Prior to the election I was visiting my father in America. Like everyone else, I was perplexed why Trump and Harris were running neck and neck at the polls.
The cost of living crisis is hitting the US. People see the immense resources, and how grand America is, yet if you break away from the tourist areas, amusement parks and fancy neighbourhoods and ride public transportation you will see another American reality where there is much poverty. Illegal drugs and the opioid crisis have had a devastating effect.
I think it’s helpful to note the difference between talking about big overarching issues like abortion, the environment, human rights and immigration, which tend to take on an almost theoretical or even religious discourse, and the bread and butter issues like affordable housing, buying groceries and having a pension. The tangibles of some semblance of the American dream matter. Whether one is a recent immigrant or well established, a good job, a house, a car, and two weeks’ vacation is a sign of reasonable success.
America is vast and cannot be summed up with a dualist view, even though political parties and some Christian groups are trying to convince us otherwise. A deepening divide between rural and urban states seems to be at play again. This isn’t new to the American socio-political scene; this difference contributed to the American civil war in the 19th century. Slavery, individual and states’ rights, and racism were an issue; racism, personal and states’ rights, sexuality and gender are now. There is a red/blue political divide, but what about the vast majority of Americans we don’t hear from at the ballot box?
For a number of decades it’s been hard to decipher if the government has influence over huge health insurance, financial, tech, and pharmaceutical companies. I marched in Washington D.C. during the Bush presidency out of concern for the influence of multinationals over American life and policy.
As buoyant as many people were with the great hope of Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz, I know for many people it felt inconsequential. The prospect of Christian nationalism in America is frightening. This idea has multiracial support from people who are worried about secularism and the decline of a common morality. On the other side, this brings fear, violence and further minoritisation to immigrants, refugees, non-heterosexual, transgender people and women.
Project 2025 is a manifesto that enshrines ‘biblically based’ definitions of family which establish Republican domestic policy. The crucial challenge is whether we are willing to talk about these tough issues in families and in our churches, or whether fear stifles conversation.
I wonder if some of the angst about ‘something wrong’ is about baby boomers looking back sentimentally. When there isn’t a future to look to, or the present seems too complex, we tend to be distracted by what was. Privileged folks look back with nostalgia; those on the edge remember hard struggles. Only looking back is cynical, rather than imagining and envisioning hope and a future. I’m sure Lot’s wife has much to say about that in her salty tears!
A dear Irish friend who loves the USA says, ‘Never think tomorrow will be the same in America.’ That to me feels very hopeful.