Why Neither Obama Nor McCain Will Save Us

By John W. Whitehead - The Rutherford Institute - Aug. 27, 2008

"In daily life, it's a lack of understanding about government that prompts people to call Congress when they want the dog catcher, or to complain to a local council member about a federal tax change. Over time, it can add up to disenfranchised and apathetic citizens." — "Ignorance of History Is No Joke" (CBS News, July 3, 2003)

The problems Americans currently face seem insurmountable, and they only appear to worsen at every turn: the deepening moral and spiritual crisis, the erosion of civil liberties, militarism and perpetual war, our declining economy, joblessness, homelessness, the mortgage crisis, a disaffected youth, crime, violence and so on. But let's be honest: it's neither the Republicans' nor the Democrats' fault that we're in such a mess today.

We have no one but ourselves to blame.

We've gotten the government—and the society—we deserve. But what did we do to deserve this bloated, power-hungry, self-serving, war-mongering bureaucracy? How did our straight-laced Puritan nation of freedom-loving citizens give way to a self-absorbed, entertainment-obsessed society?

The answer is simple: we stopped caring, and we stopped paying attention. Consciously or unconsciously, we gave up on the American Dream and, in so doing, lost our way. The facts speak for themselves. Most Americans have virtually no idea what America stands for and little idea how their government should function. Seventy percent of American adults cannot name their senators or congressmen. Nearly a quarter can't name a single right guaranteed in the First Amendment. Two-thirds can't name the three branches of government.

A poll taken several years ago reveals that Americans are more familiar with the Seven Dwarfs, Three Stooges, Harry Potter, Homer Simpson and Superman than the news of the day, world leaders or classic literature. And although America spends in excess of $40 billion annually on public education, in comparing the literacy level of adults in seventeen industrialized countries, America is number ten on the list. If knowledge of self-government and freedom are the source of our democracy, then we are in serious danger as a country.

The American Dream was once encapsulated in the hope of freedom, the right to compete in a free market and the right to own a parcel of land that you could call your own. Now, that once noble dream has been reduced to a radical individualism that is best symbolized by cell phones and shopping in mega-malls.

In fact, Americans now spend more time in malls shopping than in churches or synagogues. By 1987, America had more malls than high schools. As sociologist Sharon Zukin writes, "In a society where we no longer have contact with nature or beauty in our daily lives, shopping is one of the few ways we are left to create a sense of ultimate value."

This "sense of ultimate value" used to be found in community life and in religion. But community life has collapsed so much that, as author Alex Marshall observes, Americans live "in one of the loneliest societies on the earth." Church groups, union memberships, dinners at home with friends, bridge clubs, etc., have been all but decimated, only to be replaced by social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace that keep users at arm's reach and interacting on their own terms. Corner groceries and drugstores, owned by people who actually work and live in the community, have generally disappeared and been replaced by the blandness of corporate chain stores.

Even religion offers scant comfort anymore. Indeed, there is little spiritual depth to the politically correct, all-inclusive theology that passes for civil religion today. And Christian fundamentalism (and its political offshoot, the Christian Right), with its emphasis on amassing power and establishing a theocracy, is certainly not an answer to the American spiritual crisis.

Little surprise, then, that many Americans have turned to politics with an almost religious zeal as the answer to what ails the nation. "Change" and "Believe" campaign slogans have been trotted out, only to be eagerly picked up and chanted like religious mantras. However, we'd do well to remember that governmental bureaucracy is fervently anti-change. As for trusting or believing in a politician, James Madison put it best when he pointed out that "if men were angels, no government would be necessary."

If there is to be any real hope for change, it rests, as it always has, in "we the people" because while we may be a large part of the problem, we are also the solution. And there is great power in this.

Each generation of Americans faces the responsibility of protecting and defending the Constitution. It may be comforting to think that the problems facing America could be fixed by the next presidential election. But that is not going to happen. Neither Obama nor McCain will save us.

Any real, lasting change will have to come from within you and me—not from a political savior. Thus, if we want change, it is going to take all of us pulling together, working in our communities, addressing our all-too-real human needs.

We need to recapture the spirit of that ragtag band of revolutionaries who beat back the British Empire and gave us the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. That will mean turning off the television, switching off the computer screen, learning more about our history and getting educated on the basics of our government and Constitution.

Then we need to act on what we know. It may start with voting, but that's the least we can do. Active, direct citizen participation at every level—local, state and federal—is the only real hope for change. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "We need to be the change we wish to see in the world."

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[by permission]

Read John Whitehead's other columns here.

