Oh, people, look around you
The signs are everywhere
You’ve left it for somebody other than you
To be the one to care
—Rock Me on the Water
Jackson Browne
I grew up in fundamentalism. “The end” was always near. It never came. But it will next week.
The world ends on Tuesday.
The signs are everywhere. You can read it in the papers, see it in the polls, feel it the air. Democracy is imperiled.
Fascism lurks.
White is right. Right is white.
(Make America white again.)
Good is evil. Evil is good.
False is true. True is false.
Treason is patriotism. Patriotism is treason.
Winners are losers. Losers are winners.
Napoleon is unbound.
Doublespeak prevails.
Truth shudders.
Fascism lurks.
Oh, people, look around, the signs are everywhere.
The world as we know it is about to end.
No, the seas won’t swallow the land. An asteroid won’t pulverize the planet. But a cabal of treacherous, treasonous, duplicitous candidates will be elected.
Elections be damned. Votes don’t count. People don’t count. Conspiracies count. Winning counts.
Get ready to kiss democracy goodbye.
Or…
Get ready to welcome its rebirth.
I choose rebirth.
In our end is our beginning.
Democracy is born of the earth. It’s mortal. What human hands make, human hands can unmake. And remake again and again.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put democracy together again because kings don’t want to. Neither does Napoleon or his minions.
But we the people do. More of us than we can count.
Yes, voting is necessary, but it’s not sufficient.
Vote. Then grip “the gospel plow.”
No one who puts hand to plow and then turns back is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9.62.
There is no “king” in the kingdom of God. And no “God” either. There is no realm, no throne, no crown, no spears, no swords. But there is a plow.
“The kingdom of God” is wherever freedom, justice, compassion, and equality rule. For God is love. But love don’t come easy. Nor does freedom, justice, and equality. If we want democracy, we must work to keep it.
Oh, people, look among you,
It’s there your hope must lie.
We all must do the best we can
And then hang on to that gospel plow.
What’s one thing we can do to strengthen democracy? Please share your answer below.
* * *
