Just another American Christianarchohippyconservativatarian in the making

Just another American Christianarchohippyconservativatarian in the making May 27, 2008

Posted by Zack in Kansas , trackback

Over the past five or so years, a really huge number of Christians (in the millions according to some researchers) have had a severe case of ideological whip flash. They haven’t changed course from bring pawns of the GOP to simply being pawns of the Democratic Party (thank God). They are swimming toward much deeper waters than that.

And thanks to the revealing magic of the Blogosphere, we get to watch many of them as they work out the twists and turns of these transformations. I don’t mean that to sound patronizing. The truth is that my own transformation over the past few years has been a whole lot more messy and chaotic than what we see Timothy going through below. (He is essentially stuck somewhere in between Christian anarchism and some kind of Compassionate Libertarianism of his own invention — and Brecht figures in somehow!) But I didn’t want to freak out anyone I work with, so I kept it to myself.

Check out Timothy’s list (I get a shout out at the end). Note the strong influence of Jesus for President. I’ve met a whole lot of people with similarly heterodox lists over the past couple of years. These are just pieces of the full list:

I have identified as Republican for as long as I can remember. This has recently changed.

I voted Dubya twice, and I don’t regret it.

I would not vote for Dubya again

Partially, this is because I no longer believe in war. In any circumstance.

I don’t even think I believe in force anymore.

If I believed in the use of force to stop bad people, I think I would vote for Dubya again, if given the chance.

He believes that power should be used to protect people.

I do not.

…

I think non-violent solutions are right whether they work or not.

I think anything right is right whether it works or not.

This is my definition of an extreme rightist.

A extreme leftist believes that only things that work are right.

…

I am not planning on voting for any of the major three candidates for president in November. (Nor October via absentee ballot. Nor December via being a Supreme Court Justice. Ha ha. Perhaps in January as part of the Supreme Court Justice League’s time travel division. Ok, that would technically be November, so that’s a possibility, I guess.)

I am excited about this election.

…

I am excited about this election for the same reasons the Democratics and Republicanites are scared of it: the possibility of chaos at the conventions: The HILLARY vs. OBAMA quagmire. MCCAIN vs. all the RON PAUL people who went to the trouble of going to the state conventions. That seems like a real political process where people was similar things, but disagree on the how of the thing. But as for after the conventions? I am barely interested.

…

I am not planning on voting for anyone. Primarily because I do not believe that power is the method by which change happens. I wish this wasn’t a joke.

Change happens when people change.

Most people do not want change.

Most people, even revolutionaries want the status quo. But only if they get to run it.

…

I don’t plan on voting for OBAMA. I do trust him. Call me a biased ex-Republican if you want. This is nitpicking, but he recently said that America is the world’s last best hope. I do not believe this. I see people hoping in OBAMA as president more than the others. I don’t know if hoping in a guy is good. I think hope is good. Maybe that’ll be good. Doesn’t mean I’m voting for him, though.

I don’t plan on voting for MCCAIN. I don’t trust him. Seems more interested in power than policy. I would want to vote for someone who believed more than politicked. Two years ago, he almost defected to the Democratics. I could care less if he did. His voting record seems a little more AMERICAN LEFT than AMERICAN RIGHT. But to do so, or not do so as a political manoeuvre? Meh, says I.

The AMERICAN LEFT and AMERICAN RIGHT do not believe they believe the same things. I agree and believe they do not believe the same things. But I do believe they practice the same things to the point that, to an outsider, there is no discernible difference.

The way things are going, I am planning on writing in JESUS for President. I don’t think he’s going to win. He doesn’t test well in the young urban professional demographic (not sure they even think he’s real), and his PR people have really dropped the ball over the last 6800 quarters or so. Crosses on shields, indeed.

…

For some reason I am still hopeful.

Some days, I don’t believe anything has ever worked, that everything is a failure.

This is probably true.

Most days I think everything I do is a failure.

I don’t know how that works with the concept of imago dei [the idea that God created us in his image], which I also believe.

Ah-ah.

I believe in small government. I’m close to libertarian if you have to define me.

Quit defining me.

I don’t think I’m an anarchist. I don’t know why. It seems almost closer to what I think than libertarianism. Maybe I think people should organize for safety. I would like this to be true.

Maybe it’s that I still want decent roads, dangit, and don’t want to pay some company for it.

I don’t trust companies any more than I trust governments.

I don’t trust any groups of people.

I don’t trust people.

…

Also, clean water would be nice.

And laws against slavery and such.

How to enforce without force, though . . .

A good law is sometimes all an oppressed person needs.

A good swift kick in the pants is sometimes all a snotty person needs.

My Facebook political views say I am not interested in power.

I am interested in power.

I do not want to be.

…

In a series of articles beginning here, that is not yet finished, Zack Exley says that Christians need to go beyond love on the small scale, and can organize to love on the big scale. That large organization does not necessarily mean failure. I don’t know if I believe him yet.

In light of that, I would like to define my politics as loving the people I see better than I love myself, and trying to see as many people as possible.

I do not live what I believe about politics.

Does anyone live what they believe?

