I've Heard This Before

Friend.

It occurred to me back in August that the sensations hitting my nervous system from the political arena were familiar.

Very.

Familiar.

I couldn’t put my finger on it right away, but everytime I read something about the candidates or heard either of the candidates speaking OR heard either of their more staunch supporters speaking … I had this feeling deep down inside that “I had experienced this” and the resulting feelings before.

And then it hit me - “fear”.

Fear?

Yes, fear - both “sides” were trying to generate fear in my heart in an effort to win my allegiance and my vote.

Regardless of where we stand on the political spectrum, I think we can all admit that “fear” wins elections.

I mean, think about it.

Donald Trump? He said again and again that if Kamala Harris won, the United States would turn into “Venezuala” and there would be drugs on every corner. We’d experience more crime, more horror, more terror than ever before. People will eat our pets, we’ll be overriden with crime - the world would most certainly end.

And.

Kamala Harris? She said again and again that if Donald Trump were to win, we’d go backwards 50+ years, racism will run rampant, etc. A fear began to circulate that we’d be like a modern day Nazi Germany with concentration camps for non-MAGA voters; Project 2025, etc.

Regardless of how much “truth” may or may not be present in either of the arguments, the purpose of both messages is the same - “Vote for me and that won’t happen. I’ll save you. I’ll make everything OK.”

It struck me that this was the message I grew up with in the (Evangelical) church, an institution I’ve grown to distrust and become very wary of …

“If you read that, the Devil will get into your life.”

“Premarital sex is evil in God’s eyes, stay away.”

“If you watch that, you’re not really of God.”

“Here’s what you need to believe - believe these things and you’ll go to heaven when you die.”

“Don’t believe them? You’ll go to hell.”

By the time I got to the end of seminary, I was scared to death of everything that wasn’t “of God” and everything I was “warned about” by teachers, professors, pastors, authors, people who knew better than me - I was super into Christian movies, had Christian music blasting all the time, put my Green Day albums away, steered clear of tarot cards, “R”-rated movies, and anything else that might be an “entry point” for the Devil.

And this fear?

It kept me going back to church.

It kept me praying.

It kept me tithing.

It kept me reading my Bible.

It kept me in ministry.

… It kept me from “casting my vote” (so to speak) for anything that came remotely close to being “of the Devil” as I “put my faith” and all my eggs into the “Jesus basket” - the only one who could save me.

Yes - this year’s election really magnified (and this is my take, it doesn’t need to be yours) that both cadidates preyed on my fears and presented me with the promise of a better future just as the church did for so many years, all in an effort to win my vote.

And what does this do?

Sure, it helps one person win - the one who can scare people the most and generate the most fear is usually the one who wins - and it (maybe, sometimes) makes life “better” for select groups of people (rarely for all people, though).

BUT.

It also cements division into place, doesn’t it?

The election is over, but …

We are still so, so divided.

Each side demonizes the other.

Both sides call the other side horrendous names.

Both sides degrade the other.

Both sides say we need to fear the other side.

The people on each side share a “common enemy” in the other side, and that shared enemy makes them feel stronger and more right and more justified in their anger, judgment and (let’s face it) hatred.

Sigh.

The political system is quite broken and (again, in my opinion) both “parties” have much work to do before the next election season rolls around.

And me?

My time in the church taught me to distrust systems that prey on and exploit my fears in an effort to gain my allegiance. When I began to “deconstruct” and rethink my faith and what I belived, I learned that I was lied to - sometimes information was purposely witheld from me and other times I was filled with fears that were unrealistic and ridiculous … fears that (literally) controlled my life.

And so … I’m not sure where that leaves me, to be honest.

Like.

I’m wrestling with whether or not we can truly “love our enemies” when we vote for them to lose, (consciously or subconsciously) long for them to be disgraced, when we take in message after message after message about how evil they are, how we need to defeat them.

I’m wrestling with what the line is between stating genuine fears to create genuine awareness of real issues AND enflaming those fears and exploiting them in order to gain something from people - votes, allegiance, etc.

I’m wrestling with how easy it is to mock people on “the other side” and look down on them, thinking “our side” and our beliefs and values are superior.

I’m wrestling with whether this political system really works.

I’m wrestling with how I fit in it.

I’m wrestling with … how to move forward now that the 2024 Election is over, and how to “be” in these times. Do I want to continue being angry? Arguing? Judging?

OR.

Do I want to find another way?

I’ve been mentioning this, but I’ve been doing a lot of reading about “Oneness” and “Unity” and “Interconnection” and “Bridge Building”. It’s a new world for me, but thankfully there are many voices out there from various walks of life who have been doing this work for a long, long time.