Who can you trust?
America is in crisis, and Americans don’t know where to turn.
In a nation with so many obvious blessings, many Americans are struggling to survive. In a land that feeds the world, we have starving children. Even with the greatest economy on earth, we have workers who can’t pay their rent.
The daily challenges of life in America are enormous, compounded by constantly bickering leaders, health care that fails to provide health, and an education system that leaves most of our children behind.
It seems at times the world has turned upside down: when lies are being sold wholesale as truth, who can you trust?
Truth is a new minority. Prince, Welcome 2 America
Each nation establishes who they are based on values important to its people. The United States is no different: this nation was established by those who came here to escape religious persecution. Winning their independence, they established a government that promoted freedom and free enterprise, encouraging the development of an Industrial Revolution, throwing off the agricultural past and embracing an era of innovation. The primary tenets of this new nation were God, Science and a revolutionary new Government.
God, Science, and Government are the foundations of American society. These were the ideals the new, free nation stood for, what it aspired to believe in, and what it supported in practice and policy. And prayer.
But now Americans are using these pillars of American society to bash each other over the head. The trichotomy of America is not crumbling: it is being smashed to pieces.
By Americans.
In establishing our government, the founders of this new nation gave the people something no nation had ever given its people before: the freedom of speech. That freedom, while held tightly by the white men who wrote those founding documents for most of the next two-hundred years, provided inspiration to millions: inspiration to think, speak, and dream in ways never before imagined.
Some of those thoughts challenged the God of the Bible many had called their own. Many of the words spoken were about the ways the government should not act, including going to war. The American dream died for some when the nation pursued scientific achievements — even placing a man on the Moon — instead of helping families find a place to call home. As the nation has matured, the freedom granted to speak freely has given rise to objections, confrontations, and even defiance to these social pillars.
Americans are taking exception to the old notion that God, Science, and the Government have all the answers. The fact is Americans today are objecting to the very foundations the nation was built upon because they simply no longer know who or what they can trust. Americans are defying the Government, denouncing Science, and provoking God.
Americans are uncertain about the future: there is an uncertainty that permeates our land, a fear shrouding the peace we seek. It is from that fear that anger arises: neighbor against neighbor, American against American. The fear is borne out of the doubt we now have in those things we used to trust for strength and for guidance — God, Science, and the Government.
Americans, like people of all nations, need to know that those things that brought them together as a nation can still be trusted. Are these institutions we’ve come to rely on bad actors, or have they simply had poor agents?
Just how did we get here?
“Trust is the theme of our era.” Chris Hayes, host of All In on MSNBC
Trust. Faithfulness. Honesty. They all mean basically the same thing, but it’s not the definition that we are having a problem with: it is the execution of truth that is in question. It is the application thereof, the misinformation that has caused a ripple in the space/time continuum.
I think an examination is called for. We must question everything.
In the beginning: God.
“Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16
While America was not founded as a Christian nation, a majority of the population has, in one form or another, been brought up in the traditions of the Christian faith. Some propose that America was founded on religious principles, and claim that a number of our Founding Fathers were followers of Deism, (a belief that God created the universe and all there is in it, only to remove Himself from the day-to-day lives of the people). But this is simply not true; most of the Founders practiced some variation of Protestantism, and “the vast bulk were fairly traditional in their religious lives.”
Faith in a higher power, whether it be the God of the Bible, or some other divine Providence — ‘natural law’ — did, however, lead the Founders in their work. For the most part, they followed a moral code that played an important role in the establishment of the nation. For the most part, that is, because the issue of slavery — while debated — was reconciled in the Constitution by counting African slaves as only 3/5 of a person. How our Constitution, then, could be seen as anything that applies morality to law is a farce.
The formal recognition of immoral behavior in our founding document initiated cracks in our beliefs in both God and Government.
The Founders recognized the need to establish legal safeguards for speech, religion, and the press. The First Amendment gave citizens those rights that, although endowed by their Creator — were left out of the original document. It was, and today remains, the First Amendment that gives rise to a cry for individual independence that contradicts religious servitude to a “higher power.”
