I don’t usually link to the same blog back-to-back, but there’s another post of Doug Hagler’s I want to point you to, one he titled “Idolatry American style: Barak Obama”; obviously we have very different views of the Republican Party (though even most Republican voters aren’t very happy with the Republican Party at the moment), but as I’ve written before, I think the idolatrous tendencies in American politics are a real problem, and I agree with Doug (and others) that they’re particularly pronounced around Sen. Obama. (I don’t think they’re the senator’s fault—rest assured, I’m not accusing him of having any sort of delusions in that regard—but I do think he’s yielded to the temptation to take advantage of them, and I really wish he hadn’t.)
Somehow or other, we need a countercampaign to bring the people of this country around to a critically important truth: Politics will not save us. We keep getting sucked in to the idea that if we can just win this vote or elect this candidate, that will take care of our problems, and it just isn’t going to happen; Doug’s dead on when he writes, “Nothing messianic is coming from either party any time soon.” Nor any time later, either. Politics will not save us, government will not save us, no institution is going to save us; only God can save us, and he builds his people from the bottom up, one life at a time. If we want to work to address our problems in a way that will actually make a difference, it certainly helps to have a government (and other institutions likewise) that facilitates our efforts rather than making matters worse, but in the end, all we can do is follow God’s example. One life at a time, one family at a time, one small group of people at a time. From the bottom up. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
Wow, couldn’t agree with you more that politics is not the answer!
Thanks for the mention, Rob, in a positive light no less. Our well-documented differing views aside, I think you nailed it. Politics will never save us, but we keep falling into messianic language about our politicians and political candidates.
I also don’t think Obama has some sort of messianic complex, but he isn’t fighting it very hard either in the public sphere. Lots of language about belief, and from my/our point of view, that only serves to cheapen what we mean by “belief” – an existential trust, not just a loaded bet that this corrupt guy will be marginally better than the corrupt guy over there…
Hey, credit where credit is due. 🙂
I don’t actually think they’re all corrupt–I have strong personal reason to feel quite sure that McCain isn’t, I was equally sure of the congressman in our last district (a Democrat, as it happens, Mark Udall; I don’t agree with him on much, but I respect and appreciate him a great deal), and I’m sure there are others, if perhaps not many–but even those who aren’t are still sinners and limited just like the rest of us, and it’s still just a loaded bet.
Lots of language about belief, and from my/our point of view, that only serves to cheapen what we mean by “belief”
That’s a critical point, and one that people really need to hear. I’ve been increasingly troubled over all this of late . . .
Joyce, I just wish everyone saw it.