Two organizations I grew up in were the Democratic Party and the Catholic Church. I abandoned both. Actually, they abandoned me. Losing members and watching the growth of evangelical mega-churches, my church turned to the same anti-gay, anti-abortion messaging. And reacting to Republican victories in the 1980s, the Clintons pushed the Democratic Party into adopting the same pro-business, pro-war policies as the Republicans. Policies of convenience solely for gaining power.
And now come the pope and Bernie Sanders. As a very jaded ex-catholic, I didn’t listen to the pope. And I wasn’t going to listen to a “socialist.” But I eventually heard their messages and thought – this pope may actually be a Christian – preaching the nonjudgmental compassion of Christ, and this socialist was preaching the long-lost values of the Democratic Party.
And then I turned on Catholic radio and heard that we still hate gays and want to eliminate a woman’s right to choose. And on NPR, I heard we have to support a Democrat who worships Henry Kissinger and Goldman Sachs and every war in the past 20 years. And I heard Democrats couldn’t get elected if they returned to and fought for their values. Even if Bernie gets elected our dreams will never come true. The Republicans won’t allow it.
Self-fulfilling prophecies of people worried more about power than progress.
But they don’t trust us, the people. Progress has always resulted from the people forcing politicians into doing the right thing. One example of many – never could you have gotten me to believe that gays would be able to legally marry in my lifetime. The church, the Republicans and the Democrats were against it with Hillary pandering to the right by supporting the Defense of Marriage Act. But the LGBT community didn’t accept the opposition of the church and the Republicans or the triangulation of the Democrats. Instead, they changed world for the LGBT community and all of us.
So now, should we fight for what we believe in or give up without trying? PS: I went to midnight mass on Christmas.
Paul Davis
Durango
