We Just Got Trumped
Today as I sit typing this I cannot help but be anxious. Trump has become president and this has shocked me to the core. I felt this same sense of anxiety when Brexit happened.
I think two things are clear about the vote. First, people are not happy with the current system. I heard in a podcast the other day that Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump were similar in that they both spoke to the disenfranchised. They both spoke to the people who couldn't stand the system. Politics is changing. Whether for the better we do not know but it is changing. The freight train has left the station and there is nothing we can do to stop it.
The question for me now is what type of politics are we creating? Donald Trump's tag line "Make America Great Again" in principle talks about politics going back again. Going back to what it was in the 50s/60s. I can see how that can be appealing but, on the other side I can see how it can smell of prejudices and hatred. I think the conservative side has said the future of politics is in the past. It will be interesting to see where the future of politics comes from when others find their voice. I am sure in some things Donald Trump will be great, but in other areas he will fail because we cannot go back.
Second, marginalised sectors of our society need our attention. Whether it be vulnerable women, children, homosexuals, transgender, unwanted parenthood, black, white, hispanic, muslim, poor etc... These people are constantly in a battle for losing their rights. If Trump passes things through congress, it will impact these groups in particular. It is hard to see how such hard fought rights could be pushed aside. I think whatever happens on a macro level we are called to love our neighbours in the micro.
I wonder if God is in control of this? I wonder if Hillary had won would I have asked the same question? I wonder what the world will look like in 4 years? I do know that it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than a camel to pass through the eye of the needle. In the future the conservative American vote needs to be careful. It needs to not associate its wealth, its social status, its land, its country with the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God cannot disappoint us but politics can. Donald Trump is not Jesus (neither is any politician) and therefore cannot be the saviour of the world.
Maybe just maybe, as the deconstruction of the political system unfolds across the globe, we are slowly seeing a deconstruction of the traditional political powers of our world. Maybe Donald Trump brings life or maybe he brings death but, either way in the words of Bob Dylan "Times they are a changin".
I think two things are clear about the vote. First, people are not happy with the current system. I heard in a podcast the other day that Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump were similar in that they both spoke to the disenfranchised. They both spoke to the people who couldn't stand the system. Politics is changing. Whether for the better we do not know but it is changing. The freight train has left the station and there is nothing we can do to stop it.
The question for me now is what type of politics are we creating? Donald Trump's tag line "Make America Great Again" in principle talks about politics going back again. Going back to what it was in the 50s/60s. I can see how that can be appealing but, on the other side I can see how it can smell of prejudices and hatred. I think the conservative side has said the future of politics is in the past. It will be interesting to see where the future of politics comes from when others find their voice. I am sure in some things Donald Trump will be great, but in other areas he will fail because we cannot go back.Second, marginalised sectors of our society need our attention. Whether it be vulnerable women, children, homosexuals, transgender, unwanted parenthood, black, white, hispanic, muslim, poor etc... These people are constantly in a battle for losing their rights. If Trump passes things through congress, it will impact these groups in particular. It is hard to see how such hard fought rights could be pushed aside. I think whatever happens on a macro level we are called to love our neighbours in the micro.
I wonder if God is in control of this? I wonder if Hillary had won would I have asked the same question? I wonder what the world will look like in 4 years? I do know that it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than a camel to pass through the eye of the needle. In the future the conservative American vote needs to be careful. It needs to not associate its wealth, its social status, its land, its country with the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God cannot disappoint us but politics can. Donald Trump is not Jesus (neither is any politician) and therefore cannot be the saviour of the world.
Maybe just maybe, as the deconstruction of the political system unfolds across the globe, we are slowly seeing a deconstruction of the traditional political powers of our world. Maybe Donald Trump brings life or maybe he brings death but, either way in the words of Bob Dylan "Times they are a changin".
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