Further Wonderings

So….Last week I read an article on the devolution of conservatism in the U.S.  It was helpful to me in sorting out the recent history of the conservative movement in this country.  And it also helped me to think through further the relationship between the devolution of conservatism and the rise of right wing Christianity’s out of balance influence over the politics of our country.  Here’s the link:

 I Thought I Understood the American Right. Trump Proved Me Wrong.   

 While the article sited above does not exactly say it, the way I see it is that as conservatism as a political movement devolved into what it has become, Fundamentalism, Conservative Christianity, Right Wing Christianity evolved into what it is now.  The two movements are enmeshed almost like conjoined twins. One cannot really stand without the other.  As one goes, so does the other.  

My response to Trump’s “win” and all that has followed it has been to join the Resistance in the ways available to me.  So I have gotten involved in the group, Indivisible.  There are hundreds of us here in Boise involved.  The main strategy of the movement is to actively oppose much of Trump’s and the Republican Congress’s agenda.  That is done by making mass phone calls, sending mass emails, showing up in teams at the local offices of our MoC, town hall meetings, marches, etc.  The idea of it is based on the partially successful efforts of the Tea Party that formed in opposition to all things Obama.  So we present a constant questioning and protesting presence, just as the Tea Party has done.  However, we strive to be civil, which I don’t think the Tea Party ever cared much about.  I do find it a bit strange to be associated with an organization that models itself after the Tea Party.  It’s unsettling and somewhat unsatisfying, although I will stick with it until something else comes along.  This is where my further wonderings come in to play.  

The only thing I get about the far right religious efforts to insert itself into political goings on is the desire to offer something “spiritual” into the conversation.  Where they have gone with that is beyond the pale.  But I do believe that the earliest of motivations lay somewhere in that that idea.  The problem with all of that is that politics have been hijacked by conservative Christianity.  There is no other “spiritual” point of view that has any home or means of expression in today’s political discourse.  Almost all the political activity I have been involved in over the years and today has been devoid of any reference or fragrance of anything remotely “spiritual”.  Nothing beyond what can be seen and heard and smelled and held in the hand for us lefty progressive types.  

I believe that the way forward for all of us, if we are to survive as a democracy and not become a real life embodiment of “The Handmaids’ Tale”, is for the left and center to not just oppose, oppose, oppose.  That is necessary and I will continue doing it.  It is also to embrace and present an alternative narrative that may appeal to people not attracted to the alt-right/conservative Christian enabled vision of our country but perhaps don’t know where to put their loyalties in our present enviornment.  What that means is that the  loyal opposition needs to figure out a way to present a vision that includes hope and the possibility of a political ideology that has room for God or an acknowledgement that we are more than just our intellects or something beyond our lefty way of being “reasonable”. The Christian Left is an organization that puts forward a very different idea about what Christianity is all about and how it might be useful in these times. Here is the link.

 

 

 

How We Got Here (I think and fear…)

Here we are in the 4th month of this presidency and it is hard to imagine that things could be more crazy and chaotic.  If it is reasonable to assume that a large contingent of Trump supporters are in that category of people who call themselves Christians and are referred to as Fundamentalists, Right Wing Christians, etc., then it is reasonable that these people’s religious beliefs are the reason they voted for him. (Clearly this group is not the only group that supported Trump, but just hang in there with me for a moment.) The rest of us have been wringing our hands trying to figure out why people who call themselves Christians could support and vote for someone who is so obviously not Christian. And worse, is a philandering, sexual predator.  “What”, we ask ourselves, “is that all about?” “How does that make sense?” Or more to the point, “WTF???”

So here is my thought and my fear:  I believe that most right wing Christians supported him, not so much because he would help to bring about some right wing Christian nation where abortion is illegal and gay people have no rights and nobody has to pay for anybody else’s birth control.  That is only part of the picture.  I really believe, and this may seem crazy to say in public, that the real reason is that he represents what they think are prophesies in the Bible.  That the world is moving into the so called “end times” and that he is a part of that process.  Maybe somewhere in the Bible it says that an orange guy would come forth and lead us into Armageddon. I don’t know.  I think that the outlawing of abortion and the removal of civil rights and so forth is just the frosting on the celestial cake.  The real reason is Bible prophesy.  So….what that means is that a whole bunch of people have been willing to throw the rest of us under the proverbial bus in order to be “right”.  So they voted in large enough numbers in the swing states for a guy who will do considerable damage before all is said and done in order to uphold their narrow and fear filled beliefs: “Jesus loves us and not the rest of you because we will be gathered up in the Rapture and go up to heaven while the rest of you suckers languish down here on Earth”.  The truth is, of course, that this guy could lead us into Armageddon if his first few months in office is any indication.  Between his dealings with North Korea and his attempts to distance himself from Putin by bombing Syria, it just might happen.  But, golly, won’t it be interesting when there is no Rapture after all? What if what we wind up with is just a ruined world? A democracy in shambles and, in it’s place, we have a oligarchy lead by a bunch of rich white men? If that happens then:  you got some splainin” to do, Lucy.

I am hoping to continue with this theme in subsequent posts, with a view toward what I believe, those of us who do not fall into the category of Fundamental or Right Wing Christians or do and want to support sanity, can about all this.  And other wonderings.

 

 

Why?

Well, I am back with a try at blogging. I had one a few years ago, but gave it up because it felt like I was writing to an audience of one, me. I am hoping that this site will be easy to comment on, so that I don’t wind up talking to myself again. My other blog was called “Tweets from Wonderland”, which was not meant to be a harbinger of the future, which is now the unfortunate present.

I wrote a lot about politics and other sorrows. That topic has always been a passion for me. And that was back when politics was just politics. Now we have embarked on a season in which there seems to be a daily concerted effort to “render hell rational” to quote e.e. cummings. I have used(or maybe abused) Facebook to write about this mess we are in. But I have decided to go to this format again so that people can access my ravings more by choice than chance.

First blog post

This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do with it.