Gilded Age vs. Wholeness

According to Brittanica, the Gilded Age was a “period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption in U.S. history during the 1870s that gave rise to important novels of social and political criticism. The period takes its name from the earliest of these, The Gilded Age (1873), written by Mark Twain in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner. The novel gives a vivid and accurate description of Washington, D.C., and is peopled with caricatures of many leading figures of the day, including greedy industrialists and corrupt politicians.” (Source)

It was a time of robber barons – very rich men who controlled entire industries through monopolies.

And while it was a time of great wealth for a handful, it was also a time of great poverty and struggle for a large segment of society. A quick google search on the subject tells us that there was a significant and growing gap between the rich and poor. People lived in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, often in cities where there was crime and disease. Working class families often faced long hours, low wages, and dangerous working conditions in factories and mines, and many families required children to work to help pay for basic necessities. Some wealthy individuals used the concept of Social Darwinism to justify the vast income inequality, arguing that the wealthy were naturally more fit to succeed and that the poor were simply less capable.

Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? Yet in this country, we seem hell bent on returning to this age – you could call it Making America Gilded Again.

I’m not sure how else to explain our situation. We have Members of Congress working hard to pass cuts to Medicaid and SNAP – causing harm to the poorest Americans in society. Those same politicians figure out ways to make sure the wealthy are able to have more money. The Department of Education froze funding to states, the day before money was to be sent to them for education, causing all sorts of problems for our education system.

At the same time, we have “Christians” who look to impose their version of religion on others, which seems antithetical to everything Jesus stood for. Jesus had the opportunity to have dominion over the political powers that be and chose not to. (Matthew 4:8-11 and Luke 4:5-8). Why on earth would we need to if the one we follow rejected it?

Seeking power is antitheical to the invitational nature of God.  To be a Christian means to follow Christ.  Christ rejected worldly power and temptation of it.  The temptation of having power is about being about to control and force others into compliance.  There is no room for invitation in that scenario.  No real authentic invitation, only a corrosive invitation with consequences. This is why Christian Nationalism is to be rejected.

While the world, or at least this country, seems intent on moving towards a dystopian future, I don’t think the vast majority of people want to. But often they aren’t presented with an alternative to choose from. Far too often people are siloed in their communication, news, entertainment, relationships, and more. If all you are presented is shades of a single color, then how are you supposed to know that you can choose a different color entirely?

And that’s what we need right now – Alternatives. We’re too busy being distracted by the latest outrage, tweet, attack on a group or a person. This is called flooding the zone. It’s designed to keep your attention and exhaust you. And when you are exhausted, you don’t have the energy to dream or even recognize there is an alternative.

So how do we move forward? I think the first step is to break out of the silos we are in. That will look different for different people. Stop being sucked into the latest outrage – I feel confident in saying that you can’t do anything about it anyway. And it will only drain you emotionally. The reality is we shouldn’t be surprised by most of the things that are going on. Are you? Why? Why would you assume that people who are trying to Make America Gilded Again would do anything at all for the benefit of the vast majority of the people here? Why would you assume that those in charge will act “normal” as you understood it just a year ago, or longer? They won’t. None of what is going on should surprise us. Feel free to not like it, to oppose it even. But you have to get past being surprised as if these people would do anything different. They are doing exactly what we should expect them to be doing.

Second, do some self-reflection. What is it that you should expect out of yourself? What is that you claim to value and how are you living in alignment with that? What areas of your life need an adjustment to be more in alignment? Who are you called to be in this time and what does that look like? Most importantly, what is your focus – as in what is the one thing that you can do and do well that gives you life? What is it about you and what you do that helps to spread that life to others, lifting them up too? How do you do that well and what do you need, or what do you need to eliminate, that would allow you to do that thing even better?

Third, what’s your vision? It doesn’t have to be a far reaching vision for the whole world. It could be for your street, or your city, or a portion of the city you care about. Be clear about that. What’s your vision? And why is this important? What’s the motivation for this? And once you are clear, share it with others. Find the people who will listen and who care about the same thing. And then work with them. Just a step at a time. The smaller the better actually. Build relationship with these people to the point that the vision is really about community.

Instead of Making America Gilded Again, we can work together to make the country something it hasn’t ever been – whole. Wholeness means that there is enough to go around. Wholeness means that no one feels the need to hoard resources. Wholeness means loving our neighbors. Wholeness means practicing peace. Wholeness means health and healing. Wholeness means repairing damage done to people. Wholeness means justice and mercy. Wholeness means compassion and empathy in action. Wholeness means setting aside cruelty and violence as unnecessary because they are fear based. Wholeness means trust.

That’s the type of society I want to live in. It’s the type of society I am working on. I invite you join me in this work. I believe you have exactly what you need in order to participate. So let’s get started. There is much to be done.