The Mess Is Ours

The current mess our nation finds itself should drive us to confession.

There’s been a song playing in my head recently, one that I’ve enjoyed since I first heard it back in the spring of 1985. “This Is Not America,” by David Bowie and featuring the Pat Metheny Group was written for the movie, the Falcon and the Snowman (click here to watch the video for the song). This modern jazz-infused pop song was different than a lot of Bowie’s mid-80s straight pop, seeming to harken back to his 70s avant-garde style. It climbed to number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100, so it was a minor hit.

So, why is it in my head as of late? Well, listening to the lyrics it is about someone that has become disillusioned with the United States. Looking at the news this week can make you feel rather disillusioned about the state of our nation right now. Elon Musk and DOGE are slashing the federal government with thousands losing their jobs. The Trump Administration threatening Greenland and Canada with territorial expansion. Arresting immigrants and visa holders for the slightest infraction (or no infraction). The canceling of shipments to food banks. Trump musing on serving a third term. The president is going after law firms and universities. All of these events have made me feel less cheerful about our nation sort of like the person in the song as they sing, “A little piece of you, the little piece in me, will die (this is not a miracle), For this is not America.” Everyday, the America that is my home and the country that I love seems a little less like itself.

How did we get to this point?

If you go on social media, you will find a lot of people finding some group to blame. Most anti-Trump people are quick to blame Republicans for either falling in line with Trump or not standing up to the President when times require it. Of course, I think the GOP bears a lot of the blame.

But this is a religious blog as much as it muses on politics and culture, which means I also want to focus on how all of us have sinned and messed up. I feel like we all need to be asking ourselves, “What did we do to get ourselves in this mess?”

Donald Trump didn’t just drop down from the sky to run for President. He became President because of actions on both sides of the aisle.

On Ash Wednesday, I spoke to Gretchen Purser. Gretchen worked as an operative for the Republican Party for many years, helping to get candidates elected. Over time she has become shocked by the latest state of the GOP and is a frequent critic of the President. Currently, she is the host of a podcast called The Mess Is Mine and she calls it that for a reason. Gretchen explains:

You know, I think the way that I, I raised a lot of money for those guys and, um, and certainly believed that the ends justify the means. And I certainly believed that, you know, if that back in the day, I believed that our worst, our worst guy is better than the Democrats best. You know, I shouldn't say guy, candidate. Our worst candidate is better than their best, which is laughable. Of course, you're looking through the lens of today. I mean, you know, good grief, but you know, we, we employed a lot of Machiavellian tactics…

Republicans have always been better at the game. We're just better at the game. I think we're slightly more ruthless. I think we're less idealistic. I think we are able to set our real feelings aside to win. And it was winning at all costs. And when I first started at the Senate committee years ago, my boss, and he didn't mean it literally, he couldn't say it today, but he would say, all right, let's all get to go out there and kill some Democrats.

Gretchen adds that while they didn’t mean to foster hate towards Democrats, to the rank and file Republican, that was how it was interpreted.

In the same interview, Purser also has some hard truths for Democrats:

I mean, I think there's no question that the Democrats, I mean, if you really want to blame somebody for what's going on right now, you can blame Joe Biden and the Democrats for what's going on right now. Not because for anything other than missing a layup. I mean, this should never have happened. This phenomenon, he (Donald Trump) has the slimmest margin of victory since George Bush in 2004. This was a, he can talk about a mandate all day long. Yes, he won all seven swing states, but the margin of victory was minuscule. And if not for a series of tactical and terrible errors by the Democratic Party. We wouldn't be in this position. So, you know, first of all, you have a party that allows an 82-year-old man to run for re-election. And I say allows, I mean, we all know, if you know presidential politics, it's easier said than done…to get a sitting president of the United States to decide not to run. I mean, that should have been something they were drumming, you know, regularly with him about your transition, this is your legacy, this is the gift that you give, let's spend a bunch of time figuring out who's going to succeed you.

Back in 2020, I wrote about how both the center-left and center-right tended to ignore the working class, presenting an opening for Trump to take their votes:

Trump exposed something that we Americans are loathe to talk about — class. As hard as it is to talk about race in America, we like to pretend class doesn’t exist. But the fact is, it does and it shows itself in how middle and upper-income Americans look at low-income Americans, especially those who are poor and white. The well-educated in American society tend to view the working class, especially the white working class with contempt.

None of this means that Trump is a good guy. He isn’t. He is damaging American democracy and civil society. He needs to be actively opposed.

But our current political crisis should not just be a cause for alarm or rallying around the flag. It should also be a time for introspection. For us to make real change we have to have time for introspection or what we call it in the church world- confession.

I didn’t grow up with corporate confession in worship. But when I started going to a Lutheran seminary, I started to hear worship in almost every worship service. It started to dawn on me of the importance of confession. I remember hearing a specific confession in worship in seminary, that begins with telling the gathered to confess our sins before God and neighbor:

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Confessing our sins tells us that we aren’t the greatest. We make mistakes. We treat others like crap. And I think in the political realm we need to be able to search our hearts and see how we have failed our neighbor. Gretchen isn’t the only one who did something that might have made Trump a reality.

The other day, my husband talked about the recent downturn in relations with Canada. Even though neither of us voted for Trump, because we are a democracy and America voted for Trump, it is our responsibility. To paraphrase Gretchen, the Mess Is Ours.