When Your Government Solution Turns into a Sledgehammer
Posted in : American on by : Michael Maharrey Tags: Donald Trump, government, Hillary Clinton, presidential election
I’ve witnessed a lot of pain, frustration and even outright despair in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election. Some Hillary supporters were reduced to tears when it became clear their candidate would not win the White House.
A post on Facebook perfectly captures the angst many on the left feel at the prospect of a Trump presidency.
“I fell asleep crying and woke up crying. Not because Hillary lost, but because so many of us lost too.”
The poster went on to list a litany of policies she fears the new administration will roll back and others it will implement.
Her fears aren’t misplaced. The transition from the Obama era to the Trump era is about to demonstrate the very real danger in using the government to impose your will on society.
The progressive left spent the last eight years using executive power and the federal court system to shape America into its image. Now it fears with its loss of power, the right, led by Trump, will reverse the progress and begin to bend the United States to its own will.
It very well may. And therein lies the problem with political solutions. Government is ultimately brute force. When you rely on sheer power to shape society instead of changing hearts and minds, you must always live in fear that “the other side” will wrest the power away. Government is a sledgehammer and it can always be turned against you.
Trump will wield the sledgehammer now, to the abject horror of the progressive left.
Christians would do well to learn this lesson. When we seek to advance the kingdom of God through political means, we braid the rope that will hang us. If we rely on the power of government to try force America, or the world, into the image of Christ, we will inevitably one day find ourselves out of power staring out at an angry resentful mass.
Government cannot ultimately make the world a better place. It may be able to achieve some good pragmatic ends, but it ultimately rests on a foundation of violence, coercion and force. How can we place our hope in something so fundamentally corrupt?
Government will not save us.
We will change the world through love, grace and mercy. We will change the world as we allow Christ to work through his church. We will change the world as we serve it.
We don’t need a sledgehammer.
2 thoughts on When Your Government Solution Turns into a Sledgehammer
This is a great post, Michael. I think you bring up a point where there is a fundamental misunderstanding of people on the Left. Progressives are being convinced by their leaders that turning the constitution into a “Living Document” that can be changed at will by a group of unaccountable Elites is a great idea. They always seem to assume that the group of elites will be appointed by them. This is not necessarily the case when you create new ‘extra-constitutional’ powers – like allowing the President to make war at will, drone suspects at will, regularly create law through Executive dictates at will. This sort of expansion of Presidential powers is very dangerous for everyone – who knows who will be in power in the future?
The truth is that the constitution was intentionally designed to protect everyone. It’s especially important for minorities (not just racial minorities, but minorities of every kind). It grants people specific protections no matter whether 51% of the people at some point vote to do them harm. The Constitution is designed to protect the other 49% from the tyranny of the group that has power. When one side starts to rely on the brute force you mention above, then we become no different from a Banana Republic – no law, no constitution – only dictates from El Presidente.
Exactly!
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