Donald & Hillary Aren't the Problem!

We all have heard it so many times over the past several months: the vitriolic rage against two of the most well known names in America today. 

Donald and Hillary.

Let either name slip from your lips at a dinner or cocktail party and standby for a barrage of lethal expletives aimed at either one of these two political figures. Profess support of either Hillary or Donald and be prepared to lose friends or at least be thought certifiable.

In the movie “Apollo 13” actor Tom Hanks uttered what has become one of the most recognized lines in cinema history (almost rivaling Clark Gable’s famous “Gone With the Wind” line: “Frankly darling, I don’t give a damn!”). Said Hanks: 

“Houston, we have a problem!”

Well, I must say after enduring several months of this 2016 campaign circus I am prepared to say: 

“America, we have a problem, and it ain’t Donald or Hillary.”

Disclaimer: My point of view, my worldview such as it is, and my politics are shaped by my allegiance to and faith in a humble yet radical Rabbi from Galilee who lived over two thousand years ago, was crucified and resurrected. If he isn’t the shaping force of your worldview or your politics then I doubt you will grasp what I am about to say. 

So that’s my disclaimer for what it’s worth.

In his thought provoking book, Reviving Old Scratch, author and psychologist Richard Beck offers an interesting approach for the way we Christians ought to engage the political process and the respective candidates running for office. 

According to Beck so many Christians in America today have lost their sense of connection to an invisible reality that lies behind all of life. Quoting the Apostle Paul Beck points us towards the force that lies behind human affairs, political or otherwise: 

“For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:24).

Read this verse carefully? Who really is the enemy? It is not flesh and blood (Donald or Hillary) but rather “spiritual forces of evil.” It is crucial for Christians to acknowledge this important reality that undergirds all of life.

Because we have forgotten this truth, says Beck: “ . . .our political discourse has become so hostile and violent: spiritual virtues and weapons such as confession, self-control, repentance, humility, peacemaking, forgiveness, joy, mercy, and love have all gone missing. A disenchanted political struggle is reduced to a bloody, winner-take-all cage match.”

By “disenchanted political struggle” Beck is suggesting that the candidates themselves are not the real problem and therefore to demonize or scapegoat them is, quite frankly, missing the point. 

What lies behind this entire presidential political campaign are dark and dangerous systemic (spiritual) forces that are responsible for much of the anger and violence this campaign seems to have unearthed. The 2016 Presidential campaign thus far has revealed the deep dark underbelly of our nation.

So Donald and Hillary are not the problem: 

The real culprit is a deep spiritual sickness whose physical symptoms are playing out on the campaign stages of political actors who themselves are agents of these adversarial spiritual forces (as we all are). 

What we do need to recognize is that there is a deeper systemic sickness that has infected the American soul and this sickness affects us all. The Russian novelist, historian, and activist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn so insightfully observed:

“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts.”

The antibiotic for this infection that has come upon the American soul is not the elimination or victory of either one or both of these candidates (Donald or Hillary, or even Bernie). Once either is elected the problem will persist. To think otherwise is nothing more than groundless utopianism that is certain to unravel and fail.

Demonizing either one of these candidates is not helpful nor does it come close in touching America’s real problem: 

A Spiritual sickness that is both lethal and toxic. 

So how do we heal from this sickness? We must be willing to ask ourselves at least two questions:

“Am I a part of the problem?” and “What can I personally do to help fix it?”

Blaming or demonizing Donald or Hillary, or the Republicans or Democrats, or the Conservatives or the Progressives is not the solution to what’s wrong with America. A good dose of humility and reflective honesty with regards to what’s in our own hearts will go a long way in fixing what is wrong with our country as a whole. 

Until we examine the condition of our own hearts America will continue to slide into what might be described as a spiritual wasteland rivaling that of a nuclear winter.

Guess what? 

When it happens it won’t be Donald or Hillary’s fault.