Letter from Minneapolis

Christian issues aside (for the moment), there is a simple common sense aspect to this year’s election: Republicans have held complete power for 6 of the last 8 years (both Houses of Congress, The Presidency and most of The Supreme Court), and the Presidency for all 8. Considering how they’ve governed, there’s no question the country needs a change of direction. In fact, this year’s election may serve as a referendum on certain bankrupt ideological views on how to govern, and decide the future direction of our country for many years to come.

Specifically for Christians, the American political system splits the issues that are impor-tant to us, forcing us to choose between a slate of what I’d call “pseudo- or neo-Christian” issues (because Jesus himself did not name them), and pretty much the remainder of Christ’s teaching.

Since the economy’s on everyone’s mind, let’s look at that first. The Republicans, under Mr Bush and with the support of Mr McCain, engineered the largest redistribution of wealth from the poor and middle-class to the rich since The Great Depression. Thus it’s no surprise they also attempted to privatize one of the cornerstones of post-Depression relief: Social Security. Privatizing Social Security would have led to massive fees for the financial industry—fees excused with the explanation that private industry is so much more efficient than the govern-ment, and so deserves the windfall. The financial industry has demonstrated this “efficiency” in the last few weeks by basically collapsing in a mountain of its own recklessness and greed, and will, in fact, have to be bailed out by the “inefficient” government, using your tax money.

Mr McCain supported (and supports) this idea of “personal accounts”—most of which would now be wiped out. He also called the very concept of Social Security—young tax-payers helping older Americans—“a disgrace”. Despite this, he has no trouble cashing his own monthly check, which he has been doing for almost 20 years—even though the system allows you to refuse (and he’s married to a multi-millionaire).

The Republican hostility toward Social Security—or any kind of Socialism—doesn’t extend to the rich and powerful (“socialism”, when stripped of hysterics, simply means we, as a nation, choose to devote resources to those incapable of caring for themselves). We can’t pay for Social Security and we can’t afford Health Care for Children, but we can spend close to a trillion dol-lars to insure that Wall Street doesn’t have to suffer for its own mistakes. The old lady down the street or the poor family the next block over are “cheating” us when they use our tax money to buy milk and pay the electric bill—their irresponsibility is inexcusable—why don’t they just get a job! But irresponsibility on a grand scale—whether it be the war of choice in Iraq or the coming trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street—is downright patriotic.

Does this sound like a Christian perspective? The rich and the violent protected and lionized while the poor are despised, mocked and left to suffer?

It is a plain fact that Americans are now working harder for less money. What should be understood is that they are still generating the same amount of money—more even—but it’s flowing upward. While the Socialist Countries in Europe we are taught to mock enjoy shorter workweeks, more vacation time and free health care, we are taking a second, sometimes even a third job, with no appreciable change in circumstances. This might, in turn, cause a family to be so desperate they would allow themselves to invest in a mortgage that seemed too good to be true. Who do we, as Christians, hold more accountable: the con man on the street, or the sucker that played the game and lost all her money?

I would submit that the Republicans have taken great pains over the last 20 years to teach us to side instinctively with the con man and have contempt for his victims—that is, to subvert, rather than encourage, a Christian perspective.

Surely it’s hypocritical to insist social issues like abortion and gay marriage adhere to Christian doctrine while core issues of day-to-day living—economic issues—plainly do not. How can the Republicans, who maintain their support for war abroad and tax cuts for the rich at home, ever be considered the Party of Christian Values?