Liberals & Conservatives: You are not the problem with America!

Liberals and conservatives: You are not the problem with America! 

You are not the enemy. You never have been. In fact we need both of you. Yet I often hear folks say the words “liberal” or “conservative” as if they represent a threatening contagion. Some actually believe if we could totally rid one or the other of you America would be great again. 

May I repeat myself: “Liberals and conservatives, you are not our nation’s problem.”

We are our problem, collectively speaking. If this election showed us anything it revealed a sickness unto death that exists within the collective hearts of our nation. Blaming those who hold a conservative view or a liberal view is not the answer to why we are so sick as a nation.

Author Gill Bailie provides us with a fitting description of an America that should be shocking to all Americans. Writes Bailie:

“Our cities are collapsing, our political processes are frayed and fragmented, our sense of historical responsibility has virtually disappeared, and most seriously of all, our social and psychological stability now seems imperiled . . . Our world is now convulsing with disorder and violence, vivid scenes of which are beamed into our living rooms and burned into our sensibilities every day . . . Essential social institutions are reeling in the face of a cultural meltdown the real nature of which remains a mystery” (Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads).

Bailie could have written those words on November 9, 2016 but he didn’t. He wrote those alarming words over twenty years ago (1995) and I am guessing he would say that the liberals and the conservatives were not the ones to blame for the troubling times in which he lived.

The crisis America faces today is the result of a much deeper problem that hides out in the darkest recesses of life. It is a problem that has been around for a very, very long time. There are times when it goes really deep in order to commit some of its most destructive and hideous work.

The crisis I allude to has nothing to do with the binary liberal or conservative ideologies that have come to define us these days. The crisis is the result of a deep dark spiritual sickness that manifests itself in the harmful ways we treat one another in both word and deed. 

Never have I witnessed so much verbal venom, say on social media, as I have during this past election cycle. The toxicity of this venom has reached near lethal levels. 

During this past election cycle I made it a practice to read the comments section on editorial posts as well as political posts on Facebook and I was stunned by the toxic levels on display in those comments sections. In many cases the anger was incredibly toxic.

I often thought to myself: “What in the world is happening to us? All this anger, all this disdain towards those who hold opposing views, all this blame casting and scapegoating, all this name calling as if we were middle school children, all the character assassinations that ultimately led to lost friendships and damaged family relationships.”

I am sure there are going to be quite a few strained family Thanksgiving meals this year and for some the Thanksgiving tradition will be postponed at least for a year.

Quite frankly, what in the hell has gotten into us all?

Well the sort answer is: 

We are a spiritually sick people.

We have sold our birthright for a bowl of pottage. We have abandoned the great Judeo-Christian Tradition that has played such an important role in shaping our Western culture, not to mention American culture and nation. We’ve given up on the tenants of a Tradition that provided us with accurate compass points orienting us towards a healthy and joyful life together.

So why are we shocked to learn that this Judeo-Christian inspired Western culture is coming apart at the seams? Why should this cause us alarm?

Well allow me be more specific: 

We have abandoned our responsibility to witness to and bear the image of God in the world for the sake of creating God in our own imperfect image. We have forfeited sacrificial love for the sake of a deeply flawed political ideology we believe will save us. We have turned our back on the Prince of Peace to follow voices promoting violence in the world, with nuclear destruction as the culminating outcome. We have turned our backs on the great spiritual fathers and mothers of the past and have begun listening to voices steeped in postmodern narcissism, consumerism, secularism, warfare, and nationalism--all voices of ultimate doom.

We have become a spiritually sick nation and we are now paying the price for our foolish abandonment of the Judeo-Christian Tradition.  Western Europe has been trending on this same path much longer than we have and are already feeling the destabilizing effects of its own spiritual sickness (e.g., Brexit). We have sold our souls to the devil and the reckoning is forthcoming. 

Bailie once again offers an alarming critique of our times: “The European Enlightenment has been a cat with nine lives, but it is now a spent force and the optimism it fostered is sputtering out.” 

So I say to all liberals and all conservatives: You are not America’s problem! 

The real problem is us and our own spiritual sickness. When we cast blame towards the liberals or the conservatives we are actually pointing a finger right back at ourselves. We are the problem. Both Christianity and America need a cleansing and a healing that only our faith Tradition will provide.

So before we start pointing fingers of blame and searching for scapegoats perhaps the best thing we Americans can do is take a spiritual inventory of our lives. Perhaps we can begin using the Gospel compass to chart our reference points that will guide us into a more hopeful and generative future.

I promise I will take that spiritual inventory of my own life. 

Will you?