It was a dark and stormy time. A man who, in the past, had used violence in a failed attempt to overthrow the government and gain power, tried again using democratic means to gain a leadership position. Even before he gained power, he scapegoated certain ethnic groups and then used his portrayal of those groups to justify his seeking for more power. In addition, he showed significant disregard for the vulnerable and attacked some of the foundations of his nation's democracy.
And despite his shipping to warehouse particular ethnic groups and dissenters in harsh conditions, his people learned to tolerate, by both forgiving and forgetting, his societal transgressions and his authoritarian ways. And why did his people learn to tolerate him? It was because this man put his country first by fixing its economy.
Except for the very last sentence, which currently remains to be seen, the above description fits two national leaders. One leader is from an ugly past and the other is currently in power. And the question becomes, if the current leader's economic plans bring new riches to his country, will his people, who would be us Americans, learn to forgive and forget his attacks on democracy, on different ethnic groups of people, and on his dissenters.
Of course the man from the past that was described above is Adolf Hitler and the man currently in power is Trump. The point of this article is not to compare Trump with Hitler though some comparisons could easily be made with the Hitler of 1933. Rather, the point here is will we Americans embrace an ends justifies the means attitude towards Trump's plans should his economic plans work? In other words, will we Americans sell our democratic and other principles, which includes beliefs in diversity and equality, in exchange for our material comfort?
That question touches on the influence that our nation's two great institutions have on us. Those institutions are our democracy and the market place. Which institution holds the greatest sway over the affections of American people can be seen in which institution influences the other one the most. If the market place is more important to us than our democracy, then we could expect people to approve of a cutthroat seeking for governmental power and extreme efforts to maximize the centralization of one's power over the government. If democracy is more important to us, then we could expect the market place's distribution of wealth to be more, but not completely, egalitarian. And so is it our democratic principles or our wealth and materialism which are most important to us?
What allowed Hitler to gain and maintain power for some time in Germany? He revitalized the nation's economy. He brought back the good times for many people. He brought prosperity to those who were ethnically pure enough. And because he went beyond just alleviating the economic hardships that his nation was enduring at that time, people closed their eyes to the injustices he was just beginning to commit.
Is that what is happening here? Is Trump revitalizing the American economy with his use of tariffs and other means? Time will tell. But what we Americans need to ask ourselves here is this: Will we tolerate Trump's abuse of power and the injustices he is visiting on both democracy and certain groups of people if he makes the enough of the rest of us rich as he promised to do? We should note that he is currently promising tough times until his policies bear fruit. But will we sacrifice our belief in democratic principles and our concern for the vulnerable if we expect to eventually strike it rich under Trump?
Of course there will be some Americans who refuse to compromise their commitment to democracy even if Trump brings increased prosperity to them. But will enough Americans be so offended by Trump's trampling on our democratic principles and his cutting off of aid to the vulnerable so as to pressure the rest of our government officials into opposing him?
The above question being asked is even more important to us Christians. Why? It is because of all the New Testament passages that speak against the love of money. For example, in his first letter to Timothy, Paul writes the following (see I Timothy 6:9-10):
9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
How faithful, and note that very few if any of us are faithful enough, will we be to what the New Testament teaches about fairness, equality, and concern for the vulnerable should Trump's promise to make the nation wealthy come true? A measurement, and certainly not the only one, of our faithfulness to what the New Testament teaches about wealth can be seen in how we respond to Trump's agenda. As an old protest chant from the 1960s reminds us, 'the whole world is watching.'
No comments:
Post a Comment