Politics and Fear
My country is living in a culture of fear, and I’m part of it. We are always supposed to be afraid, and we let fear guide our actions and decisions. Many people I know talk about transforming our society, and yet we fear what will happen if we push too hard for change. What will the pushback be? How much worse will we make things by working for real change?
I believe that “the powers that be” purposefully use fear to keep the status quo. Fear can decrease our hope and limit our victories. If our energy goes into fear and efforts to survive from day to day, we have little energy left for changing our lives for the better. If we only focus on our fear of others – people who carry guns, people with different backgrounds, people with different skin colors, people who might give us a disease (that’s pretty much everyone), people who are stronger than we are, people who pay our wages, people who don’t fit our perceptions of genders, people who don’t use the same religious languages or practices that we do, people struggling with mental illness, people who voted for Donald Trump….. – then fear can keep us from uniting for change. Divide and conquer.
What does fear do in my life when I give in to it? I cut myself off from others. I give into depression, which leaves me fatigued, without energy to keep up connections, and without energy to work for change in myself and the world. It also cuts me off from God. I fear the changes which might come in my life if I give in to possible leadings, so I stop listening for God’s lead and try to direct my own life. That keeps me from growing. How can I change our society when I can’t change myself? How can I change anything when I’m alone?
I remember a Colombian friend amazed and troubled by the level of fear she found in the USA, and the constant focus on being “safe.” What I learned from her and from Bolivian friends and Salvadoran friends is that there is no such thing as safety in human terms. We in the USA work hard to develop a false sense of security, and place our faith in the “safety nets” we build for ourselves. Many of us complain about our government’s efforts to build “a wall” along the border, and yet we build our own walls to keep ourselves and families “safe.” Friends I’ve met in other parts of the Americas accept that they don’t know what will happen next and don’t have control over it all, so they trust in God and build communities and strive to fully live each day. They express gratitude for the gift of every day. They have shared joy and laughter w/me. (After two visits to Colombia, it seems to me that a great sense of humor is a national trait.) A Bolivian Friend (who risked losing his job in order to follow a leading to travel in service among Friends) told me that seeking God first was the best thing he had ever done, letting go of fear and finding great joy in his new (unpaid) work. (His employer ended up letting him work part-time with flexible hours around his travel.) They live with uncertainty, and I’ve met many who seem to live much better lives than I do.
So what does this have to do with politics?
The USA will elect a president in November. I hear many people so angry and scared with what we’re living through with our current president, that they’re willing to put aside any hopes and political ideals and willing to settle for the person the polsters declare is most likely to get the most electoral votes against Trump. “Anyone but Trump...” is the uniting cry.
Yes, things are bad. Our country is very sick, and we have a president bringing out the worst in us and the worst of us, and destroying lives and causing much damage. I’ve also heard the same voting refrain over and over and over again. I started paying attention to politics when I was 12 (the Watergate years), and I’m now in my 60th year. So, for at least 48 years, I’ve watched people try to find someone closest to “the middle” (and I’ve seen “the middle” move further to the right). Both major political parties are eager to maintain the status quo. Anyone who wants to transform our society terrifies us – that’s going too far – so we say they’ll never win and we go for person who will keep things as we know them.
As long as we keep letting the mainstream media and pundits and our own fears decide who we should vote for, rather than consider whose ideas are most in line with the future we would like to see in our country, we will never obtain real change. War doesn’t cause peace, and true transformation does not come from maintaining the status quo.
“But this is different! Things are really serious this time!”
“If we can get rid of Trump, THEN we can work for real change.”
“Anyone other than Trump will make our country better.”
I’ve heard this argument for years, with different names thrown in. I’ve heard it from Republicans and Democrats and Libertarians and Greens and Independents. The first time I remember hearing my parents arguing about their votes, the first time my parents ever voted for different people, was when Jesse Jackson formed the Rainbow Coalition. One parent voted for Jackson as the person most likely to point our country in the right direction. The other respected Jackson, but felt that any vote other than for Mondale was just giving the election to Reagan. Others thought the same, and while Jackson (originally seen as a “fringe candidate”) did quite well in the primaries, the majority stayed closer to the middle. It didn’t work. Mondale lost to Reagan, and we successfully weakened or silenced voices further to the left.
