Musing 11

I’ve had a long journey in my political views. From being a full-on neo-con, die hard Republican, to appreciating the Dixiecrats of the first half of the 20th century and the Neo-Orthodox Christians who embraced a Christian Socialism like the Niebuhr brothers, and now to my status as “fully disgusted with all the politicians”, there are a lot of thoughts and reflections I’ve had on the relationship between theology and politics.

On the one hand, there is the pragmatic and recognizing that in a world broken by sin, we rarely, if ever have perfect choices. On the other, especially as a Reformed Christian, it is that recognition of the brokenness of the world that drives much of the disillusionment I’ve had with all parties (even those who wish to portray themselves as carrying Christian values).

As a Presbyterian, the recognition of total depravity means that all men are equally broken in their sinfulness. While yes, some people have had God’s restraining grace removed from their lives, I outside the saving grace of God, would be just as much a sinner as anyone else, or worse.

And so this brings us to the core problem in American politics - too often there is a functional assumption of “this guy has the right letter by his name, so whatever ‘wrongs’ are done are actually ok”. How often have we seen a Republican rightly criticize a Democrat (or vice versa), only to have the allies of the person criticized do all sorts of mental gymnastics to justify whatever sin was happening?

The reality is that the filters that we are trained to use by our milieu are at best a parallel set of concerns for us Christians, and at worst, overtly anti-Christian. Growing up in a very red area, the mantra is always “small government is best, any legislation or taxation at all beyond the bare minimum is bad”, and the reality is that such a mindset is at its core, a departure from Christian thoughts on governing well. Any thoughtful application of historic Christian anthropology is going to necessitate recognition that where sin exists, the government has the responsibility to punish it and through that punishment bring fear to the evildoers. (as an aside for a future thought, on the right wing, we see little talk of the corollary responsibility of rewarding righteousness as equally necessary for governing well.)

Often times, the pushback on the right is rooted in Romans 7, where we’re told that sin brings about more sin by corruption of the Law, and if sin can do that with God’s perfect law, how much more can it bring forth more sin through using imperfect human laws? And sure, there is validity in this concern. Even today how often do we hear of people using legal loopholes to their own benefit and disgust of everyone else?

But what’s most concerning to me has been how often I hear people complain about how workers are oppressed by corporations, but when gov’t actually takes steps to address those wrongs (for example, by increasing penalties for wage theft), they immediately claim such work is onerous on business or is gov’t overreach.

In response, I think we should analyze new legislation through the following lens :

• does it address the root problem or a symptom?
• is it the minimum legislation needed to actually address the root problem?
• have we sought to figure out how sin can take advantage of this law and taken countermeasures against it?

Too often, we tailor legislation to address symptoms of problems rather than the root issue. Sometimes it’s because addressing the root problem is actually unenforceable by the gov’t (example - the problem is ultimately international, not domestic; many other such reasons exist) or truly would become burdensome on the people.

The second point plays into that concern - governmental overreach is a true problem, and one we should be mindful of. One of the temptations unique to gov’t officials is to make themselves gods in the way that the judges the Asaph decried in Psalm 82. Power is a siren song, and especially with how American government is structured, it is easy for power to quietly (and loudly) accumulate and in turn to raise up the holder of power as an object of affection or adoration. There is a reason Nebuchadnezzar was rendered insane, and we would do well to remember it.

The third point takes into account Romans 7. Sin will attempt to take advantage of any law that man comes up with to restrain sin in order to bring about more sin. So we should take time to analyze new legislation to see how malicious actors could take advantage of the law, then in turn cut off those routes in a reasonable way.