I will admit that I watched not a single minute of last night’s presidential debate. Still, to the moment I am writing this, I have not watched a single clip from the debate. So, as many of you have often suspected, I write from a place of complete ignorance. (Your joke here…)
What I have done, though, is scour Twitter, Facebook, and other social media responses to see what people thought about the debate – that’s more interesting than politicians. As is normal now, this is a razor-thin election, and as has always been the case for the last half-century, “the most important election of our lifetimes.” Hysteria reigns. Our democracy (or republic) will not survive the election of one or the other of the candidates. In 2015 and 2016 I opined pretty heavily here about politics. I have since despaired of American politics and seen its venomous effects on the church. We need a revival of godliness more than a win in November. I am now what I call a “Kingdom Independent.” No political party because, as the cliche says, “There’s no hope in donkeys or elephants, only in the Lamb.”
Having gotten my snark out of the way, I noticed on social media what I expected. The debate was essentially a Rorschach test for American political passions. Conservatives saw Trump as the persecuted hero, battling not only Kamala but also the biased and horrible moderators. Many declared him the outright winner. Kamala supporters saw Trump losing his cool and taking a ride on the crazy train. Of course, I saw the requisite numbers of Christians questioning the spirituality of those who would vote for the other side. Well done, folks!
What I did not see was a single person who said, “I changed my mind.” I was going to vote for Trump and now I will vote for Harris or vice-versa. Honestly, at this point, I’m convinced there are about 247 undecided voters in America. Being decisive and convictional is a good quality, but we have become so hard-headed and blind, in general, that we pre-judge issues and then refuse all information except that which buttresses our views. Anything counter to our passionately held views is a liberal scam (or conservative, if you are on the other side), fake news, or whatever. We simply refuse to hear views that are counter to our own.
An old high school friend of mine said on Facebook last night, “The loser of the debate was America.” With that, I do not quarrel.
Maranatha!
