A memo to American Christians

Yesterday, Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann announced that she will run for President in 2012. One statement she made about problem solving in America struck me especially. She said, “More than ever, [Obama’s] Washington is the problem, and the real solutions will come from our businesses, our communities, our schools and the most basic and powerful unit of all — our families.”

Now, I am no student of politics, but I know rhetorical bullshit when I see it. What she is suggesting — that we pride ourselves on an illusion of “wholesome” family values and give ourselves over to a work ethic consistent with the American Dream in order to eradicate deep and complex problems at work in society — is asinine.

I want to say: Obama’s administration isn’t the problem. Michele Bachmann’s administration — should she be elected — won’t be the problem either. Sin is. And the real solutions will come from our selflessness, our devotion to studying and carrying out the teachings of Scripture, our unshakable commitment to serving and sacrificing for our local communities alongside the Church and the most basic and powerful unit of all — the blood of Him who loves us, which purges us from sin and makes atonement for our souls.

American Christians know the solution to the problems. But they want to solve them in a way that doesn’t involve sacrifice. Working out complicated issues requires more effort than pointing fingers at the Left and checking a box for the Right. It requires more than preparing meals at the local Gospel mission. And it requires more than sending a group of 30 teenagers, once a year, to paint a gym and pat some kids on the head in Haiti.

We need to empower and mobilize Church communities who will then empower and mobilize local communities. This is the only way that the sin that infests our businesses, our schools, our governments and ("the most basic and powerful unit of all") our families can be rooted out. And until this comes to pass, I am convinced that one marred man’s policy will be no better than another. Correct me if I’m wrong.