Beyond Secular Wonkism

​ Dear Democrats, Do You Have a Spiritual Side?

"Part of the problem is that the two leading Democratic idea generators are both materialistic wonks. Elizabeth Warren is a social scientist from Harvard Law School who has a plan for everything — except the central subject of this election, which is cultural and moral. Bernie Sanders has been a dialectical materialist all his life and is incapable of adjusting his economics-dominated mind-set.
The bigger problem is simply the culture of the Democratic Party. The modern version of the party emerged during the Great Depression to solve one problem: material want. It is a secular party, trapped in a Lockean prison.

It is no accident that the Democratic candidate with the best grasp of this election is the one running a spiritual crusade, not an economic redistribution effort. Many of her ideas are wackadoodle, but Marianne Williamson is right about this: “This is part of the dark underbelly of American society: the racism, the bigotry and the entire conversation that we’re having here tonight. If you think any of this wonkiness is going to deal with this dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred that this president is bringing up in this country, then I’m afraid that the Democrats are going to see some very dark days.”

-- David Brooks, NY Times Opinion Page, 8/1/2019
 
 

Dear Democrats,

We are Democrats, too.  Would you mind using a little spiritual language and giving us an aspirational narrative.  We'd like to vote for you, but a materialist worldview and secular wonkism are not enough.  Here's some language we'd like to hear:

​​attention  - beauty  -  being present  -  compassion   -  connections  -  devotion  -  enthusiasm  -  faith
forgiveness - grace -  gratitude  - hope - hospitality - imagination  - joy -  justice - kindness - listening
love  -  meaning  -  nurturing  -  openness  -  peace - play  -  questing  -  reverence - shadow - silence
​teachers   -  transformation   -  unity  -  vision   -   wonder  -  x, the mystery  -  yearning  -  you  -  zeal​​

​We'd like you to use it sincerely from the heart, and in a way that speaks to people of many different religious traditions and to people who are "secular."  We're talking about more than faith and justice.  Those are two of the letters in the alphabet, but there's so much more.  We want every child in our nation, and for that matter in any nation, to have opportunities for all of these qualities of heart and mind.

Thank You,

Democrats for a Broader Vision

Dear Democrats,

We write as Republicans considering changing parties.  We like some of what the Republican party used so stand for, especially fiscal responsibility; but we are completely turned off by the current holder of the office.  And we’re drawn to the young generation of Democrats who are filled with such vitality and life.  And diversity!

We have a request. 

Please claim the spiritual side of life.  You don’t have to call it “spiritual” if you don’t want to, but please give us more than policies and issues.  Follow the lead of Cory Booker and Pete Buttigieg and, yes, Marianne Williamson.

Make no mistake.  The Republicans already have a monopoly with evangelical Christians, mostly older.  Accept that; let them have the evangelicals.  The younger ones are leaving already.  Some of us are in that boat.

Back, then, to our request.  Our hope is that you will move past secular wonkism into what we might call aspirational idealism.

Yes, there’s a place for policy.  We know you have plenty of them.  But if all we ever hear from you is policy talk, devoid of larger aspirations, you’ve lost an election to the Republicans and you’ve lost our hearts and, well, our votes. 

What we seek from you is an emotionally and aesthetically compelling story that carries within it a dream, a hope, that we can live deeply and beautifully and lovingly with one another.  It needs to include, but be more than, economic populis.

It may seem strange to you, but for a moment we thought “Make America Great Again” might mean that.  We were so naïve; we know it means the opposite of that.  It means white nationalism, false nostalgia, and hatred.  We are sorry we voted for Trump. 

As you develop this story, please don’t just talk about "economic populism" and “social justice.”  We’re on board with you about having a society that is diverse, inclusive, respectful, and loving.  We also on board with you about something like a Green New Deal and facing up to global climate change.  But your story needs to include something more than this. It needs to include themes like love and hope, listening and generosity, imagination and wonder, kindness and connection.   These are what we mean by ‘spirituality.’  Here is our spiritual alphabet:
 
atttention  -  beauty  -  being present  -  compassion   -  connections  -  devotion  -  enthusiasm  -  faith
forgiveness - grace -  gratitude  - hope - hospitality - imagination  - joy -  justice - kindness - listening
love  -  meaning  -  nurturing  -  openness  -  peace - play  -  questing  -  reverence - shadow - silence
​teachers   -  transformation   -  unity  -  vision   -   wonder  -  x, the mystery  -  yearning  -  you  -  zeal​​
​
You might think we are talking about “faith,” but for us the word “faith” just can’t cover it all. Too often the word evokes a sense of specific faith communities and God.  We appreciate faith communities, including those that are Muslim and Jewish and Hindu and Buddhist.  And we don’t want to shut out people who believe in God. 

Indeed, several of us believe in God.  Not the God of authoritarian evangelicalism with its image of a bully in the sky, but the God of love who, with tender care, works in quietness and compassion, and who wants no one left behind.  But talk about “God” like talk about “faith” cannot do it alone, because so often such language evokes images of the bully in the sky.  We seek a story that includes people who are secular, or spiritual but not religious.

We have a friend who wondered if a story about life and the beauty of life on earth might work.  He speaks of himself as a religious naturalist.  By this he means that his “religion” is to live with respect and care for the community of life: people and animals and the earth.  We’re not asking you to adopt his religion, but we are asking that you give us an image, a story, that can make us proud to be Americans, companions to the poor and powerless, and friends of the Earth.

What a story that would be.  Can you tell it?

Republicans in Transition for a More Generous America