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american dynasties?
Posted on April 3, 2007 | Filed Under politics
Is anyone else troubled by the fact that if Hillary Clinton is elected president in November, 2008, we will begin a third decade with a head of state drawn from just two families? Since January, 1989 — already twenty years — either a Bush or a Clinton has occupied the Oval Office.
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C Wright Mills drew attention to this symptom in his 1956 work, The Power Elite. While this is most marked in the USA, it not uncommon in other nation-states whether they are democratic or totalitarian. This is why power must always be critiqued – not least within the church itself. Christians have been doing deals with and allowing themselves to be co-opted by power for 1700 years. The church even likes the nation state to do its handiwork and, where the church is unable to win hearts and minds, to legislate its morality. The people of God have to look at themselves and their relationships with the nation-state and its power and its patronage. Jesus was quite clear about this. As his death drew nearer, no doubt focussing his thoughts more sharply, he said quite clearly that his kingdom was not of this world. Christians spend a lot of time focussing on the salvific death of Jesus – but there was a life too. This life was lived in outworking the whole idea of the kingdom of God. His life was Vision-ary, Truth-ful, Spirit-ed, and a contrast to the power elites of church and state around him. Surely, our lives can be no less.
Very thoughtful comment, Miss Eagle. You are right to direct our attention to Jesus’ life, to his challenge to the customary loci of authority, not always because he challenged authority directly — though he did do that, too — but because his words and his way of doing things pointed in an entirely different direction, to an entirely different way of being in the world.
And, you are right, if we are serious about following Jesus, our lives too should reflect that very different way of being in the world!