There has been almost too much to speak about over the past week. I have experienced everything from intense anger to an acceptance which strangely leads to hope. Judging by the panoply of reactions throughout the country, it is quite clear that we do not know how to think about the state of our nation. Frenzied emotions and political opportunism have muddied the waters, and I am worried the pace of current events will obscure the real significance.
I am still processing things myself and am not immune to being swept away to dramatic conclusions. All the same, I will attempt to trace some line of my thinking. Perhaps some will find it helpful.
As I have said, the first emotion that arose in me was anger. It peaked three times. Initially, with the Georgia election. Then with the Capitol mob. And finally, with the censorship of Big Tech. The first two flow from the same source. After the November election, I had some hope for the future of American politics. That is not to say that future would necessarily be smooth sailing. Nonetheless, there was what I thought to be a positive current in political landscape. Conservatives were showing a spine. Young progressives may have crazy ideas, but they are at least a good deal more honest than the empty suits that hold congressional power.
And then, of course, Republicans tank as winnable an election as you could ask for. Undoubtedly, the manner of President’s Trump’s election challenge put the party in a precarious position. Still, if not for the complete ineptitude on the matter of the stimulus checks, it would not have mattered. The president and Senator McConnell together could not have handled it more poorly. Nancy Pelosi had held up COVID relief for months, yet it would be the Republican Senate candidates who took the brunt of the blow.
So I was already mad, and then Wednesday happened. As with most people, the emotions came before the facts. This is equally true of the media which is why I don’t think either side has sufficiently worked through the problems. One of the first things that became obvious was that this breach of sanity would be used to beat conservatives for the next four years (and maybe longer). The left has always thought Trump supporters were dangerous radicals. Now it has some proof. Knowing this would happen was the primary source of my frustration, but I now think my original reaction was rather misplaced. I was angry at the optics but more attention should have been given to the act itself.
When we look closer, I think we see the true crisis of our country. The mainstream narrative is that Trump has driven his supporters to violence on the wings of crazy conspiracy theories. Naturally, this has spawned a tide of tech censorship which everyone should find reprehensible. Regardless, the idea itself is either deeply naïve or simply dishonest. There are basically two types of Trump supporter, and it is important to distinguish between them.
The first and vast majority are on the president’s side because he has shown himself to be on their side. They (and count me among them) are tired of the ‘elites’ of this country treating them with utter scorn. Democratic politicians talk out of both sides of their mouths. They pander for the votes of middle America while hating everything they stand for. Trump was, seemingly, the last defense for American values. He wasn’t some spineless neoconservative only worried about free markets; he was willing to battle on the level of culture.
This is the type of person who will travel to a rally in DC in support of Donald Trump (and America). It is also not the type who raided the Capitol. There is another kind who are simply motivated by hatred of the left. The president says mean things about the media, so he is the president for them. It has bred a wave of fanaticism, a cult of personality. Let me be clear, this is not the majority, not even close. I do, however, think it is a much larger group than I had accounted for.
One can understand how these two types are not entirely distinct, either. Pushed hard enough, the former becomes the latter. The feeling of discontent has been growing for a while now. How we can keep on living like this is a legitimate question. Thus far, the concerns have been distant enough that we have continued on, but they have been inching nearer all of the time. This intersection of fear and anger has left conservatives in a tight place.
I sympathize with the first group of Trump supporters. All the same, it is that group that has the most to think about. There will always be radicals. In dark times, they are more obvious. Those who support the president must think clearly about what we are fighting for. It isn’t always clear, but either they are eternal values or they are nothing. If we don’t recognize them as such, we will be led astray by fallible human beings. There are only two ways forward: the slow return to paganism or to let the Word of God speak in every aspect of life.
If you think religion stands apart from politics, remember that the earliest Christian martyrs were not religious, but political martyrs. The Romans did not care in the least what god you worshipped. It was the announcement of the Lord Jesus Christ, an authority greater than Caesar, that sent them to the grave. Of this Jesus Christ, it is said, “Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore” (Isaiah 9:7).
If we have any cause for hope, it is here. Jesus is Lord. If we have any cause for dread, it is here as well. He reigns with justice and righteousness. We, however, allow millions of babies to be slaughtered in the womb, and we profane the authority of the Creator at every turn. I am becoming more convinced every day that we have come to the end of the West. I am less convinced that it is a bad thing. Christ will build his church and his kingdom. If we do not order ourselves under his reign, our human leaders will fail us and our best intentions will come to nothing.
The Free Narnian 