A Quaker Perspective on the Politics of Anger

What is happening to America? Why are we screaming at each other in town hall meetings? Why are some people saying that their state should secede from the United States of America? Why are some people accusing the President of plotting to kill their grandmothers? Why are those on the right accused of being fascists while those on the left are accused of being socialists? Have we gone insane?
There is a poison flowing through the body politic of America and it will kill our democracy unless each of us acts as an antidote. Those on the left accuse the right of being ignorant Neanderthals while those on the right accuse the left of being heathen communists. This kind of juvenile stereotyping threatens to tear the fabric of America apart.
Actually, the left and right have more in common then they would want to admit. Both sides are absolutist in their ideology and uncompromising in their politics. Each side believes that they possess absolute truth and each side refuses to compromise on its beliefs.
But the fact is that America is built upon compromise. Our great experiment in democracy is founded upon the belief that each issue has many sides and that the most workable solution comes from a compromise that blends together many disparate views. Compromise is the glue that holds America together.
But compromise is viewed as an evil by both the left and the right. Neither side is willing to give an inch on their absolutist beliefs. For them government is either good or evil. The rest of us just want a government that works for us.
What is particularly troubling in today’s political environment is the level of anger and even outright hatred that is being displayed. I have been trying to figure out the source of this anger and hatred for some time now. Some of this anger can be traced to old-fashioned racism but I think for many people it goes deeper than that. I would suggest that this anger is really a response to the fear of change. Fear is an emotion we don’t like in ourselves and anger is a way of covering up our fears with an emotion that makes us feel more powerful.
We live in a world where society, technology, the economy and demographics are rapidly changing and this change is deeply threatening to many people. This internal fear of change produces an anger response that is directed toward some outward target such as the President, health care reform or immigrants. We repress our fear by directing our anger toward something outside of ourselves.
If we want American democracy to survive, we need to grow up. We need to recognize and talk about our fears. We need to stop yelling at each other and learn to start listening to each other. We need to accept the reality of change and begin working together to find productive ways of dealing with change.
Change is inevitable. It’s the way God created the universe. God created change when He created time. If God did not want change, He would have created a static world where nothing ever changes. The more we resist change, the more we resist God’s unfolding plan for us. Rather than fear and reject change, we need to embrace it and make it work for our benefit. If the American experiment is going to grow and mature, we the people have to grow and mature. We have to put childish anger behind us and start working together as mature adults in order to deal successfully with the challenges that change presents to us.
For those of us who are Christians, we know that fear, anger and hatred are the opposites of our faith. As Christians, we know that labeling people as our enemies because they don’t agree with our politics is against everything Jesus taught us.
It’s time to stop the name-calling and to start having rational discussions about the issues before us. It’s time to turn away from those in the media who feed our anger and to start respecting each other as fellow human beings and fellow Americans.