'Everybody Talking 'Bout Heaven (Or Democracy) Ain't Going There'

The success of the mass effort of the people of Egypt to rid themselves of a President/Dictator, while celebrated by many in the USA, has evoked an interesting set of expressed doubts about democracy by some that is surprising. Some of these persons were ecstatic as the Tea Party Movement surged as an expression of "the will of the people", but there is an interesting, even peculiar, set of reservations that are being expressed by them in response to "the will of the people" made visible by millions in Egypt to rid themselves of dictatorial rule.

There is something about this moment in history, now that Egypt is moving away from a dictatorship, that dredges up memories of the Civil Rights Movement for me and others.

We hear hints that some persons, historically, culturally and religiously, have an inner inability to understand or create or govern in democratic ways. "They" sometimes elect persons and parties that cause a sense of discomfort to those who are accustomed to working with, sometimes controlling, those who lead in ways that do not respect the will and the needs of the people they lead.

People who are fearful of the "wrong" people being elected have an unarticulated belief in "a controlled democracy." They are accustomed to being gatekeepers who keep out those who might "pull the covers off of the way it has always been."

There once was a similar culture of control in the USA that relegated black people to a place outside the gate. Those who were the keepers of the "COC" and those who through their silence gave consent believed that their "COC" would cease to exist if "they" (black folk) through the exercise of the freedoms of speech, assembly and protest, were able to make "controlled democracy" less controlled and more inclusive.

These "keepers" were right!

We are discovering (if we had not known it before) that there are some operating"gentlemen/gentlewomen agreements" essential to  maintaining a longstanding national and world political, economic and cultural status quo are beginning to be exposed. And, just as some folks said when racial apartheid in the USA was being challenged, we hear verbal rumblings that suggest, "our 'way of life' is being threatened."

And so it is! And so perhaps it should be, for American hegemony around the world has not always proven to be of practical benefit for those who've been under our "influence." Nor has it been spiritually beneficial to Americans, who like the ancient Romans have mistakenly believed that political, military and economic control is the same thing as the peaceable kingdom of heaven that Jesus saw and taught.

As the events in Egypt continue to unfold, let's remember a piece of wisdom from the Civil Rights Era, for it still applies today: "Everybody talking 'bout heaven (or democracy) ain't going there."