Trumping Clinton

I have no say in the U.S. Election and, given the sad spectre of Brexit in this country, I have had my share in the experience of voting for two wrong answers. The Americans have had the same problem, and the holes in the Democratic processes in both countries have become very obvious. Unlike Fr Chadwick, I do not believe that I could have voted even if I possessed the right to do so, though I applaud my confrere's ability to be able to express a coherent opinion on the matter. Perhaps I might have gone for a third party, but I know too little of them. In conscience, I could not have voted for either candidate. Perhaps that makes me a coward, but I simply could not vote for candidates whom I believe to be inappropriately chosen.

How this will affect the world is yet to be seen. However, we must remember that God sets people in authority, even the most unsuitable, in order to effect His will in the world to the eventual destruction of evil and the salvation of souls. Sometimes, we need to experience exactly how bad things can get in order to realise how far gone we are from God and thus return. We are all prodigal sons and need to become aware of our own depravity before we truly know how to repent.

Now we have Donald Trump as president of the United States, and we have a UK that is committed to leaving the European Union. These may be the beginning of our realisation of how far we fall, or they can be the active instruments for our return to God. Either way, we have lessons here that we can and must learn in order to work out our salvation in God through the movement of the Holy Ghost within us.

The two candidates have demonstrated very troubling attitudes to the human race which reflect well our own secret thoughts. I could not vote for Mrs Clinton because of her liberal views which essentially allow the Human Will to triumph over the bounds of Common Sense, and to exceed the limits of its remit. Her support of Abortion, curtailing of religious liberties, and the right of a human being to define their own gender, fly in the face of what is real and obvious: that mother and baby each have their own separate existences as living human beings; that the U.S Constitution is built on religious liberty and should thus work for cooperation of different religions, even if they are mutually antithetic, rather than override the consciences of individuals; that the vast majority of human beings are either male or female with only a few that are biologically intersex.

I could not vote for Mr Trump because of his dismissal of the sick, poor, and destitute, his raising of barriers to refugees, and his obscene attitude towards women. These, in my mind, are offences against the nature of charity, and thus just as bad as Mrs Clinton's policies. Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump, in my uneducated opinion, represent the opposite extremes of the spectrum, the acceptability of those extremes is yet to be realised. Both are equally intolerant of that which they oppose.

I say this knowing that I am not a political expert: indeed, I deny that I am a political animal, seeking rather to find ways of living under authorities that get set over me. It is possible that the only way of truly living under an authority stands as a subversion to that authority. Our Lord showed us that this was very possible.

I pray for Mr Trump in his success, for Mrs Clinton's next step, and I pray for the sovereign rule of God to be more apparent in the world. Let us all pray for the Holy Ghost not just to dwell within us, but to burn and shine more fiercely that the Kingdom of God may influence the nations to their salvation.