God demands absolute authority over our lives; from the earliest days of the nation, Americans were taught that from scripture.
“Judah did evil in the eyes of the LORD. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than those who were before them had done.” (1 Kings 14:22)
Judah, the nation, had become evil in the sight of the Lord, and God’s wrath was poured out on it. Church-going Americans were made to fear God would pour out his wrath on America if they failed to live according to His laws. A ‘Christian nation’ would be required to follow the laws of God, not man.
This contrasts directly with the freedom given to each American by the Constitution; a freedom to pursue their own religious liberty, a freedom to speak poorly of a God they felt oppressed by, or one they did not believe in at all. These freedoms to throw off the shackles of a God many didn’t know — or did not want to know — began to take root in the new nation, creating for the first time an opportunity to think, to speak, and to act differently than some prescribed moral code. Americans wanted to define their own morality, find their own God, or none at all. The legal construct of free speech created by the Constitution gave Americans — at least the limited number of citizens who could embrace those rights in the new nation — a taste of true freedom, unknown to past generations. The First Amendment codified the freedom their ancestors had sought in coming to the New World.
The newly-minted United States, founded on the precept of religious liberty, had indeed violated the same rights of the native people that were living here when America was “discovered.” Some Americans began to question the notion that a limited number of Americans could enjoy these liberties while others were still being denied. American pastors disagreed on the issue of slavery, challenging both the government and their flocks with moral questions.
‘God supports slavery’ was being taught to many who questioned the legitimacy of this immorality holding the nation hostage. Verses from the Bible claimed support for this unholy institution. “You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life,” was straight from God (Lev. 25:46) Southern pastors argued. These agents of God did Him a great disservice, cherry-picking Bible verses to control the ignorant masses. The fact that most church-going families never owned or read a Bible contributed to their ignorance of a God they professed to love. It wasn’t until the 1830’s when the production of Bibles would allow the masses to begin to own their own copies, letting the masses read scripture for themselves, that minds would begin to change.
What these same Bible-thumping ministers failed to share with their audience was the full truth of God’s Word:
Africans had in fact been kidnapped, and dragged to this continent in shackles! God had not changed, but His message was being distorted by those who preferred to use Him for their own purposes. As Americans used their new-found freedoms to learn more on their own, they discovered the many distortions, half-truths, and downright lies they were being told —all in the name of God. Just as their ancestors had been subjugated by European churches, those in the new world were being duped into following a God that no longer resembled the God of the Bible, a practice that continues to this day.
Beyond the open deceitfulness played on the faithful, the God of the Bible — the One many leaders promised helped to establish and expand America — no longer made sense to many Americans. As the Bible was opened, deciphered, and regurgitated, it became obvious to many that this God they had been told to believe in was ‘unbelievable.’ Their Bible contained verses that mere man could simply not comprehend:
“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” 2 Pet. 3:8
Other verses clearly did not sound like a God that was worth worshipping.
“From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.” 2 Kings 2:23,24
Bears mauling boys? One day is a thousand years? Trust me, the list goes on and on. The Bible has a number of verses that, taken alone, present the One True God as some kind of monster. Thomas Paine, one of the Founding Fathers, decried this God openly:
“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debauches, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and for my part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel.” Thomas Paine, “Age of Reason.”
The truth about God is that Americans really did not know God at all. Those early Americans got their biblical knowledge from what they were taught by whoever was preaching it to them. Once Americans had access to their own Bibles, many still chose not to read, believing instead in what they wanted to believe. Today’s American is the most ignorant ever of biblical concepts, knowing or understanding very little about the God of the Bible or Jesus Christ.
Far too many Christians in today’s America have been taught, and mistakenly believe, that Jesus Christ is white: movies, television and art have all depicted Christ as such. Even toys are used to paint the Christ child as white, feeding the already overtly racist commentary of the faithful. There is no description of Jesus in the Bible, perhaps done so deliberately to avoid the ugliness a superior race could claim over another. Unfortunately, ignorance of the truth has led too many American whites, including Christian whites, to engage in this petty bigotry, claiming white supremacy as a fact, using unfounded claims to suppress all people of color.
