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Twelve Americans just found a man guilty on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records.
They did this despite having been threatened and they will surely continue to be threatened.
They are patriots, as is the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, who had been under enormous pressure about the case. DA Bragg said simply, after the verdict, “I did my job.” Yes, he did.
This verdict is a decisive win for democracy, and it is crucial.
The very institutions of our democracy, especially the rule of law, are under relentless attack by the MAGA movement and its embrace of White Christian Nationalism.
There are two very different Americas competing these days. White Christian Nationalism is positioned against the basic tenets of democracy. This is not exactly new, but the conflict has been sharpened as the rhetoric and the actions (January 6!) of the WCN’s have been embraced by Trump and his followers.
Two powerful stories are colliding. One story is the shining example of democracy as well articulated by Abraham Lincoln, “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” In the democratic vision, institutional power is balanced in governance. The power of religion is separated from the power of the state and held in check. Of course, this story often leaves out the fact that it was articulated by landholding, white male elites who were often slave holders and who were reserving these rights for themselves.
But that story has been improved over time. The “people” has greatly expanded.
And that’s the root of the urgency of the other story. As the “people” has expanded, the threat to white, male rule has increased. The second story is framed as an America founded as a Christian nation by white Christians. As long as this white, Christian America hews to its divinely given mandate to spread freedom (guns), their version of the Christian religion (conservative evangelicalism) and their notion of civilization (mainly capitalism), it will be blessed and prosper.
In this story, non-whites and non-Christians are, by definition, not “Americans” and their presence in this country is a threat to the divine favor God has given white Christian America. Controlling them, by force if necessary, is urgent.
The mission of White Christian Nationalists is to “take back” the country.
Robust demonstrations of the workings of democratic institutions are therefore crucial as it is the forefront of the struggle between these two visions. That’s why eight Republican Senators vowing to slow down the business of the Senate has emerged after the Trump verdict. The goal is to destroy democracy from the inside so the White Christian Nationalist movement can be positioned as “saving” the country.
Town by town, county by county, state by state, this struggle must be waged to preserve and expand the workings of democracy. Religious institutions must join in this struggle to preserve and protect democracy.
Speaking as a Christian, I thank God Jesus wasn’t a white, Christian nationalist.