Fear has fueled polarization and panic in our country. The fear of loss of status, power and position, wealth, and – believe it or not – of “white replacement” is causing a separation in the country that increases the long-standing separation based on race, ethnicity, and economic status.
This upcoming election is a crisis point that not everyone is aware of. The decision to vote and how you vote is critical and there’s no place for complacency. Those of us who see what is happening with open eyes don’t always understand those who appear blind to reality. We wonder what people are thinking when they plan to vote again for a man who has fueled hatred and racial division unlike any time since the Jim Crow era. A man who has favored the rich over the masses, who supports white supremacists and dictators. We say that “no matter what happens, God is in control” and that is true, but God was in control when Israel chose Saul as king rather than continue with his divine guidance. He was in charge each time Israel disobeyed and ended up in captivity. God intends for us to make and support informed and wise decisions about what affects the life we live, and voting is one way of doing that.
Trump’s base cannot simply be dismissed as “racist deplorables”
A professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University, Alex Hinton, has researched why people support Donald Trump. He says that Trump’s base cannot simply be dismissed as “racist deplorables… Trump voters trend older, white, rural, religious …But they also include others outside those demographic groups”. He says he has “heard hardcore Trump supporters argue, with no evidence speak about ‘the fake news’ media outlets, like CNN, being part of a larger deep state plot of the federal government to upend the will of the people”. It seems that people are more comfortable with a theory for what is happening in our country and our world than supporting a unified and logical effort to combat it. Hinton says “Many Trump voters remember Trump’s term as one of tax cuts, economic growth, and stock market highs” and they complain about the “massive surge in inflation during Biden’s term with prices rising almost 20%”. They don’t take into account the pandemic that Trump did little about and the recovery that Biden had to manage immediately upon taking office. Another reason, he cites, that some Americans want to vote for Trump is immigration. Like inflation, the number of people illegally crossing the border soared under Biden. But let’s explore what this issue over immigration is really about? Did you know that a New York, poll found that 7 out of 10 Republicans said they believe in the ideas that constitute the “great replacement theory” which claims that political forces are intentionally changing the demographics of the country to affect elections? That conspiracy theory was heavily cited in online postings purportedly left by the Buffalo shooter. These and other conspiracy theories are taking our country down a path that will lead to no good.
Violence, voter suppression, and political and social extremism are all increasing as panic over this next election comes full force upon us. One of the extreme steps that has taken place as a result this fear, panic, and conspiracy theories that is the drafting of Project 2025 It is not unusual for dissenting groups to create their agenda for what they think our society should look like. But when a group methodically drafts an agenda with an intent that ignores the freedoms and restraints of this nation’s Constitution and lays out plans to make changes to maintain power and control it is dangerous. And even more dangerous is that the creators of this agenda are the supporters of a Presidential candidate who they expect will carry out their plan, Donald Trump.
The harbinger of Project 2025
To say a bit about Project 2025, its draft which was overseen by the conservative Heritage Foundation. It is a multi-pronged initiative that includes a detailed blueprint for the next Republican president to usher in a sweeping overhaul of the executive branch. Here are 5 of their initiatives:
- Mass deportation of immigrants – Targeting immigrant communities through mass deportations and raids, ending birthright citizenship, separating families, and dismantling our nation’s asylum system.
- Severely Limiting Voting Access – Abusing executive power to interfere in our elections by criminalizing the voting process and damaging fair representation.
- Increased executive branch powers to use surveillance of private citizens by exploiting the executive branch’s vast and unprecedented powers to spy on Americans’ lives with warrantless surveillance of our data.
- Severely limiting abortion access nationwide, even in cases of rape.
- Use of force on Protestors thereby violating the First Amendment and using federal law enforcement to target journalists and protestors.
We are faced with some startling challenges:
- An election in a deeply polarized country
- A candidate who seduces followers with a pretense of concern for God and righteousness when his behavior continually belies this reality
- People who believe that they are being replaced and are willing to take any steps necessary to stop it including voter suppression and the removal of the immigrant population
- Those who feel that it is God’s will that they legislate morality by taking away Constitutional rights and freedom
This is only the tip of the iceberg that has created a climate that is one of the most challenging in generations as we face a critical election.
So, how shall we pray?
We pray for those who do not believe as we do for whatever reason. We pray for those vulnerable ones who are easily misled and deceived by wolves in sheep’s clothing. We pray for those who prefer to believe conspiracy theories that give false comfort so they can ignore the reality of the danger ahead. We pray for those who say they are Christ’s followers but will believe a conspiracy theory rather than be educated in the word of God and Christ’s mission to redeem all people. We pray for those who think they please God in their attempt to establish their version of a Christian nation that ignores and oppresses everyone who is not like them, who have the blood of the Native people, the Black enslaved, and Immigrants of every ethnicity and who continue to turn to the hate-mongering against Blacks, Jews, and anyone who continues to make progress beyond their expectations. We pray for those who think that God created them above all other races, religions, and ethnicities. We pray for those whose faith is built on the almighty dollar and whose only concern is balancing their checkbook or retaining their wealth. We pray for those who fear replacement and rather than welcoming and working with change will resort to repression, oppression, and even violence to destroy what they fear. But most urgently we pray for this upcoming election!