Americans have been fed a whole lot of lies, deceptions, and nonsense about God over centuries, but the truth is this simple: most Americans cannot refute anything they are told about God because most Americans have simply never read the Bible. Americans claim to believe in a God whose story they have never read, and they lack any real understanding of the principles of faith in that same God. What they know is what they hear from the likes of Franklin Graham, spewing his ‘hatred of Muslims’ or Joel Osteen, blabbering each week about the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ of gimme, gimme, gimme. The reality is that most Americans simply wouldn’t recognize Jesus if they stood next to Him at a bus stop.
Americans doubt a God they don’t know, and use their own definition to define Him. Americans, in their laziness to learn the truth about their God, are quite gullible, and become easy prey to the lying vultures of the pulpit.
Is it any wonder God can’t be trusted: would you trust someone you didn’t know? Trust requires a belief in the other party, based on experience, faithfulness, and even love. Americans that rarely meet with God Himself suffer from a lack of knowing Who they are dealing with, and when it comes time for their faith to be put to the test, they discover they have no faith. In their eyes, it is God who fails them, and they turn their anger inward to resentment and bitterness. It is often this failure of God that permits others to hijack the lives of the Lost: vulnerable and ignorant, the masses are easily led to the slaughter by fast-talking politicians, swindlers, and con-artists.
God’s agents — preachers, pastors, and priests — have done a poor job in helping to educate the American faithful on who God is. Correcting the mistakes of the past has become a war-cry of the right, who refuse to address the truth about America’s sinful past, and deny the reprehensible actions this nation took towards Natives, Blacks, and women. Few American churches recognize this ugly past, and even fewer are working to acknowledge it.
Our nation is imprinted with God: there is no escaping the meaning that God has played in American culture. But the effect has been slanted by those who use, manipulate, and distort God for their own purpose.
Has the image of God changed, or has God simply been poorly represented?
Weird Science!
God created the heavens and earth, or did He? Science tells us there is no logical method to prove the universe was the creation of a supernatural being, that there is no evidence of God.
As one of the foundations America was built on, Science has fared no better than God with the public, especially in the past few years. Unlike God, Science provides Mankind no certainty, no guarantee of success. Science has, however, helped America grow into a world power.
From the development of medicines and medical treatments, to transportation devices, communications capabilities — including the telephone and mobile phone — and computing, America’s scientific backbone has provided a strong foundation for many things Americans use in their everyday life. Science has provided a great advantage in the Space Race, national defense, and many things we now take for granted, like Penicillin.
It wasn’t all that long ago that Americans respected Science and it’s Scientists: today, much of the lustre is gone, rubbed off by political malcontents.
For hundreds of years, Science moved slowly, methodically defining the elements of nature, growing a great understanding of the human body, and examining the deepness of space. Scientific knowledge moved at a snail’s pace, but when new discoveries were announced, they were generally hailed as achievements to benefit humanity.
The twentieth century brought forth a change in the speed with which discoveries were being made, and in fact, replaced. For the first time, centuries-old scientific laws — including Newton’s Laws of Physics — were overthrown by modern scientists like Albert Einstein, with his Special and General theories of Relativity. Before Einstein, some in the world of Physics began to believe that “most of the grand underlying principles [had] been firmly established,” leaving little yet to be discovered. But Einstein’s theories, and his ‘relative’ popularity, sparked debate among the scientific community as to what was known and what was not.
It was not long before other scientists studying the cosmos developed theories — mostly based on mathematics — including one that discussed how the universe had been created in a fireball, a Big Bang. This theory gave the world the concept that God had not been the creator of the universe, but that all matter had accumulated into one space, then underwent a supercharged explosion, splattering matter across time and space. Coupled with Darwin’s theories about evolution, Americans began questioning creation itself.
Schools began teaching both of these controversial theories; due to legal challenges regarding religion in schools, they quickly became the only theories about the creation of life and the universe being taught to schoolchildren across America.
