What’s Really Being Impeached: a Christian Vision of
America
It is hard to make sense of the
political chaos reigning in America today. Most people throw up their hands in
despair when asked to explain the impeachment. And rightly so. The proceedings
have become a mixture of politics and circus.
This
bizarre drama cannot help but confound. It lacks a cohesive plot, character
development or script. Those directing the proceedings have filled them with
emotions, fury and slogans that only serve to fragment and alienate America as
never before.
There is something sinister in
all this chaos. There does not seem to be a desire for clarity. We find a will
to destroy revered institutions and protocols. The media-choreographers have
created scenes like those which prepared revolutions past.
Thus, what can we say amid this
chaotic landscape that defies simple explanations? Perhaps the best thing to do
is to take a distance from the stage and the minute details of the case. We
need to look beyond the quid pro quo squabbling that has dominated the
debate.
Let
us make some general observations about the overall picture as seen from a
distance, far from the howling mob.
Not About President Trump
The
first observation about the impeachment is that it is not about President
Trump. Of course, there are the pretexts for the proceedings that involve his
behavior. Independent of any merit of the case against him, the passion of the
moment indicates that the real target is something much more intense and
profound than the person of the President.
The vitriol of the left is
directed toward something that the President represents, not so much who he is
or what he has done. Those opposing him do so because he represents something
they find so incompatible that they are willing to risk all to eliminate it
from the political scene. This same motivation extends outside Congress to the
liberal establishment and Hollywood/Silicon Valley false elites that now clamor
for his removal.
They
are not impeaching a man but a vision of America. It is so important it cannot
wait. It must be done now.
The President Does Not
Represent the Pseudo-Narrative Prepared for Him
The
second observation is that the left and the media have prepared a false
narrative into which they have tried to shoehorn the President and the 63
million voters who elected him.
According
to this false narrative, President Trump represents a resentful and declining
demographic of white voters who hate other racial groups, minorities, women and
immigrants. They frame the debate in classical Marxist class struggle
dialectics as a case of those desiring to stay in power against those whom they
oppress.
The left has turned this false narrative into dogma, admitting
no other motives for the Trump voter (like opposition to abortion, Hillary, or
illegal immigration, for example). This narrative is repeated ad
nauseam all over the liberal media. Indeed, The
New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg described the final impeachment debate as “Republican speeches
delivered by old white men alternated with Democratic speeches from women,
people of color and young people.”
Thus,
they have mischaracterized this debate as a racist one because this is their
only issue that can still resonate with the general public. By tying the fate
of the 63 million Trump-voters to “the most powerful white man in the world,”
Goldberg and the left hopes to demonize everyone deplorable enough to have
voted for the President no matter their reasons for doing so.
However,
racism is not what the debate is all about, and those directing the left know
it. They merely trot out this canard to further their cause. All Americans with
common sense reject racism wherever it is found.
What Exactly Does Trump
Represent?
If
the impeachment debate is not about the racist narrative, then what do he and
his voters represent — and why does it terrify the left into risking everything
to remove the threat?
This is not an easy question to
answer. Everyone will admit that the President is a complex person that defies
categories, suffers contradictions and can behave erratically. Similarly, his
voters do not form a monolithic bloc in which all think the same way. Given
such unknowns, it is hard to plot a defined program or make an effective attack
upon the moving target.
Adding
to the complexity is the growing radicalization of society, the breakdown of
the family and communities. This decay has shaken the solid foundation of the
classical liberal world. In its place is a fast-paced unstable world where
image is everything. Indeed, all becomes possible, although nothing is certain.
Thus, we should observe not so
much what President Trump actually represents but what he has come
to represent to both the left and right. The real fight is between two
visions of America for which the President has served as a lightning rod.
A Fight Between Two Visions of
America
For
the traumatized right, the President touches upon certain universal themes that
resonate deeply. Thus, he encourages the need for love of country. He promotes
the family and the unborn with many of his statements and judicial
appointments. He invokes the name of God, the cross, and unapologetically
wishes Americans a “Merry Christmas!” Such positions represent hope in a
forlorn world.
For
the radicalized left, the President’s touching upon these themes represents all
that is deplorable about America. It threatens all the “progress” of the past
and especially that of the sexual revolution that introduced unbridled license
for every passion.
When the Smallest Gestures Have
Meaning
Some
might object that other presidents made similar references to God, family and
country. Indeed, it is part of our national discourse for presidents, even
liberal ones, to ask that a vague God vaguely bless America.
What
makes things different today is the desperation of the times. Many on both
sides believe we have reached a point of no return. People are willing to grasp
at anything even to the point of embracing glaring contradiction.
Thus,
those who defend Christian morals will overlook the President’s defects and
embrace his smallest moral gestures as encouragement to continue their fight
for the Faith. The radical liberals will forget his past (and even some
present) support for their causes and view his tiniest conservative actions as
a trigger for outrage, irrationality and discontent.
Avoiding the Possibility of an
Awakening
In
such a climate, all the President’s actions take on exaggerated importance.
Both sides see that a simple word of support for the unborn insinuates a moral
law and a social order based on traditional marriage and the family. Outward
manifestations of old-fashioned patriotism might resurrect notions of duty,
sacrifice and honor at odds with the liberal demands for the abolition of borders
and the setting up of a world government. A mere mention of God might awaken
religious sentiments that challenge our sterile secularism.
The
unthinkable possibility that moral gestures might reawaken something deep
inside America terrifies the left and makes the impeachment urgent. Its
drama/circus obscures the real issues. That is why its false narrative must
drag down the 63 million voters who elected the President. We have reached a
point of incompatibility in which the real object of the impeachment is a
Christian vision of America.
Updated January 4, 2020.
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