When the term, “Make America Great Again” was first being used, I sincerely asked people when the “again” was. After 10 years of hearing it used, I have yet to get an answer. Every era has its greatness and its problems, whether it is poverty or war or inequality plaguing us, or the rare times of peace or economic growth or freedom – we are an ever-evolving nation, seeking that elusive “more perfect union” the founders hoped for. I have been hearing a lot of conservatives use the phrase “Golden Age or Era” when they speak about now, and I wonder, again, what that means. It is clear to me that the war that has been waged against democracy by fundamentalism/Christian Nationalism/White Supremacy for 60 years is in full tilt, and it looks like democracy is losing. Is the Golden Age all about oligarchy? Is it a time when the ones with the gold rule?
The last Gilded Age, a term taken from a Mark Twain book, was the Industrial Revolution. It followed the Civil War and Reconstruction; it was a time of huge wage increases and growing poverty, as well as ever-increasing technological advances. It was also a time of massive immigration which provided lots of cheap labor for those burgeoning factories. A lot of tycoons got very rich taking advantage of those immigrants, using children as full-time workers until those children dropped dead from working 7 days a week, 18 hours a day. The abuses of the Gilded Age led to unionization and more humane working conditions. It was when America became a world power; it also led to the Great Depression.
For end-of-the-world Christians, this is when they believe Jesus will return, Armageddon will take place, and all the people who aren’t like they are – unless they repent – will die and/or end up in Hell. They are gaining political power and wealth, all so they can go to Heaven with Jesus – an oxymoron if there ever was one. That is literally how that doesn’t work. They believe the Kingdom of God will be like here, only better. They could not be more wrong. If you believe that your hoped-for Golden Age will be when Revelation comes true, you need to reread the Bible. This life is what we make it, not something God controls. If you are creating a Golden Age on the backs of others, you are not better than the robber barons and slave masters of the 1800’s. And you have replaced Jesus with another, unholy god. That isn’t how faith is supposed to work.
Prayer – Holy God, inspire our spirits to be more generous, not greedier, so that we can worship You and not gold. Amen.