I have written about the controversy surrounding these two theories being taught in our public schools. As a parent, I don’t see that Science has unequivocally answered either of these questions, yet they are taught in schools as fact — with few exceptions. The problem is that even Einstein made mistakes, and every day more discoveries are made in Science that either support or refute earlier theories. That’s how Science works.
Just as Einstein’s theories threw shade on Newton’s Law of Physics, discoveries made today often rebuff some of Einstein’s theories — not to say both he and Newton weren’t brilliant. All Science, and all scientists, work to uncover the mysteries of life, but there are no perfect scientists and no perfect Science. And that is part and parcel of what is feeding Americans doubt in Science: constantly changing information, knowledge, and theories have given rise to insecurity in the minds of Americans with regard to Science.
That fact — that Americans now doubt Science — is both discouraging and disappointing. Much of that doubt is rooted in the ever-changing landscape of Science itself: the rest, and the most recent doubts, however, have been cast like a shadow by politicians, anti-vaxxers, and those who lie for a living.
Today, anyone can claim to be an ‘expert’ in just about anything: spend five minutes on the Internet, and you can claim to know more about a subject than those who have studied it for decades.
Science is an ever-changing, ever-growing field, where knowledge is continually acquired through the development of better tools, adding to information that was already known. Science is not static: it has been written that from the time a child is born until they reach their 50th birthday, nearly all knowledge known will have been acquired during their lifetime!
Today, Americans who refuse to get a vaccine say there is not enough research, or that it hasn’t been tested long enough, and they don’t trust it. In some regards, that is true: the vaccine was just developed in 2020 because that is when this strain of coronavirus appeared. But mRNA science has been studied for nearly 30 years. The vaccine didn’t just drop out of the clear, blue sky, as some skeptics would have you believe. The technology to develop this type of vaccine has been ‘in progress’ for nearly a decade.
There are now numerous stories about Americans who are dying because they have refused the vaccine. One man, sick in the hospital, asked people to pray for him. He asked those who follow him online to pray for a miracle without ever realizing God had already worked a miracle for him and many others when He showed scientists how to part the virus sea and create the vaccine. The old expression ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’ comes to my mind. Unfortunately, the man died of complications caused by the virus.
Americans fears are real, but those fears are not based on correct information, but on hysteria created by people who have a vaccine ax to grind, and who have little factual information. Might the Science change tomorrow about what we know about the coronavirus or about the vaccines in the same way Einstein’s theories changed what we know about the universe? Certainly, there’s going to be new knowledge and new understanding. That is Science! The scientific world is dynamic, and the knowledge acquired grows daily.
If Americans relied only on ‘trusted’ Science, we would be returning to the Moon next year in Apollo 18, on top of a Saturn V rocket that has been sitting on the launch pad at NASA since 1972! And forget about using your cellphone, your personal computer, or an electric car: those all use Science that is far too ‘new’ to be trusted.
“As experience and scientific research pump more refined and accurate knowledge into society, new concepts, new ways of thinking, supercede, contradict, and render obsolete older ideas and world views.” Alvin Toffler, “Future Shock”
Science does not have all the answers, and it never will. What is known today may very well be modified, adjusted, deleted, or improved upon tomorrow. But that doesn’t preclude us from following Science, or from trusting in it. While we should question it, challenge it, and debate it, we — as Americans — have built this nation on the benefits of Science. I don’t think as a nation we are ready to abandon it.
The alternative is a whole lot scarier.
Science has given us so much, but it has also caused many to think, and rethink what they are told by scientists, by doctors, and by those we were told we could trust.
Daily we see endless TV commercials that tell us to “talk to your doctor” about this pill or that treatment. It seems there is a pill for every problem; what is truly disconcerting is when you have to start taking a second pill to counteract the first pill. Damage to the liver, kidneys, and other problems caused by the pharmaceuticals require disclaimers longer then the message for the treatment itself. Television networks like TV Land, CNN, and FETV — to name just a few — team up with drug manufacturers to target older Americans they know spend more time watching TV on their networks. The effect is that more older Americans are taking more pharmaceutical drugs than ever before.
