Currents of Faith: Open and Unfolding Reflections

When I was young I used to hear the story that the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, at just the time when the Bolsheviks overthrew the rather moderate Mensheviks, were holding a great national conference on vestments. This story was told, not to deny the importance of proper vestments in worship, but to illustrate the inability of Christians, and, indeed, people in general, to make sound judgments of relative importance. As a youth I was shocked, and I naively assumed that we American Protestants would never make mistakes of this kind.

Since then I have often thought of this story. It fits all too well my own behavior and that of most people. To use another figure, while the Titanic heads for the iceberg, we spend most of our time arguing about the best arrangement of the deck furniture. Actually that is not quite fair. We argue about many important questions, but while the world is heading for unimaginable catastrophes, the disproportion remains.

Perhaps the deepest problem is that we respond to problems only after they happen. As long as the problem is a prediction of what is probable at some future date, it is at most a topic of casual conversation. Many people have long predicted that oil would become scarce and very expensive. But as long as this was only a prediction, we collectively continued to act as if oil would always be plentiful and cheap. Only when the price actually goes up are there serious discussions of changing our habits and our policies. More radical change is unlikely before the consequences of our present style of life and economy destroy us.

I like to think that those who wear Whiteheadian glasses will be more affected in their present thought and behavior by anticipation of likely futures. I think our record in this respect is better than average. But we too can be absorbed in struggles that pale in significance beside the scope and depth of the crises the world faces.

There is now a quite imminent threat to the future of personal freedom and democratic governance in the United States. Those of us who have been distressed by where the second Bush administration has taken us are hopeful that the Democrats will control the administration as well as Congress after the next election. But many of us are ignoring the profound danger that the present administration will take truly desperate actions to prevent this from happening.

For the present administration a Democratic sweep will be a catastrophe. I do not mean only that there will be some policy changes that they don’t like. I mean that our current leaders individually will be subject to prosecution for some of their many violations of the law and for their unconstitutional acts. They may well face many years in prison.

This administration has proved itself capable of many things. As one who is quite sure that highly placed members of the administration were involved in planning and executing the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, I doubt that any action required to avoid this fate is left unconsidered. So what do I expect? The first line of defense is to try to steal the election. We can expect partly successful efforts to demonize Obama, to raise the level of public anxiety about terrorism, and to depict McCain as the only one who can be trusted to keep the American people safe. In addition, all kinds of efforts are now underway to put roadblocks in the way of voting by the poor and the Black. Also there are still many voting machines that can be rigged. In previous elections the Democrats have let the Republicans get by with such tactics. Perhaps they will again, and perhaps these well developed tactics will suffice.

But if the administration is not confident that it can steal the election again, we may assume that it is considering other options. That it is considering an attack on Iran is no secret. Thus far its efforts to build public support for such an attack have failed. There are also indications that there have been thwarted plans for new false flag operations, particularly on an old oil refinery in Houston. But such setbacks will not deter further steps toward building a case justifying an attack on Iran and the declaration of martial law. Any event in this country that can be depicted as an Iranian attack upon us, even if it follows on our attack on Iran and is in fact implemented by our own government, can be called a “catastrophe.” A catastrophe triggers the application of National Security Presidential Directive 51, according to which the White House will be solely responsible for continuity of government. Plans have been made for how the president will use the near absolute power that will then be his, but even those congress persons with the highest security clearance have not been allowed to see these plans. One thing is clear. The president will be free to declare martial law. Camps have already been constructed all over the country, to which some of us, perhaps a rather large number, would then be taken.

I know that in writing in this way I am an “alarmist.” I truly am alarmed. I am quite sure that martial law, along with “postponing” elections or setting aside their results, is being considered as a possibility. I believe that warning of this danger is the best way to reduce the likelihood of its actualization. I hope very much that my alarm will be proved unjustified by the actual course of events.