Thinking Out LoudThis week, the world’s second largest democracy and the world’s most watched nation decides on its next President. As expected, the campaign has provided vitriol, alarmism, and division. Unexpectedly, there have been demographic voting shifts, assassination attempts, and one party didn’t even end up with the same candidate they started out with.
The democratic project has had its fair share of critics. Books and articles about the alleged decline of the ‘west’ and its ideals have become as common as jokes about Donald’s tan and Kamala’s laugh. However, even amid the division and turmoil, democracy may well be the most fit-for-purpose form of government that we have.
The Bible was written in times of empire and autocracy. God even uses the motif of Kingship to explain His authority and sovereignty. However, the disaster of a conga-line of failed autocrats that we find both in and out of the Bible point to an obvious truth. Humankind isn’t cut out for ultimate power.
Perhaps power doesn’t so much corrupt as it reveals corruption that’s already simmering underneath. Moral philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr declared that our “capacity for justice makes democracy possible but our inclination for injustice makes democracy necessary.” I agree.
The project of democracy is a slap in the face and a pat on the back. It reflects important aspects of the human condition that the Christian message has proclaimed for millennia: We are precious but broken. We are priceless but unworthy. We are God’s masterpieces but we are imperfect.
Whatever happens in the US election and in the controversy and anticipated antics that follow, perhaps the most important outcome to hope for is that democracy survives. As former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, it’s probably the worst form of government, except for all the others.