On the Wrong Side of History

I have dedicated this blog page over the years to my musings on topics of spiritual life and growth.  I think this posting fits into that criteria in that it is about the relentless march in this country from a predominately Christian Worldview, to a predominately secular worldview that is mildly tolerant or appreciative of the contribution the Christian Worldview, to a now a thoroughly pagan worldview(1) that sees and thus opposes Christianity as standing in the way of a "Progressive" future for this country.  Proof of this, in my mind, cannot be more clearly seen than the expression of the classic Christian virtues are noticeably more rare these days in American politics, and we now only nominate and elect pagans to the highest office in the land, the Presidency.  People ask, "How can you possibly vote for ... ?"  My answer is that I don't; I vote for the political philosophy and form of government that I believe will prosper this country and most benefit the middle and poverty-line class in this country.

I have tilted this posting "On the Wrong Side of History"(2) because the future belongs to the younger generation (younger than me anyway), and apparently most of the younger generation have become convinced that we need to shift left (toward socialism and away from capitalism- more this below).  The normative belief is that capitalism creates wealth disparity and is therefore evil, even in spite of the fact that the controlled capitalism of our  economic system has created the wealthiest country in the world.  Most in my generation understand that capitalism is not perfect but it works better that anything else.  The younger generation does not agree with this.  For the life of me, I do not know what they base that upon; nonetheless, it places us on the wrong side of history, because, if we don't fall off Progressive cliff this election, we probably will the next, barring any significant change in thinking of our young people.

America has always been on a continuum between liberal socialism and conservative free-market capitalism, between high taxes and low taxes, between wealth redistribution and wealth creation,  between big government that enforces wealth redistribution and small government that allows and incentivizes and provides people the opportunity to create their own wealth.  The liberal movements of the 20th century created much needed safety net program, but the Great Society movement of the 60's also created a permanent poverty class.  In theeh last half of the 20th Century, we threw trillions of dollars at poverty only to have poverty stay at or about 13%.  The 20th Century did not find the sweet spot between socialism and capitalism and, it seems to me, went too far to the left.  We act like we cannot learn from our past.    

With all that said, where does that leave me this election cycle.  Progressivism has the goal of fundamentally remaking America, when what I want is to find that sweet spot on the continuum, and it does not lie further to the left.  I want a government that gets out of the way and allows the economically deprived and the middle class grow and prosper, while watching out for those in need and those who cannot take care of themselves.  I think progressivism is more the problem than the solution.  The champion of progressivism is Kamala Harris: so, I don't think she is the answer.  The Democrats do not even talk about how to help the economy thrive; and I am not sure the new Democratic party can any longer help people prosper, given their platform priorities.  The Republicans have had some success with that in this recent administration, and I think the Republicans at least have a "get out of the way and let people prosper" attitude.  I think the Republicans have the best answer for the future of this country.   So, as far has Trump is concerned, my only choice is to do what I did during the last presidential election, which was to hold my nose and vote.  It is a decision on which "pagan" is best for the people of this county. 

 

(1) My thanks to Fr. Ross Guthrie who in a recent sermon helped me understand this transition from simply post-Christian to full-blown paganism and what that really means to us.  

(2) Barrack Obama was the first one I heard to who say that Conservatives were on the wrong side of history.  He also said that he was going to fundamentally change America.  I think that was his objective but was checked by the checks and balances of our system.