Catholic and Enjoying It!
Trying to gauge what is happening in our country right now is dicey stuff. In cyberspace, what I’m seeing from the winners is an idea-free “F— you. Now you sons are bitches are going to pay”. It’s all about revenge, payback, and evening the score with whoever the culture war enemy is. There is a curious inability to grasp that they are the winners and a tendency to whipsaw between the narrative of past perceived slights and oppression and glee over a newfound sense of power (all, of course, channeled through the hands of the Dear Leader, since the voters have no more power now than they did before.) General tenor: He will set things right. He will destroy the Sons of Darkness.
What I’m seeing from the losers in cyberspace is a mixture of fear, shock, amazement, contempt, defiance and a sort of “We are trapped in room with these people and they have knives and are muttering about revenge, so let’s try to speak in an even voice and not do anything to set them off.”
Two Americas woke up in the same bed on November 9 and are trying to figure out if they can make it work for the sake of the children and if hubby will sober up and not start beating the wife. The wife is already taking to the streets to burn her bra and tell the world that her husband is a louse. We’ll see if that cools down into intelligent resistance to the various terrible ideas Trump has proposed or if it snowballs into stupid counter-productive violence. I’m all for peaceful protest, which is as American as apple pie. But if the anti-Trumpers start shooting or looting, they are no different in my eyes than the goons who were threatening to open fire if Trump lost.
On the bright side, Trump and Clinton (and Obama) have all given genuinely conciliatory speeches and are trying to get people to work toward some kind of common good. The standard Trump sets for his followers, in particular, will mean a lot and I’m grateful that he seems to be off to a good start in that regard.
My own approach is, as near as I can do it, modeled on St. Paul’s advice: ”
If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” .No, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Ro 12:18–21).
This means, among other things, meeting the gloaters and the hate-filled winners with “Congratulations! You won! Be happy! Why are you still so angry?” This I’ve already had opportunity to do on a few occasions from people calling from expulsion from the Church and America as they feel their oats.
On the other hand, it means saying to protesters, “Knock yourself out objecting to Trump, but keep it peaceful.” Above all, it means, “Overcome evil with good.” Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who do evil to you. If they are horrible, be better than them.
One of the contretemps now facing those of us on the losing side of this contest is what we should wish for Trump. It’s rather like what confronted conservatives in 2008 and turned their blood to gall for eight years. The wrong approach was taken by Rush Limbaugh (and almost the entirety of the rest of the Right) when he said of Obama, “I hope he fails.” I think that wish is the cardinal mistake the madhouse of conservatism made. It led to a revanchist, obstructionist hatred of Obama that it has still not overcome. If Obama says it or does it, Good Conservatives and Christians hate it and him and always look for some way to put the darkest construction on it. The itching, thirsty need to hate Obama with all one’s heart, soul, mind and strength and to hate those who do not hate Obama as one hates Obama has led to the curious situation where any attempt to extend Christian charity to the man place you under suspicion that you are not really a Christian. That will .poison our politics even more if the Left embraces it too. Here’s why:
Scripture warns that one of the works of the flesh is “party spirit” (Galatians 5:20). In the Church, that spirit is the engine of heresy and schism. In the life of nations, it is, when swollen and inflamed as it is now, a disease that can cause fools to cease caring that the ship is sinking just so long as they can bury their sword in one more crewmate’s guts before they all drown. Vengeance becomes more important than the common good.
Now it is perfectly true that, in the words of Lydia McGrew, “Trump doesn’t cease to be a despicable buffoon and scoundrel just because he won, and I don’t believe Christians are obligated to stop saying so.” Indeed, if Trump performs as badly as prudence shouts he is going to, it will often be our Christian duty to protest the evils he means to do.
But that cannot be where we start. You don’t begin a quest for the common good by putting up your dukes and pledging to deny that we have anything in common. Do we have every reason to think Trump will make a complete dog’s breakfast of the common good? Of course. But the command is to wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Be prepared for the worst, but hope for something better. And when some good is done–like f’rinstance his concilatory acceptance speech–be glad about it. Don’t eager look for ways to see evil in it. This is great evil to our civic culture that the Right’s obsession with Obama hatred has done. It has borne out the truth of what C.S. Lewis warned of when he wrote during WWII:
Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything — God and our friends and ourselves included — as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.
If we go that route, we may well get what we want: our enemies severed head raised in triumph, followed immediately by the icy cold of the ship of state disappearing beneath the waves under our feet. Our goal is the Common Good, not the exaltation of party spirit over all. Love your enemies.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
“May they prosper who love you!
Peace be within your walls,
and security within your towers!”
For my brethren and companions’ sake
I will say, “Peace be within you!”
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your good. (Ps 122:6–9).
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