Great Again vs Better Now
June 19, 2018
Reports abound about the enforcement of US immigration policy, directed by the Trump White House and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that is separating children from their parents at the southern US border.
Despite statements to the contrary by the President himself and others in the administration, this is not a problem that was created by or continued by Democrats in Congress or anyone in Congress for that matter. (Has anyone forgotten that Republicans control both houses of Congress?)
The assertions by Trump, Sessions, Sanders, and Neilson that they have anything less than complete control of this policy, including the power to immediately cease the practice of separating children from families, is a falsehood. These assertions are misleading. They are untrue.
Another way of putting it is that Trump and his surrogates are lying. Repeatedly. As are news outlets, like Fox News, that repeat these falsehoods.
Now the actions of Border Patrol agents themselves have come into view. We are sure there are good people who work at the Border Patrol to protect our country. These revelations, however, are not flattering, to say the least.
Trump and those who defend him in this matter, and who carry out Trump’s policies, should be ashamed. And so should we.
A typical line at this point of an article on this subject is that “We are better than this.” Are we sure about that? There are plenty of instances in our past that reveal that this is, too often, the kind of people we are. Inhumane, unjust, cruel. That isn’t the sum of US history, but it is enough of our history that we should be careful about rejecting any criticism, as some do, of these United States.
Donald Trump ran on the slogan Make American Great Again. The current border policy is not great, and it certainly isn’t good. The question before the citizenry of our nation isn’t whether we will make the United States “great again” but whether we will be better now. In this moment, will we forsake cruelty and inhumane practices for something better, for something good?
We’ll see what Trump and his administration do with this situation. For now they have decided to continue on their path, attempting to leverage children to get legislation and funding to build a border wall that Trump promised would be paid for by Mexico. The great dealmaker couldn’t get that deal done, so now he’s dealing in children to try to keep his silly promise.
Trump likes strength and power. That is more than apparent. But he doesn’t like morality, and he doesn’t seem to care much for people.
So, while we wonder what Trump will do, and we also wonder what a flaccid Congress will do in all this, what will we as Christians do? In particular, what will those large numbers of evangelicals who voted for Trump to make the country great again do?
This policy doesn’t make us great. It degrades us. And supporting the President in this action makes a mockery of the claim that Christians follow Jesus. It really has come to that. The world wonders just what it is that Christians believe these days, because they are quite sure it has little to do with Jesus Christ.
The world is watching Trump, yes. The world is watching the United States, yes. But the world is also watching Christians, and we fear that what they see is nothing more than a weak shell of what the church should be.
Despite statements to the contrary by the President himself and others in the administration, this is not a problem that was created by or continued by Democrats in Congress or anyone in Congress for that matter. (Has anyone forgotten that Republicans control both houses of Congress?)
The assertions by Trump, Sessions, Sanders, and Neilson that they have anything less than complete control of this policy, including the power to immediately cease the practice of separating children from families, is a falsehood. These assertions are misleading. They are untrue.
Another way of putting it is that Trump and his surrogates are lying. Repeatedly. As are news outlets, like Fox News, that repeat these falsehoods.
Now the actions of Border Patrol agents themselves have come into view. We are sure there are good people who work at the Border Patrol to protect our country. These revelations, however, are not flattering, to say the least.
Trump and those who defend him in this matter, and who carry out Trump’s policies, should be ashamed. And so should we.
A typical line at this point of an article on this subject is that “We are better than this.” Are we sure about that? There are plenty of instances in our past that reveal that this is, too often, the kind of people we are. Inhumane, unjust, cruel. That isn’t the sum of US history, but it is enough of our history that we should be careful about rejecting any criticism, as some do, of these United States.
Donald Trump ran on the slogan Make American Great Again. The current border policy is not great, and it certainly isn’t good. The question before the citizenry of our nation isn’t whether we will make the United States “great again” but whether we will be better now. In this moment, will we forsake cruelty and inhumane practices for something better, for something good?
We’ll see what Trump and his administration do with this situation. For now they have decided to continue on their path, attempting to leverage children to get legislation and funding to build a border wall that Trump promised would be paid for by Mexico. The great dealmaker couldn’t get that deal done, so now he’s dealing in children to try to keep his silly promise.
Trump likes strength and power. That is more than apparent. But he doesn’t like morality, and he doesn’t seem to care much for people.
So, while we wonder what Trump will do, and we also wonder what a flaccid Congress will do in all this, what will we as Christians do? In particular, what will those large numbers of evangelicals who voted for Trump to make the country great again do?
This policy doesn’t make us great. It degrades us. And supporting the President in this action makes a mockery of the claim that Christians follow Jesus. It really has come to that. The world wonders just what it is that Christians believe these days, because they are quite sure it has little to do with Jesus Christ.
The world is watching Trump, yes. The world is watching the United States, yes. But the world is also watching Christians, and we fear that what they see is nothing more than a weak shell of what the church should be.
