The 20th century American social activist Dorothy Day is credited with once having said in regard to a looming national election, “Don’t vote – it will just encourage them!”
Perhaps today more than ever there are many who lament our nation’s political process and often bitter cultural partisanship. Maybe we smile at Dorothy Day’s clever, if also cynical, political humor.
However, I wonder if the reason so many Americans feel generally discouraged about our political process and elected leaders is because we have unrealistic expectations of them. Of course our nation was founded on the guiding principles of the right to self-government, freedom, and equality for all. And our national history is largely one of painstaking struggle forward in the fulfillment of these ideals. Certainly ideals more than personal ambition should fuel the energies of those who seek elected office.
Still, I sense the lurking temptation to despair, resignation and anger whenever our idealism overwhelms our realism. Governments are human institutions, and elected officials are as prone to all the human foibles as the rest of us. Inevitably we will be disappointed in the political process from time to time. I think this recognition should encourage rather than discourage our participation in the process, and at the same time offer Christians the wisdom to remember that salvation does not come from any human source.
By now we are well into another national election cycle. I have found the winter presidential primaries for both national political parties to be of great interest. I have also been generally impressed with the caliber of the candidates who, despite inevitable imperfection, are nevertheless dedicated to the highest level of public service. I am hopeful - though not necessarily expectant - that the run-up to the November election this year will be free from much of the rancor and bitterness of the past several presidential campaigns. Frankly, I have been disappointed that political rancor and strident partisanship can occasionally infect even the church and her leaders around national elections.
In recent days I have come across two good articles on the relative importance of politics for Christians. What I find most striking in these pieces is that while I strongly suspect that each is written from a different political perspective, the message is the same: politics is important but not ultimate.
Christian columnist Marvin Olasky’s article is entitled, “Nothing Works: But Don’t Sell the Farm Because God Does.” Looking ahead to this political year 2008 for American culture he writes, “Many Christians will be caught up in the excitement. It is important to care about politics. It’s even more important not to care too deeply.” Reminding us that our ultimate hope is found in Christ and Christ alone, Olasky notes that if we believe politics will fix all our problems then we have made a lie of our faith.
Similarly, Carol Zaleski, professor of world religions at Smith College, has written on the personal danger of investing too much into politics. Refreshingly candid, she reflects back on an earlier time in life when her idealism was “blighted by political passion. …I’m sobered to see how seldom my moments of political high dungeon produced anything beyond an unwholesome agitation of the spirit.”
Zaleski wisely offers a cautionary note: the end result of placing too much hope in politics is unrealistic utopianism. And Christianity is anything but utopian in its realistic awareness of humanity’s need for salvation from some power beyond humanity: “…The antidote to utopianism isn’t apathy, it is faith. Faith isn’t a fix. Faith isn’t sure it knows in detail what’s wrong with the world and how to repair it. Faith doesn’t drive out doubt, but sits well with honest ignorance as to how hunger and poverty and war and prejudice and disease and ugliness and cultural degeneration are to be eliminated. Faith helps us discern the limits of what any government can do to improve our fallen human condition. Faith saves us from being seduced by totalistic schemes. Faith teaches us that politics is not the only way to serve the polis. Faith enables us to make prudential judgments with a measure of humility and realistic sangfroid. The bumper sticker says, ‘If you are not outraged, you’re not paying attention,’ but faith would have us pay attention to the world’s ills without outrage. Commitment with detachment – it’s a difficult road to walk, and only faith makes it possible.”
I believe a healthy reflection on the relative significance of politics is appropriate in this season of intense media coverage and personal interest in the current presidential campaign. Pairing political commitment with a mature level of spiritual detachment is indeed “a difficult road to walk.” But we remember that this Lenten season leads us down an even more difficult road into Holy Week where ultimate power and freedom is found through the cross of Jesus.
The gospels give ample evidence that Jesus’ disciples had invested their images and hopes of the coming Messiah with much political power. They did not understand at first why he kept telling them that his walk to Jerusalem would climax in great suffering, rejection, and the conviction and crucifixion of a common criminal. “Heaven forbid it!” cried Peter. Such a fate was not the destiny of a national leader or political hero! We empty the cross of its power if we assume our salvation comes from any other kind of human-centered institutions or personal attachments.
I am very grateful to share in ministry with a congregation that is overwhelmingly socially conscientious, civic-minded, and politically aware. I also give thanks and am proud that our parish boasts many who are dedicated to public service. We ought always to appreciate the sacrifices and dedication of our political leaders and elected officials here locally and nationally. We would do well also to recognize in humility how much easier it is to criticize from the sidelines than to lead from the playing field.
Each Sunday we pray for our nation’s elected officials. It is important that we do so. I imagine it means a lot to these leaders to know that so many around the country are praying for them, and I believe such prayers do indeed have some mysterious effect in ways that may be difficult to discern at times. But there are other prayers that we pray on Sunday too, not least being the Great Thanksgiving wherein we acknowledge that through the cross and resurrection of Jesus we are made “worthy to stand” before God. I have never heard a politician promise to deliver that! As Anglican bishop and biblical scholar N.T. Wright shares, “discovering the difference between what law cannot achieve and what God can and does achieve is one of the great arts of being human, and of being Christian.”
Looking ahead to the next nine months, we should pray for wisdom in choosing the best persons to lead our country into the uncertain years ahead. Pray too for that faith that saves us from an unhealthy personal investment in the outcomes of these elections. Mainly pray for the faith that saves. It is not found in political affiliations or even in the best elected officials but only in Jesus Christ. From our vantage point his salvation may not look at all like victory but rather like death. But it is none other than the source of life, and through the cross we find the one and only concern of ultimate importance.