These same networks also run ads for law firms willing to file suit in your name due to the prescription meds or procedures that caused you pain and suffering. That’s what's known as ‘American Irony.’
It is therefore quite reasonable when American’s trust in Science fades: Science has not always proven to be trustworthy. Today’s medicine — that might save your life — might be what kills you tomorrow.
“Today change is so swift and relentless…that yesterday’s truths suddenly become today’s fictions.” Alvin Toffler, “Future Shock”
The American scientific community is highly regulated, with drug testing and approvals through the FDA, CDC, NIH, and many other three-lettered organisms. These black-box government entities only add to the uneasiness many Americans feel towards Science, adding another layer of shrouded secrecy to an already mysterious world.
The Man!
On top of all this, the Government — with all its shadiness around Science— has failed the American public with a lack of transparency, never more evident that during the current pandemic.
The combination of not trusting the The Government or Science has led to a revolt by millions of Americans, fueled by misinformation, half-truths, and the bald-faced lies of Internet trolls.
Where reputations are being questioned, Science is fairing OK, but the Government — not so much. The Government has a long history of misrepresenting itself, lying, deceiving, and twisting the facts to suit its own purposes. While our money may claim “In God We Trust,” we can be certain of one thing only: God does NOT trust in us.
From how we treated the native people, Blacks, women, Blacks again, minority groups in general—well, the United States simply does not have a stellar record of telling the truth.
To suggest that America has changed, has become a beacon of good faith to the rest of the world means we have simply failed to face the truth about ourselves: America is the Land of the Liars, and the Home of the Betrayal.
This nation has a wretched history with the truth; is it any wonder we elected a man to our highest office who lied more than 30,000 times while employed?
We have elected officials right now whose sole purpose seems to be to lie to the American people: to lie about policy, to lie about Science, to lie about God! These folks use their office to prey on the fragile psyche of Americans struggling to live through a pandemic, double-talking with every breath.
While Americans search for the truth about how to protect themselves from a deadly virus, we have leaders making wild fabrications:
“It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
“99% of coronavirus cases in the U.S. are totally harmless.”
“85% of people who wear masks get the coronavirus.”
I could go on for days: but thousands upon thousands of dead Americans tell the truth better than I ever could. When the Government is represented by a pathological liar that has lied EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. the Government loses faith with the people.
This is not how one fixes the ‘trust issue’ America is having right now.
Either something is one thing, or it is something else, but it can’t be both at the same time. When that happens, America falls into turmoil, not knowing where to go, or who to trust.
Before the coronavirus had even cleared our decks, we were faced with more lies over the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election: Americans just can’t catch a break!
A divided America, trying desperately to hold it together long enough to be able to hug Grandma again, is now facing the greatest Constitutional crisis since the U.S. Civil War: the former president falsely claimed the election of 2020 was stolen from him.
This claim, known as “The Big Lie,” suggests that Democrats orchestrated a ‘cheatfest’ across multiple states to give them the victory: voting machines were rigged, sacks of ballots were brought in when no one was looking, and in Arizona, a ‘fraudit’ there suggested that ballots made of bamboo were brought in from China!
It’s tough losing an election, and particularly tough losing a national election in front of the entire world, but it happened. Accepting the truth is impossible for someone who has mental health disorders that includes narcissistic symbiosis, but that doesn’t account for members of Congress that went along with ‘The Big Lie.”
After more than sixty court battles — losing all of them — after numerous recounts, after going all the way to the Supreme Court, the matter was settled. Except in the mind of one who can’t accept the truth.
Republicans in Congress met with Republicans from certain key states — states where they said the cheating had taken place — yet found no cheating, no vote rigging, no legal battles that could overturn the loss. The truth is that a loss is just that, a loss, and it must be accepted. There is nothing that can be done to change that.
Unless you’re a Republican in Congress.
After all fifty states certified their election results, and sent them to Congress for the final certification on January 6th, Republicans still would not accept the truth about the election outcome: 147 of them voted to not accept the certified results of the Electoral College.
That same day this happened.
