Why I Am Not Green
In many ways I find the Green Party very appealing (I know, save your rotten fruit for the end, please.) There are some obvious places that we part company (embracing abortion and the homosexual agenda); however, given the infinitely mutable nature of the party, I could simply form a splinter and make and new "National Catholic Green Party" or some such (you know, a "Popular Front of Judea").
But I find that impossible for one reason. Despite the emphasis on "small is beautiful" in politics, and the very healthy sense of home rule, the planks on which the party is erected are termite ridden. They have been sense their spiritual founder, Jean-Jacques Rousseau first articulated them. Ultimately the reforms and the goals the Green Party really wishes to obtain depend upon the belief in the perfectibility of humankind.
Now, naturally, I do believe this in the religious sense and in the individual sense. Through the grace of God individuals may be led to "perfect" lives. We are "perfected" in Christ our head, but few of us live in that perfection--there are a few, and they are notable exceptions recognized almost immediately in ever age. But the harsh reality is that, for the most part, humankind lives consistently in its fallen nature. Not only do we live there, but we nearly revel in it.
We think of excuses to justify nearly every vice, corruption, or misdeed you can conceive of. And we do it with aplomb and panache. We are all Dives, to some extent or another, simply by living in this country. (Yes, again there are some exceptions). But we dine at our wealthy tables (relatively speaking) and a third of the world goes hungry. Admittedly due to the corrupt politics in some parts of the world, we sometimes cannot relieve the suffering of the people there--consider the debacle in Somalia. But there are tremendous numbers we can help, and yet, only a handful actually make sure that food gets to where it is needed. Because that number is so small, food does not always arrive where it is most desperately required. This is only one of the sins sitting on our collective heads--and it is a result of the fallenness of humanity.
The Greens seem to think that we can fix this in an Animal Farm collective kind of redistribution of the wealth. And what happened in the book will happen also to any who try such an economic system on a national scale. Yes, small clusters can live as the apostles or as monks and nuns, sharing all they have in common, giving to those in need--and yet even in these places resentments and harshness creep in.
During Lent, we should remember these things about ourselves, and we should hold ourselves responsible for each act that has contributed to this overall attitude on our part. Do we need to buy those books, those clothes, that new DVD player. Must we drive a Lexus or Mercedes or BMW. Does our fiance or wife really need a diamond that is the equivalent of six month's salary.
We need to be redeemed, and our redemption has a price--divorce from the world to which we are too firmly attached. We must live in the world, but not be of it. And by that, we must not allow ourselves to contribute to things as they are. In this case, we must follow Wallace Stevens's "Man with the Blue Guitar" (amazing that an avowed Atheist could produce poetry that so explicitly spells out the Christian message). who when told that he did not "play things as they are" responded with "Things as they are/are changed upon the blue guitar." In Christ, we are a new creation--it's about time we acted it.