In 2016 the Democratic Party selected Hilary Clinton to run against Donald Trump. Some were quite excited about Clinton, and excited about having a woman as the frontrunner. (Those are the folks I think rightly voted for Clinton.) Many more simply thought Clinton was more mainstream and had a better chance of winning. They preferred other candidates but were afraid to vote for them. Bernie Sanders was seen as “too far out there” to win, and of course he associated with that dirty word in politics, “socialism.” Many were shocked when Trump was able to get many voters out to the polls who didn’t usually vote, but were ready for change and wanted anyone who wasn’t mainstream and part of the current establishment. Some of these folks who saw Sanders as a possibility switched to Trump when he seemed to be the only one who didn’t fit the norm.
People all over our country want change. I don’t know anyone who is 100% happy with our current state of affairs. However, if the left keeps sliding further and further to the right in order to win over more voters, it’s the left who are being won over, and over, and over. The right can use our fear to gain more and more ground, and prevent any real societal change.
I am not saying that you shouldn’t vote for someone “in the middle” or on the right if that person’s actions and statements line up most closely with your own beliefs and hopes. If that’s the case, go for it. What I am hoping is that the deciding factor will be who you think will help move our country in the direction you want us to go. Please don’t let your deciding factor be fear.
Should we be afraid right now? Heck, yes! However, do we want fear to rule the day, and our futures? Really?
Working for change is hard. Peacemaking is hard work. Transforming centuries of racism, sexism, and oppression in many forms into a more equitable and just society will take a long time, and meanwhile people get killed, lives get stomped on, oil reserves get drained, species get wiped out, and our earth gets hotter. However, if we keep settling for the lesser of evils, the lowest common denominator, and the weakest parts of ourselves (my big challenge for myself), we’ll never see the future we say we long for.
I’ve been told that “fear not” is used at least 80 times in the Protestant Bible (Old and New Testaments). When adding similar terms, depending on the interpretations, it could be in the hundreds. Some samples are listed below. The message I get is not that fear is bad. Fear is natural and extremely useful as a sign for me to stop, think, and ask God for guidance. The message I get is that I can’t let fear rule. Fear can’t have the final voice. I have to get past the fear if I want to live in love. If I want to grow in love, I need to act in spite of my fears.
That’s easier said than done! For me, that’s why God provides communities. Leaning on God and leaning on others around me, I’ve followed some leadings I never would have thought possible when I focussed on “what if...” Love can give me strength and courage to stretch beyond my “safety zone.” I’m not alone.
I will end with a song I learned recently by Melanie DeMore. https://www.riseupandsing.org/songs/lead-love?fbclid=IwAR1z_2UVT2J8MF8vgBC0OsFscY6FaZEu8r6NTPlNLYMiK1xc_hB8W8hxzSg
You gotta put one foot in front of the other
And lead with love
Put one foot in front of the other
And lead with love
(repeat all 4 lines)
Verses (call and response):
1) Don’t give up hope
You’re not alone
Don’t you give up
Keep movin on
2) Lift up your eyes
Don’t you despair
Look up ahead
The path is there
3) I know you’re scared
And I’m scared too
But here I am
Right next to you
Words & music (c) Melanie DeMore.
Here are some Bible messages about fear:
Deuteronomy 31:8 “God will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” (New International Version)
Isaiah 43:1 ““Do not be afraid. I will set you free. I will send for you by name. You belong to me.” (New International Reader’s Version)
Isaiah 41:13: “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” (King James Version)
Joshua 1:9: “Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Psalm 23:4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (King James Version)
Psalm 56:3: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you."
Psalm 94:19: “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.”
Proverbs 12:25: “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad. (New King James Version)
Proverbs 29:25: “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” (New International Version)
John 14:27: “Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.”
Luke 12:25: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” (New International Version)
2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
1 John 4:18: “There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.” (The Message)
