Your Public Square

U.S. Presidential elections always serve to stir the pot on what Americans believe they believe about themselves; what they hope to believe about their national leaders and what candidates are hoping to have us belief about them (somewhere in there, thankfully, we get bits of truth that are priceless to our understanding of America).

Some criticized Mr. Obama early on in the Democratic primary race for not wearing an American flag lapel pin, which has become de rigueur for American political leaders since the September 11 attacks. Mr. Obama stated, quite reasonably, that patriotism isn’t evaluated by such accessorizing; yet it’s worth noting that the decision not to wear one for a presidential candidate must have been a conscious one, which begs the question of what Mr. Obama was hoping to signal to supporters and opponents alike by excluding the pin.

Now that Mr. Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee, the pin is on his lapel and he has since made patriotic stump speeches with the Stars and Stripes filling the backdrop. The shift proves that even candidates from the far left, who may privately associate patriotism with nationalism or militarism, must at least make of show of national pride if they want the American public to take them seriously.

One conservative commentator (whose name I don’t know) recently summarized the message of Mr. Obama as: “America is the greatest country on Earth…And it’s my intention to completely change it.” The quote is funny, but it goes right to the heart of the American progressive message that appears, on one hand, to laud the greatness of America, but then seems determined to dismantle or change the very things that have made it great.

Pope Benedict XVI in his book Values in a Time of Upheaval writes eloquently on people’s expectations these days that politicians must promise “change” and that change is itself always desirable. “Politicians of all parties take it for granted that they must promise changes--naturally changes for the better,” the Pope writes. “So since the general consensus is that the essential task of politics is to improve the world, indeed to usher in a new world, it is easy to understand why the word ‘conservative’ has become disreputable…”

It appears that members of the left appear, once more, to be rushing the windmills of utopia, hoping that if the correct set of elites govern society then man can finally be freed from his ills, evils, failings and sins. The 20^th century produced atrocities on a historical scale because political elites in China, Russia and Germany believed that original sin was simply a fairy tale and that once the people “were properly enlightened” a perfect, harmonious society of love and congeniality would appear.

It’s not the intention of the author to put Mr. Obama in such a category. He is without much experience and arguably holds political views out of the mainstream, but he is someone who the constitution and laws of this country will manage as they’ve managed other executives for the past 230 years; but there are certainly strands of socialism that waft through his rhetoric.

There is no reason to question Mr. Obama’s Christianity or his belief in Christ, yet there is a strong hint of liberation theology in this statements and the religious company he keeps. And as many commentators have pointed out, liberation theology (particularly in the 1980s in Latin America) was often a way for communists to cloak their designs and beliefs under the respectability and traditions of Christianity. Mr. Obama is certainly no agitator, but it’s worth observing if his campaign attracts those with more strident socialistic beliefs, which nowadays are articulated in the language of climate change, population control, attacks on the family, etc.

Mr. Obama and those pushing for political change would do well to remember that things can always be worse; the liberal imagination focuses on utopia instead of appreciating the blessings that exist here and now. It’s not cynicism to understand that things could always be much worse, and that current institutions, values, traditions and morals may actually be keeping the forces of evil and disorder at bay.

For those of us with a personal savior and a religion already, we expect simply that our next president will operate within the boundaries of the constitution, focusing on the rule of law and the promotion of the common good. To quote a Brazilian immigrant and U.S. citizen on NPR who supports Mr. McCain: “We don’t want change – we love this country the way it is. If the American people want change, they should go out and buy a new suit.”

Labels: Presidential Election

# posted by Ryan F. Lucey @ 8:37 AM