A Political Solution

{first published on May 11, 2007 in Necessary Therapy}

 

   The most demonic, destructive people on earth are those who seem to have devised solutions to the world’s problems.  Kill the Jews and save the economy.  Abort minorities and reduce crime.  Engage in “pre-emptive” strikes and end terrorism.

    W.H. Auden observes what is appealing about despotic leaders in his poem - “Epitaph on a Tyrant” (found in Collected Poems).

     Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after/ And the poetry he invented was easy to understand/  He knew folly like the back of his hand/ And he was greatly interested in armies and fleets.

     It is human nature to want to understand and be understood.  When someone comes along who seems to “feel our pain” and recognize our needs, we tend to turn over a great deal of our trust in them and leave ourselves very vulnerable.

     Deep down, I think many people, even “good old Americans” would prefer a benevolent dictatorship to a messy democratic republic.  We long for some political figure to take care of things for us, rather than do our best to faithfully take care of things ourselves (with God’s help).

      Auden reveals the danger of this as the poem concludes - 

      When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter/ And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

       The Bible says Satan comes as an angel of light - someone who seems to show us the way out of the darkness.  When you seek political solutions for the problems of this world, be wary of those who seem to have them.  There is no “final solution” in this life and any who propose to have it are not of God, but of the adversary.