Before I sign off tonight, I
wanted to pass one thing on, with due apologies to Uncle Bob, Cousin Fred, and
all of the other 53% of my fellow Catholics who voted for Donald Trump last
election, not to mention the overwhelming majority of white evangelicals.
I really like David Brooks a lot,
the conservative columnist for the New York Times. And so for him to quote
Marianne Williamson really made me take notice. They are unlikely bedfellows.
She is sometimes described a New Age author, and remember it was she who wrote
that famous quote, “Our deepest fear is not
that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond
measure.” (This has often been mistakenly attributed to Nelson
Mandela.) Brooks says that most of her ideas are “wackadoodle” (he had to say
that to cover his cred) but that she is the one Democratic candidate who really
understands Donald Trump and knows how to beat him.
Having watched from afar the
shooting in Gilroy last week and then the two this weekend in El Paso and Ohio,
with the background noise of racism and nationalism that is being inspired, condoned,
and encouraged by the behavior out of the White House, it is refreshing to hear
someone on the right and someone on the left both coming to same conclusion.
Pete Buttigieg also called it right, it seems to me: with everything else we
are facing we in America are also under attack, ever since Oklahoma City, by
home grown white nationalist terrorists. But this is a spiritual crisis, not an economic one, including our apathy about the environmental
changes and this administration’s dismantling of every step we made forward in
that regard, and then baldly lying it about. This is not to say that the
Democrats are the Communion of Saints, but unless intelligent people of good
will stop condoning and supporting this wave of bile and lies coming from
Washington we are headed for world wide disaster, something that I think Mr.
Trump’s friend Steve Bannon is counting on, in a sort of self-fulfilling
prophecy. (This is the famous “fourth turning”; talk about wackadoodle!)
Here’s what Brooks has to say and
what he quotes of Marianne Williamson:
It is no accident that the
Democratic candidate with the best grasp of this election is the one running a
spiritual crusade, not an economic redistribution effort. Many of her ideas are
wackadoodle, but Marianne Williamson is right about this: “This is part of the
dark underbelly of American society: the racism, the bigotry and the entire
conversation that we’re having here tonight. If you think any of this wonkiness
is going to deal with this dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred that
this president is bringing up in this country, then I’m afraid that the
Democrats are going to see some very dark days.”
And she is right about this:
“We’ve never dealt with a figure like this in American history before. This
man, our president, is not just a politician; he’s a phenomenon. And an insider
political game will not be able to defeat it. … The only thing that will defeat
him is if we have a phenomenon of equal force, and that phenomenon is a moral
uprising of the American people.”
They are unready for it, but it
falls on the Democrats to rebuild the moral infrastructure of our country. That
does not mean standing up and saying, “Donald Trump is a racist!” 500 times a
day. It means reminding Americans of the values we still share, and the damage
done when people are not held accountable for trampling on them. The values are
pretty basic and can be simply expressed:
Unity: We’re one people. Our leader
represents all the people. He doesn’t go around attacking whole cities and
regions.
Honesty: We can’t have deliberative
democracy without respect for the truth. None of us want congenital liars in
our homes or our workplaces.
Pluralism: Human difference makes life richer
and more interesting. We treasure members of all races and faiths for what they
bring to the mosaic.
Sympathy: We want to be around people with
good hearts, who feel for those who are suffering, who are faithful friends,
whose daily lives are marked by kindness.
Opportunity: We want all children to have an
open field and a fair chance in the great race of life.
Trump has put himself on the wrong
side of all these values. So Democrats, go ahead and promote your plans. But
also lead an uprising of decency. There must be one Democrat who, in word and
deed, can do that.
