A Season of Rebirth?

Most Christians believe that Christ died for our sins.  They are convinced that he was born and later crucified so that we humans would have an opportunity to mend our ways and get to heaven.  Christmas celebrates this pivotal moment in history.  The holiday is supposed to remind us of God’s love for His creations.

Pagans generally saw things a bit differently.  They viewed the winter solstice as the time when the sun reversed course and in this sense was reborn.  The days would now grow longer so as to nourish the crops upon which their survival depended.  For them, this was a period of joy because it reassured them that life would continue.

What about us?  We too have been going through an extended episode of darkness.  Politically and socially we have endured a long season of disharmony and gloom.  The once proud American Dream of prosperity and opportunity has devolved into a nightmare of distrust and recriminations.

So disheartening has this interlude become that many wonder if the shadows will ever lift.  Will egregious partisans stop trying to destroy one another?  Will ordinary citizens treat each other with civility?  Can Americans once more look to the future with hope and anticipation?

It would be nice to say that this Christmas will be a turning point.  I wish I could report that people have tired of their sourness and hostility.  There will, to be sure, be bursts of love and kindness during the coming days, but they will be transitory.  Sadly, the bitterness will return.

Many conservatives hope president Trump’s policies will revive the economy.  They expect his tax cuts to put money in their pockets and smiles on their faces.  Ronald Reagan, once his programs took hold, declared that it was “morning in America.”  Can we look forward to a similar sunrise?

I don’t think so.  Although the economy may turn upward—even sharply upward—this will not be enough.  We have entered an era of despair that good news may not be able to penetrate.  Our collective spirits have become so troubled that we might not recognize hope were we to stumble upon it.

 Let me start with the liberals.  Their dreams have been charbroiled.  “Hope and change,” once was an optimistic mantra, has been reduced to ashes.  Despite proud invocations of social justice and compassion, Democrats know that when they were in charge, they did not supply what was promised.

Their worst fear is therefore that Donald Trump might succeed where they failed.  As a result, they are crossing their fingers and praying that things go dreadfully wrong.  Indeed, if they can help these catastrophes come to pass by being obstructionists, they are happy to oblige.

Of course, they will not rejoice if disaster occurs.  It will, after all, be disaster.  Hence, given that success would prove them wrong, they are in a no win situation.  Whatever happens, their visions of a utopian society are unlikely to be resuscitated.  If so, they must mourn their passing.

Yet conservatives are in scarcely better shape.  Their dreams too are in a state of disrepair.  Donald Trump’s victory did not represent a triumph for their traditional aspirations.  Trump is more of a populist and pragmatist.  He was never a mainstream Republican and continues to be a deviant.

What’s more, laissez-faire economics can no more be revived than socialist fantasies.  A relatively free marketplace has provided untold riches, while a democratic government has kept despotism at bay.  Nonetheless, precisely because these flourished, they no longer provide images of something spectacular.

When conservatives assure voters they will have more in their pockets, their constituents are pleased, not ecstatic.  When traditionalists promise to preserve the constitution, their partisans do not jump for joy.  These achievements are too mundane to generate excitement.

To put this another way, contemporary conservatism is not inspirational.  It does not furnish a vision that brings folks to their feet.  People want new and improved—not good enough.  They want their lives to soar to a higher plane.

Yet that is not happening.  The clouds are not parting to reveal a heaven on earth.  Genuine improvements are possible, but aren’t perceived as sufficient.  In this regard, there will be no season of rebirth.  It will be the same old same old—perhaps even more contentious.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University