I hadn’t planned on talking about politics and civility in this week’s post; however sometimes current events dictate a change in plans.
A co-owner of the Red Hen restaurant told Sarah Sanders to leave. Representative Maxine Waters called on people to push back against members of Trump’s cabinet. “Civility” has become the word of the week, and a quotation from Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention has resurfaced: “When they go low, we go high.”
Where does taking the high road get you?
That statement seems like weakness now. Where has taking the high road gotten Democrats? Trump was elected President of the United States, despite the way he mocked and bullied others. The Republican party has largely lined up behind him. And their wins are piling up right and left.
Republicans stalled President Obama’s Supreme Court pick for more than seven months, waiting hopefully (and successfully) for the election of a Republican president. Can you blame Democrats for wanting to play a similar game prior to the midterm election? The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. How is that different from asking someone you see as defending unethical behavior to leave your restaurant?
On top of this, many people are beginning to feel disenfranchised. The Supreme Court recently upheld both voter roll purges and gerrymandering. A President who did not win the popular vote will soon swing the already conservative court even further to the right. Why shouldn’t people make themselves heard through heckling their opponents and telling them they aren’t welcome?
I certainly understand the current rash of incivility. Civility seems to get us nowhere — perhaps on a personal level with neighbors or at work, but not on a national level. Incivility has seemingly won the day. Why not just do what works? Why not do unto others as they have done unto us?
Is this about winning or about doing the right thing?
But how can I say I am a Christian if I refuse to actually follow the one I call “Lord”? Over and over again, Jesus said to his disciples, “Go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, take up your cross and follow me.” When they go low, we go high…
Here’s the rub… people who have taken Jesus seriously don’t always win in worldly terms. The Bible does say, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.” (Proverbs 25:21-22, which Paul quoted in his letter to the Romans.) But beyond the (hopeful) satisfaction of shaming your enemy, there’s no guarantee that kindness will get you anywhere in this world.
If Democrats choose civility, it would be nice to think there would be a reward in the upcoming midterms; however things could continue down the current path, thus reinforcing that incivility wins the day.
The problem with privilege
I should note here that it is easier to take this position as someone who is relatively privileged. I’m white and better off than many Americans, no matter how financially strapped I may feel. As Karen Attiah recently pointed out in an editorial in the Washington Post, it’s maddening to hear about civility from someone who has not been among the groups targeted by Trump, especially when that person is a white person handily picking quotations from people of color to make their point.
Given my position of privilege, it’s important that I pay attention to people like Attiah. But I don’t think being civil means failing to act or speak out. Jesus didn’t only tell us to love our enemies. He also overturned the money changers’ tables in the temple. He even called the Pharisees things like “brood of vipers” and “whitewashed tombs.”
The difference between incivility and taking a stand is this: Our job is not to give the other side what we got from them. It is not to imitate their tactics because those seem to be the tactics that win. It’s to stand up, firmly, for what is right, without resorting to cheap shots, without doing the very things we’ve complained about our opponents doing. Did the Republicans steal Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court? Yes. Should Democrats play by the same rule book? No. Isn’t better to do the thing that Republicans ought to have done two years ago and show that your party has high moral standards?
It’s tempting to say that Michelle Obama’s advice doesn’t hold water. Go high when others go low, and you may end up on the losing side. Real people are already getting hurt and will continue to get hurt if Democrats continue to lose. Even if we are not among those who are suffering, we must fight by their sides. We must try to put people into office who will look out for those are most hurt by bad governmental policies.
Nevertheless, I believe that what Michelle Obama said is a biblical truth. We are called to go high when everyone around us seems to be going low. Not because it’s the road to earthly success, but because it’s the right thing to do. If we abandon our moral principles in the fight for what’s right, we will lose even if we win.
The challenge to people like me, who may wish to behave in a saintly manner but who often fail to do so, is to actually live up to this calling. Will you join me in trying?