The Meaning of Rick Warren and the Obama-McCain Interviews

By John W. Whitehead - The Rutherford Institute - Aug. 22, 2008

"I have never been considered a part of the religious right, because I don’t believe politics is the most effective way to change the world. Although public service can be a noble profession, and I believe it is our responsibility to vote, I don’t have much faith in government solutions, given the track record." — Rick Warren

The recent Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency was a wash. Both candidates, who claim to be Christians, spent much of their time pandering to the nearly three million television viewers who tuned in. But in terms of what presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama had to say, their responses were largely lacking in content.

However, the Saddleback Forum wasn’t insignificant. Its significance has less to do with what the two candidates had to say than in what the person asking the questions, Pastor Rick Warren, signifies for the future of Christianity in America.

The fact that it was Warren and not James Dobson, the Christian Right’s de facto Godfather, is particularly telling. It speaks of a decided shift away from the rigid, right-wing mindset that has dominated evangelical Christianity in America over the past three decades. Warren, pastor of the 23,000-member Saddleback Church in California and the best-selling author of The Purpose-Driven Life, seems to be about as far as you can get from the stigma of the Christian Right while still calling himself an evangelical Christian.

The Christian Right, represented by such prominent figures as Dobson, Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell, among others, has long stood for the erection of a Christian State. As David Kuo, who served as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush documents in his book Tempting Faith, these Christian leaders worked hard to maintain ties to the Bush White House, complete with weekly conference calls to keep them updated on every facet of the president’s policy and political agenda.

However, the dismal failure of the George W. Bush presidency has led inevitably to the decline of the Christian Right—and can be credited with contributing to Warren’s rise to prominence. According to a 2005 Nation article, Warren “disassociates himself from the religious right, noting that he shares its position on social issues but doesn’t want to focus on them. He focuses on poverty, disease and aid to Africa.”

It’s not difficult to see why Warren, a mainline evangelical in the Billy Graham mold, is enjoying such popularity. Disillusioned by the power-hawking, war-mongering of the Christian Right, the nation’s 80 million evangelical Christians would have little trouble with the feel-good Christianity that Warren sells—non-confrontational, congenial and polite. That isn’t to say that it lacks substance, merely controversy.

As a recent Time article observed, like Graham, Warren “projects an authenticity that has helped him forge an exquisite set of political connections—in the White House, on both sides of the legislative aisle and abroad. And he is both leading and riding the newest wave of change in the Evangelical community: an expansion beyond social conservatism to causes such as battling poverty, opposing torture and combating global warming. The movement has loosened the hold of religious-right leaders on ordinary Evangelicals and created an opportunity for Warren, who has lent his prominent voice to many of the new concerns.”

Warren has avoided much that is controversial, such as abortion and gay marriage (what he refers to as “sin issues”). Instead, Warren focuses on issues that “unite,” such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate change and human rights. Warren is, whether consciously or unconsciously, shifting the national faith dialogue back to a pre-Reagan era, before the small group of leaders that have come to dominate the Christian Right turned Christianity into a synonym for right-wing theocracy.

Sidestepping the siren call of politics, Warren has taken aim at what he calls the “five global giants”: spiritual emptiness, selfish leadership, hunger, sickness and illiteracy. Empowered by his publishing success and with the support of his megachurch, he launched his PEACE initiative—an acronym for promote reconciliation; equip servant leaders; assist the poor; care for the sick; educate the next generation. Since coming up with the idea, he has taken his PEACE plan global, with Rwanda as his testing ground.

Warren is now being looked upon as America’s pastor. Suddenly, Christianity appears somewhat appealing again. Yet while there is much to commend this so-called New Evangelicalism, with its rejection of politics as the answer and its emphasis on carrying out Jesus’ mandate to care for the poor and helpless, there is also an important lesson to be learned. The rise of the Christian Right came about at a time when the evangelical church in America was doing its best to be non-controversial and inoffensive. The evangelical church’s subsequent failure to morally impact the culture and the legalizing of abortion can be directly attributed to the emergence of the Christian Right.

The Christian Right was, without a doubt, a semi-militant reaction to a society that seemed to be lacking a moral compass. And as journalist Chris Hedges points out in his book American Fascists, if a real crisis again arose in this country (such as another terrorist attack), it would not take much for the country to revert back to such a militant fundamentalism.

This brings us to the current presidential election. No matter who ascends to the White House, it’s clear that Christians will not enjoy the kind of access they laid claim to during the Bush administration—whatever good it did them. For example, abortions didn’t decline under Bush, and it’s doubtful whether they would under either Obama or McCain.

The lesson to be learned is this: what is needed now is not a return to the overly polite Christianity of the pre-Reagan era. Nor is it the politically charged Christianity of the Religious Right, but a brand of Christianity that does not shy away from speaking truth to power. In other words, the type of Christianity Jesus practiced.

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[by permission]
Read John Whitehead's other columns here.