Christmas is right around the corner. For those of us who celebrate the birth of Christ, it is a time of great optimism. It refreshes us and makes us hopeful knowing that a savior was born and sent by God to bear our sins so that we as believers would have eternal life.
I realize not everyone who reads this is a Christian. But the vast majority of the people I’m going to write about suggest they are. It’s for that reason I sincerely ask my fellow Christians of a different political party if they’re tired of living and selling fear?
Former Missouri senator turned MSNBC commentator Claire McCaskill appeared on “Deadline: White House” Monday and offered a wild claim citing no evidence that “vigilantism” was going to sweep the country. She specifically stated “red states” and their citizens were itching to take on issues like immigration through their own extreme measures.
“These red states are going to do vigilantism laws on immigration, and they’re going to empower citizens to go out and round up people they think look like foreigners. And that’s what we’re coming to in this country, and it is incredibly depressing, especially as we’re so near a religious holiday that is all about loving other people and accepting the least among us to be part of the larger group.”
This is the same person who claimed George Bush let people die on rooftops in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina because they were poor and black. When President Trump insisted governors should allow houses of worship to reopen in May of last year she tweeted, “So many Christians know what Trump is doing. Jesus would frown on this political use of the church. Jesus would want to heal and help the sick, not risk more lives.”
It’s amazing to read considering she seemed incapable of even describing what Christmas means this week.
A religious holiday about loving other people? Is that how Jesus would refer to His birth, Senator? I ask because she claims to know at times exactly what Jesus would say while at other times can’t seem to define why He and His birth are significant.
The point is, McCaskill has been selling hyperbolic fear most of her career – not the love and faithfulness that is the gift of Christmas. She long ago stopped debating policy and found selling panic, fear, and division a more effective gimmick.
This week Nancy Pelosi said Americans were frightened and unable to go to sleep at night wondering how they’ll pay the bills. An odd statement at a time so many millions of jobs remain open, government pays people not to work, and purposely inflates the cost of food and fuel.
Nevertheless, Pelosi offered hope. The hope of Christmas? No, the good Catholic stated Congress passing the budget busting, inflation exacerbating “Build Back Better” bill would help put those families’ fears to rest.
There’s not much hope to be found there however, as it appears Democrats won’t get their Christmas wish on a Build Back Better vote. Instead, they’ve pivoted back to one of their ghosts of Christmas past. “Voting rights.”
Joe Biden delivered a clumsily read speech this week to kick off their new faux fear campaign full of his trademark, artificial and uncomfortable yelling to drive home a new message of panic.
“Today the right to vote and rule of law are under unrelenting assault from Republican governors, attorney generals, secretaries of states, state legislators,” he sputtered. (And that’s a direct transcript, not typos.)
“They’re following my predecessor deep into the abyss.”
Not only is this completely baseless, how can this man credibly talk about the rule of law while our cities are awash in homicides and smash-and-grab robberies? Never mind a wide-open southern border.
It’s dishonest of him of course, but it’s also not an issue Americans actually fear. Losing the right to vote? No one believes that no matter how much he shouts.
But once again he hopes the fear will be enough to sustain him politically.
Headlines from mainstream media and government doctors like Fauci continue to squawk about the “rapidly spreading, punishing” Omicron variant of COVID-19 even though they have no choice but to admit it’s a mild strain.
The New York Times editorial board grudgingly concluded last weekend it might be time to learn to live with COVID because “it isn’t going anywhere.”
Even so, I must confess to feeling a little sad for the writers and readers of this editorial when given a glimpse into how they’ve been processing almost two years of COVID hysteria.
“It is past time to ask ourselves, as another Covid winter begins, if we have to keep living like this: Anxious over the unknown, worried about large indoor gatherings, tense at every bit of virus news and frustrated and at times contemptuous of fellow Americans who have a dramatically different sense of acceptable risk.”
Isn’t that sad? I sincerely can’t imagine fighting the urge to live life this way. In some ways I’m angry on their behalves at so many public officials who’ve purposely scared and manipulated them to such a crippling degree.
But I’ll take them as sincere when they ask if they can get past being anxious, worried, tense, and contemptuous of those not like them.The sincere answer is yes. It’s how Christians are called to live.
If your choice is to worship the empty, baseless rhetoric of politicians - anxiety, worry, tension, and contempt of your fellow American is exactly what you’ll always feel and exactly what they count on.
But if you sincerely want to be free of those things, you won’t find it in politics or cable news or opinion columns. You’ll find it only in the hope, joy, and peaceful assurance of Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas.