Events in the news cry out for comment; there is much heated debate with little real dialog. Getting bogged down in the details might be an exercise in futility, rather it would be interesting to look at these times using concepts from my book “Light of Truth: Anticipating the Triumph of Righteousness” and the corresponding website. We will comment on values as exemplified by an elected political leader and how strongly this leader is supported. We find that one of the “Talking Points” pages on the website, “Ideologically Driven Processes,” explains these times very well.
Coloring an entire movement with the characteristics of one leader sometimes may be unfair, but in our political environment one leader has taken advantage of our strongly polarized society with no opposition from his supporters, in this case such colorization is warranted. If his supporters disagreed with him there would be public comments. This silence is confirmation of their support, even admiration, of their leader. His values and ideals have become their values and ideals.
This leader admires only those world leaders who are brutal dictators such as Kim Jong-un in North Korea and Vladimir Putin in Russia while he says unkind words about democratically elected ones such as Angela Merkel in Germany. These are the values admired by his silent supporters.
This leader forcibly takes young children from their families and locks them in cages. He has unkind things to say about women, those with handicaps, the free press, and minorities. These are the values admired by his silent supporters.
And there is more.
Why is there silence from his supporters? In order to get elected and reelected politicians need financial support which will dry up if they go against this polarizing leader. These politicians are afraid to speak their minds because if they do, there will not be enough funds to run a political campaign. The money they need comes from wealthy donors who have a particular ideology the leader espouses.
These wealthy donors have a set of values they believe in strongly and they are willing to give a large amount of money to further their values. To them these values are so important anything is acceptable as long as it enhances their values. Therefore they give money to this leader and those supporting him, all of whom have become beholden to the wealthy donors.
What is wrong with this? What is wrong with following strongly held beliefs? The problem is that everything needs a solid foundation. Just as we cannot build a house upon sand, we cannot build our life on a moral quicksand; there must be a firm moral foundation. When any goal becomes so important that morality is lost, the goal becomes unattainable. After this point there will be no way to evaluate decisions, no way to judge which is the proper course. Going astray is inevitable.
As an aside, for those working to counteract climate change the motivation is the health of Mother Earth. Everyone, even super-billionaires, depends on their environment for sustenance; therefore working to protect our environment for the good of humanity might be an acceptable foundation. However, this is not adequate because violent radicals would be unrestrained; a more enduring foundation would be to recognize that everyone has within them an actual spark of God;[1] He is literally within each thinking human being. With this truth as a moral foundation, protectors of Planet Earth will be well guided. With this as a moral foundation there will be a way to judge each proposed action: what effects will the action have, will it harm human beings who are indwelt by God?
How did this leader come into power? Because of the extremely unequal distribution of wealth in our society (and around the world), a significant segment has been disadvantaged and frustrated. These frustrations led them to vote for anybody promising to help them. Of those running for this office, one largely ignored these disadvantaged voters while the other made empty promises but cut taxes for the rich once elected.
Our polarized society needs to recognize the value of every human being; since everyone equally has within them a spark of God, everyone has value. God is no respecter of persons, He respects everyone equally. This truth needs to be incorporated into our greed-filled economic system, our overburdened welfare system, our immigration policies, our interpersonal relationships, and even into how we think about our sisters and brothers.
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Bible: I Corinthians 3,16 ↑