solutions. All that lasted three and half months and had the President stuck with the strategy he, in my opinion would have won re-election rather handily. But that’s not who he is. He thinks strategically, his instincts Machiavellian, but he could not, not be the center around which every storm circled. So on the day I saw Trump take center stage, effectively demoting the one politician who could out Fauchi, Fauchi—Pence—I looked at Joetta and said, “Too bad, Trump's done, if he thinks he can ride this storm out”. Then I wrote the paragraph above. Covid-19 would become a blue-red state divide along the Trump fault line. The only question that remained is “the Church” of Jesus in America. Would we also politicize in spirit the debate about masks, vaccines, mandates, kids in school or would we seek to listen to the best medical advice—which is all over the map—and seek a common center that: 1) Assures our public spaces are as safe as possible,and; 2) Encourage vaccination at every level while also respecting both parents and individuals the God-given right to inform themselves and make risk-assessments; which assumes this thing is here to stay and mitigation of risk is the goal. From my limited perspective in the heart of one evangelical denomination, I think we have generally done that. Now, I wish I could say that about every TV pastor with a platform. I cannot. The religious right news makers (including Rev. Franklin Graham) simply went all political with the President. Also, honestly, I think Americans are generally far less divided over Covid-19 than we are around all thing Trump or anti/Trump. President Biden for whatever reason has governed from the left instead of the center. I think he’s made a political calculation and decided to “go for broke” as the new FDR or LBJ instead of recognizing the country longed for and does still a “political peace” focused on practical, safety aware, humane policing, immigration policies, economic recovery back to vibrant full and private employment, serious actual infrastructure work and a foreign policy that removes us as the primary cop on the beat with our financial, diplomatic and military prowess checking China and Russia. Those are all center positions and I had hoped Biden would land there. At the end of the day I will pray for my President and seek honest and healthy listening dialogue across the left/right divide. Because I truly believe the issue is not Trump or Biden, social capitalism or socialism,. It is the dignity of every human life, pre-born through death. We are called to defend the weak and vulnerable, not fight our way out of a political divide by choosing sides—neither of which are focused upon The Kingdom of Heaven breaking into the earth, as Jesus taught us to pray. Nor, honestly, should they. The political divide is about how to level the playing field so every human can play, meaningfully and so, prosper. We have and should have very different perspectives. We as Christians or Muslims or Buddhists are called to be faithful to our own political instincts while ever listening and learning from those who may or may not share them. The genius that holds American culture all together is simply this: Defend liberty, seek justice for all and live into interior peace with God and favor with every human. Blessings! Terry For more on the political nature of Christianity get my book: Holiness in the 21st Century: A Political Gospel Worth Engaging
https://www.amazon.com/Holiness-21st-Century-Political-Engaging/dp/1980391092/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2JY2BK
Comments