We believe in .... America? Do we believe in anything greater than that?
On Monday I turned on the car radio to catch a bit of the Republican convention in Cleveland. After only ten minutes, I knew that they will lose big time to the Democrats.
They will lose because their leaders have nothing to speak about. They lack the courageous conviction to speak about anything real, to identify the cause of the problems against which they rail. The Democrats speak with conviction because they believe in something. They believe in human progress, which of course is a false idol, but at least they believe in it.
The Republicans will continue to lag in the Democrats’ shadow as long as they straddle the fence between two gods:
On one hand, the Republicans honor the God of their fathers, in whose service a ragged band of pilgrims founded a new nation on Plymouth Rock 350 years ago. Some Americans still worship this God, but most of us pay mere lip service to Him. We speak wistfully about an American culture founded on Christian principles, but we are not willing to live according to those principles. We want to do it Our Way, the so-called American Way. So our speeches sound like Hallmark Channel reruns. The God of our fathers, however, really is God, and requires submission, not merely nostalgia.
The other god the Republicans straddle is called “Mammon.” It is a false idol, of course, a close cousin to the Democrats’ god of “Progress.” Republicans value not the laws of God, but the laws of the free market, and the bottom line drives the vast majority of their behavior. Every serious decision is made on the basis of how much will it cost me, and how much do I stand to make on it? From the universities I choose for my children, to the careers I choose for myself, to the church I attend, decisions are made according to the god Prosperity.
The Democrats believe with passion in human progress, and their clear coherence wins our respect. The Republicans, by sad contrast, come across as inarticulate, tiresome, ambiguous, and driven by base self-interest. If only they could summon the courage to believe in something greater, they would sweep the country, and save it. Their opponents have no faith in anything greater than themselves, but at least they believe in that. How much good the Republicans could do if they insisted on a rational faith in God. They will lose big time, again, to those who have faith at least in something.
They will lose because their leaders have nothing to speak about. They lack the courageous conviction to speak about anything real, to identify the cause of the problems against which they rail. The Democrats speak with conviction because they believe in something. They believe in human progress, which of course is a false idol, but at least they believe in it.
The Republicans will continue to lag in the Democrats’ shadow as long as they straddle the fence between two gods:
On one hand, the Republicans honor the God of their fathers, in whose service a ragged band of pilgrims founded a new nation on Plymouth Rock 350 years ago. Some Americans still worship this God, but most of us pay mere lip service to Him. We speak wistfully about an American culture founded on Christian principles, but we are not willing to live according to those principles. We want to do it Our Way, the so-called American Way. So our speeches sound like Hallmark Channel reruns. The God of our fathers, however, really is God, and requires submission, not merely nostalgia.
The other god the Republicans straddle is called “Mammon.” It is a false idol, of course, a close cousin to the Democrats’ god of “Progress.” Republicans value not the laws of God, but the laws of the free market, and the bottom line drives the vast majority of their behavior. Every serious decision is made on the basis of how much will it cost me, and how much do I stand to make on it? From the universities I choose for my children, to the careers I choose for myself, to the church I attend, decisions are made according to the god Prosperity.
The Democrats believe with passion in human progress, and their clear coherence wins our respect. The Republicans, by sad contrast, come across as inarticulate, tiresome, ambiguous, and driven by base self-interest. If only they could summon the courage to believe in something greater, they would sweep the country, and save it. Their opponents have no faith in anything greater than themselves, but at least they believe in that. How much good the Republicans could do if they insisted on a rational faith in God. They will lose big time, again, to those who have faith at least in something.
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