The “Big Lie” has led the people to madness: storming the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the Congressional certification of a president is not only sedition, it is crazy. Following a liar who tells you to ‘fight like hell’, followed by that same liar condemning the violence that was brought forth by his orders, is mind bending.
“Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.” George Orwell, “1984”
Yet they still believe his lies, even after hundreds have been arrested, and zero were given presidential pardons.
The American Government has a serious problem with the truth: the truth is, our government has never been held to the truth. Occasionally, Americans will point out horrible mistakes the Government has made, and on the rare occasion someone from the government will offer an apology, and perhaps reparations, but we never seem to learn from our mistakes.
How are Americans supposed to have faith in their leaders, in their Government, when the government leaders clearly have no faith in each other? Of all those in Congress who voted to throw out the results of the presidential election, how many have agreed that — being on the same ballot — their elections should also be thrown out?
Zero.
Time for a head scratcher
It’s little wonder why Americans are confused, angry, and don’t know what to believe, or who to trust? Each day they are bombarded with misinformation from sources they were told were ‘fair and honest,’ while proving to be just the opposite.
God, Science, and the Government: none of these institutions lie — people do! Sometimes, people use the Word of God incorrectly, abusing it for their own benefit. Sometimes people twist Science, telling us instead to inject ourselves with bleach. Sometimes people support lying politicians so they themselves won’t be voted out of office — or worse, attacked by an angry mob!
People lie: Man has lied since he first opened his mouth. When Man first appeared — and started lying — is something God and Science can’t agree on. Sometimes, people get completely confused and are overwhelmed by God, Science and the Government, and we all pay a terrible price.
All I know is that the lies we tell each other, our families, our neighbors, and our nation are tearing us apart, taking us to a place where the nation is no longer a nation. When we no longer trust each other, we are no longer ‘one nation under God.’
When politicians lie, we shrug it off: when Nixon lied about Watergate, it was the Government lying, and the Government took care of it, getting Nixon to leave office before too much damage had been done.
When Science make mistakes, it depends on the impact to human lives. If they get a theory about the creation of the universe wrong, they fix it the next time. If, however, they make a mistake that affects lives, or takes lives, they must be held accountable, and they must fix the problem.
When God — OK, God doesn’t lie. But people lie using God’s name, or his Word. And that is despicable.
Before our nation was born, the people were lied to. They were told that they needed to fight for ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ After the fight was won, however, freedoms and rights only came to the white men who owned land and had great wealth. The others were left out — intentionally!
Today, the same Party that supports a former president who lied about his election loss wants to hide the truth about the racism that has permeated every part of our national landscape since before the nation was founded. Critical Race Theory recognizes “the law and legal institutions in the United States are inherently racist insofar as they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites, especially African Americans.” But Republicans far and wide are doing their best to prevent Americans from knowing how racism has infected our entire culture: perhaps their resentment of CRT is evidence enough to demonstrate the effects of racism in America.
Is lying Man’s native tongue?
Is it lying, or is it something else? Perhaps we need a Scientific study? Or a Governmental inquiry? Maybe we should all just pray about it.
Truth is having a hard time in America, and I suspect it isn’t a singular problem that we alone suffer. America likes to project that we’ve always had our act together, but that is just a lie: America is no better when it comes to telling the truth than anyone else.
People all over the world lie, and America — always wanting to be the ‘best’ at everything — may be on top of the dogpile of deception.
Is there ever a time when we can believe someone? Marriages end in divorce frequently, but there’s that time, that moment when two people finish each other’s sentences, when nothing else in the world matters.
Love may be the only time when people don’t lie. Jesus focused his teachings on love: love God the Father, love your neighbor, love your brother, love your enemy. Jesus taught us to love because He knew how tough life was, how people hurt each other with lies. He knew:
“Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.” Pro. 10:12
Conflict comes from fear and anger, from not knowing which way to go, who to listen to, or where to turn. America today is at the crossroads of peace and destruction. The road to peace starts with the truth: the road to destruction starts with uncertainty.
It is this uncertainty, this doubt, this fear that has led us to search for some new path, some new vision — or visionary — to help us find the American Dream. When a hundred people fall sway to charm, we call it a cult: when millions, floundering in fear become convinced to follow a lying lunatic, that is known as the Republican Party.
