This article was originally written in October 2016, but has been added only recently to the blog as a Secret Life Article…
Hectic September-October, Remembrance soon with us, writing at October end and deeply troubled by Donald Trump. Have not been doing enough cycling. Amazing things happening in the circuit. Great Circuit meeting, if not longer than usual. What is the appeal of Donald Trump? I, like I guess most people, do not fully understand the political landscape in the U.S. I understand that for some, the choice between Trump and Clinton is rather like voting to be hit by a train or a bus.
When I look at the debate it seems to me that Clinton is doing much the same as my younger sister when we were growing up. We were both as bad as each other, but she had that knack of provoking me so I would react, and then looking all innocent in front of my parents, meaning that I was the one who got into trouble. As I write the election has not taken place but one thing is for sure. Trump, with his brash and bulldozing sensationalism, is making it easy for Clinton. When I listen to what he has to say, I can reach no other conclusion apart from the fact that he is both sexist and racist. Put it this way; what would other people think if I talked as he did? At the same time, I am quite sure that Clinton is no angel; she has her own questionable corporate sponsors, very little e-mail savvy (using her family PC to send security sensitive mail was “extremely careless” according to the FBI, as was err, losing them); some people feel that politically she is what she has to be in the moment.
As we approach remembrance I am reminded of how politics – and with it, our world view – becomes so easily framed as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, as if there are no grey areas. Whilst our political systems begin with a broad base of options, in time we are often forced to choose between extremes, neither of which are satisfactory. This is fed by rhetoric; our enemies are bad but we are good. In some sense, it is helpful for politicians to unite people against a common foe rather than focus on their own injustices. Often they create our enemies for us and we follow – like sheep. But I am also reminded of how Jesus sees through the rhetoric and challenges his contemporaries about who the real enemy is. He points, on numerous occasions to the Samaritans (who were despised by the jews) and shows how at times, they are a far better example of what it is to love your neighbour. And he certainly never said, ‘Let’s build a wall.’ In this season of remembrance may God grant us the grace to think independently, resist the temptation to follow the crowd, and to speak out against political manoeuvring when we see it. It does not just happen in government buildings. It happens everywhere.