Victory and idolatry

It is tempting during election seasons to think that politics is much more than it is. Especially when one party is poised to trounce the other, one side may feel the world is coming to an end while the other believes that good times will never end and could not get any better.

But elections are never that good or that bad. Politics is good because God gave us government for our good. But He did not give it for our sufficient good, or to provide for every good. Christians, more than anyone else, should tailor their hopes accordingly.

Excessive and misplaced hope takes two forms in times like these. One is almost millenarian in what it expects to enjoy on the other side of Election Day. We saw this in 2008. Many got so whipped up with enthusiasm for the unique candidacy of Barack Obama that when the poetry of the campaign turned into the prose of government, disillusionment set in like barium in the belly. Some of these true believers turned face, joined the Tea Party, and pursued a different kind of pure politics.

But there is also a kind of despair in politics that is the same excessive and misplaced hope, only jilted and embittered. I see it among Republicans who are migrating toward third parties. They have good reason to be down. They remember the thrill of promise when Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980. That brought great accomplishments. Tax cuts have become the political default and the Soviet Union disappeared in a cloud of dust. But the culture war has been a colossal failure. (Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson observe this in Blinded By Might.) The battle line against abortion has become a fight against partial-birth abortion. Whereas in the 1970s we were fighting the toleration of homosexuality, we are now holding the fort against same-sex marriage. The struggle to restore recognition of a Christian consensus in America has become a rear guard action against creeping Sharia law. What have we gained from enormous expenditures of political energy?

A second hope emerged in 1994, when Newt Gingrich led 73 Republican freshmen into the House of Representatives glowing hot with zeal for limited government and citizen liberty. With that kind of patriot energy and brilliant leadership, surely we would see at least a generation of "American politics as it ought to be." But in a short few years, the energy was spent and the warriors seduced by power.

Some take these experiences as an argument for third parties, but in the American political system they are a waste of time. Political parties are not churches. Parties are outcome based. They are for mobilizing and coordinating people for the sake of winning elections and, as best as possible, shaping the laws the way you would like to see them. In America, third parties are ill-suited to that.

Others draw from these experiences a justification for getting out of politics entirely and committing themselves exclusively to the life and work of the church: worshiping God in spirit and truth, instructing God's people in biblical truth, calling them away from idols, turning their hearts toward Christ, and setting them loose on a world in need of redemption and love.

But though we should be actively involved in our churches, the political calling is nonetheless legitimate. The city of man is not the city of God, as Augustine teaches us, but the two cities are intermixed at every level until the Judgment Day. Citizens of the heavenly city serve alongside those of the earthly city not only at the fire hall, the bank, and the school, but also in government. Daniel served righteously in the king of Babylon's court. Babylon was better for it, and would have been better still with two Daniels rather than one. But the godly would have been wrong to expect Babylon to become a New Jerusalem because of his position there.

When people allow themselves to get carried away by millenarian political fantasies, it is easy to become discouraged. Now we will recover our republican constitution! Now we will be a land of social justice! Now America will be free! American will be fair! But in a world of sages and fools and a relatively confused massive middle, politics is about incremental improvements and setbacks. Ed Feulner of The Heritage Foundation is fond of reminding political warriors that in Washington there are no permanent victories and there are no permanent defeats. Yet he works hard for what he believes is right, and he inspires others to do the same.

If your party is heading for crashing defeats this November, it is an occasion for critical self-assessment and appropriate course adjustments, not despair. If your party is riding a wave of popular support, enjoy your victory party, but don't let it go to your head. Serve the Lord by serving the people and hold the new government accountable for the same.