Like many other liberals, progressives, lefties, and even most moderates, I have not hidden my joy at the outcome of the elections on Tuesday; I am enjoying the meltdown - the very public, very nasty, and occasionally very insane meltdown - of the Republican Party even more, because, unlike the coming dispute within the Democrats in Congress, it is not about who is to share the glory for victory, but who is to share blame for defeat (and who is to lead them out of this mess; I hope, just for the fun of it, it is Michael Steele). While gloating is never attractive, and there is something un-Christian about smiling while other people are hurting, I will not deny the simple human satisfaction of schadenfreude (for those of you who don't know, it is German for "neener-neener-boo-boo!").
Having said that, I do not want to make the mistake of thinking salvation for the country has arrived. As I outlined below, the danger of the Republicans over the past two years has been less of action than inaction; there was work to be done, and the Republicans insisted on a holding pattern, thinking they could hold onto power with the same tactics that have worked in the past. The American people have disabused them of that idea, and while it seems hard for some to grasp, this Congress will be far more progressive than many in the past.
None of this heralds the arrival of peace in our time, a light at the end of the tunnel, an end to our long national nightmare, nor has our day been made. Political struggles remain, and that always means compromise and parts of the progressive wishlist will inevitably fall by the wayside, not through perfidy or weakness but the inevitable give and take of political wrangling (incidentally, this is something the Republicans in Congress simply forgot; you only get a little when you give a little). As a Christian, and not just a left-winger, I have no illusions that our say of national salvation arrived on November 7, 2006 (as, I think, too many conservative Christians believed has happened when the Democrats lost control of Congress in 1994). While my beliefs include an embrace of progressive ideals, it is not identical with them, and the Church has other work to do, some of it only marginally related to the events of the past week.
I hate to be a wet blanket, but 23 Americans have died in the past 10 days in Iraq; not one more American has health care than had it on November 6; the minimum wage is still $5.15/hr, so that full-time workers at this rate are far below the poverty line; oil companies are making record profits and are still not taxed on them; New Orleans is a city on the brink of death; our ports are not secure; our phone calls are tapped; people languish in prisons, some without charge, some anonymously, some sent to "secret prisons" to disappear into horror.
Progressives who are Christians need to remember that politics is about power, not only seeking it, but using it. In the end, Christ rejected the use of power, dying as a failed revolutionary rather than living as a powerful king. This is the limit of Christian participation in politics - we cannot be seduced by power. The kingdom for which we work is not of this world.
