By Tyler McKenzie
As of February 3rd, President Trump has issued forty-five executive orders in his first two weeks. More controversial ones have included:
- EO14148: “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions” – This revoked 78 executive actions by the Biden administration.
- EO14149: “Withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization.”
- EO14150: “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program.”
- EO14166: “Application of Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications to TikTok.”
- EO14168: “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological truth to the Federal Government.”
- EO14187: “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.”
Forty-five is a lot for the first month. Clinton (1993) and Bush (2001) issued two. Obama issued nine (2009). First-term Trump issued seven (2017). Biden issued twenty-five (2021). You can review all of the EOs on this site. That said, my goal in this column is not to comment on each or the political strategy behind releasing so many. I literally can’t … and that’s the point. The limiting factor is that I simply don’t have the expertise. I barely have the time to keep up with it all. I’ve felt this about our politics for years now. How do we keep up with a 24/7 cycle of one breaking story after another? Can we even trust what the media says? Television media seems partisan and compromised. Social media feels like the wild west.
The perpetual onslaught of breaking news is numbing. In some ways, our era of real-time news in your pocket makes us care more … at least at first. It creates immediate awareness of all the issues everywhere. What happens over time though is we get fatigued with the world’s chaos every second of every day, and we lose our ability to care as big. It’s a survival tactic. No one can live in a state of constant rage or anxiety.
The 2024 Oxford Word of the Year was “brain rot”. It refers to the deterioration of a person’s mental state after long stretches of scrolling through low-quality content and partisan media. It’s like: […Scroll…] Gen Z girl doing parody on the movie Wicked […Scroll…] Seven innocents die in an airstrike […Scroll…] Targeted ad […Scroll…] Subway partners with Oreo to release footlong cookie […Scroll…] School Shooting […Scroll…] Dog video.
The dominant medium of communication in a community will shape people at an emotional level. So, what happens when the main mediums are television, online, and social media? The inevitable outcome is the sensationalization and trivialization of life at the same time. We know about everything but care about nothing. When the trivial is constantly thrown next to the consequential, eventually it all just becomes content. That’s how I sometimes feel about politics. I want to care, but it’s so much, and I don’t know what sources to trust, and by the time I get a grip on one issue three more pop up.
Am I the only one feeling this? How do I keep up with the frenzy of politics when I have a full-time job, three kids, and a life brimming with responsibility? My lack of institutional trust in the federal government makes me feel like I need to be following all of it. As a citizen, it’s my democratic responsibility. As a preacher, I should stay in the know. As the writer of a column on cultural engagement, I can’t fall behind … but I am falling behind. I feel guilty when I can’t keep up. Both sides are telling me that my apathy is contributing to the disintegration of democracy. Depending on which side you ask, Hitler is on the other, and my lack of passion is selfish complicity.
For those experiencing the weariness and overwhelm of all this, I have been trying to scrap together some ideas over the last couple days. I hope these help.
1. Normalize saying, “I don’t know what to think about that,” “I need more time to form an opinion,” and “What are your thoughts?”
Don’t embrace a belief because your party tells you to. Don’t spew unnuanced talking points to avoid looking uninformed. It’s okay to take time to think. The issues we’re wrestling with are complex.
2. Do everything you can to pay attention to as much as you can.
This article is not meant to let us off the hook. Political engagement is part of living in a healthy democracy. We need virtuous people using their free speech and casting their votes. Are you proud to be an American? Play your part!
3. Meet polarization with persuasion not power.
Persuasion results in unity. Powering-up results in tyranny. If you loudly claim all the moral high-ground, people will walk away insulted rather than inspired. Often people say, “I just don’t know how anyone could vote for … support … believe … (fill in controversy of choice).” Saying this may lose those in earshot who come from an environment that formed them differently than you. It feels belittling and can serve to radicalize them against you. Nobody likes to be talked down to.
Healthy persuasion will not happen through moral lecturing, smug sarcasm, or shame and manipulation. This is how most people come across with their posts on social media. You don’t have to post every feeling online. The impulse to go tell someone off is occasionally holy, but usually reckless. Doing it on social media is like ventilating your unfiltered emotions in a public venue with some friends, but also some mild acquaintances and complete strangers. Most of these people never asked for your opinion, and most of them don’t get to see your compassionate side. Your entire public witness gets wrapped up in political rage.
4. Go to church and sing.
This last one may seem weird, but I’m serious. On a personal level, singing worship songs with my church family has been revitalizing. In 1947, African American theologian Howard Thurman gave a famous speech for the Ingersoll Lecture series at Harvard. He explored how the worship songs of slaves gave them hope amid chaos and suffering. He referenced songs that spoke of chariots swinging low, trumpets resounding, tombstones bursting, and sinners trembling. The popular criticism of African-American spirituals was that they were too heavenly-minded. This sort of thinking made slaves passive and too other-worldly to fight back. Thurman challenged this critique. He argued that their hope in divine judgment and eternal heaven empowered them to trust God’s sovereignty, endure pain, and conquer evil with good. Hope was the fuel for the fight! They knew that they would outlive all the chaos in God’s eternity, that enabled them to look evil in the face and sing! In times like these, this sort of hopeful theology sung with spiritual family can be just the medicine we need.
