domestic terrorism and the wisdom of the cross

Well, the absurd cruelties of the current regime are starting to hit home for me personally. Since the election, I've been emotionally and spiritually circumspect about what this cadre will actually accomplish. Not detached or distant, mind you, just cautiously patient before jumping to conclusions given the President's rapidly changing mind and often haphazard engagement with reality. I believe any critique or challenge to the administration must avoid the lies and slander so popular these days. Facts are vital even when they're ignored. So, I've looked to the ups and downs of the first term for one set of clues about what might be coming our way; so, too, with the ugly rhetoric of the 2024 campaign and the weirdly theocratic authoritarian white paper crafted by the Heritage Foundation. 

After one hundred days in office, however, three new factors are currently in play. First, "flooding the zone" with Executive Orders has become a highly effective strategy for confounding and confusing the loyal opposition. It keeps serious critics from focusing on what matters most while distracting and infuriating more casual opponents with sensory overload. Second, articulating a populist agenda in public creatively throws the Republican base the illusion of raw meat without ever having to deliver an authentic egalitarian agenda. Consequently, 47's leadership team of conservative elitists, obsessed with a harsh libertarian ideology, remains relatively free to wreak havoc on the common good while flying under the radar of serious review. (see David Brooks @ https://www.nytimes.com/ 2025/ 02/13/ opinion/trump-populism-elites.html ) And, third, by repeatedly ignoring both the rule of law and due process, an intentional reign of domestic terrorism against its own citizens has come to pass under the guise of law and order. It is as if 1984 embraced A Brave New World while singing "God Bless America!"

+ Consider the wildly incompetent cabinet appointments of reality TV personalities who distract us from the true ideologues like Stephen Millier and Todd Lyons. Or the ramping up of ICE raids, the economic absurdity of tariffs, the Mussolini-like public posturing of the pouting President, or the pardoning of the home-grown traitors of January 6th. 

+ Don't forget the war on foreign aid, the abduction, incarceration, and deportation of innocent people, the demonization of trans sisters and brothers, the overt disdain and ignorance this administration has for the US Constitution, or the rabid loyalty of apparatchiks who know nothing about democratic governance and everything about serving the whims of their boss.

+ Then there's the corruption and weaponization of the Department of Justice, the renewed rape of Mother Nature by the fossil fuel industry, the rejection of our historic foreign allies in favor of cozying up to international thugs and dictators, the polarizing rhetoric and willful demolition of civil society by the unelected, unschooled, and woefully uninformed billionaire, Elon Musk, who believes empathy is sinful, to say nothing of the relentless, self-righteousness of the propaganda and lies spewed ad nauseum every day by the White House press secretary.  

For the past six months, I have operated from a commitment of solidarity - what hurts one, wounds us all - knowing full well that one day those closest to me would fall victim to this present darkness. I knew it was coming. It was only a matter of time for social decay always gets worse before it gets better. Already, my children were facing the uncertainties of what tearing down governmental resources might mean for their work as educators. Former youth group members around the world were furloughed or fired from sharing food or healing with the most vulnerable members of the human family. And a growing number of friends were quoting the prescient wisdom of Pastor Neimöller's confession during the Third Reich: 

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Yesterday, it all became personal when friends from Canada chose to avoid a trip to the US for fear of being harassed, detained, or disappeared at the US border. Dianne and I chose not to celebrate our 30th anniversary in Canada for much the same reasons. And members of my spiritual community in Iona, Scotland, pulled the plug on a long-planned retreat for US/Canadian members because safety could no longer be assured. Notice that these were "voluntary" cancellations. Self deportation based on personal choice, if you will, where no one was forced to do so.. And that is the insidious danger of domestic, government-sponsored terrorism: it compels us to make fear-based choices that incrementally shut down our contact with the wider world. ICE agents are already bullying their way around our small New England communities in masks, body armor, and drawn automatic weapons. Fear is palpable as dread and anxiety become normative - and that is what the regime wants. Not only will a few undocumented people be taken into cusstody - a well-orchestrated sideshow to keep the base happy - but the wider civilian population will withdraw from community and retreat into silence.

Please understand that I know my sorrow and trepidation is modest in comparison to my nation's most vulnerable. I have no illusions about that. Social scientists used to speak about the "relative deprivation quotient," and clearly mine is low. But that doesn't negate the regime's campaign of domestic terrorism. I don't think it's hyperbolic to say life will get much, much worse here before it gets better. And while I live by faith in the resurrection - and know that most of life goes on well beyond politics - the goal of shock and awe is to shut down dissent, make havoc the new normal, and publicize the pain that awaits those who call attention to injustice. 

This is one of the many truths revealed in the Cross. Rene Girard has noted that Jesus shows the world what happens when institutions seek to quell dissent and purchase social cohesion through violence. Jesus offered up his life to show us what happens to the scapegoat, not the victor. When we manufacture a common enemy to destroy, the vilified scapegoat temporarily unites a society. This shared enemy from outside the majority sets in motion a sense of solidarity that keeps us from looking inward. Think 9/11. The illusion of unity, however, always wears off. When injustice, oppression, or unrest return, power brokers must find a new scapegoat in a vicious cycle. Currently, this is playing out through the carefully orchestrated ICE raids that show the wider population the anguish, fear, and pain of our most vulnerable neighbors. Our leaders know already that their abduction will not significantly change immigration realities - and that's not their point. These raids have been symbolically crafted to show the vast majority what might happen to us if we, too, oppose their agenda. The fear, pain, and distress of those taken into custody is being marketed 24/7 to make certain that WE understand that what is happening to the most marginal among us could very easily become our destiny, too. Better to shut up, keep our heads down, self-censor, and even self-deport! 

Government-sponsored domestic terrorism makes a few examples for the many. It temporarily holds the majority together through fear and confusion, and it always fails to bring true healing to a broken society. The prophets of ancient Israel used to lament: how long, Lord, how long? That's obviously beyond our pay grade. All we can know now is that jailing and killing the messengers of peace and justice never wins. I hold fast to the promises of God - and just to keep me on tract found this prayer last night before heading to bed:

Lord, Divine Keeper of All time, 

   The hours of this day that remain are few; night is upon me.

Touch my memory and make me aware of today's gifts. (silent reflection.)

The redemption of the world, the removal of injustice and the spread of unity among all peoples is beyond my limited abilities. So, help me examine how I have failed to redeem that small part of the world that did touch my life today. (silent reflection)

Beloved, I rejoice in your mystic presence in ten thousand ways.

   You have been present in the ordinary events of this day.

You have waited, in patience, in those persons and times in which

I have failed to be aware of your divine presence.

Tomorrow, Lord, help me to see more and I shall be open-eyed so as not to miss you. You know all my needs, but I am mindful of my poverty and therefore lift up to you the needs that are in my heart tonight. (silent reflection)

I lift up into you sacred heart, all those who at the end of this day are without shelter or food. Be with them and with all the earth this night.

May I sleep in peace and awaken to life.

O Lord of Day and Night, of Life and Death,

   I place myself into your Holy Hands. Amen.