You spend your whole life…

You grow up your entire life thinking one thing. Everyone around you tells you this is the way it is, and you believe them. Why would they lie to you? You grow up believing homosexuality is a sin, abortion is rampant and evil, and war brings peace. Meanwhile, you hear your country, the United States, has been given the power by G_d to execute justice on the homosexuals, the pregnant teenagers, and the evildoers oppressing the impoverished masses. Eventually, as you grow older, you find out this just isn’t true. You find out that homosexual people are suffering, teen mothers have no one to care for them, and wars have only led to more wars against whoever the U.S. wants to own. So you do the logical thing: you change parties. Now, you are enlightened. No longer do you hate gays, you realize abortion is no fun for anyone but banning it solves nothing, and there is no way G_d wanted you to go to war in Iraq and probably not Afghanistan either. You join the revolt. What the Republicans do is evil. What the Democrats do is phenomenal. Suddenly, we need socialized medicine, the war in Iraq needs to end, stem cells are totally acceptable, big business is bad, and it is the U.S. government who has the burden to provide. You pledge your allegiance to the symbol of the freest, most prosperous, and most incredible nation on the planet. Without the Republican xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, and racism, you can affirm everything the U.S. does, as long as it’s not done by those bigoted conservatives.

You put a bumper sticker on your car or bike or binder that reads 01.20.09; the hope for a better world is all wrapped up in one day. On TV, the debates, the commercials, and the rhetoric woo you. The Religious Right is like a cornered dog or a kamikaze, ready to take any and all down with them. A shining knight in armor rides in for the rescue. He makes promise after promise. He will reverse everything, every problem. He incites the people; it will take every one of us to shape up and work hard to get the U.S. back on top. The economic engine is stalling, the three victories declared in Iraq have done little in the way of ending violence, and poor people everywhere are going without health care. There is so much to do; there are so many things that need to be done to solve this crisis, if only you had the money. At about the instant you thought it, the shining knight forks trillions of dollars over. At this moment, you look back and see how far you have come from those few bigoted ideas. Now, you care about the economy and the poor. You care about so much; you barely have time to think anymore. You learn the party rhetoric and recite it without remorse. This is it. Now that you are a Democrat, there is hope. You say to yourself, “Think of all the good that there is to be done. Think about all the people who can be saved!”

That’s when you stop yourself. Did you just say, “Think about all the people who can be saved”? After this, the questions start flying. Do you even want the U.S. to be back on top? Can prosperity really be measured by the stock market? How did all those poor people the government promises to help become poor in the first place? Why aren’t the Democrats ending the wars? Why aren’t they creating socialized medicine? Why are they acting suspiciously like Republicans when it comes to spending money in order to “stimulate” the economy? Why do they offer change you can “believe in”? Does believing in this change, this promise of hope, interfere with your belief in G_d? Does your hope in Obama interfere with your hope in Christ? Can you really serve a kingdom that does so many un-Christ-like things, whether it is led by Bush or Obama, and call yourself a citizen in the kingdom of G_d? Have you been serving two masters this entire time, hating G_d and loving the U.S.?

As you begin to answer these questions, you begin to see the way the system works and the way it has fooled you for years. You realize the parties exist to give people piece of mind. Like some kind of bizarre “choose your own ending” children’s book, the conclusion (American foreign and domestic dominance) has been written. Now it’s our turn to choose which way we get to this end, yet you wonder if Jesus meant what he said when he instructed his disciples to be servants. You wonder if Jesus meant what he said when he told us to love our enemies. You wonder if Jesus meant anything. He must have, but the people who claim to follow him don’t act like he did. War, stratification, gentrification, the American Dream, these are bipartisan goals. What do you do? You cannot follow G_d and the opulence of American culture. To join one party is to deny Christ; to join the other already did you no good. Should you try to reform what seems like the most reformable party? No, for that would only be taking power when you were told to serve. What should you do?

If the kingdoms of this world are no longer sufficient, if they lie, steal, and kill for the sake of power, what can you do that would change the world for the better? Do the opposite. Take up your cross, daily. Give up your life, your political affiliation, your nationalism, and remember the Kingdom of G_d is among us. Leave behind everything. Believe in a new earth; believe not only that a new world is possible but necessary. The earth cannot afford the American Dream, the hope of Obama and Bush alike. However, it can afford the simplicity, self-sacrifice, and love of Jesus. Hopefully, we will learn that before it’s too late.

-ben adam

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