Tyler McKenzie serves as lead pastor at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky.
Great article.
They knew that they would outlive all the chaos in God’s eternity, that enabled them to look evil in the face and sing! In times like these, this sort of hopeful theology sung with spiritual family can be just the medicine we need.
Faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. We are the sum of our individual choices…may we always choose Christ and strive to follow his commands, our obedience is noted.
Can you state your principles and values, how do they align with scripture? We are all created in his image and can receive his eternal, unfailing love.
Amazingly, many Christian leaders were quiet while the last administration was meandering toward decadence, without a competent commander in chief, while the American Culture seem to be ran by Larry Flint, blatant lawfare was waged against political opponents, Christians were persecuted for protesting against the evils of abortion, Grandma really was “thrown under the bus” and locked up. I don’t recall The Christian Standard opposing much of that. The truth is, Christians and the rest of American society have been lied to for the past nine years. Preachers in “white” churches have been afraid to speak the truth for fear of being political. Some very lovely church people bought those lies and voted accordingly. Now the truth is out. Remember this, “As the princes go, so go the people. When the unrighteous rule, the people mourn. When the righteous rule the people rejoice. Our current President has been twice impeached, sued, falsely convicted, twice he has been the assassin’s target, and he is still standing, giving all glory to God, as do many in his cabinet. Therefore, while you are trying to cope with positive change, remember to “Pray for those in Authority.” Pray for the President and his cabinet. Pray that rival will happen in America. One other thing. When Aaron was anointed high priest, the blood was applied to his right ear, his right thumb, and his right big toe. President Trump was shot in his right ear, which he grabbed with his right hand and he was blown out of his shoes! Was his blood applied to his right big toe when he put his shoes on? Only God could have orchestrated that!
Great article and thoughts on this subject. I have felt many of the things you have felt.
Thank you Tyler. I’m a Canadian. But I’m first a deeply grateful follower of Jesus. So I am also deeply grateful these days for every attempt to wrestle and do battle with the powers beyond “flesh and blood.” With Jesus is there ever a single invitation, admonition, or example encouraging us to put our faith or hope in human leaders or political ideologies or culture wars of any sort? It is after all, “the grace of God that has dawned with healing for all human kind, teaching us to say “NO” to ungodliness and worldly passions…and to live godly lives…while we wait for the blessed hope–the appearing of …Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness, and to purify for Himself a people of His own, who are eager to do good.” (Titus 2:11f). May we fix our eyes on Him who has the power to save us all!
Thanks for sharing this thoughtful take, Tyler. The only point I disagreed with was #2, and I will repeat here what I wrote elsewhere this week:
“Give yourself the freedom to let things pass by. You don’t have to engage with everything, or even give everything your attention – it doesn’t mean you’re a bad or uncaring person if you do not personally engage with every horrible thing that passes through your awareness each day. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are – and accept your human-sized-ness.”
Above all else, our response to each other and the culture around us should be marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As Eugene Peterson once said, “It’s a tragedy when we end up doing ‘Jesus things’ in a way Jesus would never do them.”
Very thought-provoking. Thank you!
Praying for our elected officials is not always easy, but it is a command, not a suggestion.
I am also praying for all of the faithful, hard-working employees of the federal government who have done their best to serve the public and nation but are now going through unsettled times and/or losing their jobs, most of them through no fault of their own.
In point 3 you were able to put into words what I have been thinking about in the past weeks. People on both sides spew out their views with such demeaning language that the natural reaction is to ignore it, regardless of the truth it might hold. Attacking one another doesn’t encourage people to think critically and look at where they might need to re-examine their ideas and information, it only encourages a defense mode. I appreciated this:
“Healthy persuasion will not happen through moral lecturing, smug sarcasm, or shame and manipulation. This is how most people come across with their posts on social media.”
It’s not all that hard to keep up. There are dozens of long standing organizations of Christian integrity that summarize and keep us informed. Hillsdale College, Jame Dobson family talk, Prager University, the Heritage Foundation just to name a few. I am still alarmed at the ignorance of Christians, that half won’t vote, and preachers who won’t take a stand.
I’ve had to disconnect from most media. I was getting too wound up in the world. It was not healthy for me. We have to know ourselves and what is healthy for ourselves. I have not disconnected from God or His Word. In fact, I think by disconnecting from most media, I have become more connected to God and His Word. Not judging anyone! But I encourage everyone to take the time you’ve spent on media and put the same amount of time diving deeply into the Word which lasts forever when everything else is simply dust in the wind.