Donald Trump, like Adolf Hitler before him, played on the fragile psyche of ignorant Americans who have grown increasingly impatient with their government, uncomfortable with science, and alarmed by their God. They became easy prey for a master manipulator like Trump, who convinced them of his brilliance through his shiny buildings, slick talk, and gold toilets. These ‘lost souls’ saw his success as something that had escaped them, and they believed he could show them the way to get it for themselves, never fully realizing that Trump wasn’t wealthy at all but was swimming in debt as high as Trump Tower; he wasn’t the “stable genius” he portrayed himself as, but is instead a failed businessman with multiple bankruptcies and dozens of business failures; and Trump is quite possibly one of the most deceitful and despicable characters in our nation’s history.
Three wives and 30,000 lies does not prove success, but for Trump, convincing people to follow him was easy, because they had already zeroed out on the one thing they grew up believing in: America.
America was built on God, Science, and the Government: while our knowledge of them is limited, and our understanding flawed, these three pillars of American culture still hold our collective promise.
Weakened by criticism? sure.
Attacked by foes? absolutely.
But finished? hardly.
“Truth and love will overcome lies and hatred.” Vaclav Havel
American success was built — and is built each day — on hard work, honesty, and the belief in giving all Americans the same opportunities and the same incentives to work together. A belief that as a nation, there is nothing Americans can’t do. As Americans, we can change America each day, improving it little by little, working to that place where we can all enjoy ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ promised by our Founders.
We must work at America to make that happen, not just follow some cheating liar: the ‘promised land’ is the America of tomorrow, forged out of our own sweat and tears, our own struggles to prosper and grow more united, not divided. America will never be — and should never be — some oligarchy state owned and operated by Trump and his obscenely wealthy friends.
Trust in God, Science, and the Government will always bend with the wind, like a flagpole, but shall never break. The symbol rising above that pole — our flag — symbolizes our beliefs in God, Science, and the Government — and in each other.
To trust in America again, we must each learn to trust in Americans again. We need to build our communities together, embrace our diversity, and blend in our differences. We can learn how to settle our differences outside of the courtroom, and without guns. And we must face the full truth about America’s past together, not some homogenized history, but the ‘truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.’
Love your neighbor: that’s what we’ve lost in America. Our differences — in faith, education, or party — were always less important in the past than our relationships with each other. We used to know and care for our families, our friends, and our neighbors. Today, we hardly recognize each other, no longer reaching over the fence to listen, no longer lending a hand to each other. America was built on our desire to care for each other regardless of our differences.
Our ability to talk with each other, to listen, to even care has been lost somewhere in our new ability to communicate globally. While we sit with each other at the dinner table, we are no longer engaged, no longer connected. We no longer visit the neighbor we have known for years, and we don’t even recognize how much we miss them. We have disassociated ourselves from each other, disconnected ourselves from both the past and the present, looking instead to a future that is hurtling at us with blistering speed, upsetting the whole of our lives.
In “Future Shock,” Alvin Toffler wrote about the effects of losing our connection to each other. “It is this disruption [of old relationships]…this “loss of commitment”…[where] one does withdraw from participation, refusing to join organizations, refusing to establish close ties with neighbors, refusing in short, to commit oneself.” When this happens, Toffler asks, “what happens to the community and the self? Can individuals or society survive without commitment?”
Without love, is America even worth it?
Without trust — in each other — will there be an America any of us want to be a part of?
“Why is telling the truth hard? I guess in this America, it is.” Harry Dunn, Capitol Police officer.
Truth has eluded Americans since colonials first landed here; the nation was founded on stolen land, and worked by people stolen from their land. Our Constitution failed to correct the immorality, instead legalizing it. Coming face-to-face with these facts — these truths about who we are — can be the nexus for healing to begin, a place where we can — for the first time — trust in each other.
God, Science, and the Government aren’t to blame for our problems: we are.
And together, we can fix them.
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© Timothy J. Sabo