Is everyone a failure?

Likely.

I believe that anything that can go wrong, will.

I also believe that anything that can go right, can, sometimes.

So yeah, I still have hope.

I believe in hope.

Um, JESUS for President!

Comments»

1. david lee king - May 28, 2008

Ha - another one of us reimagineering souls is me, living in Topeka!

2. Heidi Renee - May 28, 2008

I understand the deep desire to not participate in a system that is broken - but the alternative of McCain in the White House is horrifying.

I get that it would be amazing if Jesus came back and made everything right - but not voting, or voting for Him isn’t going to make that happen. So we are faced with an alternative - our country must find a place again in the global conversation - and someone must lead that conversation - is that someone going to be a “maverick” who has sold his soul to the far right or someone who understands that our world is a large/small place that needs to be cared for, and filled with people who need to be cared for - instead of corporations that rape and pillage for profit?

I think it’s a flat out cop out to spiritualize this and pretend that “not voting” somehow makes you more like Jesus.

I am a red-state, lunch bucket girl from Wisconsin - I voted for GWB once, and even held my nose and voted for Kerry last time - just because I couldn’t face the destruction of our youth with this mistaken war. This time I fully embrace Barack Obama because he is finally a human being who understands about other human beings. Is he perfect? NO. Is he going to make mistakes? YES. But he has proven that he is able to own his mistakes, take responsibility for them and even apologize - that models some healthy, life giving behavior that I want at the head of our country. It’s a cop out to give up. Please don’t cop out.

3. Jordan Peacock - May 28, 2008

See…I’m that guy as well, although still wrestling with the Jesus part.

I’m also not sure if I believe you yet, but I’m definitely intrigued and following your blog closely.

Although I have always been radically against American interventionism and the like. Living on the brunt side of the empire most of my life kinda helped with that one.

4. Adam - May 28, 2008

For the people who think not voting is a cop-out:

Jesus defied the rule of Ceasar. Caesar, at that very moment, was trying to create that image of himself as ‘the Son of God’. So, when Christ says “I am the Son of God” he says Caesar is not. At the same time, Jesus never condemned Rome. “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

America is Rome. Governments are Rome. In order for this nation to faithfully adhere to the Constitution, America CAN NOT be christian. Making a ‘christian’ nation is as much tyranny as anything else. That is why the constitution was created the way it was.

To live like Christ is to ignore that. “My kingdom is not of this world.” Or as some like to quote it, “My kingdom is not of this cosmos.” “My kingdom is not of this world-view.” Christians don’t live in the same world as everyone else. We are supposed to be the ones who do crazy things, like forgive people. Governments don’t forgive people.

The real cop-out is relying on the Government to solve our problems. “I don’t need to feed the homeless. I voted for Obama.” We can’t save the world, no human effort can. That’s why we have a God. Our task is to love the Lord our God and love our neighbor as ourselves. That’s a lot harder than voting and more worthy of my time.

5. Nicky - May 30, 2008

He’s not an anarchist because an anarchist believes in NO government, not small government. That is the difference between an anarchist and a libertarian.

Being a Buddhist-anarchist myself, I believe that anarchism and religion can coexist, but in order to be true to anarchist philosophy, I have to ultimately believe that there is no real truth, just lots of truths.

This is my problem with your whole theory, Zack, on the Christian revolutionaries. I want to support them and to be on board with all the great stuff they are doing. But will they fight for my beliefs as well? Or is their commitment to Christianity going to get in the way of that? A belief that something is inherently right, and something is inherently wrong, is problematic, isn’t it? Instead, I act AS THOUGH certain beliefs are right such as my own commitment to non-violence(which I take so far as to not eat animal products as at all). But of course I can’t say for sure that that is the only way. Does this make sense? I feel I have to be open to all perspectives. Will these “revolutionaries” do the same?

6. Matthew - June 1, 2008

The message I see more and more is one of withdrawal, of distancing the church from both the government and the country, at least in some sense, and that in so doing we become more like Jesus.

How, then, are we to disciple to these people? How do we reach them if we cannot contextualize our message? One can say that we can admonish those who are part of “the system” to leave it completely, but from experience I have seen that such a message falls on deaf ears. In a democracy, where every citizen has the right to participate in government, how would a Christian then communicate fully with other citizens? The more we withdraw, and the more time passes since that withdrawal, we will find that we can relate less to those around us and our message has become weak.

The outcome, then, will be that we look inwards, patting ourselves on the back for our high ideals. Yes, Jesus said “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” but we are also admonished to be responsible citizens, which includes involvement in our country and government.

Jesus, if you will remember, did not preach to Romans. His distance from Roman culture had no negative impacts on his ministry because his ministry was to the Jews. And Jesus knew the Jewish laws, culture, and traditions well. (Remember that Paul, who did minister to the Romans, was very familiar with their system and even used it to his advantage on numerous times, choosing to engage Rome law and traditions rather than ignore it.) We cannot go on mission to a culture we are unwilling to 1) engage and 2) understand. The statement “be in the world but not of the world” is being grossly misunderstood, I feel.

7. Zack - June 1, 2008